This night's test with KStars 2.8.7 was under the sign of Alignment
I had a hell of a time aligning my HEQ5 properly. By "hell" I mean I would have thrown away the setup weren't I a bit stubborn
I'm using KStars 2.8.7, and a relatively old INDI setup (say August '17) built from github, with my own mods (unrelated to eqmod).
I experienced once again the solve-then-sync-to-the-exact-same-place syndrome. In the attached log (which contains much more), this is line 477 for instance, but there are other occurrences.
I made quite a few manipulations during that test, and observed weird things:
- I add a weird issue where the eqmod coordinates would change as if they were AltAz coordinates in Ekos.
- I add a weird issue where the eqmod symbol, the capture symbol and the actual position would be offset away.
- I add a weird issue where the mount would be ordered to run a meridian flip and relocate under the horizon. Freaking!
- I tried to add a few more align points by slewing here and there and solving, trying to help to algorithm, but it is now clear that this method deteriorates the situation even more.
- I cleaned the alignment points in the Ekos list, but somehow while it improved the situation, it didn't help to solve it.
- Finally I add to go to the INDI panel and manually remove the alignment point list from the mount itself to somehow reset the procedure.
After that, it worked properly. In the end it also appeared that my park position was offset away from the north celestial pole. This may be a hint, I'll try to reset it first thing in the next test.
I'll continue examining the log, but I wanted to share this first.
-Eric