Paramount ME out of the box
 


Paramount ME
The First Night Out

Basic Requirements

This document assumes you have not attempted to polar align the Paramount ME nor have you attempted to "Sync" the Paramount ME  on a star. That is to say the document is starting from scratch, out of the box so-to-speak. If you have already ""Synced" the Paramount ME on a star in an attempt to align it already it is important to clear the Sync values first by setting the default values!

Pointing the Paramount ME toward North  - a rough alignment

First things first. If you do not have a wide field finder scope or a Telerad for initial star alignment I recommend getting one. Trying to place stars in the field of view without one of these aids is much more difficult then it needs to be.

 

First make an attempt to reasonably align the Paramount ME to the celestial pole - that is due north for northern latitudes or due south in the southern. The closer you are to the pole the easier the further refinement will be. However, eyeballing will work using the method described here if you have no means of determining north accurately, i.e. you can't see the north star. This method works much better than the "Drift Method" in my opinion, especially when starting out and the alignment is way off. It takes far less time and it is quantitative unlike the drift method. Basically you know precisely what the amount of error in the polar alignment is because you are using TPoint as a tool.

 

One of my favorite methods for marking a perfect true north-south line for accurate polar alignment is the Day time Sun Transit method detailed here. It is quite simple and relies only on having a clear enough day for the sun to cast a shadow at the transit time (around noon depending on the time of year.) Just use TheSky to find out exactly when the Sun transits on any given day. This is actually more accurate than any other method to determine north when performed correctly. When pouring concrete I also prefer this reality check BEFORE making permanent installations whenever possible. Much better than using a compass and trying to compensate for magnetic deviation.

 

DO NOT use a compass to find north UNLESS you have no other alternative! Magnetic deviation from north can be off many degrees depending on where you are on Earth. Although the compass method can get you in the right direction you maybe up to several degrees off (10 or more degrees error is common)! Actually eyeballing the mount to the north star should get you closer. Reading a geological map to find the amount of magnetic deviation for your location and then trying to compensate for it simply isn't worth the time (unless you are an expert at that sort of thing).

Leveling the Paramount ME

Whenever possible first level the Paramount ME as best you can. Although using this procedure this is not required but level is always good practice and allows you to get very close using the latitude tic marks on the wedge.

 

NOTE: Software Bisque sells an optional precision bubble level machined to fit on the base of the Paramount ME for $60.00. This is not an off-the-shelf bubble level but rather a carefully selected high precision bubble level CNC machined specifically to fit the Paramount ME base. It allows very accurate leveling on the order of a few arcminutes. 5 to 10 arcminutes is quite common.

Bubble level in place

Highly recommended for field work!

To fine tune the leveling use the 4 micro levelers located on the outer edges of the base. See the Paramount ME manual for details on adjusting the Micro-Levelers.

 

WARNING!: Improper installation of the micro levelers and pier locking knobs will cause them to bind! If this happens you will not be able to separate the locking knob from the micro-leveler without performing the same procedure!

Properly installing the pier locking knobs

BEFORE you attempt to tighten the pier locking knobs which hold the Paramount ME to the pier the four micro levelers must be engaged on the top of the pier. Tighten the micro levelers first (rotating them clockwise) until they just make contact on the top of the pier. Refer to the Paramount ME manual for complete details. If this procedure is not followed the pier locking knob and micro-leveler will become bound that is stuck together and you will not be able to separate the two. Even with force!

Danger, Danger Will Robinson! - Improperly installing the pier locking knobs

If you do not follow the proper procedure above and find that the pier locking knob has become bound to the micro-leveler you will not be able to "break" them free without using the above method. I have seen too many scored micro-levelers where users have attempted to use pliers, vice grips, or plumbing wrenches in an attempt to free the locking knob from the micro-leveler! Beware.

Micro-leveler and

Pier Locking Knob in place

By leveling the Paramount ME first the elevation scale - the machined tic marks located on the wedge, (see the Paramount ME manual for details) will be as accurate as possible because the Paramount ME is machined to such high degree of accuracy. See below.

Elevation scale
Located on the Wedge

Achieving this level of accuracy is certainly not true for most if not all other commercial "goto" mounts by any means. It doesn't take much of an error in manufacturing to introduce many arcminutes of error. Assuming the Paramount ME is very near level the Altitude scale will be reasonably accurate, on the order of a few arcminutes or better. This makes for a very good initial approximate elevation. You could also use a digital protractor with a digital read out for setting the latitude as well. These sell for as low as $29.00 but they will have a limited resolution on the order of a few arcminutes but can come in handy.

