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Argo Navis User Manual

1. eee 195 AppendixB lechnicalspecificatlons 197 AppendixC Portpindescriptions eee 199 AppendixD Factorsthataffectpointingaccuracy 200 Appendix E Factorsthataffectencoderdirectionsenses 201 AppendixF Howtoreplacethelithiumcoincellbattery 202 Appendix G Troubleshootingguide AMAA A A A A gt m m gt m m m m m m m m 205 Appendix H How Arco Navisordersitssymbols 208 Appendixxl Worldtimezones MMMMAMA A A m gt gt m gt Z gt Z2 gt gt Z m gt m gt m m m m 209 Appendix J W gg NN MR SN A 218 Appendixk Conformance ener 220 Appendix L GIOSSANY samsara sase sn r n yerler sakin e ESO OEE KAEA Na AETS 223 AE EY A EM A AY NY EE 226 m lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 5 This manual This section describes the content of the manual and how to use tt Introduction This manual ts divided into 9 main sections How to use this manual The Arco Navis interfaces Initial setup of the ARGO NAvis Alignment procedures An introductory run Operating modes
2. lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations e IN USE NOW e SAVED IN NVRAM For example to review the terms currently in use by the pointing kernel spin the DIAL until the display shows IN USE NOW and press ENTER Depending upon the setting in SETUP MOUNT the display might then show COLLIMATION ERR CH 000 8 where the top line will be flashing If you spin the DIAL a detent click at a time you can cycle through the various terms available for your mount The top line of the display shows the long name of the term and the bottom line shows the abbreviated name and its current in use value For example you might spin the DIAL until the display shows POLAR LEFT RIGHT MA 11 1 The bottom line shows the value of the MA term in this instance f you wish to leave the IN USE NOW submenu press EXIT If you wish to edit the value press ENTER Then use the DIAL and ENTER button to alter the value a field at a time Values are expressed as plus or minus minutes and decimal minutes of arc Reviewing and editing of the SAVED IN NVRAM values is achieved in a similar way If you have changed the value of a term SAVED IN NVRAM from what it originally was ARGO Navis will save ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 136 the new setting into its non volatile memory EEROM device Normally it is unlikely that you would
3. Click Install to continue with the installation or click Back Ifyou want to review or change any settings Cancel Press Install lt S gt TM A ARGO Navis ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 Wear Innovations 155 Wildcard Innovations Setup Completed E4 Setup haz finished installing Argonaut on your computer The application may be launched by selecting the Installed icons Click Finish to esit Setup ARGONAUT will then be installed on your system Press Finish to exit the Setup lt gt TM GA ARGO Navis ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 156 Wikdeand innovations Launching ARGONAUT To start the program go to the Start icon at the lower left hand side of your Desktop Press Start gt Programs gt Wildcard gt Argonaut ARGONAUT should then start running Argonaut Argo Navis TM load utility _ Oy x Connection Transfer Delete Memory Terminal Help Fort Baud Eom 38400 Autowrap M Allo FLASH write File Transter Progress Establishing communication Connect the optional serial cable from your PC to ARGO Navis If you want to upgrade firmware then you must use SERIAL1 on the ARGo NaAvis The ports are clearly marked on the top of the unit See Figure 2 For performing any operation ex
4. MODE ENCODER appear on the display The display will then show the current encoder values either as angles or as steps depending upon what state MODE ENCODER was in when last exited since power on By way of example in the case of the angle display mode the display might show something like this AZ ALT ENC ANGLE 313 77 14 37 This suggests that the current azimuth encoder is at an angle of 313 77 and the altitude encoder value is at 14 37 As the scope is rotated in each axis the appropriate value should change This is a good way of checking that the encoders are functioning correctly and that the cabling to each encoder has not been inadvertently swapped Azimuth encoder values range from 0 to 360 Altitude encoder values range from 180 to 180 O lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations The direction sense of the encoders is set in SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS Assume that each encoder has its shaft pointing upwards and is being viewed from above When the Azimuth encoder shaft is rotated clockwise the Azimuth angle will decrease When the Altitude encoder shaft is rotated clockwise the Altitude angle will increase The 0 point of the Azimuth encoder is simply the position the encoder was in when ARGo Navis was powered on The 0 point of the Altitude encoder is initially the position the encoder was in when Arco Nav s was powered on If a polar align
5. The SETUP menus are e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP e SETUP ALIGN PICK ALT REF ALT STEPS ATLAS AZ STEPS BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST DATE TIME DEBUG DEFAULTS ENC TIMING EQ TABLE GOTO GUIDE MODE LCD HEATER LOAD CAT LOCATION MOUNT MNT ERRORS REFRACTION SCRATCH SCROLL SERIAL ARGO Nav s User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 36 MODE ALIGN Function MODE ALIGN allows you to align ARGO Navis on the Current Object The Current Object is the last object referenced in any of the following modes e MODE ALIGN STAR e MODE CATALOG e MODE IDENTIFY e MODE TOUR Therefore you can align ARGO Navis on any object at any time including during your initial alignment See MODE ALIGN STAR for an alternative and convenient way of aligning from a list of 35 bright alignment stars Using MODE ALIGN Enter MODE ALIGN by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE ALIGN appear on the display You will then be prompted with the message ALIGN followed by the name of the Current Object When Arco Navis is first powered on the default Current Object is the first object from the first catalog Centre the Current Object in your eyepiece not jus
6. To leave MODE SIDEREAL press EXIT See also SETUP DATE TIME SETUP LOCATION ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 72 MODE STATUS Function MODE STATUS allows you to examine e the status of your ARGO Navis power source e the unit s internal temperature e the firmware version that is currently loaded M Using MODE STATUS Enter MODE STATUS by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE STATUS Then spin the DIAL to choose what status information you are interested in For example STATUS POWER will tell you whether the unit is being powered by internal batteries or by an external source and whether the voltage level is OK or low For example STATUS POWER BAT LOW indicates that the unit is being powered by internal batteries but that they are running low Whereas lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations STATUS POWER EXT OK indicates that the unit is being powered externally and that the voltage level is sufficient STATUS THERMAL will tell you the internal temperature of the unit For example STATUS THERMAL 224 GE P shows the temperature both in Celsius and Fahrenheit STATUS VERSION will tell you the version of ARGo Navis firmware you are currently running For example STATUS VERSION VERSION 2 0 9 tells you that you have Version 2 0 0 A new
7. When a User catalog transfer is complete the display will show LOAD CATALOG USER DONE At this time or in fact at any time during the transfer if you press EXIT or ENTER Arco Navis will briefly show LOAD CATALOG INITIALIZING The loaded catalog entries should then appear in MODE CATALOG f you pre empted the loading of catalogs by pressing ENTER or EXIT in the middle of a transfer simply re enter the SETUP LOAD CAT menu and the transfer will continue seamlessly from where you left off See also MODE SETUP SETUP SERIAL Argonaut software utility ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 110 SETUP LOCATION Function SETUP LOCATION allows you to store the names latitudes and longitudes of up to 10 locations from which you observe It also allows you to set your current observing location ARGO NAvis does not require you to set your location date or time to operate however doing so brings about other features and benefits including e The Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST will be available to you in MODE SIDEREAL if you have also set the current date and time e The topocentric azimuth and altitude will be available to you in MODE AZ ALT assuming you have also set the current date and time and have performed a valid star alignment e Correction for atmospheric refraction will be made while you point your scope assuming y
8. Wildcard innovations To delete an ARGo NAvis catalog the unit needs to be set up the same way as when you transferred files Make sure that it is in the SETUP LOAD CAT state Then use the ARGONAUT Delete pull down menu to select the catalog type you would like to purge Delete Memory Term Purge Asteroids Purge Comets o Purge Satellites Purge User If you study the output in the Terminal window you will see that ARGONAUT will send an asteroid comet satellite or user command as appropriate followed by Purge Write and Quit commands ARGO NAvis will display a FINISH message when the catalog purge is complete If you have new catalogs to transfer you can now load them Querying loadable catalog free memory You can use ARGONAUT to query how much free memory ARGo Navis has in its loadable catalog memory pool To perform this the unit needs to be set up the same way as when you transferred files Make sure that it is in the SETUP LOAD CAT state Then use the ARGONAUT Memory pull down menu and select Report Free Memory Memory Terminal Help Report Free Memory The amount of free memory in bytes is reported in the lower right hand Status window TYelcome to Argonaut 2Information Argo Mavis reports bytes free 125919 Keep in mind that ARGO NAvis might report that there is some free memory but it may not be sufficien
9. 2 hours Summer 3 hours Russian Federation zone seven 8 hours Summer 9 hours Russian Federation zone six 7 hours Summer 8 hours Russian Federation zone ten 11 hours Summer 12 hours Russian Federation zone three 4 hours Summer 5 hours Russian Federation zone two 4 hours Summer 5 hours Rwanda 2 hours S Saba 4 hours Samoa 11 hours San Marino 1 hours Summer 2 hours Sao Tome e Principe 0 hours Saudi Arabia 3 hours Scotland 0 hours Summer 1 hours Senegal 0 hours Seychelles 4 hours Sierra Leone 0 hours Singapore 8 hours Slovakia 1 hours Summer 2 hours Slovenia 1 hours Summer 2 hours Society Island 10 hours Solomon Islands 11 hours Somalia 3 hours South Africa 2 hours Spain 1 hours Summer 2 hours Sri Lanka 5 30 hours St Christopher 4 hours St Croix 4 hours St Helena 0 hours St John 4 hours St Kitts Nevis 4 hours St Lucia 4 hours St Maarten 4 hours St Pierre amp Miquelon 3 hours Summer 2 hours St Thomas 4 hours St Vincent 4 hours Sudan 2 hours Suriname 3 hours Swaziland 2 hours Sweden 1 hours Summer 2 hours Switzerland 1 hours Summer 2 hours Syria 2 hours Summer 3 hours lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 215 Wildcard innovations T Tahiti 10 hours Taiwan 8 hours Tajikistan 6
10. User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 25 as possible for now Later on you can review the MODE FIX ALT REF reference page that discusses the AUTO ADJUST ON feature that can assist you with this procedure Its worth reading as this is a very important step that can dramatically improve your pointing accuracy When your tube is in this position press ENTER The display will briefly show ALT REF 9 WARP ALT FIX OK Press EXIT In the top level menu spin the DIAL until you see MODE ALIGN STAR then press ENTER The display should show something like ALIGN ACHERNAR Look up at the sky and pick a familiar bright star Spin the DIAL and look for that stars name There are 35 to choose from section MODE ALIGN STAR lists the alignment stars If you cannot find the star you have chosen in the list pick another that is in the list For example say you have chosen Sirius Spin the DIAL until you see ALIGN SIRIUS Centre Sirius in the eyepiece then press ENTER The display will briefly show something like this ALIGN SIRIUS WARP 4 75 1 sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Your WARP number will probably be different but don t worry Now pick a second bright alignment star Preferably choose one approximately 30 to 90 away from the first and which will involve having to move the scope in both axes For example say
11. W2 W3 W4 sets the current site number accordingly X exit out of meade mode This is an ARGO NAvis extension Keep in mind that some star mapping packages might expect the Baud rate to be set at 9600 when they are configured to communicate with a Meade scope lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 181 Wien innovations navis Function navis is a null command navis can be used as a shell startup command to ensure that the shell remains in native ARGO NAvis mode See SETUP SERIAL a lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 182 Wildcard innovations pbt Function Enter pbt mode which allows for piggybacking an Arco NAvis to a Tangent compatible device such an Orion IntelliScope controller NGC MAX M Celestron Advanced Astromaster the Lumicom Sky Vector and the Software Bisque BBox To interface these devices to ARGO NAvis a special serial cable is required that acts as a null modem device Contact Wildcard Innovations for details on how to purchase this cable pbt is normally invoked as a startup command See SETUP SERIAL It periodically issues Tangent protocol Q commands to the attached Tangent device This command requests the Tangent device to respond with its azim
12. e 300 e 600 e 1200 e 4890 e 9600 e 19200 e 38400 e 5 689 You should ensure that the Baud rate you select matches the Baud rate selection of your PC application For example the ARGONAUT utility has a default Baud rate of 38400 However it can be changed Arco Navis also ignores the Baud rate setting you have made for loading firmware when it is in BOOT LOADER mode In this mode the Baud rate is fixed at 38400 For downloading firmware in BOOT LOADER mode ARGONAUT should also be set at 38400 Baud Only the SERIAL1 port can be used in BOOT LOADER mode Some programs such as SkyMap Pro when configured to communicate with a Meade telescope expect the Baud rate to be fixed at 9600 Arco Navis always uses 8 data bits 1 stop bit with no parity for data communications Continuing with the example once you have selected the desired Baud for this port press either EXIT or ENTER If you ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 149 have changed the value from what it originally was the word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO Navis sets the serial port to this speed and stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device The display should now once again show SERIALI BAUD where the word BAUD is flashing Spin the DIAL until the display shows SERIALIL STARTUP then press ENTER The display mig
