motorized equatorial mount tracking

Hi all,
I'm interested in tracking accuracies found in high-end off-the-shelf
telescope mounts, principally equatorial mounts. Are there any
knock-your-socks-off winners in this field? I've seen reference to high
performance by Takahashi, but am also interested in any positive experiences
with Celestron, Meade, Konus, Lomo, etc...I plan to utilize TPoint also, in
the hopes of increasing accuracy even further...

On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 10:46:30 -0500, "John Aldridge" wrote:

Hi all,
I'm interested in tracking accuracies found in high-end off-the-shelf
telescope mounts, principally equatorial mounts. Are there any
knock-your-socks-off winners in this field? I've seen reference to high
performance by Takahashi, but am also interested in any positive experiences
with Celestron, Meade, Konus, Lomo, etc...I plan to utilize TPoint also, in
the hopes of increasing accuracy even further...

The hands down winner at this point is probably the (Software Bisque) Paramount.
Its mechanical system is as good as or better than any others, and its control
system is certainly the most sophisticated, with complex mount modeling
integrated into the tracking system (that is, TPoint, but utilized for tracking,
not just pointing). This is the same type of control system used by all large
professional telescopes. I'm not aware of other control systems in this class of
mounts that model the tracking in this way.

_________________________________________________

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

On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 10:46:30 -0500, "John Aldridge" wrote:

Hi all,
I'm interested in tracking accuracies found in high-end off-the-shelf
telescope mounts, principally equatorial mounts. Are there any
knock-your-socks-off winners in this field? I've seen reference to high
performance by Takahashi, but am also interested in any positive experiences
with Celestron, Meade, Konus, Lomo, etc...I plan to utilize TPoint also, in
the hopes of increasing accuracy even further...

The hands down winner at this point is probably the (Software Bisque) Paramount.
Its mechanical system is as good as or better than any others, and its control
system is certainly the most sophisticated, with complex mount modeling
integrated into the tracking system (that is, TPoint, but utilized for tracking,
not just pointing). This is the same type of control system used by all large
professional telescopes. I'm not aware of other control systems in this class of
mounts that model the tracking in this way.

_________________________________________________

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

From the preliminary reading I've done, TPoint seems to advertise
straightforward pointing accuracies of 2 arcminutes, with 1-arcsecond
accuracies utilizing 'robust, professional' systems. Any idea what class
telescope qualifies as robust and professional? We have a cots Celestron
CGE1400 at our disposal, and I'm curious as to what limit of pointing and
tracking performance to expect from it, after utilizing TPoint. We may be in
the market for a mount like the Paramount, if
we can quantify somehow what the improvement in both pointing and tracking
may be from our current equipment.

John A.

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 10:46:30 -0500, "John Aldridge"
wrote:

Hi all,
I'm interested in tracking accuracies found in high-end off-the-shelf
telescope mounts, principally equatorial mounts. Are there any
knock-your-socks-off winners in this field? I've seen reference to high
performance by Takahashi, but am also interested in any positive
experiences
with Celestron, Meade, Konus, Lomo, etc...I plan to utilize TPoint also,
in
the hopes of increasing accuracy even further...

The hands down winner at this point is probably the (Software Bisque)
Paramount.
Its mechanical system is as good as or better than any others, and its
control
system is certainly the most sophisticated, with complex mount modeling
integrated into the tracking system (that is, TPoint, but utilized for
tracking,
not just pointing). This is the same type of control system used by all
large
professional telescopes. I'm not aware of other control systems in this
class of
mounts that model the tracking in this way.

_________________________________________________

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

From the preliminary reading I've done, TPoint seems to advertise
straightforward pointing accuracies of 2 arcminutes, with 1-arcsecond
accuracies utilizing 'robust, professional' systems. Any idea what class
telescope qualifies as robust and professional? We have a cots Celestron
CGE1400 at our disposal, and I'm curious as to what limit of pointing and
tracking performance to expect from it, after utilizing TPoint. We may be in
the market for a mount like the Paramount, if
we can quantify somehow what the improvement in both pointing and tracking
may be from our current equipment.

John A.

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 10:46:30 -0500, "John Aldridge"
wrote:

Hi all,
I'm interested in tracking accuracies found in high-end off-the-shelf
telescope mounts, principally equatorial mounts. Are there any
knock-your-socks-off winners in this field? I've seen reference to high
performance by Takahashi, but am also interested in any positive
experiences
with Celestron, Meade, Konus, Lomo, etc...I plan to utilize TPoint also,
in
the hopes of increasing accuracy even further...

The hands down winner at this point is probably the (Software Bisque)
Paramount.
Its mechanical system is as good as or better than any others, and its
control
system is certainly the most sophisticated, with complex mount modeling
integrated into the tracking system (that is, TPoint, but utilized for
tracking,
not just pointing). This is the same type of control system used by all
large
professional telescopes. I'm not aware of other control systems in this
class of
mounts that model the tracking in this way.

_________________________________________________

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

I'm not aware of other control systems in thisclass of mounts that model the
tracking in this way.

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory

You may not be aware, but there are a number of software packages now available
that can model any equatorial mount in a similar manner. You are not
constrained any more to one mount maker if you are looking at computer enhanced
pointing and tracking. Today you can control your MI, Losmandy, AP, Tak and
other mounts with very accurate smart software.

In our case, Astro-Physics has a 1200 GTO mount installed with C14 telescope at
the ISSAT facility. We are also supplying 1200 GTO mounts to SLOOH, a group
which is setting up remote telescopes in the Canary Islands. We also have three
900 mounts with C11 telescopes now being remotely operated 24 hours a day by a
French research team in Antarctica near the south pole. All these scopes are
using a variety of commercial and custom software for pointing and tracking
control.

Roland Christen

I'm not aware of other control systems in thisclass of mounts that model the
tracking in this way.

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory

You may not be aware, but there are a number of software packages now available
that can model any equatorial mount in a similar manner. You are not
constrained any more to one mount maker if you are looking at computer enhanced
pointing and tracking. Today you can control your MI, Losmandy, AP, Tak and
other mounts with very accurate smart software.

In our case, Astro-Physics has a 1200 GTO mount installed with C14 telescope at
the ISSAT facility. We are also supplying 1200 GTO mounts to SLOOH, a group
which is setting up remote telescopes in the Canary Islands. We also have three
900 mounts with C11 telescopes now being remotely operated 24 hours a day by a
French research team in Antarctica near the south pole. All these scopes are
using a variety of commercial and custom software for pointing and tracking
control.

Roland Christen