Paramount User Guide
142
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Periodic Error Curve for Bisque TCS
Turn on this checkbox to show a graph of the periodic error curve to be saved to the Bisque TCS control
system’s flash memory. Turning this checkbox on automatically hides the raw and fit graphs.
Open Tracking Log
Click this button to open a tracking log that was generated by the
Camera Add On
.
Fit
Click this button to compute and display the graph of an optimal periodic error curve for the tracking log
data.
Clear
Click this button to remove or delete the existing tracking log.
Save To Mount
Click this button to save the fit periodic error curve to the Bisque TCS.
Collecting and Using Periodic Error Tracking Data
Follow the steps below to obtain and apply the optimal periodic error correction curve for your mount.
Step 1
Collect the Tracking Log
The first step is to obtain a
tracking log
for your Paramount. A tracking log is a record of the
position of a star’s centroid over four or more revolutions of the worm, without making
any
tracking corrections to the mount’s position. (Technically, a tracking log is merely an
autoguider log without any guider corrections.)
In order to successfully acquire a tracking log, you must place a star on the detector, and that
star must stay inside a “tracking box” for ten to fifteen minutes without making any
corrections to the mount’s position (for several periods of the worm) so that the position of
the star during that time can be recorded.
When choosing a star, the best declination is 0°, where the periodic error will cause the largest
effect in sky angle, but anywhere within ±26°will be at least 90% as good. Somewhere close
to the meridian gives the highest altitude and hence the best seeing.
The Paramount,
TheSkyX Professional Edition
and the
Camera Add On
must configured to:
Turn off periodic error corrections (page 138).
Turn off or disable autoguiding (see below).
Turn off
TPoint Add On
modeling (see below).
Turn off tracking corrections from ProTrack (see below).
