Dome Setup with SGP

[Jared]

I’ll be referencing the following image, pulled from DPP Observatory DomeAutomation

@AJ132

The second issue I have is that I cannot seem to get the dome slit to align to the OTA. I have played with the GEM Offset numbers and the North Offset to see if I can get any improvement, but still not able to get the slit to align with the mount consistently. My pier is dead center in the middle of my observatory so no east/west offset should be necessary.

If your pier is dead center then you almost certainly need some “north” adjustment. This is lateral value from your dome center to the point where your RA and Dec axis intersect (point A)

@AJ132

Also the RA axis is exactly the same height as the base of my observatory so no offset should be required there either.

Again this is not what you think it is. The GEM Offset is the distance from the RA center of rotation to the middle of your objective (The A to B distance in that image)

@AJ132

Should I be connecting SGP directly to the MaxDome II and AP Mach 1 Drivers or should I be using the ASCOM Dome Control or POTH?

You can give Ascom Dome Control a shot but you’ll likely run into the same issues as you’re experiencing with SGP. However it handles things differently and it may get you centered better. I don’t think “other (much more expensive) options for imaging software to control my observatory” is going to fix this for you. This seems to be a setup issue with your dome options.

As for the periodic errors with the dome not closing…we’ll need some logs to look into that. Please see here:

How to report issues or ask for help

Thank you,
Jared