JMI Telescopes MAX Computer User's Manual
Contents
1. ccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 15 QUICK Start GUISA Back Cover INTRODUCTION This manual covers the NGC MAX NGC miniMAX and NGC microMAX computer units Sections which cover material not common to all of these units are labeled with the models they apply to The MAX family of computers are revolutionary computerized digital setting circle units with an internal database of hundreds to thousands of astronomical objects After a simple alignment process pointing your telescope at any two celestial objects such as bright stars the computer will operate as a high resolution real time display of the Right Ascension and Declination of your telescope Due to the internal database of galaxies clusters nebulae stars quasars black holes and planets the computer can quickly guide both the novice and expert viewer alike to almost any object desired Instead of spending the majority of your viewing session attempting to locate objects you can now be guided from object to object in seconds The MAX computer utilizes an 8 character 16 on the NGC MAX dot matrix LED display with brightness control and four large push buttons for the user interface All functions including selection of any one of the internal objects can be accomplished easily in a matter of seconds with very little practice After a brief familiarization period most users will be able to perform all operations by touch The NGC MAX s2. each of these modes and how to use them For reference the UP and DOWN buttons scroll through options whether choosing a mode star name catalog number or other option and the ENTER button selects the currently displayed option The MODE button is solely for returning to the mode level to permit selection of a new mode It is recommended that the new user study each of the following mode descriptions with the MAX computer in hand ALIGN STAR or STAR FIX Upon entering this mode the display will read ALIGN ACHERNAR or similar When connected to your telescope s encoders you would need to select one of the Page 7 alignment stars chosen with the UP DOWN buttons and then center that star in your telescope s eyepiece With the chosen star centered as well as possible in your telescope s eyepiece not the finder scope press the ENTER button to align the MAX computer on that star Never use Polaris as an alignment star for an Equatorial mount and never use a star near Zenith for an Alt Az mount Any delay in pressing the ENTER button might allow the star to drift slightly from center thereby decreasing the accuracy of your alignment try to keep this delay as small as possible with five seconds or less being about right For increased accuracy during the alignment process it is recommended that a short focal length high power eyepiece be used If you should accidentally press the ENTER button and align the MAX computer b
3. n ti ai he serial port ngular form ngle than 360 ter than 360 ess Makes sure angle is grea Makes sure sure Azimu uts angle i Altitude th is gre na 2 dec is within 180 to 180 ater than zero imal place formal Temporarily adds 1 ts looking for decimal pi eading zeros ace in angle decimal found marks wi Adds decin na th variable A ue if absen val gle in proper format Makes ets th Adds Page 15 e sign as plus or n sign to the Altitude angl e 310 or 330 sure second decimal place is presen ninus for angle e only Appendix E MAX Quick Start Guide NOTE For best results the following steps should be followed while using the telescope under actual observing conditions Simulated star alignments may be used for the purpose of familiarizing yourself with the operation of the computer however the user should be aware that under these conditions the coordinate display and GUIDE mode will behave unpredictably 1 Turn unit ON A message will appear briefly 2 Use the DIM button to set the brightness of the LED display as desired If at any time during these steps a single bright asterisk is shown on your display it is an indication of an encoder error It can also be indicated by the display showing ENCODER ERROR This can be caused by turning the telescope too rapidly or a bad electrical connection in
4. RX 3 GRN RX 3 YEL TX 4 RED GRN 5 RED GND 7 RED GND 5 YEL TX 8 RED GND 123 45 123 45 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 6 78 9 14 15 16 17 18 29 20 21 22 23 24 25 Solder side of connectors Page 14 Appendix D Sample BASIC Program Listing The following program listing has been tested on numerous MS DOS compatible computers using both GW BASIC and Q BASIC While all efforts have been made to ensure error free code the user is solely responsible for the accurate entry and operation of this program 100 110 120 130 140 150 VKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK k This BAS C program reads and displ ER Fr k the RS 232C serial Copyright 1996 2005 by Jim s Mobil port of the e ays encoder positions directly JMI NGC MAX v Inc k k k k 3 50 or later xk VKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKHK ENC 1 4096 160 ENC 0 4000 170 180 PORTS COM1 NT Mak CLS PRI 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 KS INKEYS IF KS CHRS OPEN PORTS D ps P KS INK IF KS CHRS IF P TH F RI EYS 270 F LEN PS lt 8 280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 500 510 520 AZMS L ALTS MI A VAL AZMS RAS AS A
5. and Dec Declination 26 degrees 42 minutes the display would read NGC MAX R 12h36 D 26 42 miniMAX microMAX 1236 264 The MAX computer uses epoch 2000 0 coordinates Because the computer sees all stars and objects relative to each other rather than to an Earth based coordinate system the Earth s precession is not a factor in the pointing accuracy of the MAX computer Only the reported R A and Dec are affected by precession therefore any user defined objects should be entered with epoch 2000 0 coordinates The ENTER button can be pressed any time during the RA DEC mode to display a star chart number for that region of sky The NGC MAX can display information for either the Sky Atlas 2000 0 or Uranometria charts The NGC miniMAX and NGC microMAX units only display Sky Atlas 2000 0 chart numbers CATALOG The MAX computers have several catalogs in memory Model P NGC microMAX 90 110 28 17 NGC miniMAX 80 110 2745 960 9 28 86 NGC MAX 928 110 7840 2852 9 28 386 Page 8 ST Unique compilation of most of the brighter and interesting stars including many doubles M Messier catalog deep sky NGC Revised New General Catalog deep sky Ic Index Catalog deep sky Planets Eight major planets and the Sun alias DATE NEW _ User definable list of object coordinates NS DS Unique compilation of non stellar deep sky objects The user definable list contains the coordinates of any objects you wish and can only be
