You are here

Mount Limits

Error message

  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementBase::execute($args = [], $options = []) should either be compatible with PDOStatement::execute(?array $params = null): bool, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2244 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::current() should either be compatible with Iterator::current(): mixed, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::next() should either be compatible with Iterator::next(): void, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::key() should either be compatible with Iterator::key(): mixed, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::valid() should either be compatible with Iterator::valid(): bool, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::rewind() should either be compatible with Iterator::rewind(): void, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseCondition::count() should either be compatible with Countable::count(): int, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 1652 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/database/query.inc).
  • Deprecated function: strlen(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in drupal_random_bytes() (line 2268 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/bootstrap.inc).
  • Deprecated function: rtrim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in url() (line 2349 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/common.inc).
  • Deprecated function: strpos(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($haystack) of type string is deprecated in url_is_external() (line 2393 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/common.inc).
  • Deprecated function: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in url_is_external() (line 2395 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/common.inc).
  • Deprecated function: ltrim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in url() (line 2311 of /home1/dhulse/public_html/_eqmac/includes/common.inc).

The new Mount Limits feature is designed to let you control the behaviour of the mount when it is tracking and a configured limit is reached. The other somewhat related feature that it enables is Counter-Weights-Up slewing. To use the Mount Limits feature, make sure the software is connected to the mount (green LED in the bottom left of the main window), and then click the Limits button in the toolbar. This will open the Mount Limits monitoring window.

The Limits Monitor window shows several things:

  1. Whether or not limits are enabled, and if enabled and a limit is reached, it will tell you which limit was reached.
  2. The remaining time until the RA and Horizon limits will be reached.
  3. The current position of the mount with respect to the configured limits. The RA display show the position of the RA axis (orange line) in relation to your configured limits (red lines). The Horizon display plots your configured horizon centered either on North or South, depending on which way the telescope is actually pointing. An orange curve is also plotted representing the current Declination. If the declination remains fixed, the object your telescope is tracking will follow the orange curve across the sky. The yellow dot plotted on the curve shows the current position of the object being tracked.
  4. A switch to turn limits on or off. If limits are off, none of the configured behaviours will be triggered.
  5. A button to configure the limits, which opens a new configuration window.

 You can turn limits on and then close the monitoring window if you do not wish to have it on screen the whole time.