Quote:
Originally Posted by White Rabbit
Hi Guys.
Are there any alternatives out there?
Thanks
Sandy
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Hi Sandy,
From a purely technical perspective, TPOINT is a far more capable package.
For example, TPOINT provides for a richer set of error terms including many important
ones that MaxPoint lacks that are nevertheless commonly salient on many
amateur mounts.
TPOINT's highly flexible graphing capability is also valuable at identifying
often subtle phenomena that otherwise would be buried in the noise.
TPOINT has a prestigious pedigree. It's developer, Patrick Wallace, is the
world's leading authority on telescope pointing - no if's but's or maybe's - and
was originally developed at the Anglo Australian Observatory for use on the 3.8m AAT.
It is the reason why that telescope is still possibly the world's best pointing
telescope. It has been analyzed so throughly and in fact you can discover a few
obscure error terms in TPAS that are just applicable to the AAT.
Since then, TPOINT is the pointing analysis tool of choice on all the world's
professional telescopes, including the Gemini's, Kecks and VLT. Patrick Wallace
is the often employed as a consultant to observatories such as these to
assist with their pointing.
It is a serious tool, particularly in the hands of someone versed in its use.
TPOINT can be used standalone without a copy of TheSky but TheSky makes
the data gathering process all the easier and in particular when combined with
an automapper.
I am familiar with both packages and would recommend TPOINT in a heartbeat.
By the way, Argo Navis's TPAS borrows the nomenclature from TPOINT for the
names of error terms and both TPOINT and TPAS will give nearly identical results
when the same error terms are used - as they should.
Best regards
Gary
Mt Kuring-Gai