13. equatorial table timer can be started or stopped using MODE EQ TABLE The amount of time that has elapsed since the table was started and the amount of remaining time before it will require resetting can be examined as well Enter MODE EQ TABLE by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations MODE EQ TABLE Assuming you have not already set the equatorial timer running the display might show EQ TBL ELAPSED 96 00 00 8 STOP The displayed time is in sidereal hours minutes seconds decimal seconds format See the Glossary for a description of sidereal time To start the TIMER press ENTER The timer will begin counting upwards and the word START will briefly appear on the display before being replaced by the word RUN For example EQ TBL ELAPSED 96 01 05 3 RUN indicates that 1 sidereal minute and 5 3 sidereal seconds have elapsed By turning the DIAL one detent click the remaining time can be shown in terms of a sidereal rate thus EQ TBL REMAINING 00 58 44 7 RUN The remaining time display counts down from the EQ TABLE ALARM TIME value set in SETUP EQ TABLE When the remaining time reaches 00 00 00 0 the equatorial table timer will continue to run but the remaining time displayed will decrement no further If EQ TABLE SOUND ALARM has been set to ON in SETUP EQ TABLE a brief audio alarm will be sounded Turning t
14. has a comet catalog loaded e DARK NEBULA e DOUBLE STAR e GALAXY e GALAXY CL Galaxy Clusters e GLOBULAR CL Globular Clusters e MESSIER objects from the Messier Catalog e NEBULA either a bright or dark nebula e NON STELLAR any object that is not a star nor an artificial satellite e OPEN CLUST Open Clusters e PLANET within our own Solar System e PLANETARY N Planetary Nebula e POPULAR objects with popular names along with Messier objects and planets lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations e SATELLITE Artificial satellites assuming your ARGo Navis has a satellite catalog loaded e STAR e TRIPLE STAR e USER OBJECT assuming you have loaded user defined objects into the USER catalog e VARIABLE ST Variable stars Once you have selected the type of objects you are interested in press ENTER Arco Nav s will then prompt you with a message such as FAINTEST MAG ANY where the word ANY is flashing By spinning the DIAL you can specify the limiting magnitude to eliminate objects from the tour that might be too faint for your circumstances The limiting magnitude values range from 6 very bright to 16 very faint along with the special entry of MAG ANY If for example you select a value of 12 then only objects with a limiting value of 12 or brighter will be considered NOTE Not all objects within the Arco Navis catalogs have a defined magnitude The
15. l Bi E lt T TM S ARGO NAVIS Wien innovations Encoders always ON Highest sampling rate Highest power consumption Works with most native 8192 step encoders to provide a very high sampling rate May not work with some encoders Works with most native 8192 step encoders to provide a very high sampling rate May not work with some encoders Factory default setting Will work reliably with nearly all encoder types and will provide a high sampling rate Will work reliably with nearly all encoder types and will provide a high sampling rate Will work with nearly all encoder types to provide low power consumption at the trade off of a lower sampling rate ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 99 Incorrect setting of the TON TOFF parameters will result in the encoders not being read correctly Due to their electrical timing characteristics encoders with a native resolution of 8192 steps typically require a TON setting of 2 or greater These encoders are typically packaged in cases that have a diameter of 55 9mm 2 2 Encoders with lower resolutions often require a TON setting of 17 or greater These encoders are typically packed in cases that have a diameter of 30mm 1 180 Except for the special case where TOFF eguals 0 TOFF must always be setto be egual to or greater than TON The values of TON and TOFF influenc
16. 107mA 5 7V LCD 1 Encoder Timing TON 2 TOFF 10 high resolution encoders AA cells MODE IDENTIFY 140mA 5 V LCD 1 Encoder Timing TON 2 TOFF 10 high resolution encoders External DC MODE IDENTIFY 155mA 12 3V LCD 1 Encoder Timing TON 2 TOFF 10 high resolution encoders 200mA 12 3V LCD 100 Encoder Timing TON 2 TOFF 10 high resolution encoders LCD heater on Front Panel Two buttons and a rotary dial with detents 2x16 character extended temperature supertwist Liquid Crystal Display LCD Red backlit characters on dark background to preserve night vision Digitally dimmable with 100 settings Digitally adjustable contrast control Dew LCD heater Encoder port 8 pin RJ receptacle to interface with standard TTL quadrature optical encoders Adjustable encoder sampling rates for power saving Max encoder steps 99 999 Max sampling rate 16 000 samples sec per encoder ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 197 e Encoder cable optional Displayed resolution e Up to 0 01 degrees 36 arc seconds in GUIDE mode Communications ports e Dual 4 pin RJ receptacles for two RS 232 channels supporting user definable speeds from 300 to 57600 Baud 1 start bit 8 data bits no parity 1 stop bit e Can be interfaced with a PC and supports use with software such as Star Atlas PRO The Sky SkyMap Pro and Xephem for t
17. 12 26 8 63 97 MSA VOL II 19082 ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 88 Wildcard innovations The star atlas reference is reported on the bottom line In this case Millennium Star Atlas Volume Il page 1002 See also MODE AZ ALT MODE CATALOG MODE IDENTIFY MODE SETUP MODE RA DEC MODE TOUR lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 89 SETUP AZ STEPS Function SETUP AZ STEPS allows you to set the direction sense and number of steps resolution of your azimuth encoder Using SETUP AZ STEPS Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP AZ STEPS Press ENTER again and the display might show something like this AZ 0010090 where the sign will be flashing By spinning the DIAL the sign can be toggled between a and a This sign denotes the direction sense of the azimuth encoder and it is very important that it be set correctly Follow the instructions on Determining encoder direction senses in the section Initial Setup of the Argo Navis to determine what the correct setting should be for your scope Once you have set the correct sense press ENTER and edit the fields as need be by using the DIAL to change a value and ENTER to advance to the next field When the correct number of steps is dis
18. Criterion A Supplementary Information This unit is not for mains connection The product was tested by EMC Technologies Pty Ltd Castle Hill NSW Australia Wildcard Innovations Mount Kuring Gai NSW 21 July 2002 sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 222 Wildcard innovations Appendix L Glossary Asterism a group of stars that is neither a constellation nor an open cluster Baud rate the communications speed of a serial port BOOT LOADER mode the mode in which Arco Navis is placed in order to have its firmware upgraded To put the unit in BOOT LOADER mode power it off press and keep depressed EXIT and power it on Then release the EXIT button Celestial Pole the point in the sky around which the stars appear to rotate In the Northern Hemisphere the North Celestial Pole NCP is at Declination 90 The closest bright star is Polaris In the Southern Hemisphere the South Celestial Pole SCP is at Declination 90 The closest bright star Magnitude 5 4 is Sigma Octantis Current Object a term used to refer to the last object referenced either in MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN STAR MODE CATALOG MODE IDENTIFY Or MODE TOUR Declination the celestial equivalent to latitude Measured in degrees See Right Ascension Detent a mechanical catch that regulates something to move The Arco Navis DIAL ha
19. GUIDE 0 0 9 0 If a proper alignment has been performed the object should appear within the field of view of a moderate power eyepiece for example one that gives a field of about 30 arc minutes If objects do not appear ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 78 consistently within the field of view you may want to perform a re alignment or review the section Factors that affect pointing accuracy If no objects meet the selection criteria this message will be displayed NO MORE OBJECTS However if the special entry of ANY CONSTEL was selected the ARGO Navis will instead prompt you with a message such as WITHIN 368 ARC where the number 3 will be flashing By using the DIAL and ENTER button you can use the Intelligent Editing System to enter a value between 1 to 360 This represents an angular diameter in which to limit the tour the centre point of the area being the RA Dec co ordinate location at which the scope was initially pointing when MODE TOUR was entered For example if the scope were pointing at the zenith an entry of 180 would select only objects in the sky above the horizon and an entry of 360 would select all objects even those currently below the horizon During partly cloudy nights pointing your scope at clear openings popularly known to some as sucker holes and limiting the WI THIN angle to an appropriate
20. Pin 4 Ground Pin 5 Channel B Pin 3 Channel A Pin 6 5V Azimuth or RA Altitude or Declination Pin 2 5V Pin 7 Channel A Pin 1 Channel B Pin 8 Ground Pin 4 No Connection Pin 1 TxD Argo Navis to PC PC RxD Pin 3 Ground Pin 2 RxD PC to Argo Navis PC TxD Pin 2 RxD PC to Argo Navis PC TxD Pin 3 Ground Pin 1 TxD Argo Navis to PC PC RxD Pin 4 No Connection SERIAL1 ENCODERS SERIAL2 DCIN 8V 16V oCo Figure 13 NS lt T TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 199 Wildcard innovations Appendix D Factors that affect pointing accuracy You may find that despite following all the alignment procedures that you still can t zero in on objects This section discusses some of the factors that affect pointing accuracy All telescopes move on two axes These are the Azimuth or RA and Altitude or Dec axes These axes must be at right angles to each other When the axes are perfectly at right angles they are said to be orthogonal When ARGO Navis computes positions it assumes that the axes are orthogonal If they are not then the scope will be pointing to a different part of the sky compared to where ARGO Navis computes that it is pointing See SETUP MNT ERRORS for a method of compensating for a lack of orthogonality when the actual error angle is Known The scope s Optical axis should also
21. The ARGONAUT software utility Programmer s reference e Appendices Content of the manual The ARco NAvis interfaces describes the front panel of the ARGO Navis including the DIAL the EXIT and ENTER buttons and the ports on top of the ARGo NAvis Initial setup of the ARGo NaAvis describes the once only requirements for setting up the ARGO NAvis to suit your mount type and your individual requirements Alignment procedures describes how to align ARGO NAvis rapidly for use each night An introductory run describes how to use the ARGO Navis to find objects once the initial setup has been performed and ARGO NAvis have been aligned Operating modes describes the purpose of each mode in the ARGO lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Navis firmware and how to use them and provides examples The ARGONAUT software utility describes the use of the supplied ARGONAUT program which runs on a PC This software allows you to download to your unit asteroid comet and satellite orbital elements as well your own user catalogs You also use ARGONAUT to upgrade your ARGO NAvis firmware and in built catalogs The Programmer s reference is designed for software developers who would like to write applications that can interface with ARGO Navis The Appendices contain additional information on the ARGO NAvis How to use this manual Don t be daunted
22. and possibly the Collimation Error term CH The REVIEW DATA submenu Using the REVIEW DATA submenu you can e Review pointing test samples an item at a time and examine their raw pointing error residuals e Review pointing test samples an item at a time and examine their current fitted pointing residuals as determined by the model currently in use by the pointing kernel e Delete any individual item e Delete all items e Examine the raw RMS for the entire pointing test data i e as if all terms were zero e Examine the fitted RMS for the entire pointing test data as determined by the model currently in use by the pointing kernel Assuming you are in the SETUP MNT ERROR menu spin the DIAL until you see REVIEW DATA then press ENTER By default TPAS then shows you the last object that was sampled For example the display might then show CANOPUS ITEM 4 A 12 0 The capital Greek Delta symbol A denotes that that the raw pointing residual for the sampled star CANOPUS was 12 If you spin the DIAL anti clockwise a detent click at a time you can review the ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 137 earlier pointing samples For example spinning the DIAL anti clockwise one step might show PROCYON ITEM 3 A 3 4 spinning the DIAL anti clockwise one step more might show CAPEL
23. consider 10 to 30 stars A more in depth analysis may require 50 to 100 stars particularly if your model has many terms Depending upon your goals you may decide to perform more than one pointing run The value of a model is in its predictive capability If you find that you get similar values for terms from one session to the next your confidence in the predictive ability of the model will increase Telescopes mounted on permanent piers are good candidates for long pointing runs as the model is less likely to change Ideally the sampled stars should be evenly distributed across the sky in Azimuth and Altitude Keep in mind that because of the apparent rotation of the sky choosing stars with an even distribution in RA amp Dec is not the same When sampling stars ARGO Nav s M will reject any that are not at least 10 degrees above the horizon and will also reject stars that are too close to the pole of the telescope sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Recommendations on what terms to add and when to add them The following provides very rough guidelines on what terms to consider adding to your model and when For FORK EXACT ALIGN and GEM EXACT ALIGN 2 stars ID IH 4 stars MA ME 5 6 stars NP 6 10 stars CH 10 30 stars DCEC DCES HCEC HCES 30 100 stars DAF FO TF For FORK ROUGH ALIGN and GEM ROUGH ALIGN 4 stars D 5 6 stars
24. current Julian date will be available to you from the MODE TIME menu e The Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST will be available to you in MODE SIDEREAL if you have also specified your location e The topocentric azimuth and altitude will be available to you in MODE AZ ALT assuming you have also specified your location and have performed a valid star alignment e Correction for atmospheric refraction will be made while you point your scope assuming you have also specified your location and assuming you have turned refraction correction ON in the SETUP REFRACTION sub menu lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations e Objects will be precessed and nutated from their internally stored J2000 0 epoch positions to their actual position at the time you observe them e The positions of planets can be accurately determined e The positions of asteroids and comets can be computed from their orbital elements e The position of earth orbiting satellites can be computed assuming you have also specified your location For these reasons it is worthwhile setting your local time zone date and time Since ARGO Navis retains the time even when it is powered off you only need do it once and then possibly occasionally to correct for normal clock drift Using SETUP DATE TIME Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP DATE TIME then press ENTER Arco NAvis will display something l
