A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Astronomy and Astrophysics » Amateur Astronomy
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

hook and crook alignment: any mention?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old January 7th 05, 12:26 AM
Brian Tung
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default hook and crook alignment: any mention?

About a year ago, Mark Gingrich posted here about a new method of
doing polar alignment that was supposed to be as accurate as drift
alignment, yet took only three minutes or so. Allegedly, it was
going to be revealed at the July Astronomical League convention.
Was it?

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt
  #2  
Old January 7th 05, 10:46 PM
Mark Gingrich
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Brian Tung wrote:

About a year ago, Mark Gingrich posted here about a new method of
doing polar alignment that was supposed to be as accurate as drift
alignment, yet took only three minutes or so. ...


Oh my. I recollect claiming that polar alignment could be completed,
with practice, in under ten minutes, with each iteration of the
measurement sequence taking about three minutes.


... Allegedly, it was going to be revealed at the July Astronomical
League convention. Was it?


Some 4.5 months prior to the convention, I made a formal request to give
a 15-minute presentation on the hook-and-crook method. Three months
later, not having heard yeah or nay from the convention's speakers
committee (which lead me to presume that my proposal was not accepted),
I agreed to an employment assignment that would prevent my attending the
AL shindig. As it turned out, an invitation to speak finally did arrive
just three scant weeks before the convention opened -- alas, way too
late for me to renegotiate my work commitment. Hence my talk was never
given.

For several years now, off and on, I've been fiddling with this new polar
alignment scheme, trying out variations of the central idea to see if
it's possible to shave still more time from the process. The scheduling
of last year's AL convention -- one that would take place nearly in my
own backyard -- seemed like a good excuse to end the tinkering phase and
push the damn thing out the door. But since I couldn't attend, I've
gone back to tinkering with it some more. (I readily confess to suffering
from "engineer's disease"; I'll putter around with something for weeks
if I believe I can squeeze another 10% improvement out of it.)

Indeed, I've been exploring of late a way to make the process more robust
against mistakes, though at the cost of a slight increase in complexity.
I'd like my beta testers to evaluate this revised approach for awhile.
After I get their feedback, I'll then decide whether or not it is time to
go public with the details.

--
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Mark Gingrich San Leandro, California
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:03 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.