Sky-Watcher Star Discovery AZ GoTo-Mount - Named and Alignment Stars

Introduction | Charts of the Alignment Stars | Preliminary Conclusions | Links | Appendix: List of Named and Alignment Stars for the Sky-Watcher SynScan GoTo Control

On this page, I present a list of the named and alignment stars of the Sky-Watcher SynScan GoTo controller. This is intended to help me find suitable alignment stars when aligning the Sky-Watcher Star Discovery GoTo mount. But first of all, I will report on the thorny way that I got there ...

See also:

Introduction

A List of the SynScan Alignment Stars...

Elsewhere on this site, I already hinted at my limited knowledge of the constellations, and even less do I know stars. However, some knowledge of stars is necessary if you want to align a GoTo control, such as my Sky-Watcher Star Discovery GoTo mount. Depending on the alignment method and the mount used, you need to know the positions of 1 to 3 stars whose names are given by the handbox and which are typically Arabic. But how do you find the stars in the sky that are offered for alignment?

Of course, you can enter the names in an astronomy application and let it show you the stars, but that seems a bit too involved for me. A list of alignment stars would be more handy, but unfortunately there are no corresponding lists in the manuals, just a few details on optimal size and location of alignment stars. So I came up with the idea to manually go through section "Named Stars" in the handbox, star by star, and write down the star names. This, of course, led to some typing errors... In addition, I found that, depending on the time of day (or the time set in the handbox), different stars were offered. In general (but not always), these were probably those stars that were visible at the appropriate time or above the horizon. I then looked up the stars and their data using an astronomy program on my iPad or Mac (the apps did not always know the stars...). At some point in time, I came up with the idea that the handbox itself can provide this information, but the list was already quite advanced... Using the handbox is probably also slower than using an app, because you need a lot of keystrokes until you get to the so-called Bayer name...

And Now with the Aid of the Internet...

After extracting about 150 stars this way and there was still no end in sight, I finally came up with the idea to check on the Internet, if there are not already such lists available. The search query "which alignment stars uses synscan" actually took me to the correct destination, the Jim's Cosmos-Website (I was not able to find Jim's last name). On page SynScan alignment stars, Jim offers the PDF document SynScan Alignment Star Chart, which can be downloaded and printed in A3 or A4 format. It shows a kind of "Mercator-style" sky map with constellations and the registered alignment stars of the SynScan control (version 3.27). Unfortunately, an alphabetical list of alignment stars is lacking, as well as an indication of the source of the information.

Thus, my problem was actually solved and my previous work basically "useless". Nevertheless, I still visited some discussions on this topic, which were offered in the search query. In a discussion titled SYNSCAN Alignment star list in the Stargazers Lounge forum lukebl writes as starter of the discussion:

Does anyone else find it frustrating that Synscan uses the colloquial (ancient) names for its alignment stars, rather than the constellation name? Fine for obvious ones like Arcturus, but a bit of a pain when it comes to things like Zubeneshamali (Beta Librae).

As part of my sky is obscured for various reasons, I would rather know what constellation it was in, so that I can choose one in the right general direction rather than fumbling through a list of arcane star names to find the 'official' name and constellation. Not that I object to these wonderful evocative names, it's just that I can't darn well remember them!

The poster spoke directly from my heart! When I used my GoTo controller some time ago, I got on well with Vega and Atair, two bright and familiar stars. The next time, Atair was visible equally well, but it was no longer offered by the SynScan control as a second alignment star (similar reports showed up in discussion forums). Instead, the handbox presented names like Enif & Co. that unfortunately did not say anything to me and frustrated me a lot. At the end, I was able to get along with Fomalhaut (and then the clouds came ...). Incidentally, this feeling of frustration was the reason why I came up with the idea of creating a list of alignment stars - this is how the bites its tail!