25. manually edit entries in this way and instead you would use the convenience of the COMPUTE submenu to put terms in use and or save them for you When Arco Navis is powered on for any non zero terms in the SAVED IN NVRAM submenu the following will automatically take place e They will be copied to the IN USE NOW submenu e They will immediately be put in use by the pointing kernel e They will be copied to the DEFINE MODEL submenu where they will be available as a selection should you decide to fix a term The SAVED IN NVRAM feature therefore allows you to save terms that you have found to be persistent between observing sessions Since they are put in effect the moment you power the unit on your initial alignment and subsequent pointing benefits from having a preliminary model in place from the start of the session To re synchronize the model it is recommended that you then perform a short pointing test of perhaps 4 to 8 stars Using DEFINE MODEL you would set any non persistent terms such as any Index Error term and possibly the Polar Misalignment and Collimation Error terms aS COMPUTE and leave any persistent terms as fixed values If you have an equatorial mount on a permanent pier you might require as few as 2 to 4 stars to re synchronize the model in this case recomputing only the sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Index Error terms ID amp IH
26. mount dev cdrom lt your mount point gt o cd lt your mount point gt sofware linux o cp catload lt suitable bin directory gt o cp sgzload lt suitable bin directory gt You should read the sections of this manual concerning the ARGONAUT utility which is supplied for the Windows OS This will give you the basic background you require for knowing how to create your catalog files and how to set up ARGo NAvis for performing a transfer catload The catload command is used to download or purge asteroid comet satellite or user catalogs The syntax is catload b baud rate s serial port c command f file p v w The default Baud rate is 38400 The default serial port is dev argo You might want to create a symbolic link in your dev directory from dev argo to your serial device For example as root In s dev ttySO dev argo The c flag is for the catalog type either asteroid comet satellite or user The flag is followed by the name of your catalog input file The p flag purges removes the specified catalog The v flag prints the version number of catload and then exists The w flag is essential if you want your catalog to be written to FLASH catload will give percentage milestones or error messages on standard output lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 170 Wildca
27. right angles or 90 to each other when the telescope was manufactured The optical axis however can be moved freely up and down The same is true of an equatorial mount In fact an equatorial mount is essentially an Alt Az mount that has been tilted to match the local latitude If you look at the following figure of a telescope on an equatorial mount you will see it also has three axes lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 of Wildcard Innovations e A Right Ascension or Polar axis e A Declination axis e An Optical axis to specify what angle that corresponds to Specifically it allows you the following choices e To put the tube at the 0 altitude point e To put the tube at the 90 Optical axis 90 degrees altitude point ee e To put the tube at any altitude point that corresponds to an angle that you specify Examples of the tube being at the 0 altitude point have already been illustrated above An example of a tube being at the 90 is shown here Right Ascension or Polar axis gt Optical axis Declination axis Optical tube at 0 degree altitude point Figure 9 Optical axis is parallel What is true both in the case of an with Azimuth axis Alt Az mount and an equatorial mount is that when the Optical axis is perpendicular right angles or 90 to the Azimuth or Right Ascension axis
28. sign will be flashing The example indicates an alarm time of 12 sidereal hours By turning the DIAL you can change the numeric value that appears in the field that is flashing When you have selected the desired value hit ENTER which advances the flashing cursor to the next numeric field By using the DIAL to change values and ENTER to advance to successive fields you can set the alarm time as desired Either when ENTER is pressed after editing the right most field or when EXIT is pressed at any time the alarm time will be set If you have changed the alarm time from what it originally was the word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device The word INITIALIZING will then appear and Arco Navis will invalidate any alignment you have made and stop the equatorial table timer if it was running EQ TABLE SOUND Is used to set whether an audible alarm will be sounded when the EQ TBL REMAINING time display ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 101 Wien innovations reaches 00 00 00 0 in MODE EQ TABLE For example if you enter EQ TABLE SOUND the display might show EQ TABLE SOUND ALARM OF F where the field to the right of the sign will be flashing By using the DIAL you can alternate the setting to be either OFF or ON After making your selection
29. signs in this mode are the same as what they were set to in SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS Assume that each encoder has its shaft pointing upwards and is being viewed from above When either encoder shaft is rotated clockwise their absolute steps value i e ignoring the encoder sign will increase The O step point of both encoders is simply the position the encoder was in when Arco Navis was powered on Unlike the angle view mode the Altitude encoder 0 step point is not influenced by performing an FIX ALT REF ALIGN or ALIGN STAR operation When Arco Navis has DEBUG set to ON IN MODE SETUP SETUP DEBUG a third mode will appear when the DIAL is spun IN MODE ENCODER An example of the display is shown here AZ ALT ENC RAW 239 5799 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations This mode is similar to the AZ ALT ENC ANGLE mode except that the altitude reading is not affected by a FIX ALT REF ALIGN Or ALIGN STAR operation Normally you should have the DEBUG set to OFF and so this mode would normally be hidden Having DEBUG set to ON will send additional information to your SERIAL1 port which can be used by Wildcard Innovations during customer support sessions This debug data may interfere with other communications that you may have occuring on SERIAL1 so therefore it is best to keep DEBUG set to OFF unless instructed otherwise Encoder sampling and errors While it is powered on ARGO Navis
30. that point corresponds to the Altitude encoder being at its zero degree point MODE FIX ALT REF lets you tell ARGO Navis where the Altitude encoder zero degree point is Establishing this point is vital to the proper performance of ARGO Navis A change of even the smallest fraction of a degree can affect your guiding accuracy for better or for worse Doing so may not show a change in the Altitude axis WARP factor which is only measuring the difference between the angular distance between two objects and the angular distance the telescope apparently moved The utility of MODE FIX ALT REF is such Optical tube at 90 degree altitude point that it allows you to choose what altitude Figure 10 position to put the optical tube in and then lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 58 A good example of the utility of being able to specify your own angle is found in the case of some Dobsonian telescopes Many have a mechanical stop such as the back board that prevents you from positioning the scope beyond the Zenith This stop position can be exploited to provide a convenient FIX ALT REF reference point By experimentation or direct measurement you should be able to determine what angle the scope is at in altitude when it is parked at this stop position It will probably be close to 90 but maybe not exactly so Y
31. the arrow also acts as a decimal point For example 543 means Do Generally you might find it is easier to move the telescope in one axis at a time When the telescope is at the correct position the bottom line of the display will show NGC 1407 GUIDE 0 8 9 0 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations If a proper alignment has been performed the object should appear within the field of view of a moderate power eyepiece for example one that gives a field of about 30 arc minutes If objects do not appear consistently within the field of view you may want to perform a re alignment or review the section Factors that affect pointing accuracy At any time during GUIDE mode if you press ENTER a scrolling description of the object is given Typical descriptions include the full name of the object other popular names the object might be known by what constellation the object is in the size of the object the visual magnitude of the object its surface brightness in the case of stars its spectral luminosity class in the case of many double stars their separation in the case of many galaxies its abbreviated Hubble morphology the object s Right Ascension and Declination whether it is currently above or below the horizon and what volume and page of the default atlas the object would appear on See SETUP ATLAS While the description is scrolling to change the default scroll rate see SETUP SCROLL you can p
32. the word F IND will be flashing By turning the DIAL you can alternate the flashing value to either e FIND ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 139 Or e REJOIN LAST TOUR By pressing ENTER when the display shows REJOIN LAST TOUR you will rejoin the tour from the point you were last at If you spin the DIAL one detent click clockwise you will then be presented with the next star in the tour For example the display might then show RIGEL GUIDE 5358 743 As before center the star using a high power or reticle eyepiece Then press ENTER to sample the star position For example the display might then show for two seconds RIGEL ITEM 5 6 15 ITEM 5 denotes that this was the fifth item sampled The symbol denotes a fitted pointing residual Once there are non zero terms in the SET ERROR VALUES IN USE NOW submenu the pointing kernel will then use those terms and the symbol acts as a reminder that you have a pointing model in use In a similar fashion if you have non zero terms in the SET ERROR VALUES IN USE NOW submenu and then perform an alignment operation rather than the word WARP appear the display will show the word OWARP lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Again this acts a reminder that you have non zero mount error terms and an associated pointing model in place Re define
33. 1 224 Wildcard innovations Right Ascension the celestial equivalent to longitude Abbreviated as RA Measured in hours minutes seconds See Declination RS 232 designation of a computer serial communications standard Not to be confused with Universal Serial Bus USB ARGo NAvis is fitted with two independent RS 232 serial ports Many PC s have a 9 way RS 232 serial male D connector However some newer machines do not have RS 232 In this case either install a PCI serial card or use a USB to serial port adaptor RTC Real Time Clock ARGO NaAvis battery backed time of day clock Shell the name of a command interpreter program that runs on each ARGO NAvis serial port The shell accepts the names of programs and other command parameters called arguments on a command line and then calls upon the ARGo Navis multi tasking operating system to run them Sidereal Star time the rate at which stars appear to move across the sky The orbit of the Earth around the Sun makes the Sun appear to drift eastward about 1 per day with respect to the stars In one year when the earth has completed 365 2422 rotations with respect to the sun it has made exactly 1 additional rotation with respect to the stars Therefore 1 year is equivalent to 366 2422 sidereal days This makes for a Sidereal Day being approximately 4 minutes shorter than a Synodic or solar day Synodic Sun time The fa
34. ARGO Navis This serial cable is different to that used to interface ARGO NAvis to a PC The Baud rate of the corresponding serial port should be set to 19200 The red DSC LED on the front panel of the ServoCAT can be used to diagnose successful communications between the two devices When the LED is flashing it indicates communication is taking place but that ARGO NAvis is unaligned When the LED is steady ON this indicates that ARGO NaAvis has been aligned lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 187 Wildcard innovations setups Function The setups shell command puts ARGO NAvis into the setups command interpreter state The unit needs to be in the SETUP LOAD CAT state in order for command processing to take place When the setups command is issued and the unit is in the SETUP LOAD CAT state ARGO Navis will respond with OK While in the setups command processing state ARGO NAvis processes input a line at a time A line can either be e An empty line or e A setups command line All setups commands begin with a character These setups commands are as follows e Commit Commit all setup parameters from RAM to non volatile memory EEROM device e Count Return a count of how many setup parameters exist e Quit Leave the setups state and return to the shell e Read Dump all s
35. ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 65 Wildcard innovations Either pressing ENTER or turning the DIAL one detent click will lock that object into GUIDE mode CETUS A GUIDE 5358 773 Pressing ENTER again will display scrolling information about the object While the text is scrolling you can enter manual scroll mode by moving the DIAL CETUS A ALSO KNOWN AS M77 ALSO KNOWN AS NGC 1068 GALAXY IN CETUS SIZEZ 1 x6 0 MAG 8 8 SB 12 9 MORPH R SA rs b M77 BRIGHT SEYFERT RA 2 42 39 DEC 00 00 50 J2000 0 ABOVE HORIZON MSA VOL I 262 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 66 Wildcard innovations Pressing EXIT will return you to GUIDE See also mode MODE ALIGN CETUS A MODE ALIGN STAR GUIDE 0 498 0Tg MODE CATALOG Pressing EXIT again will return you to MODE TOUR search mode SETUP DATE TIME SETUP GUIDE MODE CETUS A TO FOUND Pressing EXIT again will return you to the top level menu MODE IDENTIFY a lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 67 MODE RA DEC Function MODE RA DEC allows you to determine the position of the telescope in a Right Ascension Declination co ordinate system This mode assumes that you have performed a valid alignment Using MODE RA DEC Right Ascension RA i
36. FIX ALT REF In particular you may want to come back and attempt to use the AUTO ADJUST ON mode It may well dramatically improve your alignment Now go on to read An introductory run Fork Rough Align Mounts Sometimes you may not want to align your Fork mount accurately but would still like to find objects If you have set your mount type to be FORK ROUGH ALIGN then use the following procedure You will be required to perform an operation called FIX ALT REF and two star alignments When Arco NAvis is first powered on after initializing it will prompt you with FIX ALT REF Press ENTER Turn the DIAL until you see ALT REF AUTO ADJUST OFF lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard Innovations Roughly polar align your scope Orient the tube as accurately as possible so that it is 90 with respect to the forks and the way up you normally observe thus Figure 7 When your tube is in this position press ENTER The display will briefly show ALT REF WARP ALT FIX OK Press EXIT In the top level menu spin the DIAL until you see MODE ALIGN STAR then press ENTER The display should show something like ALIGN ACHERNAR Look up at the sky and pick a familiar bright star Spin the DIAL and look for that ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 2 stars name There are 35 to choose from The MODE ALIGN STAR