 

A diagram taken from Paramount ME manual showing the location of the altitude and azimuth adjusting devices and micro-levelers. For details on how to use these calibrated knobs <------ Click here.


Click image for exactly how to use the alt/az adjustment knobs

Before employing TPoint,  as needed to make pointing corrections, the closer you are to being accurately polar aligned the better the overall pointing of the Paramount ME will be. But that is true for any equatorially mounted telescope which assumes a perfect mount that is perfectly polar aligned among many other assumptions.

Clearing the Sync back to ground zero!

The Sync command is detailed in the Paramount ME manual. If you have previously Synced the Paramount and subsequently made changes in either elevation or azimuth or both axis the sync position is no longer valid.

 

If you are not sure whether or not you have performed an initial star "Sync" you can spot check this very easily. If you have synced the Paramount ME then you are not starting with the default settings which assumes a perfect world declination 0 and hour angle 2.0. Given perfect time, a perfectly built Paramount ME, a perfect polar alignment, perfectly mounted OTA with perfectly mounted optics, etc. would result in the default settings but that is not the case. The offsets introduced by sync'ing the Paramount ME will cause a small amount of error in pointing by using this method, that is to say the pointing has already been polluted by the invalid Sync. Resetting the defaults is in order.

 

It is best to start with the default hour angle and declination values!  See below.

 

The safest thing to do is check the Home Sensor position's Hour Angle (HA) and Dec (Declination) as reported by the control system. You MUST BE connected to the telescope first! Use Telescope | More Settings to access the control system settings shown here.

Check the Hour Angle and Declination
Default values are shown
ME defaults HA: 2.0 and Dec:0.00

If the Hour Angle and/or Declination under the "Home sensor position" are anything other than the default values as shown above (Hour Angle = 2.00 and Declination = 0.00) you need to reset the Paramount ME to the default settings before applying the procedure to polar align. Easy enough. Press the "Defaults" button on the Telescope | More Settings for Paramount ME dialog shown above to "restore" the factory settings.

Note the Warning here!
All values will be reset

After pressing OK you are back to square one. Choose the option "SAVE TO FLASH" on the More Settings dialog to store these in the Paramount. At this point the Paramount ME has been restored to the factory settings and you can continue.

WARNING! If you do not see the above dialog "Reset to Defaults" it is most likely HIDDEN by another window! Use ALT+TAB to place the focus on this dialog.

Setting the date and time

It is imperative that the date and time be set as accurately as possible on the PC before you have connected to the Paramount ME. Since there are so many options now available for setting accurate PC time that is considered beyond the scope (whoops) of this document. Please see the following for more on setting accurate time on the PC.

Setting Accurate PC Time

It is ALWAYS best to spot check the date/time and latitude/longitude settings in TheSky first BEFORE connecting to the Paramount ME. That also includes checking the effect of Daylight and Time Zone settings as well!  Use Data | Location to set check and/or set your Earth based location. See below for Default Golden Colorado settings.

Settings for Golden Colorado
(Default for TheSky)

Change Accordingly!

NOTE:  Setting the wrong Daylight option can introduce 1 hour of error in time and that equals 15 degrees of positional error. Using the incorrect Time Zone will similarly introduce a time related error. You must know the correct Daylight and Time Zone values in addition to latitude and longitude!  By using the Internet as a reference you can find this information easily enough.

 

The accuracy of the latitude and longitude is critical, too. Use a GPS to get your latitude and longitude to a high degree of accuracy. If your site information is inaccurate, then TPoint's pointing accuracy will also degrade.

After you have accurately set the PC clock make sure TheSky is set to use this time as well. If TheSky is NOT using the PC clock you will be warned!  See below.

TheSky's Data | Time
Use PC Clock!

The small yellow clock icon on the Time dialog tells TheSky to use the PC time.

Telescope Link

Use TheSky's Telescope | Link Establish to connect to the Paramount ME. If you have issues connecting to the telescope please refer to the Paramount ME manual for details. If you see the following dialog regarding TheSky not configured to use the PC clock do not continue!

Wrong time warning!

 Choose NO!