I have to add to the discussion initiated by lukebl: Here, too, Jim's Cosmos and his chart were mentioned, as well as another list with 12 charts (SkyScan Alignment Stars and matching Finder Charts), which is supposedly based on Sky-Watcher information, as well as various text lists that were also improved in the course of the discussion. I downloaded all these lists and charts. And because the lists are considered "public," I list the one that I like best in the appendix. In the discussion, however, the distinction between "Named Stars" as such and alignment stars got probably lost, as some participants noted in the discussion. That is, with one exception, these lists contain all the named stars that the SynScan control "knows" about, not just the alignment stars.

Alignment Stars...

What characteristics needs a star for Sky-Watcher to quality as an alignment star? Such knowledge might help reduce the complete lists of named starts to the alignment stars. The SynScan manual mentions a minimum size of 1.5 mag for alignment stars, but this condition may only apply to the "Brightest Star" method. As some panelists noted, the SynScan control itself does not seem to follow these rules in its proposals - or does it only apply to the first star? For the positions of alignment stars Sky-Watcher/Orion recommend the following for AZ mounts:

It is recommended that the two selected alignment stars be 15-60 degrees above the horizon and that their heights differ by 10-30 degrees.
The two alignment stars should be in azimuth between 45 and 135 degrees apart, but preferably by about 90 degrees.

Such conditions might, of course, be checked by the SynScan controller and taken into account in the selection of the alignment stars. To what extent this actually happens seems to be largely unknown in hobby astronomer circles...

Regrettably, these rules do not really help you pick alignment stars. Either you laboriously browse Jim's map or trust the list that is attached to the 12 charts. The latter is, however, based on a fairly old software version.

Charts of the Alignment Stars

For copyright reasons I do not publish maps of the alignment stars here (only small previews), but provide only links to these maps. The maps are all mentioned above, but once again offered for easy access once again.

Jim's Cosmos: Synscan Alignment Star Chart

First and foremost is Jim's Cosmos-Website (I cannot find Jim's last name), which I mentioned earlier. On page SynScan alignment stars, Jim offers the PDF document SynScan Alignment Star Chart, which you can download and print in A3 or A4. It shows a kind of "Mercator-style" sky map with constellations and the registered alignment stars of the SynScan control (version 3.27).

Figure: Look of the chart with alignment stars

Unfortunately, an alphabetical list of alignment stars is lacking as well as an indication of the source of the information.

Stargazer's Lounge Forum/Australian Astronomy Forum: SkyScan Alignment Stars and Matching Finder Charts

In a thread in the Stargazers Lounge forum, a list of 12 charts (SkyScan Alignment Stars and matching Finder Charts) is linked to. It was published in an Australian Astronomy forum (iceinspace; there was a small dispute regarding the authorship...) and allegedly is based on Sky-Watcher information.

Figure: Look of the 12 charts with alignment stars (section of chart 2 shown)

The Stargazers Lounge forum also presented in the above-mentioned discussion various text lists that were further improved during the discussion. A more or less "final" version can be found in the appendix.

Preliminary Conclusions

After my own, lavish attempts that I aborted, I found on the Internet two versions of charts that show the SynScan alignment stars. In addition, there were lists of all the named stars that the SynScan control knows on the Internet. I used one of these lists to mark the alignment stars.

Thus, the job is done, and now I just have to print the charts and list and apply it in practice. As soon as I can report more on this, I will do so here...

Appendix: List of Named and Alignment Stars for the Sky-Watcher SynScan GoTo Control

The following list of the named and alignment stars of the Sky-Watcher SynScan GoTo control is taken from the discussion SYNSCAN Alignment star list on Stargazer's Lounge, was corrected by me in one case and furthermore supplemented by the information about alignment stars of the SynScan control coming from SkyScan Alignment Stars and Finder Charts. This list contains a few stars that are not included in the first list; therefore these stars are not listed here. All in all, I can, of course, not guarantee the correctness of the information... Nevertheless I think that they might be useful for one or the other SynScan user.