37. Firmware Vers 2 0 1 107 SETUP LCD HEATER Function SETUP LCD HEATER allows you to establish the policy by which the Liquid Crystal Display LCD is heated The response time of all LCD s degrades with lowering temperature resulting in characters appearing to switch off and on more slowly Arco Navis is fitted with an extended temperature LCD However at temperatures below 0 C 32 F you may notice that it changes more slowly The LCD can be kept warm in several ways e By using the internal LCD heater This can be programmed to be ON or OFF or set to automatically turn on or off as the temperature changes However if you are powering your unit from internal AA cells this can dramatically decrease battery life e By powering Arco NAvis from the external DC power source This provides additional internal power dissipation that assists in elevating the temperature of the LCD e By brightening the display This results in more heat being internally dissipated However if you are powering your unit from internal AA cells this can dramatically decrease battery life e By thermally insulating or externally heating your ARGO lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Navis unit By keeping the unit inside a cloth or wool cover or covering it with some other insulating material internally generated heat will be trapped inside longer Alternatively you can use an external heat source
38. LO CI BE MR CO e A w V lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS A lt GC Aan Fo te eo Ss FO Oe Se er SE Gk Ti pri O W The table goes from top to bottom left to right For example note how lowercase a is regarded as alphabetically after upper case Z It is a good idea to be consistent in your choice of case when entering your own user object names W gt LU A MN lt X gt Q i X Q O O l A Cu m Ww AN X KX Ez lt CE tn 3D 5 o 5 i Mm amp ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 208 Wildcard innovations Appendix I World time zones The following list is sorted alphabetically by country It provides the local time zone including when Daylight Saving Local summer time is in effect A Afghanistan 4 5 hours Albania 1 hours Summer 2 hours Algeria 1 hours Summer 2 hours American Samoa 11 hours Andorra 1 hours Summer 2 hours Angola 1 hours Anguilla 4 hours Antarctica 2 hours Summer 3 hours Antigua 4 hours Argentina 3 hours Argentina western provinces 4 hours Armenia 4 hours Summer 5 hours Aruba 4 hours Ascension 0 hours Australia Northern Territory 9 5 hours Australia Lord Howe Island 10 30 hours Summer 11 hours Australia New South Wales 10 hours Summer 11 hours Australia Queensland 10 hours Australia Victo
39. NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 40 menu then the WARP factor will always be 0 00 For example if you had selected to align such a mount using Rigel a Magnitude 0 1 star in Orion you would receive this message ALIGN RIGEL WARP 0 00 For FORK EXACT ALIGN or GEM EXACT ALIGN mount settings where the mount is accurately polar aligned only one alignment star is necessary to align ARGO Navis For ALTAZ DOBSONIAN FORK ROUGH ALIGN and GEM ROUGH ALIGN mount settings two alignment stars and a FIX ALT REF see MODE FIX ALT REF step are necessary If you are performing the first ALIGN STAR or ALIGN operation for a mount that requires two alignment stars then the designation 1 will appear after the WARP factor to remind you that this was only the first alignment For example ALIGN SIRIUS WARP 2 32 1 If you are performing the second or subsequent ALIGN STAR or ALIGN operation for a mount that requires two alignment stars then you should take special note of the WARP factor when it appears In general you will want to achieve a WARP factor as close to 0 0 as possible If you had set AUTO ADJUST OFF in MODE FIX ALT REF then a perfect alignment would give you a WARP factor of 0 00 though values in the range of 0 50 to 0 50 should normally achieve an acceptable alignment For example lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations ALIGN VEGA WARP 1 indicates th
40. OFF as you desire Then press either EXIT or ENTER to save that selection into memory EEROM device and to specify it as your current setting ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 23 Alignment procedures This section gives a quick introduction to the alignment procedure for ARGO Navis Variations and possible refinements to the alignment procedure are discussed in MODE FIX ALT REF SETUP ALT REF MODE ALIGN STAR MODE ALIGN MODE EQ TABLE SETUP ALIGN PICK SETUP REFRACTION and SETUP MNT ERRORS After reading this section you are encouraged to read the sections just referenced to provide you with a fuller understanding of the alignment procedure They are worth reading as the alignment procedures described here are simply meant to help you get started A fuller understanding of the alignment procedure will help you improve your pointing accuracy Purpose of alignment Whenever you power on ARGO Navis you will need to carry out an alignment procedure in order for it to locate objects The alignment procedure depends on the type of mount you have and whether it is accurately polar aligned or not You lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations should have already set your mount type In SETUP MOUNT Fork Exact Align and German Equatorial Exact Align Mounts The possible polar aligned mount settings are FORK EXACT ALIG
41. POWER SOURCES 11 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations PROGRAMMER S REFERENCE 172 RAD 184 SAMPLES 185 SATELLITE 186 SERVOCAT 187 SETTING encoder steps 13 mount type 13 17 refraction 23 SETUP ALIGN PICK 83 SETUP ALT REF 85 SETUP ALT STEPS 87 SETUP ATLAS 88 SETUP AZ STEPS 90 SETUP BRIGHTNESS 91 SETUP CONTRAST 92 SETUP DATE TIME 93 SETUP DEBUG 96 SETUP DEFAULTS 97 SETUP ENC TIMING 98 SETUP EQ TABLE 101 SETUP GOTO 103 SETUP GUIDE MODE 106 SETUP LCD HEATER 108 SETUP LOAD CAT 109 SETUP LOCATION 111 SETUP MNT ERRORS 115 SETUP MOUNT 114 SETUP REFRACTION 143 SETUP SCRATCH 145 SETUP SCROLL 147 SETUP SERIAL 148 SETUPS 188 SITECH 189 SKYCOMM 190 TANGENT 191 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 197 THERM 192 TIMEZONE 21 SEE MODE TIME UPTIME 193 USER 194 ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 226 Wear innovations USER INTERFACE 7 WORLD TIMEZONES 209 WARRANTY 218 a lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 221 Wildcard innovations Products instructions or specifications may change without notice Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd 20 Kilmory Place Mount Kuring Gai NSW 2080 Australia ABN 56 076 242 450 Phone 61 2 9457 9049 Fax 61 2 9457 9593 http www wildcard innovations com au Sales
42. SAMPLE MODE either ON or OFF When SAMPLE MODE Is ON an additional submenu will appear when you press ENTER in GUIDE mode The COMPUTE ERRORS submenu allows you to compute the values of terms you have defined to be computed in the DEFINE MODEL submenu It also reports to you the RMS value before and after the fit the Population Standard Deviation PSD before and after the fit and another Statistical measure known as the standard deviation of each term along with other useful diagnostic information Once the computation is performed it allows you to either accept i e put in use and optionally save for later use or reject the pointing model The DEFINE MODEL submenu allows you to define which terms you would like COMPUTE ERRORS to compute which terms you would like to declare as constant fixed values and which terms not to include in the computation at all The REVIEW DATA submenu allows you to examine the pointing data you have sampled You can examine and delete entries look at individual raw and fitted sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations pointing residuals for each star sampled and also examine the raw and modelled RMS values for the entire data set The SET ERROR VALUES submenu allows you to examine or manually edit two sets of terms One set of terms are those that are currently in use by the pointing kernel The other set of terms are those that are saved in the unit s
43. User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 176 Wildcard innovations enccil Function Set the encoder TON and TOFF times in a manner analogous to the SETUP ENC TIMING menu function However unlike the SETUP ENC TIMING menu the TON and TOFF parameters will not be written to non volatile memory EEROM device Therefore any change in TON and TOFF timing made by this command will not be persistent once the unit is powered off encctl requires two integer arguments the TON and TOFF times Both arguments are in the range 0 255 Except for the special case where TOFF 0 TOFF should be greater than or equal to TON Example encctli 17 1 7 NS lt T TM A ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 177 Wildcard innovations event Function Event takes a single integer as an argument It will queue and sound an alarm event at the specified number of seconds in the future Example event 120 Will sound an alarm 120 seconds from the time the command was invoked lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 178 Wildcard innovations fp Function Send an object entry to the FROM PLANETARIUM catalog entry Usage fp NAMEJRAJDECJOBJECT TYPE MAGNITUDE OPTIONAL DESCRIPTION The back quote char
44. a large pointing test in order to help diagnose the fabrication errors in your telescope then it is highly recommended you install a fresh set of batteries in the unit or power the unit from an external DC power source A large pointing test can take several hours and if the power should fail your valuable pointing data will be lost Using SETUP MNT ERRORS Before using SETUP MNT ERRORS you should ensure that your local time zone date and time is set in SETUP DATE TIME and that the local location is set in SETUP lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS LOCATION You should then switch refraction modelling ON in SETUP REFRACTION In SETUP GUIDE MODE you might also find it convenient to set the GUIDE DECIMAL setting to 2 DECIMAL PLACES Once you have performed the above steps enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP MNT ERRORS then press ENTER The display might then show ACQUIRE DATA where the top line of the display will be flashing By spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the top line of the display can be cycled as follows ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 128 e ACQUIRE DATA e COMPUTE ERRORS e DEFINE MODEL e REVIEW DATA e SET ERROR VALUES Each of these corresponds to a submenu of which the following paragraphs provide an initial brief overview The ACQUIRE DATA submenu allows you to switch
45. a considerable power saving f you are powering your unit from internal AA cell batteries this can help dramatically increase their life Using SETUP BRIGHTNESS Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP BRIGHTNESS then press ENTER Spin the DIAL clockwise to brighten the display or anti clockwise to dim it The brightness settings range from 1 dim to 100 bright The factory default setting is 50 For example BRIGHTNESS 3 indicates that the brightness is at 3 which would result in a dim display and would also produce a considerable power saving When you have adjusted the brightness to suit your requirements lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the value from what it originally was the word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device See also MODE SETUP SETUP CONTRAST SETUP SCROLL ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 91 Wien innovations SETUP CONTRAST Function Normally the factory default contrast See also setting for the Liquid Crystal Display MODE SETUP LCD is pre set for optimal viewing However SETUP CONTRAST allows you to adjust it if necessary SETUP BRIGHTNESS SETUP SCROLL Using SETUP CONTRAST Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the D
46. and re compute a model often during a pointing test As mentioned earlier there is an advantage in fitting and putting a model in use early during a pointing test For a long pointing test one strategy is to initially sample just a few stars that are possibly close together for example in the same constellation At that point fit and put in use an initial model You may then find that the pointing accuracy of the telescope has improved to a sufficient extent that you can then start to sample stars further away from that starting point As you take more samples take the time to return to SETUP MNT ERRORS and experiment with fitting a new model Think of the DEFINE MODEL and COMPUTE submenus as being an experimenter s workbench If the reported RMS and PSD do not improve when you COMPUTE a new model simply press EXIT return to the DEFINE MODEL submenu and try adding or removing terms Note that as you move to different parts of the sky the RMS and PSD values may increase because some un modelled fabrication error might be more pronounced in that region Recommendations on the number and distribution of sample stars How many stars you should sample is dependent on what type of telescope and mount you have and what your pointing goals are ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 140 For example to perform an initial analysis of your telescope you should
47. at a time toggles the value to be either 1 or 2 For example GUIDE DECIMAL 2 DECIMAL PLACES indicates that two decimal digits will be displayed after the decimal point while guiding when the angle is less than 0 1 When you have set the desired number of decimals press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the value from what it originally was ARco Navis will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device Examples Example 1 You have set the GUIDE DECIMAL to be 1 While in GUIDE mode the display might look like this DUNLOP 283 GUIDE 851 Gl lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations Example 2 You have set the GUIDE DECIMAL to be 2 While in GUIDE mode the display might look like this DUNLOP 283 GUIDE 4 gt 08 8183 Example 3 Your unit has the GUIDE AZ ARROW set to its default direction sense While in GUIDE mode the display might look like this TARANTULA NEBULA GUIDE 25 54 Gigi However you would prefer if the Az arrow pointed in the opposite direction as in your particular circumstances this would then be more intuitive as to which way you needed to rotate the scope You would therefore set GUIDE AZ ARROW to be REVERSED The display would then appear like this TARANTULA NEBULA GUIDE 25 lt 4 Gigi See also MODE CATALOG MODE IDENTIFY MODE SETUP MODE TOUR ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B
48. attempt to induce any lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations potential encoder shaft slippage error or the like Again re center the object and check that the displayed value has returned to within a step or two of what it originally was To diagnose for hysteresis effects carefully observe the display in MODE ENCODER whilst moving the scope to and fro When you begin to move the scope look for any noticeable delay or lag from the time the scope starts to move to the time MODE ENCODER registers motion Start by rotating the mount in one direction then stopping and reversing the direction of travel If you notice the above mentioned lag effect from when the scope begins to move this is a telltale sign of hysteresis It is best rectified by inspecting your encoder mounting hardware for any play and then applying a mechanical fix Category 2 errors The following discussion should be regarded as an advanced topic It assumes you are completely familiar with setting up aligning and guiding with your Arco Navis and that you have used it successfully for several observing sessions If not it is recommended that you review the section on Initial setup of Arco Navis and the section on Alignment procedures Category 2 errors can be divided into three sub categories a Random errors Neither ARGO Navis nor any other system can ever model or compensate for errors that are random