DO NOT continue without setting the proper time and location settings in TheSky AND only after setting TheSky to specifically use the computer clock!

 

NOTE:  You can also have the site information displayed on the "STATUS BAR". That way you will see your location, the date and time, and even telescope coordinates and/or local sidereal time at a glance. Use the option View | Status Bar and pick the options you want displayed. Make sure the status bar is enabled View | Status Bar set to Visible.

Status Bar Options
This comes in handy

Note the status bar

 on the lower right of TheSky display

Now get in the habit of checking the site information BEFORE connecting to the mount. You just never know!
 

If the site information is correct you will be asked to home the Paramount ME. The mount cannot be slewed until after it has been homed.

 

Homing the Paramount ME

When the Paramount ME has been leveled, roughly aligned to the celestial pole, initial latitude adjustment made, AND TheSky is properly set for the correct location and time, the Sync value is set to the default values HA=2.0 and Declination = 0, then you are ready to begin the procedure.

 

After connecting to the Paramount ME you will be asked to "Home the mount" if it has not already been homed. If the mount has already been homed (i.e. by the joystick) you will not be asked to Home the mount. You cannot move the mount UNTIL it has bee homed! By "homing" the Paramount ME knows precisely where it is and this way the mount cannot drive into itself because the software limits take care of the issues.

 

Use Telescope | Link Establish to connect TheSky to the Paramount ME. If the Paramount ME has not been homed already you must do so first. Just answer yes to the homing prompt AFTER connecting to the mount.

Paramount ME has not been homed
Press "Yes" to home the Paramount ME

NOTE:  The homing position is absolute and it cannot/will not change. The telescope will be pointing to the South and West at about 40 degrees in altitude for the northern hemisphere assuming the default position of the versa plate as mounted on the DECLINATION gear.

 

If the OTA is not pointing to the South and West direction after a successful home the versa plate is not in the default position aligned with the arrow indication light coming in from the OTA on the Declination gear. For example if the OTA is pointing in the opposite direction - down towards the ground then the versa plate was simply mounted 180 degrees off! The machined arrow on the Declination gear indicates the direction of light as coming IN to the OTA. Please see the Paramount ME manual for directions on how to correctly install the versa plate and options for changing from the default position.

 

If you do not see the message requiring a HOME the mount has already been properly initialized, homed. Also, if the telescope has not been homed and you try to continue without performing the home TheSky display will indicate this. Do not continue. See below.

Telescope has not been homed

 Improper telescope initialization!

You can also force a home if need be. Telescope | Options | Find Home will force Homing or simply double click the joystick button (2 firm clicks homes the mount).

Home Position indicated
Hour angle 2 and Declination Zero
Northern Hemisphere

Slew to a bright star  near declination zero - after homing and clearing sync values

Now after the mount has been successfully homed stay on the same side of the meridian. The West side for Northern Hemisphere users. This makes finding the first star(s) a lot easier. Flipping over the meridian takes more time and will introduce additional pointing errors that have not been fixed yet by TPoint because the mount is flipped 180 degrees. The above label "HOMED!" is indicating the correct home position at declination 0 and hour angle 2.00.

 

NOTE: The homing position of the Paramount ME is a fixed permanent position and cannot change.

 

After the telescope has been successfully homed, slew it to the nearest and easiest star recognized near the MERIDIAN a position LOCATED at approximately declination zero (0). This is a lot easier than it sounds! Just use TheSky to find the target star near the proper position. See below chart highlighting target area. Any star in Orion's belt would work well in this case.

Enable the Equatorial Grid lines
Pick a bright star near the meridian at ~declination = 0

After you have slewed to the star regardless of where the star is after the slew the "key" is you must physically MOVE the Paramount ME and or pier/tripod in both altitude and azimuth to accurately center the star. This is not normal behavior it is only used for the first initial rough polar alignment.

 

You must use the azimuth adjusting knobs on the base plate (left and right) and the altitude-positioning device (up and down adjustment) to position the star centered in the field AND move the tripod legs if you have to!  Normally you would use the joystick or the TheSky's motion controls to have the Paramount ME motors move the telescope, not the mount itself. However, not in this case.

 

If you run out of travel in azimuth you will have to move the entire pier or tripod accordingly. Get as close to North as you can, re-center the azimuth nose to the center position then start again. REMEMBER you are not Syncing on any stars during this procedure but rather the mount is being physically moved to center the star!