6. changed by writing new information over the old In other words even without a battery the list is retained within the MAX computer until you want to change it Upon entering the CATALOG mode use the UP DOWN buttons to select which catalog you wish to use and then press ENTER You will now be permitted to define the specific catalog number 2 4 digits depending on the catalog one digit at a time or planet name This is accomplished through a process similar to setting a digital watch Use the UP DOWN buttons to define each digit then ENTER to continue on to the next If your desired number is of fewer digits than requested you will need to use preceding zeros e g for M1 you would enter MO 01 After ENTERing the last digit the coordinates for that object will be displayed similar to the following M001 0534 220 With the exception of the planets and user defined NEW objects you may now press ENTER once more to see a description of the object scroll across the screen For our above example this would appear as follows M001 MAG 8 4 SIZE 5 8 CRAB NEBULA SUPERNOVA REMNANT TAURUS NEBULA SA 05 The descriptions fit a common format which is normally self explanatory This format is object catalog and number magnitude size in minutes unless followed by common name if applicable constellation object type and Sky Atlas 2000 0 or Uranometria chart number The smaller NGC microMAX database does not inclu
7. one half degree of zero 40 5 Any value greater than this should be considered an error indication It is possible to have a perfect warp factor and still have very poor pointing accuracy if one or both of the encoders is appearing to run the opposite direction If this is experienced see the Troubleshooting Guide on page 5 If the warp factor is considerable you should confirm that the star you are pointing at is indeed the one selected in the MAX computer For indoor familiarization the alignment process may be simulated to allow access to additional modes attempting to select some modes before the alignment process has been completed will result ina STAR SIGHTINGS ARE REQUIRED message RA DEC This mode displays the Right Ascension and Declination coordinates of the direction the telescope is currently pointed By use of an internal sidereal clock the MAX computer will work properly with or without a clock drive running This means that users not using a clock drive will be able to watch the Right Ascension slowly increase with time as the Earth rotates The Right Ascension is displayed in the format HHMM hours and minutes and the Declination is in the format DDTT plus or minus degrees and tens of arc minutes Please note that the Declination is to tens of minutes not tenths of a degree thus the digits 6 9 never appear in the last column With the telescope pointed at R A Right Ascension 12 hours 36 minutes
8. serial interface allows communication with external devices opening the door to almost endless possibilities One application of this technology is our popular SGT MAX setup This system allows users with a personal computer to install a real time link between their telescope and desktop planetarium software such as THESKY by Software Bisque What it Does The MAX computer will guide the user to celestial objects by indicating the direction and angular separation for each axis of the telescope mount When guiding to the Orion Nebula the display might show the following M042 59 gt Sit To break this down M042 represents Messier catalog number 42 the designation for the Great Orion Nebula 59 indicates the object is 59 to the right and 51 indicates the object is 51 up As the telescope is moved in the directions indicated these numbers will decrease toward zero at which point the telescope is pointed at the desired object What it Doesn t Do The MAX computer cannot physically move the telescope The user will normally need to move the telescope by hand although some telescopes have slewing motors which can Page 4 accomplish this task Some Go To telescopes can be software controlled using the SGT MAX system GETTING STARTED The first step in preparing to use your MAX computer is to install the optical encoders onto the axes of your telescope If purchased with one or more sets of encoder mountings fr
9. the timer mode ENCODER This mode is primarily used for verifying proper operation of the encoders The encoder angles in whole degrees relative to their startup positions is shown For equatorial mounts the first axis is Right Ascension and the second Declination for Alt Az mounts the first axis is Azimuth the second Altitude For more information on using this mode to test the performance of your encoders see the Encoder Test section beginning on page 4 POLAR NGC miniMAX and NGC MAX Although the MAX computer can be used without it having your telescope polar aligned is desirable in many cases The accuracy of a clock drive depends upon this alignment for visual and especially photographic purposes The POLAR mode is used to achieve a highly accurate polar alignment Before using this mode you must change your setup to reflect either an EP Equatorial Polar aligned or GP German Polar aligned mount See SETUP below for help on doing this If you do not do so upon attempting to enter this mode nothing will happen or you will see ONLY FOR EP GP Once you have ENTERed the POLAR ALIGN mode use the UP and DOWN buttons to choose a reference star by name from the list of 30 to 40 The star you choose should be between 60 and 120 from the pole with those near the celestial equator being best Do not press any more buttons yet With your mount at least roughly on the pole the closer you are to begin wit
10. times as desired With each iteration of the process your telescope s polar alignment should become more and more accurate Two or three iterations should be sufficient for most visual work while up to five or six iterations may be required for long exposure photographic work Users installing a mount permanently will find this procedure helpful for obtaining an accurate polar alignment however one of the more time consuming methods star drift or photographic should be used for fine tuning While your telescope s optical tube is being aligned on Polaris the mount s polar axis is actually being aligned on the pole not Polaris SETUP or INSTALL This mode is used to tell the MAX computer some characteristics of your mount The meaning of each of the setup parameters is defined here The first display showing the selected mount type will be similar to the following SCOPE EQ Mount This setting informs the MAX computer of the type of mount your telescope is on The six types to choose from are AZ AV EQ EP GQ and GP the NGC microMAX does not have the EP or GP settings These represent the following AV Alt az Vertical For use with altitude azimuth mounts initialized to a vertical position AZ Alt az Zero For use with altitude azimuth mounts initialized to a level or 0 position EQ EQuatorial For equatorial mounts using a two star alignment This must be used if you have a non polar aligned non Germa
