Paramount MX User Guide
21 |
P a g e
If the optical tube assembly is not pointing to the home position, or if the telescope cross hairs in the
TheSkyX Professional Edition
indicate that the home position is anywhere else (by more than a few
arcminutes or so), then one or more is the case:
•
TheSkyX Professional Edition
is not configured correctly for your location.
•
The Versa-Plate is mounted in the wide configuration (page 42).
•
The Versa-Plate is mounted 180 degrees off.
Before continuing, make sure that
TheSkyX Professional Edition’s
location, date, time, time zone and
Daylight Saving Option are correct, and that the Versa-Plate is mounted in the correct orientation before
proceeding.
Best Synchronization Practices
•
Do not synchronize on stars near the celestial pole
– The celestial pole represents a point of
“singularity” on the celestial sphere. Never synchronize on Polaris (in the northern hemisphere)
or any star above 60 degrees
declination
or so.
•
Use bright stars
– Fainter stars can be hard to identify, making synchronization more difficult.
Step by Step Synchronization
The following procedure ensures that your first time synchronization will be correct. See “Starting
Synchronization Over” on page 24 to restore the default settings if necessary.
1.
Accurately set the computer’s clock. Accurate time is crucial for consistent, accurate pointing.
Consider using an internet time server or a GPS-based clock to regularly update your computer’s
clock. See “Maintaining Accurate Time” on page 24 for more information.
2.
Choose the
Location
command from the Input menu to set the observing site’s latitude,
longitude, time zone and Daylight Saving option if necessary.
Consider using a GPS to obtain your site’s latitude and longitude, and make sure the
time zone value and daylight saving options are correct for your location.
•
Errors in latitude “appear” to TPoint as a vertical misalignment in the polar axis,
and will pollute the TPoint model.
•
If your time zone is off by one hour or more, then pointing will be off by the
same amount.
•
If the wrong Daylight Saving Option is selected, then time will be off by an hour
(or more) and the mount will not slew to the correct position.
3.
Choose the
Connect
command from the
Telescope
menu.
4.
Choose the
Find Home
command from the
Start Up
pop-up menu on the
Telescope
window.
5.
Locate an easily identifiable, bright star to use for synchronization.