Name	Bayer name	Constellation	Magnitude	AS*	Comment
Acamar	θ Eri	Eridanus	3.24	x
Achernar	α Eri	Eridanus	0.46
Achird	η Cass	Cassiopeia	3.44
Acrux	α Cru	Crux	1.33
Adhafera	ζ Leo	Leo	3.44
Adhara	ε CMa	Canis major	1.50	x
Ain	ζ Tau	Taurus	3.53
Alaraph	β Vir	Virgo	3.61
Albali	ε Aqr	Aquarius	3.77
Albireo	β Cyg	Cygnus	3.08	x
Alchiba	α Crv	Corvus	4.02
Alcor	80 UMa	Ursa major	4.01
Alcyone	η Tau	Taurus	2.87	x
Aldebaran	α Tau	Taurus	0.85	x
Alderamin	α Cep	Cepheus	2.44	x
Aldhanab	α Gru	Grus	3.00
Alfirk	β Cep	Cepheus	3.23
Algenib	γ Peg	Pegasus	2.83	x
Algieba	γ Leo	Leo	2.61	x
Algol	β Per	Perseus	2.12	x
Algorab	δ Cor	Corvus	2.95
Alhaud	θ UMa	Ursa major	3.17
Alhena	γ Gem	Gemini	1.93	x
Alioth	ε UMa	Ursa major	1.77	x
Alkaid	η UMa	Ursa major	1.86	x
Almach	γ And	Andromeda	2.26	x
Alnair	α Gru	Grus	1.74
Alnilam	ε Ori	Orion	1.70	x
Alnitak	ζ Ori	Orion	2.05	x
Alniyat	σ Sco	Scorpius	2.82	x
Alpha Cen	α Cen	Centaurus	-0.01
Alphard	α Hyd	Hydra	1.98	x
Alphecca	α CrB	Corona Borealis	2.23	x
Alpheratz	α And	Andromeda	2.06	x
Alrai	γ Cep	Cepheus	3.21
Alshain	β Aql	Aquila	3.71
Altair	α Aql	Aquila	0.77	x
Altais	δ Dra	Draco	3.07
Aludra	η CMa	Canis major	2.45	x
Alula Australis	ξ UMa	Ursa major	4.41
Alula Borealis	ν UMa	Ursa major	3.48
Alwaid	β Dra	Draco	2.79
Angentenar	τ2 Eri	Eridanus	4.75
Ankaa	α Phe	Phoenix	2.39	x
Antares	α Sco	Scorpius	0.96	x
Arcturus	α Boo	Bootes	-0.04	x
Arkab	β1 Sgr	Sagittarius	3.96
Arneb	α Lep	Lepus	2.58	x
Ascella	ζ Sgr	Sagittarius	2.60
Asellus Australis	δ Cnc	Cancer	3.94
Asmidiske	ξ Pup	Puppis	3.34
Atik	ο Per	Perseus	3.83
Atria	α TrA	Triangulum Australe	1.92
Auva	δ Vir	Virgo	3.38
Avior	ε Car	Carina	1.86
Azha	η Eri	Eridanus	3.89
Baham	θ Peg	Pegasus	3.53
Baten Kaitos	ζ Cet	Cetus	3.73
Beid	ο1 Eri	Eridanus	4.04
Bellatrix	γ Ori	Orion	1.64	x
Betelgeuse	α Ori	Orion	0.50	x
Canopus	α Car	Carina	-0.72
Capella	α Aur	Auriga	0.08	x
Caph	β Cas	Cassiopeia	2.27	x
Castor	α Gem	Gemini	1.98	x
Cebalrai	β Oph	Ophiuchus	2.77
Chort	θ Leo	Leo	3.34
Cor Caroli	α CnV	Canes Venatici	2.90
Cursa	β Eri	Eridanus	2.79
Dabih	β Cap	Capricornus	3.08