11. 1 TO DS AS X Xa T IDS EN N AS lt 6 530 540 550 RN Ret U 3 LOCATE EX AX N A A 360 EN A A IF A lt O AND AX THE A A 0051 A I F A 0 TH AS A IF S lt 0 TH NOT AX THI D A gt 1 NT A 000 L 1 3 TS the ubroutine c MID LEN A THEN 5 Cha 360 80 TH A 36 Sl THE B EN A A vo progra anges GOTO 420 GOTO 4 EN A A 360 O A 10000 10000 STRS A m ON Makes P 2 Star N A X o Whe A LEN AS EX ss S trac AS A Es won Ma S A the program to lin the a t comple R A nput from keyboard or serial jumps to the NGC MAX bar ress a key s to line 370 tion response posi to line 370 port te se encoder p tude Dec ine 400 to i the Azin ine 400 to i to the Al Displays Displ to check posi ting program ncoder terpre angle terpret n nuth n ts to default osition position t Azimuth angl e Altitude angle titude ang ays the Al tions ag Closes t the raw encoder data into a Toggles variable AX to indicate w ges raw encoder tic value to ana Makes sure a hich axis ngle is 1 the Azimu le th R A angle tude Dec angle
12. As the telescope is moved the display updates the angles and changes directions if the object is passed When an angle is less Page 9 than ten degrees that angle will be displayed to tenths of a degree If the telescope in our example had been moved down 21 7 degrees the display would now read NGC4565 171le 643 Notice that the direction indicating arrow 4 has moved between the 6 and 3 to double as a decimal point While entirely up to the user it is probably easiest to move one axis of the telescope mount at a time rather than both simultaneously When the telescope is at the correct position the display will show the following NGC4565 000 0 0 If the initial star sighting s were done properly the object should now appear in your telescope s eyepiece A moderate power eyepiece is recommended when using the GUIDE mode as the object is more likely to be within its field of view than in that of a high power eyepiece Eyepieces yielding 1 4 to 1 2 field of view work best If you don t know the field of view of your eyepieces try finding one which just fits the full moon into the field IDENTIFY NGC MAX only If you are looking at an object you cannot identify this mode will let the NGC MAX try to identify it for you Additionally you might simply wish to point your telescope to an unfamiliar part of the sky and have the computer find nearby objects of interest In either case the NGC MAX will search its database
13. Colinder LY Lynza SH2 Sharpless Appendix C RS 232 Cable Assembly The NGC MAX computer unit has an RS 232 serial port which may be used to provide encoder position information to a personal computer PC This can be used with the sample BASIC program provided in Appendix D or with a commercial software program which supports the NGC MAX protocol such as Software Bisque s THESKY A special cable is required between the NGC MAX and your PC You may use the information here to assemble your own cable or you may purchase one from JMI While a 12 foot 3 6m cable is standard a custom length may be special ordered The connector at the NGC MAX side of the cable is an RJ11 or RJ12 phone type plug using the center four contacts Reference the following diagram when inserting the wires from a flat 4 conductor cable YEL GRN RED BLK Wire insertion end of RJ11 or RJ12 male connector The connector at the PC can be one of three varieties depending upon your PC Check the size of the PC s serial or COM port connector which you plan to use with the NGC MAX On IBM compatible systems it should be a 9 or 25 pin male connector with two rows of pins On Macintosh systems it will be a round 8 pin female connector Once you have determined the proper connector use the appropriate pinout below to complete the cable 9 socket D subminiature female 25 socket D subminiature female 8 pin mini DIN male 2 YEL TX 2 GRN RX 3 GRN
14. GC 4018 Total object count 3912 Non duplicated STAR FIX ALIGN STAR RA DEC CATALOG GUIDE ALIGN ENCODER SETUP TIMER POLAR 6 5 to 15 volts DC 17mA display fully dim 45mA display fully bright reverse polarity protected 9 volt alkaline 25 hour life with display fully dimmed Discontinued Product Page 13 NGC microMAX 6 1cm x 9 9cm x 3 0cm 2 40 x 3 88 x 1 18 122g 4 3 oz 10 C to 50 C 14 F to 122 F 8 character 5x5 dot matrix red LED four brightness levels Epoch AD 2000 0 Two high resolution shaft type incremental optical encoders 2 5KHz 2500 samples sec 17 Non stellar deep sky 28 User definable 90 Stars 110 Messier 245 Total object count 245 Non duplicated STAR FIX ALIGN STAR RA DEC CATALOG GUIDE ALIGN ENCODER INSTALL SETUP 6 5 to 15 volts DC 14mA display fully dim 44mA display fully bright reverse polarity protected 9 volt alkaline 30 hour life with display fully dimmed Appendix B NS DS Catalog Abbreviations AB Abell CZ Czernik MA Markarian SP Stephenson AN Antalova DD Dolidze Dzimselejsvili ME Melotte ST Stock B Barnard DO Dolidze MF Maffei TO Tombaugh BA Basel FR Frolov MK Minkowski TR Trumpler BD Baade GU Gum MR Merrill TZ Terzian BI Biur H Harvard NE New U Upsala BK Berkley HA Haffner PA Palomar VB Van Den Burgh BL Blanco HB Hubble PI Pismis BO Bochum HU Humason RO Roslund CE Cederblad KI King RU Ruprecht CR
15. MAX Computer Operator s Guide NGC MAX M104 MODE ENTER NGC micro MAX Copyright 2005 JMI Telescopes Jim s Mobile Incorporated 8550 West 14th Avenue Lakewood CO 80215 U S A Phone 303 233 5353 Fax 303 233 5359 Order Line 800 247 0304 Web Site jmitelescopes com Email sales jmitelescopes com Table of Contents INTRODUCTION raae aaar rrr tooodo te aa E oido eneldo latido 4 A I 4 What Doesnt Do dd did did did dedo 4 GETTING STARTED ocacion ets 4 Encoder TOS Cd A A A AA A ce dal A RS 4 Troubleshooting scour guess nessa ios oo ioe ool acetone conta a 5 USING YOUR COMPUTER ee ee 7 ALIGNS TAR OF SPAR ED A 7 RA DEG hess ed nl ad ed id dO ed id id Od a id rd id Bd a wd dd de 8 CATALOG ns des dede del ads des ounces auc aueced 2 8 NEW Catalog 000 aa 8 PLANET S 0 400 tati A A a cd Bait oe Lae 9 GUIDES a a eee et te SO a eN O rte reese eevee 9 IDENTI Ys a a a a A E 9 ALIGN Alessi nelnet al il eA mad ml E md E E md eel dd el nh 10 Subsequent Alignments cnn nn nn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnns 10 HUMER css era do a 10 ENCODER a od Se Nad ems 11 POLAR ae aaa eh a e aaa toad Sah reek a ts 11 SETUR OF INSTALE Sota O e 11 About SET DEC 0 LEVEL ME and VERTICAL neeesser 12 Appendices Sp cifications ssia a a ias 13 NS DS Catalog Abbreviati0NS oooooncnncccnnnonnnoncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nn cnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnns 14 RS 232 Cable Assembly icon is 14 Sample BASIC Program Listing