Mapping Summary:  After installing the Paramount ME on the portable tripod or permanent pier follow these steps.

  1. Level the Paramount ME (as best you can whenever possible)

  2. Position the Paramount ME such that it is pointed towards north (as best you can)

  3. Accurately set your latitude using the wedge altitude scale (as best you can)

  4. Accurately set the PC time (as best you can)

  5. Connect to the Paramount ME (TheSky | Telescope | Link Establish)

  6. Home the Paramount ME

  7. Slew to bright star at or near declination zero

  8. Physically move the Paramount ME using the altitude and azimuth adjustments to accurately center the star.

Repeat steps 6-8 two or three times without "syncing" the Paramount ME on the star to get very good polar alignment (~less than 1/4th of a degree or even better in each axis depending on OTA alignment). By syncing the telescope you take out all of the initial alignment errors so you do not want to sync during this procedure, since it will bias the alignment in favor of a "good" polar alignment masking the error.

 

Only Sync after you are certain the Paramount has been aligned to the pole reasonably well ~1 arcminute or better in each axis. You can use TPoint to refine the Polar alignment to any degree of accuracy you want. For the most part being aligned to within 1 arcminute of the pole in both Altitude and Azimuth is sufficient.

Eyepieces/illuminated reticle eyepiece

In addition to a wide field finder scope or a Telerad (a must!) you will want a wide field eyepiece and preferably a narrower field higher power illuminated reticle cross hair eyepiece ~10 mm to 12 mm. Personally, I prefer a live video CCD camera equipped with a wide field lens as a real-time wide field finder. This works great!  By using a live video CCD camera @ 30 frames/second and a short focal length lens say a 12mm f/4 mounted piggy back on the scope and aligned to prime focus you have an ideal real-time finder scope. A list of well suited Live Video CCD cameras  can be found on the Live Video mapping page.

 

I will not recommend any brand names here but for a wide field ocular say a 30 to 40mm 1.25 inch or better yet a 2 inch equivalent works very well. This will give you a very large field making find stars very easy, especially when you are a nearly aligned to the pole!  When the polar alignment is very good don't be surprised if the star slewed to falls within your field of view!

 

NOTE:  After you have mastered this routine you will not need ANY eyepieces! I am speaking from experience here. Several times recently while on the road I did not have any eyepieces with me to setup the Paramount ME!

Example data demonstrating how well this method actually works!

The following example was using a customer's Paramount ME that was setup for star testing to evaluate the periodic error (ended up at 4 arcseconds of error before periodic error correction was employed). The entire setup was completely portable although AC was used for power in this case because it was there to be had ;). The portable pier used was the pricey but well worth it in my opinion Particle Wave Technologies Monolith pier. I am not aware of a stronger lighter weight portable pier for the Paramount, and it comes in red!

 

After using the procedure described here I was able to start out with a polar alignment that was off by 7 arcminutes in azimuth and 3 arcminutes in elevation.! How do I know, because TPoint tells me so! And actually being off by less than 1/4 of a degree starting from scratch is nothing to sneeze at!

 

Note: I was using a 40mm very wide field ocular and focal reducer at first. Had I used a higher power ocular with a fixed cross hair and no reducer the alignment would have been even better. I prefer the wider field when starting out because it makes finding the stars easier when the mount has not been polar aligned.

 

Because this Paramount ME has a bubble level installed and the pier also has bubble levels getting the Paramount level to within a few arcminutes was easy enough. When that is done the latitude tic marks on the wedge are fairly accurate (~5 arcminutes or better) and not before being level. However, you need not be too concerned with this just get as close as you can to your elevation then use the slew to star at DECLINATION ZERO method for initial rough alignment.

 

After clearing the customer's Sync values putting the mount to the default settings I was ready to go. The Paramount ME was then homed, slewed to a bright easily identified star very near DECLINATION ZERO. Then the  Paramount was physically moved in both azimuth and elevation to accurately center the star in a 40mm TeleVue ocular. Again, the Particle Wave Technologies Monolith pier is highly recommended for portable use since it makes rotating the Paramount ME in azimuth (360 degrees rotation!) quite simple. For initial polar alignment this is very nice feature.

