SB T-Point--Need for Mechanical Adjustments

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:54:59 GMT, Wayne Watson wrote:

I'm about to use the Software Bisque's (SB) T-Point. A quick review of the manual does not reveal
any need to do any mechanical adjustments. Is that true? Is the model produced adequate to make on
the fly adjustments between TheSky and the scope. I guess a good shot at a rough polar alignment is
good enough.

TPoint will correct for polar misalignment and give you superb goto accuracy.
But unless you are using a Paramount, it doesn't correct tracking, just initial
pointing. That means if you are doing imaging, or need the object to stay in the
EP for a long time, you still want good polar alignment. But TPoint will tell
you how far off you are, which makes it an excellent way to align your scope.
Faster and simpler than drift alignment, IMO.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Thanks. Here's the question. Will TPoint request that you make mechanical adjustments as you map stars,
or even after the mapping is complete? More simply, does it ever ask you to make adjustments?

Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:54:59 GMT, Wayne Watson wrote:

I'm about to use the Software Bisque's (SB) T-Point. A quick review of the manual does not reveal
any need to do any mechanical adjustments. Is that true? Is the model produced adequate to make on
the fly adjustments between TheSky and the scope. I guess a good shot at a rough polar alignment is
good enough.

TPoint will correct for polar misalignment and give you superb goto accuracy.
But unless you are using a Paramount, it doesn't correct tracking, just initial
pointing. That means if you are doing imaging, or need the object to stay in the
EP for a long time, you still want good polar alignment. But TPoint will tell
you how far off you are, which makes it an excellent way to align your scope.
Faster and simpler than drift alignment, IMO.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

--
Wayne T. Watson (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet, Nevada City, CA)
-- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr
39° 8' 0" N, 121° 1' 0" W

"...those of us alive today have about 625 times more lead in our
blood than people did a century ago." ... "many or our large
corporations are still making it (CFCs) in their plants overseas."
From Bill Bryson's A Brief History of Nearly Everything

Web Page: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews
Imaginarium Museum: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews/imaginarium.html

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 17:55:42 GMT, Wayne Watson wrote:

Thanks. Here's the question. Will TPoint request that you make mechanical adjustments as you map stars,
or even after the mapping is complete? More simply, does it ever ask you to make adjustments?

No. Assuming you are using TPoint in its normal Software Bisque configuration,
as a function within TheSky, all the mapping is completely transparent to you.
You enter coordinates or otherwise select where you want the scope to go, and
hit slew. TheSky passes those coordinates to TPoint, which corrects them and
passes them back to TheSky, which sends them to the telescope.

Note that the position reported by TheSky will differ from that shown on the
hand paddle, and you can't use the hand paddle for precise goto.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Good. I like it. Thanks.

Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 17:55:42 GMT, Wayne Watson wrote:

Thanks. Here's the question. Will TPoint request that you make mechanical adjustments as you map stars,
or even after the mapping is complete? More simply, does it ever ask you to make adjustments?

No. Assuming you are using TPoint in its normal Software Bisque configuration,
as a function within TheSky, all the mapping is completely transparent to you.
You enter coordinates or otherwise select where you want the scope to go, and
hit slew. TheSky passes those coordinates to TPoint, which corrects them and
passes them back to TheSky, which sends them to the telescope.

Note that the position reported by TheSky will differ from that shown on the
hand paddle, and you can't use the hand paddle for precise goto.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

--
Wayne T. Watson (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet, Nevada City, CA)
-- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr
39° 8' 0" N, 121° 1' 0" W

"...those of us alive today have about 625 times more lead in our
blood than people did a century ago." ... "many or our large
corporations are still making it (CFCs) in their plants overseas."
From Bill Bryson's A Brief History of Nearly Everything

Web Page: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews
Imaginarium Museum: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews/imaginarium.html