16. VAL ALTS DECS AS LOCATE 27 9600 RS 9 As NPUT 3 PS EN GOTO 370 EFTS PS 6 DS PS 10 19 Defines 1 Defines 1 lesco De fines which NGC S KS TH EFPS 00000 CH NT 3 1 OQ 27 THEN GOSU B PRI LOCATE GOTO 230 CLOSE 10 46 Goes PRI 2 TH EN GOTO 8 6 B Sets variable RAS equal to GOSUI Sets variabl ur h N m ct TH EN GOT 1 RS CS N 8 Wo r 230 PS DE Extr ri Ext 400 400 e GOTO pe Alt D serial port MAX is on 190 Waits OF 23 70 0000 Reads If ESC is is then press the SPACE for user pressed DS AS 3 0 Opens serial por Defines the defa lescope Azm RA encoder resolution EC encoder resolu tion connected to p jump ult ks NGC MAX for encoder positions keyboard serial port Wai acts racts Jump Jumps DEC NT NT back to Azm WA R A DEC line 0 PRIN T Exi CS FPS I th f ESC is pressed for T f inpu e Azimu the Alti s to 1 no th EOL equal TIRAS eDECO 230 EN G m E SYSTEM and Axx This s AX AX 0 A A 360 ENC IF A gt 359 THE IF A lt 359 THI IF NOT AX AN S SGN A AS A a FOR X
17. X microMAX ER 000 ED 000 000 000 ER 000 ED 090 000 090 AZ 000 AL 000 AZ 000 AL 090 Note exactly where your telescope is pointed relative to your mount mechanical setting circles make this easier as you will want to be able to reliably return to this same position in a future step Begin rotating your telescope in its Right Ascension or Azimuth axis left to right in a clockwise direction as seen from a vantage point directly above the telescope Southern Hemisphere users should rotate in the opposite direction The first set of displayed digits should increase as the telescope is moved you will see something similar to 000 001 002 003 etc If the digits decrease instead see the troubleshooting guide for help If possible continue rotating the telescope through a full 360 circle Verify the accuracy of the display by comparing it with the number of degrees you have moved in Right Ascension or Azimuth At 360 you will see 359 or 0 Return the telescope to its starting point by rotating counter clockwise At this point the digits should return to 000 If instead they vary from zero by more than plus or minus 1 see the troubleshooting guide for help Now rotate the telescope in Declination or Altitude up and down from the zenith toward the Southern horizon The second set of digits should decrease Note an apparently increasing value is actually decrea
18. an be found With the NGC MAX you may select between two popular star atlases Sky Atlas 2000 or Uranometria The appropriate chart number will appear after SA or UA respectively Encoder Resolution These values tell the MAX computer what the final output resolutions of the encoders are A separate sheet JM Encoder Setup Specifications which was included with your encoders specifies the Page 12 correct values to use for your telescope mount If you purchased your encoders with the MAX computer the resolutions are already defined for your mount Under this setup the first value is that of the Right Ascension or Azimuth encoder The second value is that of the Declination or Altitude encoder The correct resolution is that of the encoder multiplied by the number of turns it makes each time the telescope axis is rotated For example an encoder with a resolution of 5000 tics when geared 2 1 yields an effective resolution of 10000 SET DEC 0 LEVEL ME and VERTICAL For non polar aligned telescopes or polar aligned telescopes using the two star alignment method the only case in which you can ignore the initial pointing instruction is when the MAX computer will not be used for actual viewing such as when conducting the Encoder Test At all other times this step is vital to proper performance and can greatly affect the accuracy of the unit either beneficially or detrimentally None of the above messages will appear if
19. cluding not having the encoders plugged in 3 If display shows Then do this DEC 0 Point your telescope such that the Declination setting circle is at the zero degree mark Press the ENTER button and proceed to step 4 MODE ALIGN STAR The computer is set up for polar alignment If the telescope is not polar aligned or STAR FIX the POLAR ALIGN mode may be used as an aid to this end Proceed to step 4 VERTICAL Used with Altitude Azimuth mounts Position the telescope tube such that it is pointed directly perpendicular to the bottom of the rocker box Press the ENTER button and proceed to step 4 LEVEL ME Used with Altitude Azimuth mounts Position the telescope tube such that it is pointed exactly parallel with the bottom of the rocker box Press the ENTER button and proceed to step 4 This initial setting needs to be as accurate as possible The maximum tolerable error is one half of a degree Any error larger than this will result in poor pointing accuracy Please see the addendum The Importance of the Initial NGC Alignment for additional help on this setting 4 Choose a bright star to use as an initial alignment Do not use Polaris with an Equatorial mount or a star at Zenith with an Alt Az mount After entering ALIGN STAR or STAR FIX mode by pressing ENTER when this is shown on the LED display use the UP and DOWN buttons to scroll through the star list until your chosen star s name is displayed 5 With the star from step 4 c
20. de size constellation or type information NEW Catalog The coordinates for up to 28 user defined objects may be entered into the MAX computer for later reference This can be used to store the positions of objects not found in the other MAX computer catalogs such as comets asteroids and variable stars While it is possible to plan an evening s viewing ahead of time and put the coordinates of each object in the NEW catalog it is recommended that the built in catalogs M NGC etc be used whenever possible This is because the built in catalogs store coordinates more precisely than is allowable under the NEW catalog To add an object to the NEW catalog enter the CATALOG mode and use the UP DOWN buttons until NEWO1 is displayed After pressing ENTER select the object number you wish to modify 01 28 Once you have ENTERed the number the current coordinates are displayed if defining for the first time 2400 000 will appear Press ENTER once more and the first digit of the Right Ascension will begin flashing Define the new coordinates one digit at a time until the last is entered if the Declination is three digits the last is tens of arc minutes not tenths of a degree The display will stop flashing and at this point you should review your coordinates to be sure they are correct If you need to change them simply press ENTER and repeat the process When the coordinates are correct press the MODE button to have the MAX compute