Deneb	α Cyg	Cygnus	1.25	x
Deneb Algedi	δ Cap	Capricornus	2.87
Denebola	β Leo	Leo	2.14	x
Diphda	β Cet	Cetus	2.04	x
Dnoces	ι UMa	Ursa major	3.14
Dschubba	δ Sco	Scorpius	2.32	x
Dubhe	α UMa	Ursa major	1.79	x
Edasich	ι Dra	Draco	3.29
Elnath	β Tau	Taurus	1.65	x
Eltanin	γ Dra	Draco	2.23	x
Enif	ε Peg	Pegasus	2.39	x
Fomalhaut	α PsA	Piscis Australis	1.16	x
Fornacis	α For	Fornax	3.87
Furud	ζ CMa	Canis major	3.02
Gacrux	γ Cru	Crux	1.63
Giauzar	λ Dra	Draco	3.84
Giedi	α Cap	Capricornus	2.87		was "Geidi"
Gienah	γ Crv	Corvus	2.59	x
Gomeisa	β CMi	Canis minor	2.90	x
Graffias	β Sco	Scorpius	2.62
Grumium	ξ Dra	Draco	3.75
Hadar	β Cen	Centaurus	0.61
Hamal	α Ari	Aries	2.00	x
Heze	ζ Vir	Virgo	3.37
Homam	ζ Peg	Pegasus	3.40
Izar	ε Boo	Bootes	2.70	x
Jabbah	ν Sco	Scorpius	4.01
Kaffaljidhm	γ Cet	Cetus	3.47
Kaus Australis	ε Sgr	Sagittarius	1.85	x
Kaus Borealis	λ Sgr	Sagittarius	2.81
Kaus Media	δ Sgr	Sagittarius	2.7
Kekwan	γ Lup	Lupus	2.68
Kitalpha	α Equ	Equuleus	3.92
Kochab	β UMi	Ursa Minor	2.08	x
Kornephoros	β Her	Hercules	2.77
Kraz	β Crv	Corvus	2.65
Lesuth	υ Sco	Scorpius	2.69
Maaz	ε Aur	Auriga	2.99
Marfik	λ Oph	Ophiuchus	3.82
Markab	α Peg	Pegasus	2.49	x
Matar	η Peg	Pegasus	2.94
Mebsuta	ε Gem	Gemini	2.98	x
Megrez	δ UMa	Ursa major	3.31	x
Meissa	λ Ori	Orion	3.54
Mekbuda	ζ Gem	Gemini	3.79
Menkalinan	β Aur	Auriga	1.90	x
Menkar	α Cet	Cetus	2.53	x
Menkent	θ Cen	Centaurus	2.06
Menkib	ξ Per	Perseus	3.98
Merak	β UMa	Ursa major	2.37	x
Miaplacidus	β Car	Carina	1.68
Mimosa	β Cru	Crux	1.25
Minkar	ε Cor	Corvus	3.00	x
Mintaka	δ Ori	Orion	2.23	x
Mira	ο Cet	Cetus	2.00	x
Mirach	β And	Andromeda	2.06	x
Mirfak	α Per	Perseus	1.79	x
Mirzam	β CMa	Canis major	1.98	x
Mizar	ζ UMa	Ursa major	2.27	x
Mothallah	α Tri	Triangulum	3.41
Muhlifain	γ Cen	Centaurus	2.20
Muphrid	η Boo	Bootes	2.68
Muscida	ο UMa	Ursa major	3.36
Nair Saif	ι Ori	Orion	2.77
Naos	ζ Pup	Puppis	2.25	x
Nashira	γ Cap	Capricornus	3.68
Nasl	γ Sgr	Sagittarius	2.99
Navi	ε Cas	Cassiopeia	2.15
Nekkar	β Boo	Bootes	3.50
Nihal	β Lep	Lepus	2.84
Nunki	σ Sgr	Sagittarius	2.02	x
