Studying the path and timing of the eclipse using SkySafari , I noticed my equatorial mount will be trying to do a meridian flip during totality..
Yikes
Am I mistaken in what I’m seeing in the app?
How can this be handled if trying to do continuous imaging during totality?
Thanks
Meridian flip during eclipse?
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Re: Meridian flip during eclipse?
Hi,
if it was me, I would adjust settings on my mount in advance to allow it to track past the meridian by a small amount (5 - 10 degrees maybe). Check that you don't end up with hardware hitting the tripod/pier with the new setting (unlikely for a small amount past meridian, but worth testing). That should postpone the need to flip by 20 minutes for 5 degrees past and 40 minutes for 10 degrees past.
cheers,
Robin
if it was me, I would adjust settings on my mount in advance to allow it to track past the meridian by a small amount (5 - 10 degrees maybe). Check that you don't end up with hardware hitting the tripod/pier with the new setting (unlikely for a small amount past meridian, but worth testing). That should postpone the need to flip by 20 minutes for 5 degrees past and 40 minutes for 10 degrees past.
cheers,
Robin
Re: Meridian flip during eclipse?
Thanks robin.
I will give that a try .
That way I should be able to capture the entire totality.
I need to practice this to get it working smoothly.
For the actual Flip.
I may try the technique suggested by Eric
Re: Auto meridian flip?
#7Unread post by giraud » Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:11 pm
"I then save the current mount coordinates and apply them again, and as expected the mount performs the meridian flip on its own as it has just past the meridian. "
Take care
Steve
I will give that a try .
That way I should be able to capture the entire totality.
I need to practice this to get it working smoothly.
For the actual Flip.
I may try the technique suggested by Eric
Re: Auto meridian flip?
#7Unread post by giraud » Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:11 pm
"I then save the current mount coordinates and apply them again, and as expected the mount performs the meridian flip on its own as it has just past the meridian. "
Take care
Steve
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Chuckwagon
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Re: Meridian flip during eclipse?
Hmmm, this post has me wondering. I was looking at the timing in Starry Night and it shows that totality starts about 16 minutes after I'd need to do a meridian flip. I had my location set for Lake Fork, TX. I would assume there will be a few minutes difference for the start of totality based on location. The eclipse2024.org Eclipse Simulator indicates totality will start at 13:42:35 CDT (GMT -5) for the location I specified, which was about the same as what Starry Night indicates. Does that seem about right? I'd think a 16 minute window should allow me enough time to do a flip, unless I really screw it up. 
But if I'm not looking at these things correctly I'd rather figure it out now then on the day. Where are you viewing from? If it's quite a bit more SW from where I targeted I can see the timing putting the flip into totality. Glad you brought this up so I could think about it now.
Thanks,
Chuck
But if I'm not looking at these things correctly I'd rather figure it out now then on the day. Where are you viewing from? If it's quite a bit more SW from where I targeted I can see the timing putting the flip into totality. Glad you brought this up so I could think about it now.Thanks,
Chuck