21. efore you had the star centered in your eyepiece you will need to reset the unit by turning it off waiting five seconds and then turning it back on When you press ENTER for the first alignment the MAX computer will briefly report a warp factor such as the following WARP 0 2 If you are using either of the EP or GP mount settings which assume that the mount is perfectly polar aligned the warp value will show zero and you will be ready to begin using the other features of the unit If you are not using EP or GP see SETUP on page 11 then you should finish this section before continuing Since the telescope is not perfectly polar aligned i e you are not using the EP or GP mode you will need to align on one more star to complete the alignment procedure For best results the second star should be between 60 and 120 distance from the first star Simply repeat the initial procedure of selecting a star name pointing the scope to that star then pressing ENTER Note for simplicity the method of aligning on two stars is presented here In reality the user may choose to align on any two objects in the MAX computer database including the user definable objects via the ALIGN mode Once again you will see a warp factor displayed This message is reporting how many degrees the telescope is from where the MAX computer expected it to be when pointing at your selected alignment object This number should be within plus or minus
22. eliminated by following these steps in selecting subsequent alignment objects 1 Recall the positions of your last two alignment objects relative to the Earth these are not their current positions 2 Try to make your subsequent alignment on an object which is as close to 90 30 from either one of your last two alignment positions as possible This process will maintain maximum pointing accuracy and should be followed with each subsequent alignment TIMER NGC miniMAX and NGC MAX This is a 24 hour event timer which displays to the second Possible uses for this mode include recording elapsed time between occultation contacts or other astronomical phenomena and exposure times for astrophotography Upon entering this mode the display will read 00 00 00 0 Tenths of a second are not displayed on the NGC miniMAX While in this mode use the MODE and ENTER buttons as follows MODE This will exit the timer mode permitting another mode to be chosen The timer will continue in the background so that returning to this mode will accurately show the current elapsed time ENTER This button cycles through a series of three functions START STOP and RESET The timer is started by pressing the ENTER button which will temporarily cause the display to show the following START The elapsed time from the moment you pressed the ENTER button will then be displayed until you press ENTER to stop the timer or MODE to exit
23. ent in the other direction Do several more adjustments in the direction that showed improvement until you see the most accurate guiding This process is time consuming but well worth the effort Size Weight Temperature Display Coordinates Sensors Sampling rate Database Modes Power Battery Appendix A Specifications NGC MAX 14 6cm x 9 1cm x 3 7cm 5 75 x 3 60 x 1 44 233g 8 2 oz 10 C to 50 C 14 F to 122 F 16 character 5x5 dot matrix red LED four brightness levels Epoch AD 2000 0 Two high resolution shaft type incremental optical encoders 2 5KHz 2500 samples sec 9 Planets including Sun 28 User definable 110 Messier 386 Non stellar deep sky 928 Stars 2852 IC 7840 NGC 12153 Total object count 12047 Non duplicated ALIGN STAR RA DEC CATALOG GUIDE ALIGN ENCODER SETUP TIMER POLAR IDENTIFY 6 5 to 15 volts DC 17mA display fully dim 60mA display fully bright reverse polarity protected 9 volt alkaline 25 hour life with display fully dimmed NGC miniMAX 7 0cm x 11 7cm x 3 0cm 2 75 x 4 60 x 1 18 155g 5 4 oz 10 C to 50 C 14 F to 122 F 8 character 5x5 dot matrix red LED four brightness levels Epoch AD 2000 0 Two high resolution shaft type incremental optical encoders 1 95KHz 1950 samples sec 9 Planets including Sun 28 User definable 80 Stars 86 Non stellar deep sky 110 Messier 960 IC 2745 N
24. entered in your telescope s eyepiece press the ENTER button to align on the star If a W or WARP value is shown it may be ignored at this point only the warps on alignments after the first have real meaning 6 Repeat steps 4 and 5 using a second star which is at least 60 degrees from the first to complete the alignment procedure Polaris may be used for this alignment At this point the warp value should be 0 50 or less for accurate alignment 7 To view an object press the MODE button to enter the mode selection and use the UP and DOWN buttons to locate the CATALOG mode this is two presses of the UP button from ALIGN STAR or STAR FIX 8 Press the ENTER button to select CATALOG mode If you followed the above steps properly the display will now show a flashing ST next to a three digit number This is indicating that you are currently working with the STar catalog the number being that of the alignment star from step 5 9 To select an object you must first define which catalog it is in Use the UP and DOWN buttons to set the catalog ST STARS M Messier NGC New General Catalog IC Index Catalog NEW User definable objects then press ENTER 10 You will now see the first digit of a 2 4 digit number flashing Use the UP and DOWN buttons to select the first digit of the catalog number you wish to observe If your catalog number is of fewer digits than that displayed you must use preceding zeros For example to enter M 42 your display
25. es this sheet paying particular attention to the order and sign of each tics per revolution specification see SETUP on page 11 for additional help Reverse mounting If an encoder is running the improper direction the simplest solution is to change the sign of that encoder s resolution as found in the setup see SETUP on page 11 This should only become necessary if the encoder has been mounted in a manner contrary to that which was intended by the Encoder Installation sheet or if the encoder installation is custom designed by the user Alternatively the encoder can sometimes be re mounted so that it turns the opposite direction Bad encoder cable While the probability of an encoder or cable being bad is extremely small it is a possibility If the problem is isolated to either the cable or encoder there are a few simple tests which can quickly determine the exact culprit Follow each point as outlined below checking the operation of the encoders after each until the problem disappears 1 Confirm that all three ends of the encoder cable are securely connected If visible inspect each of the four wires at the encoder pins to check for a loose or intermittent connection it is normal for one of the second to outside pins to have no connection 2 Swap the two encoder ends of the encoder cable so that the Right Ascension Azimuth cable is plugged into the Declination Altitude encoder and vice versa 3 If the symptom is still p