49. be orthogonal to its Altitude or Dec axis Again see SETUP MNT ERRORS for a method of compensating for this when the actual error angle is known Tube flexure can result in a vertical pointing shift as the tube bends under its own weight This includes trusses that bend on Dobsonians particularly if their top ends are heavily laden Fork mounts can experience flexure in the forks themselves Dobsonian scopes can exhibit a wobble in their azimuth axis particularly lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS if the rocker box can tilt side to side with respect to the ground board Imperfectly shaped bearings can create a shift in the pointing direction For example the altitude bearings on some Dobsonians can cause the scope to move up and down and side to side in the cradle The optical encoders have a finite resolution For example 10 000 step encoders have a resolution of 2 16 arc minutes per step If the encoders are geared then gear backlash and periodic errors might come into play The precision by which the FIX ALT REF step can be performed in a two star alignment is critical to pointing accuracy Even if AUTO ADJUST ON is set the errors already discussed above can compound the error in ascertaining the zero degree point However Arco Navis has a powerful in built feature Known as TPAS that can assist with many of the above problems Additional information both introductory and advan
50. but is equipped with a USB port Wildcard Innovations have available a USB to RS 232 Serial Port Adaptor Wildcard Innovations Part No pn usb which works in conjunction with the optional RS 232 serial cable pn ser cbl Interfacing to a ServoCAT GOTO controller ARGO NAvis fully supports the ServoCAT GOTO system In this case the startup command on the appropriate serial port should be set to servocat and the Baud rate on the same serial port ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 150 Wildcard innovations should be set to 19200 Note that the See also cable used to interface the ARGO MODE SETUP Navis to the ServoCAT is a different SETUP LOADCAT cable to that which is used to interface to a PC Be sure to identify the correct cable when interfacing the two units Programmer s reference shell commands lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 151 Wildcard innovations ARGONAUT software utility ARGONAUT introduction The supplied ARGONAUT software utility is suitable to run on the following operating systems e Windows 95 e Windows 98 e Windows NT e Windows 2000 e Windows XP If you have a newer version of Windows than the above then ARGONAUT may well run However it has only been tested on the abo
51. can also interface ARGO NAvis to the SiTech GOTO controller using a shared encoder architecture if you require a closed loop positioning system Contact Sidereal Technology for details lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 189 Wildcard innovations skycomm Function Enter Sky Commander emulation mode skycomm can be used as a shell startup command See SETUP SERIAL To interface ARGo Navis to a Sky Tracker GOTO drive system set the shell startup command on the appropriate serial port to skycomm Note that ServoCAT users should upgrade the firmware in their GOTO drive controller system to use the servocat protocol A sub set of the Sky Commander protocol command set is accepted Remote system sends r i e carriage return control m Response is RA and Dec in the following format 12 234 67 890NULL where _ represents space and NULL is null char Remote system sends O Response is Altitude elevation and Azimuth offsets to the guided current object in units of degrees Format is eight raw bytes representing two floating point values The floating point representation is Big Endian with a exponent biased by 128 To convert to industry standard IEEE Floating Point Format divide the returned values by 4 The first four bytes are the Altitude elevation offset where Go Up The next four bytes are th
52. characters A combination of upper and lower case characters can be used if desired Generally upper case letters tend to look better on character LCD s and are therefore recommended where practical The Caps Lock key on your keyboard can aid in typing large amounts of text in uppercase Transferring catalog files To transfer Asteroid Comet Satellite or User Files first place the unit in SETUP LOAD CAT mode Then use the Transfer pull down menu and select the appropriate file type Transfer Delete Memotw Terminal Help Send Asteroid File Send Comet File Send Satellite File Send User File It al Send Firmware File Send Command File Text F5 Receive File Text bort Sending Shia lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 163 Wkdeand innovations Then use the file navigation dialog to select the appropriate file Look in A My Documents E A Esl Desktop My Documents Cancel E Then press Open The file transfer should begin In the Terminal window you should see ARGO NAvis echo each line from the file it receives from ARGONAUT As it processes each line it also reports OK The File Transfer Progress meter in the lower left hand corner should also indicate the transfer is taking place My Computer i IY pe File name asteroids tut T
53. encoders are installed on your mount and you do see these errors check the batteries in ARGo Nav s M and the connections on your encoders Otherwise see the Troubleshooting guide Once you have established that your Arco Navis can reliably communicate with your encoders you are ready to proceed ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 15 Wien Innovations Determining encoder direction senses If your scope is on a Fork Mount roughly polar align it Orient the tube so that it is the way up you normally observe thus When you were initially setting your encoder resolution with SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS you were asked to ignore the flashing sign Using the DIAL the sign can be made to be either a ora It determines the way that Arco Navis interprets the direction sense of the applicable encoder Setting the correct direction senses of your encoders is very important Many factors influence the setting of encoder direction senses For example in the case of an altitude encoder whether it is mounted on the left or right hand side of the mount and whether it has been geared an even or odd number of times are just two of the factors The section named Factors affecting encoder direction sense details these For this reason determining the correct direction senses of your encoders may not be simply Fork tube orie
54. for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 171 Wildcard innovations Programmer s reference The Arco Navis provides two serial ports each of which runs a command interpreter program called the shell This section lists the available commands in alphabetical order which provides for a handy reference for programmers wanting to write software to interface with ARGo Navis In the Windows environment developers can experiment with the various shell commands by typing into the Terminal window of the supplied ARGONAUT utility The shell should be put into the navis startup command state to do this See SETUP SERIAL When the shell starts it sends out a command prompt consisting of a percent sign followed by a space i e o where _ represents a space The following is true except once the meade pbt servocat sitech skycomm and tangent emulation modes have been entered The Arco Navis serial port terminal device echo s input characters Input is line based and is terminated by a newline character n All input is cooked Input on a line can be erased via the backspace character XON XOFF handshaking is honoured in both directions n is echoed as r n Output lines are terminated by the same sequence Backspace is echoed as backspace space backspace The shell interprets the input line when it has been terminated with a newline character The shell accepts wh
55. had the time zone date time and location set reasonably accurately It uses these parameters in conjunction with information it will obtain once you perform an alignment to determine where the local horizon is Having determined that it then can correct for refraction If you have inadvertently set the time zone date time or location to a value that is significantly different from your circumstances and switch refraction modelling on then this can result in large pointing errors in some regions of the sky Therefore you should always double check these parameters If you do not plan to observe objects close to the horizon you may decide to leave refraction modelling off However if you are confident you have set your time zone date time and location correctly it is a good idea to turn it on to improve your pointing accuracy It is highly recommended to turn refraction modelling on when performing a star pointing test as this can help refine the determination of any mount error terms See SETUP MNT ERRORS for details lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations If the star pointing test was performed with refraction modelling on it is highly recommended to leave it on during any subsequent use of this pointing model Using SETUP REFRACTION Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP REFRACTION then press ENTER The display will indicate whether refraction modelling
56. has two independent RS 232 serial communications ports named SERIAL1 and SERIAL2 The serial ports allow you to connect your Arco Navis to a PC or Macintosh computer SETUP SERIAL allows you to set the Baud rate communications speed and startup command for both of them To understand what is meant by startup command some background explanation is required Each serial port runs its own copy of a powerful command interpreter program called the shell The shell accepts the names of programs and other command parameters called arguments on a command line and then calls upon the Arco Navis multi tasking operating system to run them The various commands that the shell can run are listed in the Programmer s reference As a special feature of the shell some of these commands can be made to execute automatically when the ARGo Navis is first powered on These are known as startup commands One startup command is called navis You would set your startup command as navis if you want to use that port for user catalog asteroid satellite or comet orbital element downloads from the supplied ARGONAUT utility You would also set it to navis for use with ARGo Nav s aware programs such as Star Atlas PRO that can provide a tracking cursor display against a map of the sky as lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations you move your scope o
57. hours Tanzania 3 hours Thailand 7 hours Togo 0 hours Tonga 13 hours Trinidad and Tobago 4 hours Tuamotu Island 10 hours Tubuai Island 10 hours Tunisia 1 hours Turkey 2 hours Summer 3 hours Turkmenistan 5 hours Turks and Caicos Islands 5 hours Summer 4 hours Tuvalu 12 hours U Uganda 3 hours Ukraine 2 hours Summer 3 hours United Arab Emirates 4 hours United Kingdom 0 hours Summer 1 hours USA Central 6 hours Summer 5 hours USA Eastern 5 hours Summer 4 hours USA Mountain 7 hours Summer 6 hours USA Arizona 7 hours USA Indiana East 5 hours USA Pacific 8 hours Summer 7 hours USA Alaska 9 hours Summer 8 hours USA Aleutian 10 hours USA Hawaii 10 hours Uruguay 3 hours Uzbekistan 5 hours V Vanuatu 11 hours Summer 12 hours Vatican City 1 hours Summer 2 hours Venezuela 4 hours Vietnam 7 hours Virgin Islands 4 hours W Wake Island 12 hours Wales 0 hours Summer 1 hours lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 216 Wildcard innovations Wallis and Futuna Islands 12 hours Windward Islands 4 hours Y Yemen 3 hours Yugoslavia 1 hours Summer 2 hours Z Zaire Kasai 2 hours Zaire Kinshasa Mbandaka 1 hours Zaire Haut Zaire 2 hours Zaire Kivu 2 hours Zaire Shaba 2 hours Zambia 2 hours Zimb
58. in the size of the object the visual magnitude of the object its surface brightness in the case of stars its spectral luminosity class in the case of galaxies its abbreviated Hubble morphology the object s Right Ascension and Declination whether it is currently above or below the horizon and lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations what volume and page of the default atlas the object would appear on See SETUP ATLAS While the description is scrolling to change the default scroll rate see SETUP SCROLL you can press EXIT or ENTER to have Arco Navis go back to GUIDE MODE or wait until the description has completed scrolling and ARGO Navis will automatically return to GUIDE MODE If you move the DIAL while the description is scrolling manual scroll mode is entered Turning the DIAL clockwise scrolls the message forward for convenient reading at your leisure while turning the DIAL anti clockwise scrolls the message in reverse By pressing EXIT or ENTER while in manual scroll mode ARGO Na vis will return to GUIDE MODE While in GUIDE MODE if you spin the DIAL clockwise you can browse the next object in the currently selected catalog Similarly if you rotate the DIAL anti clockwise you can browse the previous object Examples Example 1 You want to observe the Ghost of Jupiter Spin the DIAL until you see MODE CATALOG then press ENTER Spin the DIAL until you see POPULAR DEE
59. in these menus changes the direction sense of the associated encoder Northern or Southern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere operation results in apparent direction sense reversal for both encoders compared to the Northern Hemisphere ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 201 Wildcard innovations Appendix F How to replace the lithium coin cell battery is black in color and has a compliance Arco Navis uses a 3V lithium coin plate beneath the communications ports cell to maintain power to the real time identifying it as a Model 102 clock RTC This clock maintains the date and time even when the unit is switched Model 102B Coin Cell Replacement on a The following outlines the procedure Ordinarily the battery should operate for replacing the coin cell battery on the for several years Whenever it goes flat newer Model 102B intel ie TOTO MING ieee ea Referring to Figure 14 remove the coin p cell hatch screw and hatch RTC BATTERY FLAT followed by DATE SET TO 1 1 2008 12 00 Replace with Panasonic CR 1220 3V or equivalent Replacements can be ordered from Wildcard Innovations You need to perform the replacement at a static free work station and you need to wear a grounded wrist strap Observe all static electricity handling precautions The sensitive electronic components can be damaged otherwise and you will void your warranty If you do not
60. in the SET ERROR VALUES IN USE NOW submenu to be zero Then GUIDE to a star so that the bottom line of the display reads as closely as possible to GUIDE 0 00 0 09 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Now look through the telescope or if need be the finder and observe where the star actually is The difference between where the system thinks the star is and where it actually is will then be predominantly due to the polar misalignment of the mount Without moving the telescope in RA and Dec move the mount in Az and Alt to center the star in a high power or reticle eyepiece GUIDE to a second star and adjust the mount in Az and Alt if need be Repeat if necessary The advantage of this approach is that it can often be quicker than a drift test and it can take into account mount fabrication errors that a drift test does not One limiting factor will be the finite resolution of the encoders in your system ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 142 SETUP REFRACTION Function SETUP REFRACTION allows you to turn refraction modelling either on or off Due to the phenomenon of atmospheric refraction celestial objects close to an observer s horizon will appear to be higher in altitude than they actually are ARGO Navis can compensate for the effects of atmospheric refraction However to do so ARGO NaAvis must have
