View Single Post
  #39  
Old 22-09-2008, 09:25 PM
gary
Registered User

gary is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Mt. Kuring-Gai
Posts: 5,915
Hi Rob,

Thanks for the post.

Quote:
Originally Posted by CoombellKid View Post
I wasn't setting the FIX ALT REF properly... well
accurately so I used my big Square.
When you perform the FIX ALT REF step, I recommend you know begin
using AUTO ADJUST ON. Please see the third post in this thread for the
procedure I posted on how to set it up and use it. It is also detailed in the
User Manual in the section on FIX ALT REF.

The beauty of AUTO ADJUST ON is that you can put away the set-square.
You only have to push the scope to the vertical as an initial 'hint' to the
system and AUTO ADJUST ON will compute the ALT REF point for you.

Quote:
Also I logged into the Atomic Clock and found my local time was
45 seconds out.
If you are aligning on stars, Argo Navis doesn't require you to set the date/time
or location and unless you are observing satellites, there is no need to set it
to the nearest second. As you know, Argo Navis has an internal lithium coin
cell that maintains the time of day clock even when the main batteries are
removed. This clock is used to determine the position of planets, comets, asteroids
and satellites and is an input into refraction correction. For most observing,
setting it within a few minutes is fine. Likewise, your location setting is
not used as part of the alignment process either.

Your pointing improvement would therefore come about from establishing the
ALT REF point more accurately using the mechanical approach you took.
However, switching to AUTO ADJUST ON will do the same thing for you
without needing to use the set-square.

Quote:
I knew it had to be a timing thing as the previous night the AN
was accurately in accurate... meaning objects appear to be alway slightly
east of the FOV.
Non Perpendicular Axis Error (NPAE), which is between the Az and Alt axis
and Collmation Error (CA) which is non-perpendicularity between the Alt and
optical axis can result in predominantly azimuthal error residuals. Some time
in the future you might want to try performing a TPAS run to see if you
can characterize the error.

Quote:
I did a tour of Globs in Sagittarius, Galaxies in Fornax and I dialed up
serveral object from Starry Night I had running on the PC inside. The
AN never missed a beat, boy was I having fun

So I'm definitely a happy clapper!!!!! only came in last night because of
work today... but I'm off tomorrow : )))))))
That's what we like to hear.

Quote:
Thanks Gary for a wonderful product, already I dont think I could live
without.
Thank you Rob.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Wildcard Innovations
Reply With Quote