26. gular re positioning In other words the closer your mount is to polar alignment the longer an object will stay in view without manual adjustments Third and the cause of misplaced concern among some new users of units such as the MAX computer is the simultaneous change of both Right Ascension and Declination as seen under the RA DEC display when moving only one axis of the telescope This is not an error as the MAX computer is simply reporting the telescope s true Right Ascension and Declination What is commonly overlooked is the fact that a non polar aligned mount is always moving through both Right Ascension and Declination when either of its two axes is rotated Incorrect initialization A common problem is that of ignoring or misunderstanding the initial pointing instruction from the MAX computer at power up e g SET DEC 0 LEVEL ME and VERTICAL If you have set up the MAX computer for a polar aligned telescope EP or GP then you do not need to concern yourself with this aspect although it might be a good idea to be familiar with it See SETUP on page 11 for more information Slew rate exceeded The MAX computer has a maximum rate at which the encoders can be rotated Due to the frequency at which the computer samples the encoders they can be rotated faster than the computer can accept the data The maximum speed depends on the number of tics per telescope axis rotation and the sampling rate While it is unlikely that you wil
27. h the faster the process point the telescope at your chosen star and press ENTER once it is in the center of your eyepiece A bright asterisk may momentarily appear followed by a display similar to the following POLARIS 77 lt 831 Page 11 This indicates the direction and distance to Polaris You should now move your telescope to the indicated position just like under GUIDE mode When you have zeroed both angles your display should look like this POLARIS 0 0 0 0 If your mount is polar aligned Polaris will appear near the center of a moderately powered eyepiece Don t worry about the offset of Polaris from the actual pole the MAX computer is accounting for this If Polaris is not near the center of your eyepiece you will need to adjust the altitude and azimuth adjustments of your mount until Polaris is centered in your eyepiece Be sure not to move your telescope relative to your mount the computer s display should remain as shown above If you should accidentally move the telescope itself you can zero the angles again so that the display does match that above Now press the ENTER button and you will briefly see a reminder to adjust your altitude and azimuth then a display similar to this SIGHT PROCYON You should now point your telescope back at your reference star and center it in the eyepiece Press ENTER and you will be instructed to guide back to Polaris Repeat the above process from this point as many
28. ion of one or both Incorrect encoder setup encoders Bad encoder cable One or both encoders e Reverse mounting appear to run in the opposite Incorrect encoder setup direction Hung German mount Moving telescope in one e Swapped encoder cables axis changes opposite Not polar aligned encoder reading Bad warp factors inaccurate Incorrect encoder setup operation Incorrect initialization Not polar aligned Display shows ENCODER e Slew rate exceeded ERROR at times Bad encoder cable Low battery e e Mechanical slippage Verify that all appropriate setscrews and bolts are tight Any gears or belts should not have slop you should not be able to rotate the encoder shaft without turning the telescope a belt does not need to be very tight to meet this criteria You might want to mark the encoder shaft to determine if it rotates with the telescope as it should Incorrect encoder setup Since the computer can be used with various encoder resolutions and gearing ratios the software allows the definition of the resolution for both axes If this value is set improperly the result can be slightly to grossly inaccurate performance and if set to zero can make an encoder appear to be non functional A separate sheet titled JMI Encoder Setup Sheet Tics Per Revolution included with your encoder mountings lists the correct setup to use with your specific mount Confirm that the MAX computer setup match
29. l spin your telescope through a large arc fast enough to exceed this speed it can be jolted a small amount in a very short interval causing a loss of alignment With smaller telescopes and higher total encoder resolutions you will be more susceptible but under normal operation you should never exceed the limit USING YOUR COMPUTER If you wish to start using your MAX computer immediately without reading through the manual or you just want a quick refresher course please refer to the Quick Start Guide found in Appendix E The MAX computer has several modes or applications to enhance your observing time Below is a list of the modes available NGC MAX NGC miniMAX and NGC microMAX ALIGN STARorSTAR FIX RA DEC CATALOG GUIDE ALIGN ENCODER SETUP or Install NGC MAX and NGC miniMAX TIMER POLAR NGC MAX IDENTIFY Upon turning the unit on you will see a brief message followed by ALIGN STAR or STAR FIX If instead you see a message to point the telescope a particular direction you should do so if you plan to align the computer with the sky See SETUP on page 11 for further information When operating the unit apart from the telescope you may simply press ENTER at this point Use the UP and DOWN buttons to scroll through the various modes Notice that either of these buttons pressed for more than an instant will cause the options to scroll faster until the button is released Following is a detailed description of
30. ll the information available on the object When no object fits the search parameters the first item in the catalog is displayed e g FOUND NGCOOO1 ALIGN This is similar to the ALTGN STAR mode except that an alignment may be done on any object in the MAX computer catalogs This includes the planets and user defined objects The object used for the ALIGN mode is that last displayed inthe ALIGN STAR CATALOG or IDENTIFY modes Use one of these modes if you wish to select a different object The ALIGN mode can be used in place of or in conjunction with the ALIGN STAR mode to meet the initial alignment requirements as well as for subsequent alignments as outlined below Subsequent Alignments If in the course of an evening s viewing you find that the accuracy of guiding has decreased you may re align the telescope on an additional object to restore this accuracy Such a situation is normally caused by inaccuracies in the manufacture of the telescope s mount affecting its orthogonality meaning all axes are perpendicular This introduces a pointing error when moving the telescope from one side of the sky to the other The MAX computer assumes a perfectly orthogonal mount for its calculations If your mount is very close to being orthogonal you will probably never see such an error and should not need to make additional alignments If however you do wish to make an alignment subsequent to the initial two required yo
