With kstars/Ekos, is it possible to run the mount during daylight to find out whether the telescope hits a pillar mount support after meridian transit when a certain target is being tracked, this at a higher speed then sidereal? If so, what settings do I have to make?

Hi Kurt,

If I understand you correctly, you want to slew to a target near the meridian and then see what happens as your mount moves as it crosses the meridian and/or performs a meridian flip. In principal, the software doesn't care if the sun is shining or not. Just select an object near the meridian during the day and have the mount track it (no need to take the cover off the telescope). When I test my meridian flip settings I just use the KStars planetarium software to select an object near the meridian and have the scope go there.

Fred

Hi Fred,

well, not exactly. I want to check if there is a chance that the telescope hits the pier some time AFTER the meridian transit. Such a hit is expected with a tripod (so with three legs). For (column) piers, reseller TS Optics claim that for piers like this one:
www.teleskop-express.de/de/montierungen-...wicht-nur-8-kg-13985
that it is "ideal for astrophotography because the telescopes do not hit the tripod legs, photography is possible until well after the meridian passes." (translation of their claim). So what is "well after meridian pass"? Can I trust that the mount can track the target until dawn? I am not sure...

Just to add my idea:
What I could imagine is a kind of simulation mode for the mount. Based on a start time (date/time) and the target's RA/Dec data, Ekos could calculate the target's trajectory during the night and move the mount as if it were tracking the target (of course without guiding or plate solving). To do this, the orbit data would then have to be converted into control impulses for the mount and the mount would follow the target at a selectable speed. Since the orbits of targets can be very different (e.g. circumpolar or non-circumpolar orbits), it is not possible to estimate how this affects the movement of the telescope with respect to the pier.

Kurt

I have one last idea for you. You can change the time in KStarsEKOS and the mount will think it is that time. As far as speeding up the tracking by a substantial amount, maybe you could just advance the time by 10 minutes or so, tell the mount to slew a bit more and see what happens.

Are you simply trying to avoid meridan flips?

I will check at next opportunity.

Yes.