61. line of the display can be alternated as follows e DELTAS RAW A e DELTAS FITTED 6 The symbol is the lowercase Greek letter delta and ARGo Navis uses it to denote a fitted pointing residual For example spin the DIAL until the display shows ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 138 END OF DATA DELTAS FITTED 0 then press ENTER The display might then show END OF DATA FIT RMS 1 5 0 This shows the fitted RMS for the sampled data That is the RMS using the terms that are currently in use by the pointing kernel The values of these terms can be examined in the IN USE NOW submenu of the SET ERROR VALUES submenu Note in this example that the raw RMS of 6 7 dropped to a fitted RMS value of 1 5 To examine the fitted residuals of each object spin the DIAL anti clockwise a detent click at a time For example spinning the DIAL anti clockwise one step might show CANOPUS ITEM 4 o 1 5 Note that the fitted residuals of individual items should generally become smaller when compared to their raw residuals though some may actually increase However TPAS will always compute the optimal value for each of the terms in the model in order to provide the best possible fit for the pointing data Now and then immediately after having performed a COMPUTE function and putting a model in use it is recommended you us
62. make yourself familiar with the set up and running of ARGONAUT as explained in the previous sections as that part of the operation is similar and will not be explained again in detail here However there are some key differences in how the ARGO NaAvis unit needs to be set up in order to perform a firmware upgrade To upgrade the firmware perform the following steps Using the Internet fetch a firmware upgrade file from the Wildcard Innovations web site The firmware file will have a sgz suffix Check that the downloaded file size is identical to the size of the file on the web site Before upgrading your firmware it is a good idea to make a copy on paper of your SETUP menu settings Some firmware upgrades will need to automatically reset the EEROM to its factory default settings Similarly some firmware upgrades may also automatically clear the loadable catalog region Therefore any objects that you have loaded might be erased Make sure you retain the original catalog source files on your PC Power off the ARGO NAvis unit If you are powering your unit from batteries ensure that they are fresh lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 168 Wildcard innovations Connect the serial cable to the SERIAL1 port of ARGO NAvis Only the SERIAL1 port can be used for firmware upgrades and during this operation its Baud rate is f
63. mechanical slippage Since stars appear to constantly move they are not suitable objects to aid in the checking of mechanical slippage Additional information both introductory and advanced that discusses many of the causes of pointing errors and how to diagnose them including the use of the powerful TPAS feature can be found in the SETUP MNT ERRORS section of this Manual ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 205 Encoder cable swapped Symptoms e When the scope is moved in azimuth the altitude reading in MODE ENCODER changes and vice versa Suggestion Swap the cable connections between the azimuth and altitude encoders Wildcard Innovations encoder cables have a white sleeve marking the altitude encoder connection Encoder jack upside down Symptoms e While observing the MODE ENCODER readout one encoder does not register moving Suggestion Check whether the flat 5 pin jack has been inserted upside down into the encoder Wildcard Innovations encoder cables have a white dot on the 5 pin jack that should match a white dot on top of the encoder Incorrect encoder resolution setting Symptoms e WARP numbers always high particularly when AUTO ADJUST OFF is set e Objects cannot be found e Poor pointing accuracy Suggestion Check the resolution settings of your encoders in SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS lt gt TM GA AR
64. non volatile memory EEROM device for use on subsequent observing sessions Normally you would not manually edit either set of terms but instead use the power and utility of the COMPUTE ERRORS function to determine and save them for you The ACQUIRE DATA submenu Assuming you would like to perform a star pointing test begin by switching SAMPLE MODE to ON Spin the DIAL until you see ACQUIRE DATA then press ENTER The display might then show SAMPLE MODE OFF where the OFF will be flashing Spin the DIAL until the display shows SAMPLE MODE ON then press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the state from what it originally was ARGO Navis will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device When SAMPLE MODE Is ON whenever the unit is in GUIDE mode and you press the ENTER button a new submenu will ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 129 appear GUIDE mode is reached from MODE CATALOG MODE IDENTIFY Or MODE TOUR Initial alignment Align the unit as you normally would For example if your mount type is set as FORK EXACT ALIGN or GEM EXACT ALIGN perform a one star alignment using either MODE ALIGN STAR or MODE ALIGN If your mount is of any other type you will be required to perform a FIX ALT REF step and a two star alignment Unless your mount type is GEM ROUGH ALIGN you can use AUTO ADJUST ON when you perform the FIX A
65. old SCRATCH 1 name by turning them into SPACES The SPACE character is found just after the letter Z if you are turning the DIAL clockwise When you have entered two successive SPACE characters ARGO Navis automatically leaves object name edit mode and enters RA Dec edit mode For example the display might show this NOVA 00 00 00 0000 where the first 0 in the bottom line will be flashing Now use the DIAL and the ENTER button to edit the RA Dec of the object RA is displayed in terms of hours minutes seconds or hours minutes decimal minutes either Change the second colon character to a decimal point if the RA available to you is in hours minutes decimal minutes format ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 145 Dec is displayed in terms of degrees and minutes Change the or sign and edit the remaining fields as appropriate When you have edited the last Dec field press ENTER The unit will then return to the mode whereby the top line of the display is flashing If you wish to edit the second scratch object turn the DIAL to select it and edit as in the previous example When you have completed editing your scratch objects press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the names or co ordinates of either object from what they originally were ARGO Navis will save these new values into its memory EEROM device TO G
66. optical encoders will have a printed label specifying either their part number or their resolution For example if you have an encoder marked with the part number S2 2500 this is a 10 000 step encoder 10 000 is 4 times 2500 this style of encoder is technically known as a Quadrature Encoder When an encoder rotates it transmits electrical pulses or steps A 10 000 step encoder will produce 10 000 steps when it is rotated 360 Therefore one step on such an encoder corresponds to an angle of rotation of about 2 16 arc minutes Encoders can be geared to produce a higher or lower number of steps when the telescope mount bearing they are attached to rotates through 360 In any case you need to establish how many steps your encoders produce when the bearing they are attached to is rotated through 360 In many cases bearings particularly altitude declination bearings may be incapable of being rotated through a full 360 Nonetheless you will still need to establish how many steps the encoder ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 13 would produce if the bearing could be rotated through a full 360 If the shaft of your encoder is attached directly to the axis of rotation of the bearing and is not geared then the number of steps for that particular encoder is simply its rated number of steps Setting altitude steps Having esta
67. or non repeatable in nature ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 117 b Systematic errors of a type for which Arco Navis provides no support c Systematic errors of a type that Arco Navis can model and compensate for Examples of Category 2a errors include a sudden mirror flop or a truss pole on a Dobsonian that is not secured in its block allowing the top end to flop These are always best addressed by fixing the problem at its source Category 2c errors can be computed using the features available in SETUP MNT ERRORS and the remaining discussion will be devoted to this topic Even multi billion dollar professional telescopes have some intrinsic systematic fabrication error in their mounts The TPAS Approach TPAS can help you measure pointing error residuals then compute and compensate for many of the more common types of systematic fabrication errors Internally TPAS has a mathematical formula for each of the supported errors Such a formula is referred to as a term A set of terms that work in unison forms what is referred to as a model and when applied such a model can be used to help improve the pointing of your telescope The TPAS approach involves you performing an initial alignment of the unit and then centering stars in the eyepiece and sampling their positions Ideally the stars sampled will be
68. or a GEM or an Alt Az type such as a Dobsonian Pointing errors interact with one another in very complex ways One ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 118 remarkable aspect of TPAS is that it can untangle each of the error terms TPAS will compute the value of each of these terms so that the model you have defined provides the best possible fit to your sampling data Root Mean Square RMS One statistical measure that the system provides is a value known as the Root Mean Square RMS Mathematically RMS is defined as the square root of the mean average of the squares of the pointing error residuals Suffice to say RMS provides a measure by which one can estimate the pointing performance of the telescope You will undoubtedly be interested in the pointing performance of the telescope when no modelling is applied Known as raw RMS pointing performance and the pointing performance after a model is applied known as modelled RMS pointing performance Just as an individual pointing error residual is expressed as an angle so is RMS The smaller the RMS value the better the performance The RMS value can be thought of as the radius of a circle As a rule of thumb for any given RMS value approximately 68 of stars in the sampling data will fall within a circle whose radius is equivalent to the RMS of that data Figures 11 and 12 are example
69. orbiting satellites assuming your ARGO Navis has a satellite catalog currently loaded e SCRATCH see SETUP SCRATCH e USER OBJECTS assuming your ARGO NAvis has user defined objects currently loaded lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 196 Wildcard innovations Appendix B Technical specifications CPU s e Motorola 5206e ColdFire 40MHz with full 32 bit data paths and internal caches e PIC16C505 4MHz 8 bit micro controller Memory e 2MB 70ns re programmable FLASH e Firmware including all catalogs is user upgradeable via serial port e Firmware and catalog upgrades can be downloaded from http www wildcard innovations com au for free e 512KB 50ns static RAM e 8Kb non volatile RAM EEROM Power e 4x AA alkaline lithium or rechargeable NiMH cells up to approximately 40 hours of continuous operation with LCD dimmed Do not use NiCd or regular neavy duty zinc oxide cells e DC power jack for external battery power 8V to 16V DC Supports live insertion and removal without interruption to unit function when internal batteries also installed Provides LCD heating function External power cable optional Use 350mA fuse e AAcells MODE ALIGN 58 6mA 5 V LCD 1 no encoders 7OmMA 5 V LCD 1 Encoder Timing TON 17 TOFF 174 low resolution lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS encoders
70. originally was ARGO NAvis will briefly display the words SAVING while it saves your settings into its memory EEROM device and then display the message SETUP AZ STEPS You have now set your azimuth encoder step setting However as will be explained later you may need to come back and change the encoder direction sense the sign or sign depending upon your circumstances ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 14 Testing encoder communication Power Arco Navis off Make sure that your encoders are installed on your mount and that your encoder cable is connected both to them and into the ENCODERS port of the Arco Navis See Figure 2 Power Arco Navis on and use the DIAL to go to MODE ENCODER Press ENTER The display should show something like this AZ ALT ENC ANGLE GO0 00 000 00 The display is showing the angle of the azimuth encoder on the bottom left of the display and that of the altitude encoder on the bottom right Move the scope in azimuth Right Ascension Make sure that the AZ angle on the display changes Now move the scope in altitude Declination Make sure that the ALT angle changes If the ALT reading changes when you move the scope in azimuth and vice versa you have the encoder cables swapped around On most encoder cables supplied by Wildcard Innovations the cable that has the wh
71. package An example file follows 22P Kopff 12000 20021212 0944 1 583616 0 543212 162 7603 120 9293 4 7185 3 0 26 0 MPC 34423 86P Wild 3 12000120010618 4822 2 309902 0 364447 179 1225 72 6090 15 4380 11 0 15 0 MPC 3166 129P Shoemaker Levy 3 12000120050603 7 287 2 810134 0 249392 181 4039 303 6526 5 0120 11 0 10 0 MPC 30739 C 2002 CI Ikeya Zhang 12000 20020318 9811 0 507053 0 990129 34 6669 93 3696 28 1218 7 0 10 0 MPEC 2002 H23 C 2002 C2 LINEAR 12000 20020410 7764 3 253938 1 000000 159 9244 242 9541 104 8846 8 5 10 0 MPEC 2002 F22 P 2002 CW134 LINEAR 12000 20020228 9470 1 839612 0 489434 190 1120 348 3179 15 2273 13 0 10 0 MPEC 2002 G39 C 2002 E2 Snyder Murakami 12000 20020221 7737 1 466270 1 000115 9 0185 244 5781 92 5440 7 5 10 0 MPEC 2002 J35 C 2002 FI Utsunomiya 12000120020422 8984 0 438299 0 999556 125 8999 289 0295 80 8765 8 5 10 0 MPEC 2002 J10 C 2002 H2 LINEAR 12000120020323 5875 1 636079 1 000000 20 5431 1269 0400 110 5088 10 5 10 0 MPEC 2002 J36 C 2002 J4 NEAT 12000 20031001 301 3 62793 1 00000 230 588 70 992 46 333 5 5 10 0 MPEC 2002 J47 While in the comet orbital element processing state ARGO NAvis processes input a line at a time A line can either be e An empty line or e An orbital element entry as above or e A comet state command All state commands begin with a c
72. reference page lists the alignment stars If you cannot find the star you have chosen in the list pick another that is in the list For example say you have chosen Sirius Spin the DIAL until you see ALIGN SIRIUS Centre Sirius in the eyepiece then press ENTER The display will briefly show something like this ALIGN SIRIUS WARP 1 75 1 Your WARP number will probably be different but don t worry Now pick a second bright alignment star Preferably choose one approximately 30 to 90 away from the first and which will involve having to move the scope in both axes For example say you have chosen Capella Spin the DIAL until you see ALIGN CAPELLA Centre Capella in the eyepiece then press ENTER The display will briefly show something like this ALIGN CAPELLA WARP 20 Your WARP number should ideally be as close to 0 00 as possible A number in the range of 0 5 to 0 5 will probably give you reasonable pointing accuracy depending upon the accuracy of your initial FIX ALT REF step O lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations lf your WARP number was much larger you may want to check that you identified the correct stars and repeat the alignment procedure if need be Otherwise see the Troubleshooting guide This completes the alignment procedure Be sure to take the time to read the section on MODE FIX ALT REF In particular you may want to come back and attempt to
