Interactive Atlas Mirror and Flip

[aggregory]

I am confused about the Mirror and Flip toggle buttons on the Interactive Atlas. I can turn them on or off and the atlas view mirrors or flips as expected. But which is on and which is off. I think that the darkened buttons as shown in this image means mirror and flip are off. At least when they are dark, the image matches the view in my planisphere. But my intuition tells me that dark should be mean on rather than off, but then the view is wrong. I checked the user instructions but did not see any mention about the button status indicator. I'm not saying it isn't there, I just didn't see anything. Anyway, the view in the image seems correct, but do I have mirror and flip turned on or turned off? I hope they are off, because if they are on, then there is more I don't understand.

Thanks,
Antone

   

[PMSchu]

Hi Antone,

You currently have the Mirror and Flip buttons set to ON when they are darkened. Also check out the orientation arrows in the bottom left of the atlas view.  The 'Z' arrow which indicates the 'Up' direction for an alt-az mount is pointed 'Down' and the 'L' arrow that points to the 'Left' for an alt-az mount is pointing to the 'Right. That means that you have both axes reversed.

Unless you're located in the southern hemisphere, Ursa Major looks upside down to this northern hemisphere boy.  

I don't know why it's not matching your planisphere.

Hope this helps.

Phil S.

[aggregory]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for you response. I will study this more closely. At least now I know how to tell if mirror and flip are on or off. And I will pay more attention to those arrows in the corner.

Antone

[PMSchu]

Hi Antone,

Are you observing from the northern or southern hemisphere? The Interactive Atlas (IA) is normally configured to display the sky with North UP and East to the LEFT just like a standard terrestrial map. That's also how star atlases are drawn. Activating the Mirror and/or Flip buttons is usually (for me) done to match the atlas view with the view through the telescope or to match an image that I've taken.

Phil S.

[aggregory]

I am definately in the Northern Hemisphere and I already checked to be sure that my location was properly specified. I hadn't changed that for years, but I checked and the settings are correct. I just looked again at the interactive sky chart and everything seems fine. The Big Dipper is oriented just as it should be. So maybe there was just something strange going on the other day, or whatever. In any case, the Universe seems to be back to normal.

Thanks,
Antone