Parts Of The Software, Functional Units; Autoguiding Function (Ag) - Lacerta M-Gen User Manual

4 Parts of the software, functional units

There are some well defined functional units in the device. In the next sections You can
read about these functional units for the sake of a better transparency.

4.1 AutoGuiding function (AG)

The main function of the device is Autoguiding. It has its own process (runs
independently of the other (including the User Interface)), handling the Camera is it's job
exclusively so the program of the Camera is the part of this functional unit.
The guiding star's image is processed by the Camera. The guiding program in the HC uses
the calculated star position to control the mount with the ST-4 compatible autoguider port.
There is a dedicated screen for Autoguiding, on which everything can be controlled that
directly affects guiding. This is the guiding screen, can be reached with two SET keypresses:
(Main menu) Guiding → (Guiding menu) Current guiding →
Guiding screen is indicated by a
window monitoring something on the left of the screen. There are more pages of this screen,
more on this later.
Important notes:
o If the Camera is active and there is a star in its guiding window (an area on the
CCD field), it will follow the star with repositioning the guiding window even if
the autoguiding is not started. Because of this the monitored image of the guiding
star (within the 48x48 pixel window) may be shown as replaced 'immediately' but
this does not affect anything, it is only made by display.
This star following is a part of the software, can't be turned off.
If the followed star is lost (gets too dim by clouds or jumps out of the guiding
window by a mechanical push), the guiding window stays and waits for the star
appearing again in it (no automatic re-search is done). The user may search for the
star again (with LiveView or Star Search).
This could happen often if You touch and push the mount / telescope (or the
DSLR) by hand and it is not stable enough. After this the star may stabilize in its
old position (in guiding window) but the window may be repositioned as it wanted
to follow the star and that's why the star is lost.
If autoguiding is active, the guiding window is stationary, does not follow the star,
since it should stay near the center. At permanent star lose no automatic re-search
takes place.
o If You started to use the Camera once, do not just pull out the Camera-cable, for
example to detach the Camera from the guide scope. Stop the Camera before. (See
5.1.10 page 5).
"GUI" text in the top right corner and a 48x48 pixel
- 15 -