73. samples the position of each encoder up to a possible 16 000 times every second This is known as the encoder sampling rate The encoder sampling rate is determined by the values set in SETUP ENC TIMING If an encoder is turned too quickly the sampling rate may be exceeded and steps might be missed In theory each encoder can be turned at a maximum instantaneous rate such that it does not produce more steps per second than approximately half the sampling rate If the sampling rate is exceeded one of the following messages might appear on the display AZ ENCODER ERROR M means the Azimuth encoder has missed one or more steps ALT ENCODER ERR ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 51 means the Altitude encoder has missed one or more steps BOTH ENCODER ERR means both encoders have missed one or more steps For most practical purposes the encoder sampling rate will never be exceeded while moving a telescope if the correct values have been set in SETUP ENC TIMING For example if the encoder sampling rate had been set to 11kHz 11 000 samples per second in SETUP ENC TIMING and if the telescope were fitted with ungeared 8192 step encoders the scope would have to be rotated in either axis a full 360 in less than 1 and one half seconds However it is possible to exceed the sampling rate if for example the encoders are held freely in the hand and
74. such as a dew heater to help elevate the temperature of the unit in freezing temperatures In extremely cold temperatures a combination of these methods might be employed Using SETUP LCD HEATER Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP LCD HEATER then press ENTER The display will indicate the current heating policy For example LCD HEATER OFF which is the factory default Spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time cycles the policy to be either OFF ON or AUTO AUTO will turn on at 2 C 35 6 F and off at 3 C 37 4 F When you have set the desired policy press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the value from what it originally was ARGO Navis will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device See alSo SETUP BRIGHTNESS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 108 SETUP LOAD CAT Function You should place ARGo NAvis into the SETUP LOAD CAT state whenever you wish to load or delete asteroid comet satellite or user catalogs via your PC Doing so ensures that ARco Nav s will not attempt to access these catalogs while you are loading deleting or modifying them You should also place ARGo Navis M into the SETUP LOAD CAT state whenever you wish to save or load any of your EEROM device settings to or from your PC ARGONAUT is a supplied utility program that runs on your PC It can p
75. table and timer and try again 4 When the table reaches its end position at your convenience you should stop the ARGO Navis equatorial table timer There is no urgency in stopping the timer when the table reaches the end position 5 To reset the table bring it back at your leisure to the precise mechanically reproducible start position 6 Once the table begins tracking from its start position again you should again simultaneously start the ARGO Nav s equatorial table timer ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 54 7 Whenever you perform an alignment operation and the table is stopped the ARGO Navis equatorial timer should be in the stopped state and the table must be parked at its start position 8 Whenever you perform an alignment and the table is moving the ARco Nav s equatorial table timer should have been started at the precise time the table was started from the start position 9 The FIX ALT REF step can be performed either when the table is stationary or moving The FIX ALT REF angle should be set exactly the same as if telescope were not on top of the table at all See MODE FIX ALT REF for a full explanation of the important altitude encoder reference point If the above rules are followed then there is no requirement to re align ARGO Navis each time the table is reset Using MODE EQ TABLE The Arco Navis
76. that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC OR IC catalogs MISC DARK NEBULA miscellaneous dark nebulae MISC DOUBLE STAR miscellaneous double stars that do not appear in the BRIGHT STAR Catalog MISC GALAXIES miscellaneous galaxies that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalog such as ESO MCG UGC and Local Group galaxies MISC GALAXY CLUS miscellaneous galaxy clusters such as the Abell and Hickson clusters MISC GLOBULARS miscellaneous globular clusters that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs MISC OPEN CLUST miscellaneous open clusters that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs MISC PLANETARIES miscellaneous planetary nebulae that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs MISC VARIABLE ST miscellaneous variable stars that do not appear in the BRIGHT STAR Catalog NGC the complete New General Catalogue including all non stellar stellar and non existent objects Also includes letter suffixed objects such as NGC 554A and NGC 554B and all objects that are also Messier objects ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 195 Wildcard innovations e PLANETS SUN in our solar system e POPULAR DEEP SKY a convenient cross reference to objects in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs that have popular names such as ANDROMEDA GALAXY GHOST OF JUPITER and TARANTULA NEBULA e SATELLITES artificial earth
77. the suspect axis then return and centre the distant object again Take note of the step reading If it is not the same as the original reading within a step or two chances are you have a slippage problem Example 2 You have an encoder mounted on your Azimuth axis Unfortunately you have forgotten what its resolution is and the encoder has no marking During the daytime using a high power eyepiece sight a distant stationary object Power off Arco Navis then power it back on Enter MODE ENCODER and take note that the Azimuth step reading is 0 Move the scope in Azimuth a full 360 and re centre the object in the eyepiece Take note of the Azimuth step reading again This number plus 1 is your Azimuth encoder resolution Enter that value into the SETUP AZ STEPS menu If the encoder ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 52 was not geared chances are the value will be a multiple of 1000 such as 10 000 or 4 000 or a power of two such as 2048 4096 or 8192 Example 3 You have a Dobsonian scope and have aligned ARGo Na vis but suspect a problem with the FIX ALT REF step you performed Enter MODE ENCODER and put it in angle display mode Move the scope tube so that it is pointing vertically and at right angles to the base i e the Azimuthal plane The encoder altitude reading should indicate 90 Example 4 You have a roughly aligned equato
78. to ground yourself adequately prior to interfacing any two pieces of equipment Be particularly careful in static prone environments especially in low humidity conditions or while walking on carpets Wildcard Innovations bears no liability for loss or damage caused to your equipment from static discharge WARNING It is your responsibility to ensure that any cables connected to your Arco Navis do not pose a hazard to yourself and others Ensure that it is not possible for yourself or others to trip over your cabling You should be aware that cabling could be a hazard to persons especially at night time and when outdoors Wildcard Innovations bears no liability for loss damage or injury caused by persons tripping over your cabling lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 10 Wildcard innovations Initial setup of the ARGo NAvis This section describes the once only requirements for setting up the ARGo Navis to suit your scope and your individual requirements This includes e setting up the power sources e setting your initial mount type e setting your encoder resolution Battery hatch thumbscrew Figure 3 ARGO Navis Model 102B shown e setting your encoder senses e setting your final mount type e setting the local time zone date hatch thumbscrew on the battery housing and time the raised sectio
79. to with either e OK e ERROR lt MESSAGE gt lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 194 Appendix A Catalogs ASTEROIDS assuming your ARGO Navis has an asteroid catalog currently loaded BRIGHT STARS a selection of stars to magnitude 6 5 particularly those with well known historical names such as BETELEGEUSE and those with Bayer Greek alphabet or Flamsteed numbers Names have constellation abbreviation first then Bayer or Flamsteed identifier For example FOR ZETA for Zeta Fornax They are ordered this way to make the catalog easier to browse COMETS assuming your ARGO Navis has a comet catalog currently loaded FROM PLANETARIUM consists of the single FROM PLANETARIUM object When Arco Navis is interfaced via a serial port to an appropriate planetarium program and a GOTO command is issued from that program the RA Dec co ordinates corresponding to that GOTO position and optionally the name of some associated object are transmitted to the FROM PLANETARIUM object This then allows you to GUIDE to the position that was sent from the planetarium program IC non stellar selections from the Index Catalogue MESSIER the complete Messier Catalogue lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations MISC BRIGHT NEB miscellaneous bright nebulae such as emission and reflection nebulae
80. use the AUTO ADJUST ON mode It may well dramatically improve your alignment Now go on to read An introductory run GEM Rough Align Sometimes you may not want to align your German Equatorial Mount accurately but would still like to find objects If you have set your mount type to be GEM ROUGH ALIGN then use the following procedure You will be required to perform an operation called FIX ALT REF and two star alignments When Arco NAvis is first powered on after initializing it will prompt you with FIX ALT REF Press ENTER Turn the DIAL until you see ALT REF AUTO ADJUST OFF Roughly polar align your scope If you are in the Northern Hemisphere place the tube on the West side of the mount ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 28 If you are in the Southern Hemisphere place the tube on the East side of the mount If you are going to do the first star alignment with the tube on the opposite side of the mount go to SETUP ALT STEPS and change the direction sense sign Be sure to change it back when you want to do a first star alignment on the original side of the mount Set the tube so that the scope s Optical Axis is at 90 with respect to the Polar Axis Try to do this as accurately as possible When your tube is in this position press ENTER The display will briefly show ALT REF WARP ALT FIX OK Press EXIT In the t
81. 02 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 164 Wildcard innovations At the same time the transfer is taking place status information will also be shown on the bottom line of the ARGO Navis display For example if you were transferring an Asteroid file you would see LOAD CATALOG ASTEROID LOAD When the file is transferred ARGONAUT sends ARGO NAvis a Write command This tells ARGO NaAvis to commit the data to FLASH memory This write operation takes a second or so In the example of an Asteroid file the ARGO NAvis display will show LOAD CATALOG ASTEROID WRITE Then ARGONAUT sends ARGO NAvis a Quit command which signals the end of the transfer For example in the case of an asteroid file transfer the ARGO NaAvis display will show something like this LOAD CATALOG ASTEROID FINISH If you have no more data to transfer press the EXIT button on ARGo NAvis The display will show for a few seconds LOAD CATALOG INITIALIZING before returning to the SETUP menu level Your catalog will now be loaded The FLASH memory will retain it even if you power the unit off During and after the transfer you should also examine the Status panel on the lower right hand corner of ARGONAUT Combined with the Terminal window transcript and the ARGO Navis display it can provide you with valuable information that may help you understand what went wrong with an aborted or hung transfer Fo
82. 2000 269 4231 5 71 0 24 0 00 7 Iris 2002 05 06 000 0 229900 2 386307 5 5240 259 8647 145 2015 2000 282 0402 pod Gels 0 00 While in the asteroid orbital element processing state ARGO NAvis processes input a line at a time A line is terminated by a newline character A line can either be e An empty line or e An orbital element entry as above or e An asteroid state command All state commands begin with a character These state commands are as follows e Quit Leave the asteroid state and return to the shell e Write Commit all loadable catalog data to FLASH e Count Return a count of how many asteroid elements are currently loaded e Purge Remove the asteroid catalog from RAM e Memory Report free space in bytes in loadable catalog memory pool e Delete lt OBJECT NAME gt Delete the specified asteroid from RAM All input lines except Count Memory and Quit commands will be responded to with either e OK e ERROR lt MESSAGE gt lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 173 Wildcard innovations comet Function The comet shell command puts ARGo NAvis into the comet orbital element processing state When the comet command is issued ARGO NAvis will respond with OK Orbital element files can be downloaded from the Internet ARGO NAvis uses the same orbital element format as TheSky software
83. 2B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 131 14 MODE IDENTIFY and MODE TOUR filter objects according to their maximum magnitude Therefore the system might suggest such a variable but the star may currently be too dim to identify with any certainty For a long sampling run it is recommended that you initially sample 4 stars At that point it is advisable to define compute and accept an initial model This will then provide some initial refinement of your pointing and you can then go back to your sampling run The DEFINE MODEL submenu Enter the SETUP MNT ERROR menu and spin the DIAL until you see DEFINE MODEL then press ENTER Depending upon the setting in SETUP MOUNT the display might then show COLLIMATION ERR CH DON T USE where the top line will be flashing If you spin the DIAL a detent click at a time you can cycle through the various terms available for your mount The top line of the display shows the long name of the term and the bottom line shows the abbreviated name and how it is currently defined in the model A term can be defined to be one of the following states e COMPUTE The term will be computed by the COMPUTE ERRORS function lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations e DON T USE The term will not be considered by the COMPUTE ERRORS function e Fixed Value The term will be held fixed at the value specified when the COMPUTE ERRORS function is invoked To
84. 3 hours French Polynesia 10 hours G Gabon 1 hours Galapagos Islands 5 hours Gambia 0 hours Gambier Island 9 hours Georgia 4 hours Germany 1 hours Summer 2 hours Ghana 0 hours Gibraltar 1 hours Summer 2 hours Greece 2 hours Summer 3 hours Greenland 3 hours Summer 2 hours Greenland Thule 4 hours Summer 3 hours Greenland Scoresbysun 1 hours Summer 0 hours lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 Wildcard innovations Grenada 4 hours Grenadines 4 hours Guadeloupe 4 hours Guam 10 hours Guatemala 6 hours Guinea 0 hours Guinea Bissau 0 hours Guyana 3 hours H Haiti 5 hours Summer 4 hours Honduras 6 hours Hong Kong 8 hours Hungary 1 hours Summer 2 hours Iceland O hours India 5 30 hours Indonesia Central 8 hours Indonesia East 9 hours Indonesia West 7 hours lran 3 30 hours Irag 3 hours Summer 4 hours Ireland Republic of O hours Summer 1 hours Israel 2 hours Summer 3 hours ltaly 1 hours Summer 2 hours J Jamaica 5 hours Japan 9 hours Johnston Island 10 hours Jordan 2 hours Summer 3 hours K Kazakhstan 6 hours Summer 7 hours Kenya 3 hours Kiribati 12 hours Korea Dem Republic of 9 hours Korea Republic of 9 hours Kusaie 12 hours Kuwait 3 hours Kwajalein 12 hours Kyrgyzs