 

Although finding the very first star is a bit tricky to center because changing one axis will effect the other, it doesn't take long because the Paramount ME's azimuth and altitude adjustment knobs are a dream to use. At the point where the star was approximately centered in the wide field 40mm ocular I "Synced" the star in TheSky and then mapped 14 stars using TPoint. After adding several new terms using TPoint's Suggest New Terms I saw the above stated 7 arcminutes in Azimuth. and 3 arcminutes error in Elevation. I then made the physical adjustments to the Paramount ME based in TPoint's reported polar miss alignment using the calibrated altitude and azimuth adjustment knobs accordingly and then started the procedure again.

One TPoint assisted polar alignment adjustment! Wow!

Again to start the procedure the now polluted Sync values were cleared, the Paramount ME was homed, then the mount was slewed to another bright star near declination zero. The star was synced on. I then mapped several stars in close proximity to the sync position using a live video camera and a battery powered small LCD screen. Of course a cross haired ocular can be used in lieu of live video as well. In fact the ocular will most likely have a much larger field of view. It is best to use a cross hair ocular for accurate centering.

 

Now, all stars slewed to within a few degrees of the sync position were already falling in the VERY small 6 by 6 arcminute video field of view! This makes mapping additional stars a breeze. After a total of 20 stars were mapped on both sides of the meridian I checked TPoint's polar alignment data again. The following values below were reported after adding several additional terms and after making only one single TPoint assisted polar adjustment to the Paramount.

 

So physically there were actually only two polar alignment adjustments made to the Paramount ME. The first the rough adjustment using a star at DEC = 0 and then only one additional adjustment using TPoint mapping 14 stars on only ONE side of the meridian!  Why not map on both sides? There is no need to and it takes a lot longer to flip and map the opposite side! Save both side mapping for after the polar alignment is done.

The final data - 2 hours setup time including installing the OTA on the mount!

Northern Hemisphere
************* AZIMUTH ************
MA: -34 seconds (-0.6 minutes).
Rotate axis East (clockwise).
For latitude 39.75°, the azimuth adjustment is 0.7 minutes.
Sigma=18.735

************* ALTITUDE ************
ME: -48 seconds (-0.8 minutes).
The polar axis should be lowered -48 seconds (-0.8 minutes).
Sigma=27.879

Granted I have setup Paramount's on the order of several hundred times or more literally but personally I have yet to find a faster more efficient/quantitative method for the initial polar alignment of the Paramount ME. This works equally well for permanent installations too!

My polar alignment error is way off more like a degree!

If you find that your polar alignment numbers are way off - say on the order of a degree in error or more after carefully performing the above procedure the most likely cause of the error is the mounting of the OTA on the Paramount! A few thousandths of an inch in miss alignment mechanically will introduce pointing errors on the order of arcminutes!

 

You can fully trust the TPoint numbers assuming the procedure was in fact followed and you have added some additional terms. At that point even if you have 1 degree of error being shown it is perfectly safe to make a 1 degree polar alignment adjustment. When you have enough TPoint data collected say 20 to 30 stars you will see exactly where the error lies by evaluating the data. Again, more often than not it is a large amount of error in orthogonality - the relationship between the Versa-Plate and the OTA's alignment.

Daytime polar aligning?

A resounding yes!  Why not?  Keep in mind that bright stars are harder to see in the daytime and an infinity focus is critical!  You cannot see the stars until you have a near perfect focus!

 

If possible use the Transit time of the Sun on any given clear day to make a perfect North - South line. <-- Click here for details on exactly how this is done.

 

To obtain ~infinite focus you can use something at a distance on the Earth (as far away as possible) to get close. Better yet use the Moon if it is visible! Or project the Sun onto a white piece of paper and focus the edge of the Sun or any Sun spots if visible by inspecting the projection. See Sun Warning below!  Sun spots will yield a perfect infinity focus.

Sun Warning! - Blinded by the light!

If you wish to use the Sun it too can be used for aligning provided you have the proper solar filter or you project the solar image on to something else like a piece of white paper of telescope OTA cover. If unsure regarding this DO NOT USE THE SUN! And NEVER look through any scope at the Sun WITHOUT the proper filter or permanent irreversible eye damage can occur!

 

At the point where you can home the Paramount ME (even with a power down or power loss), slew to a bright star and it falls within your field of view before syncing you are done with the rough alignment. At that point center the first star as accurately as possible, Sync the Paramount ME, insert a TPoint model in TheSky, and finally start the TPoint aided polar alignment procedure.