31. n equatorial mount EP Equatorial Perfect Only for use with a non German equatorial mount which will be used in a perfectly polar aligned configuration ET Equatorial Table For use with a mount whose tracking motion is not apparent to the encoders such as an altitude azimuth mount utilizing a tracking platform In this mode the MAX computer assumes that the telescope is being driven at exactly sidereal rate however it does not require that the mount be polar aligned GQ German EQuatorial Used with non fork type equatorial mounts If the telescope can be pointed in the same direction from two unique positions as with German mounts the computer assumes one of these positions Refer to the addendum Star Alignments with a German Equatorial Mount for further information GP German Perfect Used with non fork type equatorial mounts which will be used in a perfectly polar aligned configuration Refer to the addendum Star Alignments with a German Equatorial Mount for further information See the separate addendum The Importance of the Initial NGC Alignment for details Scroll Rate This determines how fast the information on objects is scrolled across the MAX computer display The default value that set prior to shipment is 5 with the range being 0 slowest to 9 fastest Chart Reference Whenever information on an object is scrolled across the display the last item shown is the chart number on which that object c
32. om JMI will find a separate Encoder Installation sheet which covers the installation process required for your specific mount Most of these installations require no drilling or tapping and can be installed in approximately 15 20 minutes After the encoders have been mounted a test should be performed to confirm proper installation and function of each of the two encoders as well as the setup information within the MAX computer When purchased with a set of encoder mountings the MAX computer is pre programmed with the necessary information to work with your specific mount so you should not need to concern yourself with this aspect yet For further information on this topic see SETUP on page 11 Encoder Test Plug the common end of the encoder cable into the MAX computer and each of the opposite two ends into its appropriate encoder the Encoder Installation sheet indicates which end is for each encoder Place the MAX computer unit in its holding tray or on a stable surface out of the way of the telescope s motion The unit should be turned off at this time Point your telescope at the zenith directly overhead Now turn the MAX computer on After the version number is briefly shown use the brightness button found to the right of the ON OFF switch to set the display brightness as desired Press the DOWN button until ENCODER is displayed then press ENTER The display should now show one of the following NGC MAX NGC miniMA
33. r store them in its memory PLANETS NGC miniMAX and NGC MAX Upon ENTERing the PLANETS catalog DATE will flash on the display Before selecting a planet for the first time in a viewing session the current date should be set For the most accurate guiding use the current date for Greenwich England i e set the date based on Universal Time To set the date press ENTER while DATE is flashing The coordinates shown are those of the Sun for the last defined date This may be useful for daytime alignments however you should take proper precautions when pointing your telescope near the Sun Press ENTER again and you will see a display similar to the following DATE 12 31 2000 You may use the UP DOWN and ENTER buttons to define the current date in the format MM DD YYYY This setting is stored in non volatile RAM so if the unit is turned off the date will not be lost The MAX computer does not update this setting with the passage of time whether on or off so it will be necessary to update it if the unit is used to locate planets at a later date Once the date is defined use the UP and DOWN buttons to select a desired planet GUIDE After selecting a desired object under CATALOG entering GUIDE mode will show you how far to move the telescope in each axis to find that object Following is an example display NGC4565 171 29 This indicates that the telescope should be moved to the left 171 and down 29 to locate NGC4565
34. resent on the same displayed axis after step 2 then the problem is in the encoder cable Remove the cable from the problem axis and check the wire for damage and the cable s plug to see that all four golden metal plates have been pressed down evenly If necessary compare it with the other encoder plug If one or more of these plates is high you may try to press it down carefully with a small flat head screwdriver or similar tool If this cannot be done the cable should be replaced 4 If the symptom switches axes after step 2 then the problem is at the encoder Remove the encoder cable connector and visually inspect the jack on the encoder The four golden wires inside should be roughly even although they might be staggered high low high low If any of the wires appears to be bent at an odd angle or pressed down too much this could be the problem The jack may need to be replaced Hung German mount German equatorial mount users only Because of the design of these mounts it is possible to point the telescope at the same location from two quite different positions To visualize this point the telescope at 0 Declination Now rotate the telescope 180 in each axis avoiding the base as necessary The telescope is on the opposite side of the mount head yet pointing in the same direction This feature of the German mount is nice when an object is located in a normally hard to view position but it has the added affect of changing
35. s for the object nearest the telescope s current position The search can be performed regardless of object type or limited to a specific type such as planetary nebulae A limiting magnitude is also entered to eliminate objects from the search which might be too faint for the observer s circumstances Upon entering the IDENTIFY mode you are allowed to specify which type of object you wish to find This type can be any of the following RX red star GC globular cluster 2 Xx double star ST star NB nebula BK black hole candidate PN planetary nebula QSR quasar GX galaxy NS any non stellar OC open cluster ANY any of above The NS type is used to find a non stellar object from any catalog and should not be confused with the NS catalog After the type is ENTERed use the UP DOWN buttons to set the limiting magnitude as desired If you enter a value of eight then only objects of magnitude 8 0 or brighter will be found The limiting magnitude range is from one bright to 17 faint Those objects which do not have a magnitude defined are only found with a limit of 17 When both search parameters have been defined press ENTER and the computer will display the name of the nearest object meeting your search criteria Because the display is updated every few seconds to indicate the nearest object at that instant you may move the telescope until an object you wish to observe is shown Pressing ENTER will scro
