PME advice

[gregbradley]

A couple of questions about the PME.

Firstly, is there some timer you can download or use somewhere so the mount shuts down at a certain point in time? That way I can set it to image 4 hours of something and go to bed?

I suppose CCDware has something.

Also, Protrack. I imagine you have to load your Tpoint model before it will work. How do you do that?

Another thing.

Tpoint models. How do you make one?

This is what I think you do:

1. You slew to a star and centre it in the image.
2. You put in the star RA and Dec numbers from the Sky where the object is.
3. You click synch and then you enter the numbers of the RA and Dec on the synch box that shows up as the scope RA and Dec.
4. You enter the altitude, Latitude and details in the data parameters box.

Anything else?

Greg.

[rally]

Greg,

Have you read the manual ?
If not, RTF - I sent you a PDF
Its pretty much step by step.

Protrack uses the current Tpoint model - just enable it

Its all done 100% within TheSky6
Its a wee bit convoluted - more so to remove your mapped lines from TheSky's screen display later ! (see page 28 Point6)

You must enable Tpoint modelling in the telescope setup options - Tick the box.

Mapping (once you have created a new Tpoint object) is done from the Object Information Dialog box - select the star that Telescope is physically centred on and click on the Red Cross Hairs icon.

Always delete the old model and start a new one if you are playing or adjusting - at least until you know what you are doing. It will warn you if you are trying to sync or map into an existing model.

From Page 11

1. Install TheSky (version 5.00.014 or later). To obtain the latest versions of all Software Bisque software, visit http://www.bisque.com/download.
2. Install TPoint and run it once by clicking Start | All Programs (or | Programs on earlier operating systems) | Software Bisque | TPoint | TPoint Telescope Pointing Analysis Software (you must run it once to perform system-related initialization).
3. From TheSky, establish a link to the telescope.
4. From TheSky, click Edit | Insert New Object.
5. From the Object Type list, select TPoint model.
6. Begin collecting mapping data (see page 19 for details).


From page 19

When TheSky and TPoint are installed on your computer, each program is registered with Windows. This allows programs to “find each other” when needed. TheSky and TPoint share data during the mapping process, and when slew commands are issued from TheSky6.
To begin mapping, start TheSky and establish a link with the telescope by clicking Telescope | Link | Establish.
Figure 9: Telescope Setup dialog box (TheSky).
Make sure to check the Enable TheSky Modeling option on the Telescope Setup dialog box.
Next, perform any initialization or synchronization required by the telescope’s control system.
Once communication is established between TheSky and the telescope, you are ready to start mapping. You must map at least six points before TPoint is able perform a “fit” and begin to improve the pointing of the telescope. You should notice considerable improvement in pointing after six mapping points are collected. If you are using a German equatorial mount, continue mapping on one side of the meridian initially, since polar misalignment and errors dues to non-orthogonalities can make locating stars “on the other side of the meridian” difficult until a more thorough
model is established.
See Using TPoint to Quantify Polar Alignment on page 27 for more information.

See Page 27 for Polar Alignment verification

Thats about as concise as I can make it !
Once you have done it a couple of times its like riding a bike

Rally

[Doomsayer]

This Tpoint tutorial is a big improvement over earlier ones.
http://www.bisque.com/sc/media/p/29538.aspx
you may need to be logged in to the SB site to download. This tutorial assumes you know how to load a Tpoint model into theSky and do a mapping run.

If you don't use the Tpoint terms properly the applied Tpoint model can degrade some features such as pointing, polar alginemtn fit, Protrack, etc where the model is very important. You need at least 200 points mapped with proper terms before considering Protrack.

CCDautopilot, ACP (DC3 Dreams), CCD commander are the main automation apps which will allow you to acquire targets, capture and park the scope, close the roof etc automatically.

As said earlier - RTFM - the PME manual is much improved these days.

[rally]

I think for starters lets just get 6 points mapped on his first couple of runs and fine tune his polar alignment down to a few arc secs - even an arc minute or two !

Then he can worry about 10-20 points for a slightly better model and then later worry about mapping 200 points with AAG and much later start messing with adding new terms for his particular system etc

[gregbradley]

Thanks very much for that data. I only had the tutorial and it assumes knowledge of how to enter the data, what is trying to be achieved etc.

The system is humming along nicely for now. I am getting round stars at 10 and 20 mins. They could be a bit rounder but it would be a minor improvement.

I have a 6 point Tpoint model from last night. It gave a small correction to the polar alignment which I did.

MMOAG is working fine, so is the Lodestar. I'll try the MMOAG out with the ST402 as well to see which is better.

The Lodestar has a white horizontal line across the image near the very top of the image. Sometimes the software confuses that with a bright star - ie. callibration. I have to use subframes to stop that. Otherwise the Lodestar is very very good and would appear to be only slightly less sensitive than the St402 (perhaps 75%) but seems sharper, better resolution which seems to help with autoguiding.

Greg.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by rally

Greg,

Have you read the manual ?
If not, RTF.

Rally

Exactly, seesh Greg its all there .

It may be well worth you getting the free AAG Automapper (google it), ,makes mapping a breeze, but you must have pinpoint, worth having anyway for other apps. And read RTF for that too, ok, lazy sod

[gregbradley]

Laugh it up Fred

Yes the correct tutorial is well written. I only had the advanced tutorial which skipped the basics.

I have started building a model. Perhaps tonight. Hard to do when its
all working and only the first few hours of the night are dark before the moon rises. My system is working well as-is so its a bit of a luxury at this point. Be nice to at least get the 6 point model.

Maybe when the moon is up is a good time.

Greg.