Nusakan	β CrB	Corona Borealis	3.68
Peacock	α Pav	Pavo	1.94
Phact	α Col	Columba	2.64
Phad	γ UMa	Ursa major	2.44	x
Pherkad	11 UMi	Ursa Minor	3.05
Polaris	α UMi	Ursa Minor	2.02	x
Pollux	β Gem	Gemini	1.14	x
Porrima	γVir	Virgo	3.65
Praecipua	46 LMi	Leo Minor	3.83
Prijipati	δ Aur	Auriga	3.74
Procyon	α CMi	Canis minor	0.38	x
Propus	1 Gem	Gemini	3.28	x
Rana	δ Eri	Eridanus	3.54
Rasalas	μ Leo	Leo	3.88
Rasalgethi	α Her	Hercules	3.48	x
Rasalhague	α Oph	Ophiuchus	2.08	x
Rastaban	β Dra	Draco	2.79
Regor	γ Vel	Vela	1.78
Regulus	α Leo	Leo	1.35	x
Rigel	β Ori	Orion	0.12	x
Rotanev	β Del	Delphinus	3.63
Rukbah	δ Cas	Cassiopeia	2.68
Rukbat	α Sgr	Sagittarius	3.97
Sabik	η Oph	Ophiuchus	2.43
Sadachbia	γ Aqu	Aquarius	3.84
Sadalbari	μ Peg	Pegasus	3.48
Sadalmelik	α Aqu	Aquarius	2.96	x
Sadalsuud	β Aqu	Aquarius	2.91
Sadr	γ Cyg	Cygnus	2.20
Saiph	κ Ori	Orion	2.06	x
Sargas	θ Sco	Scorpius	1.87	x
Sarin	δ Her	Hercules	3.14
Scheat	β Peg	Pegasus	2.42	x
Schedar	α Cas	Cassiopeia	2.23	x
Schemali	Lib	Libra	2.61
Scutulum	α Car	Carina	2.25
Seginus	γ Boo	Bootes	3.03
Shaula	λ Sco	Scorpius	1.63	x
Shelyak	βLyr	Lyra	3.45
Sheratan	β Ari	Aries	2.64	x
Sirius	α CMa	Canis major	-1.46	x
Skat	δ Aqu	Aquarius	3.27
Spica	α Vir	Virgo	0.98	x
Sualocin	α Del	Delphinus	3.77
Suhail	γ2 Vel	Vela	2.21
Sulafat	γ Lyr	Lyra	3.24
Talitha Australi	μ UMa	Ursa major	3.57
Tania Australis	ν UMa	Ursa major	3.05
Tania Borealis	λ UMa	Ursa major	3.45
Tarazed	γ Aql	Aquila	2.72	x
Tarf	β Cnc	Cancer	3.52
Tchou	α Ara	Ara	2.76
Tejat	μ Gem	Gemini	2.88
Thuban	α Dra	Draco	3.65
Tsih	γ Cas	Cassiopeia	2.15
Tyl	ε Dra	Draco	3.83
Unukalhai	α Ser	Serpens	2.65	x
Vega	α Lyr	Lyra	0.03	x
Vindemiatrix	ε Vir	Virgo	2.83
Wasat	δ Gem	Gemini	3.53
Wazn	β Col	Columba	3.12
Wezen	δ CMa	Canis major	1.84	x
Yed Posterior	ε Oph	Ophiuchus	3.24
Yed Prior	δ Oph	Ophiuchus	2.74	x
Zaniah	η Vir	Virgo	3.89
Zaurac	γ Eri	Eridanus	2.95
Zosma	δ Leo	Leo	2.56
Zuben Elschamali	γ Lib	Libra	2.61
Zubenelgenubi	α Lib	Libra	2.75
Zubenelhakrabi	γ Lib	Libra	3.91
Zubeneschamali	β Lib	Libra	2.61

*) AS means "alignment star"

Notes: ...