36. sing if the sign is negative If the digits increase instead then see the troubleshooting guide for help If possible continue rotating the telescope through a full circle Return the telescope to its starting point by rotating in the opposite direction At this point the digits should return to their original 000 or 090 If instead they vary from the original value by more than plus or minus 1 then see the troubleshooting guide for help If you encountered no problems continue on to the next section USING YOUR COMPUTER Troubleshooting Use the Troubleshooting Guide below to find possible causes then read the sections below for possible solutions For a more in depth troubleshooting guide see the addendum Diagnosing MAX Computer System Problems Low battery The MAX computer can be powered from any 7 15 volt DC direct current source When the power supply is below about 6 5 volts the display will flash ENCODER ERROR If using an internal 9 volt battery be sure that it is alkaline Alkaline must appear on the battery casing Due to potentially rapid voltage and current drops in other battery designs they should not be used This includes nickel cadmium NiCd rechargeable batteries as well as carbon zinc batteries Page 5 Troubleshooting Guide Symptom Possible Cause s The unit does not come on Low battery use only alkaline batteries The display does not reflect Mechanical slippage the mot
37. the MAX computer is set for use with a polar aligned telescope When the initial pointing instruction is displayed immediately after the power up version message no button on the MAX computer should be pressed until that positional requirement has been met This initial position tells the computer where your two encoder axes are perpendicular or parallel to each other This point is not affected by polar aligning or leveling so it does not matter how your mount is oriented relative to the Earth or sky The meaning of each of the three possible messages is outlined here SET DEC 0 or LEVEL ME The telescope should be pointed with the tube perpendicular to the polar azimuth axis A Declination setting circle if set properly may be used to find this point VERTICAL The telescope should be pointed with the tube parallel to the polar azimuth axis A Declination setting circle if set properly may be used to find this point It should be noted that improving this initial alignment can greatly increase the guiding accuracy without showing an improvement in the warp factor which only measures the accuracy of the distance between the two alignment stars Since factory marks are often off by a significant amount you may wish to do the following test First adjust the initial position in one direction a few thousandths of an inch finish the alignment then test the guiding accuracy If it is worse try adjusting the initial alignm
38. the polarity of the Declination encoder For this reason a unique stipulation is placed on users of German mounts when performing the encoder test or an initial star alignment the telescope tube must be on the West side of the mount Southern Hemisphere users should place the tube on the East side of their mount Refer to the addendum titled Star Alignments with a German Equatorial Mount for a complete description Page 6 Swapped encoder cables The Encoder Installation sheet included with the encoder mountings should detail exactly which encoder cable is for each axis As a general rule on equatorial mounts the Declination encoder cable is the longer of the two and on Altitude Azimuth mounts the Azimuth cable is longer Not polar aligned This is not a true problem as the MAX computer works very well even if the mount is 90 from polar aligned However there are symptoms of which the user should be aware First do not use the EP or GP mount setting unless your mount is accurately polar aligned or you intend to use the POLAR mode to assist in polar alignment Please note that the EP GP settings assume a perfectly polar aligned mount most pointing errors when using these settings are due to an inaccurate polar alignment Second a clock drive Right Ascension motor cannot properly track the stars if the telescope mount is not polar aligned stars and other objects will appear to drift out of the eyepiece requiring re
39. u should keep the following in mind This does not apply to users of the EP or GP settings When making alignments the MAX computer sees all such locations in terms of an Earth based reference In other words the altitude and azimuth of an object at the time of its alignment determines its angular separation from another alignment object Of course if alignments are done near to each other in time Page 10 the angular separation of the alignment positions is essentially equal to the separation of the objects Note the distinction between alignments and objects Relative to the Earth an object s position is changing with time however the alignment positions remain fixed Any time a subsequent alignment is made pointing accuracy in the neighboring region should be improved However it is possible for such an alignment to decrease pointing accuracy elsewhere even to an extent worse than that observed prior to the new alignment When a new alignment is made one of the previous two alignment positions that which is least desirable relative to the new is discarded Therefore the angle of separation between the remaining previous alignment position and that of the new alignment becomes the critical factor If this angle is too small or too great the overall pointing accuracy will degrade For the average user this should not be a noticeable problem but if you should experience degraded accuracy it can probably be
40. would look like this MO 42 11 With the first digit set press ENTER and the second digit will be flashing Continue this process until you have all digits set as needed Pressing ENTER once more will display the Right Ascension and Declination for that object 12 If you would like to see the information which the MAX has on this object press ENTER again The display will scroll the catalog number magnitude size common name constellation type of object and Sky Atlas SA or Uranometria UA chart reference 13 Press the MODE button to return to mode selection Press the UP button then ENTER to select GUIDE mode 14 Displayed is the angular distance and direction to that object from the telescope s current location The first angle is that of Right Ascension Azimuth and has a left or right facing arrow to indicate direction The second angle is that of Declination Altitude and has an up or down facing arrow to indicate direction 15 Moving the telescope in the direction indicated one axis at a time if desired the angles will decrease toward zero Whenever an angle is less than ten degrees that angle is shown to tenths of a degree with the arrow doubling as a decimal point Zeroing both angles results in pointing the telescope at the selected object JMI Telescopes Jim s Mobile Inc 8550 W 14th Ave Lakewood CO 80215 USA 303 233 5353 Fax 303 233 5359 jmitelescopes com
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