85. 99 10000 steps is the factory default setting However some mounts may be fitted with encoders that provide a different number of steps per revolution such as 8192 or 5000 German Equatorial Mount GEM owners may need to change the direction sense sign if they wish to initially align on a star with the scope on the other side of the mount to which they usually perform their initial alignment In this case edit the sign as appropriate and press either ENTER or EXIT The direction sense will then be changed and the alignment can then be performed starting with the scope on the opposite side of the mount Changing the sense of the encoder will not invalidate any prior alignment See also MODE SETUP SETUP AZ STEPS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 87 SETUP ATLAS Function SETUP ATLAS allows you to specify the reported star atlas reference This reference is reported in descriptions of objects and can also be reported in MODE AZ ALT and MODE RA DEC The current star atlas choices are e Herald Bobroff ASTROATLAS published by HB2000 Publications e Millennium Star Atlas published by Sky Publishing e Star Atlas 2000 by Wil Tirion e Uranometria 2000 Edition 1 by Tirion Rappaport amp Lovi published by Willmann Bell Inc e Uranometria 2000 Edition 2 by Tirion Rappaport amp Lovi published by Willmann Bell Inc Using SETU
86. ARC The display might then show CAPELLA FOUND Now press ENTER The display might then show lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations CAPELLA GUIDE 03582 Glg1 Now press ENTER The display might then show CAPELLA SAMPLE MNT ERROR Center the star as accurately as possible in the eyepiece and then press ENTER to sample it MODE TOUR is particularly convenient in assisting in star pointing tests For example you may decide to point the scope toward the zenith and begin a tour of bright stars from there To minimize the chance of misidentifying an object to sample use only bright stars for example those of magnitude 6 or brighter such as those that appear in the BRIGHT STAR catalog and planets Avoid the use of e Non stellar objects For example it can be difficult to determine the center of an extended non stellar object Some non stellar objects have larger positional uncertainties as accurate astrometric positional data may not have been available for them or their astrometric centers were determined photographically perhaps at a wavelength not easily discernable to the human eye e Double stars or multiple stars It can be difficult to identify which star to center on e Variable stars For example the variable star GK PER has a maximum recorded magnitude of 0 2 but a minimum magnitude of ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 10
87. ATE TIME If you wish to tour SATELLITES it is further assumed that your location in particular your current latitude and longitude have been set in SETUP LOCATION For touring ASTEROIDS COMETS SATELLITES and USER objects it is assumed you have loaded the appropriate catalog Using MODE TOUR Point your telescope to the region of the sky in which you would like to begin the tour Spin the DIAL in the top level menu until you see MODE TOUR then press ENTER The displayed text that appears next will depend upon whether this is the first tour you have undertaken since powering on the unit The following paragraphs will assume that is so If a valid alignment has not been performed you will see the following warning message TWO SIGHTINGS ARE REQUIRED FIX ALT REF MAY BE REQUIRED WARNING DISPLAYED VALUES MAY NOT BE VALID ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 76 Otherwise the top line of the display will prompt you with a message such as FIND ANY OBJECT where the words ANY OBJECT will be flashing By spinning the DIAL you can change the flashing value to any of the following e ANY OBJECT however does not include artificial satellites e ASTERISM groups of stars e ASTEROID assuming your ARGO Navis has an asteroid catalog loaded e BRIGHT NEBULA such as an emission or reflection nebula e COMET assuming your ARGO Nav s
88. Assume the constellation is viewable Spin the DIAL in the top level menu until you see MODE IDENTIFY then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL until you see FIND GLOBULAR CL then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL anti clockwise until you see FAINTEST MAG 15 then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL and make the first flashing character an 0 then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL and make the second character a P The display should now show IN OPHIUCHUS then press ENTER Arco Navis then will briefly display the message SEARCHING before showing you the name of the closest object The object you find will probably be different but by way of example you might see TERZAN 5 FOUND sm lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Pressing ENTER or spinning the DIAL one click will put the unit into GUIDE mode For example TERZAN 5 GUIDE 76 gt 25 After guiding to the object press EXIT or spin the DIAL one click Then press EXIT again Example 4 You want to move the scope around and let ARGO Na v s tell you in real time what the closest object is Enter MODE IDENTIFY and spin the DIAL until you see FIND ANY OBJECT then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL until you see FAINTEST MAG ANY then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL and make the first flashing character an A then press ENTER Make the second character an N then press EN
89. Az Alt mount such as a Dobsonian For German Equatorial Mount users only if you are in the Northern Hemisphere place the tube on the West side of the mount If you are in the Southern Hemisphere place the tube on the East side of the mount If you are going to do the first star alignment with the tube on the opposite side of the mount go to SETUP ALT STEPS and change the direction sense sign Be sure to change it back when you want to do a first star alignment on the original side of the mount Centre the chosen alignment star in your eyepiece not just the finder scope NS lt T TM GA ARGO NAVIS LAMBDA 09 08 00 43 26 LYR ALPHA 18 3656 38 47 0 0 then press ENTER A status message will briefly appear on the bottom line of the display reporting the WARP factor for the alignment The WARP factor is the difference between the angular distance the telescope moved and the angular distance between two alignment stars or objects as a function of time When the ENTER button Is pressed Arco Navis refers to its internal catalogs and calculates the position of the alignment object in terms of its Azimuth and Altitude at that moment in time Since it also keeps track of the movement of the encoders it has all the information necessary to calculate the WARP factor If you had selected FORK EXACT ALIGN Or GEM EXACT ALIGN in the SETUP MOUNT ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO
90. BUG Function SETUP DEBUG allows you to toggle the DEBUG state to either ON or OFF When it is in the ON state ARGo Navis sends additional debug information to the SERIAL1 communications port when certain operations or events occur If you are using SERIAL1 for any other purpose then this additional data may interfere with that communications flow Furthermore the transmission of this additional data can sometimes slightly slow the responsiveness of your unit Wildcard Innovations uses debug mode for customer support operations Using SETUP DEBUG Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP DEBUG then press ENTER Spin the DIAL a detent click at a time to toggle the DEBUG state to be either ON or OFF For example DEBUG OF F indicates that the DEBUG mode Is OFF This is the factory default state When changing the debug mode from OFF to ON you will see DEBUG ON KEY O lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations In this circumstance ARGO Navis prompts you to enter a KEY passphrase This passphrase would only be issued to you should Wildcard Innovations request you supply additional debug information We would then advise that you keep debug mode OFF unless Wildcard requests you to switch it ON as part of a support Call When you have set the desired state press ENTER If you have successfully changed the state from what it originally was the w
91. DE TOUR Then press ENTER Turn the DIAL until the display shows REJOIN LAST TOUR Then press ENTER again The display will then show something like CETUS A sm lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 82 SETUP ALIGN PICK Function SETUP ALIGN PICK allows you to modify the strategy by which Arco Navis chooses which objects to use during alignment Irrespective of your mount type see SETUP MOUNT ARGO Navis always utilizes the last object that you aligned with in a MODE ALIGN or MODE ALIGN STAR operation In the case of polar aligned mounts this is in fact the only object that is utilized In the case of mounts that require at least two objects to align you can choose whether ARGo Navis performs an alignment using two objects or if available three objects at a time ARGO Navis maintains a first in first out 6 deep queue of objects that you have aligned on You can specify how deep ARGO Navis looks in its queue when deciding which objects to utilize to align on Keep in mind that setting SETUP ALIGN PICK to always perform a three object alignment will not necessarily improve your pointing accuracy In fact in some circumstances it could make your pointing worse In fact Wildcard Innovations highly recommends that you leave SETUP ALIGN PICK at its default setting and consider using the mor
92. DIAL to make the first character an S then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL and make the second character an 0 then press ENTER Now make the third character an M then press ENTER You should now have a display similar to this SOMBRERO GALAXY GUIDE 5358 773 You can then guide to it as you did in the previous example You may have noticed while you were spelling out the name of SOMBRERO GALAXY using the DIAL and the ENTER button that ARGo Navis prompted you with the names of other objects that matched your partial input at each point along the way Once enough characters had been entered to uniquely match the object name you were after you were guided to it straight away without requiring any more input This is known as the Intelligent Editing System lf you press ENTER you will get the scrolling description SOMBRERO GALAXY ALSO KNOWN AS M194 ALSO KNOWN AS NGC 4594 GALAXY IN VIRGO SIZE 8 7 x5 3 MAG 7 6 SB 12 1 MORPH SA s a sp SOMBRERO GALAXY RA 12 40 00 DEC 11 37 21 J20400 0 ABOVE HORIZON HB D31 C48 Therefore you could have also retrieved the object as M104 in the MESSIER catalog or as NGC 4594 in the NGC catalog ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 32 When the display returns to GUIDE mode press EXIT Example 3 You want to locate the nearest Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus of Magnitude 15 or brighter
93. EF reference point As a final example some Azimuth encoder installations on Fork mounted scopes prevent the tube folding all the way through the Fork By resting the tube gently on the Azimuth encoder that position can create a convenient reference point for this style of scope Establishing the altitude reference point as precisely as possible can dramatically improve your pointing accuracy Using SETUP ALT REF Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP ALT REF Press ENTER and the display might show something like this ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 85 ALT REF 00 000 where the first sign will be flashing By spinning the DIAL the sign can be toggled between a anda Angles can range from 180 to 180 When you have selected the correct sign hit ENTER which advances the flashing cursor to the first numeric field You can change the value in that field by turning the DIAL When you have selected the correct value advance the cursor to the right by hitting the ENTER button again and so on When you have finished editing the last field pressing the ENTER button again will exit you from SETUP ALT REF Alternatively you can press EXIT at any time If the angle you have entered differs from what it originally was ARGO Navis will briefly display the words SAVING while i
94. Fork or German Equatorial mount one FIX ALT REF step and two object alignments are required However ARGO Navis will make various assumptions and perform a partial alignment when the first ALIGN or ALIGN STAR operation is performed In this case it will assume it is close to polar alignment and utilize the information from the ALIGN operation and the FIX ALT REF step Note At present there is no way of removing an alignment performed on a misidentified object If an object was correctly identified but it was not centred in the eyepiece when the alignment occurred simply re align on it as many times as you like Note It should also be kept in mind that when Arco Navis has a choice as to which objects to use for an alignment their angular separation is time dependent Though the angular separation of any two objects in the sky at any moment in time is fixed the rotation of the Earth however means their angular separation in terms of aligning on them varies See also SETUP DATE TIME ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 84 SETUP ALT REF Function SETUP ALT REF allows you to specify the user definable angle that will appear as an option in the MODE FIX ALT REF menu See MODE FIX ALT REF The MODE FIX ALT REF menu has the following choices e 0 AUTO ADJUST OFF e 90 AUTO ADJUST OFF e The user defined angle with AUTO ADJUST OFF e The use
95. GO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Incorrect encoder direction senses Symptoms e After performing a star alignment the MODE RA DEC reading shows the RA value decreasing as the scope is moved toward the East e When you guide back to one of the alignment stars it will not centre in the eyepiece and only seems to get worse with time e After performing a star alignment the MODE RA DEC reading shows the Dec value decreasing as the scope is moved toward the North Suggestion Re perform the initial set up procedure to determine the correct direction senses and then set them in SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS Incorrect encoder timing setting Symptoms e Frequent encoder error messages are displayed when the telescope is slewed Suggestion Review the section on SETUP ENC TIMING If the TON and TOFF values seem reasonable for the types of encoders you have and yet encoder error messages still result experiment by setting TON to any non zero value and TOFF to 0 This will cause the encoders to never switch off If encoder error messages still result the problem might be an encoder cable fault or a problem with one or more encoders themselves ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 206 Wien innovations Keep in mind that it is possible to exceed the encoder sampling rate if for example the encoders are held freely in the hand and their sh
96. IAL until you see SETUP CONTRAST then press ENTER Position your head so as to view the display from the angle you normally use it Try spinning the DIAL in both directions until you achieve optimum contrast You should ensure that both lines of the display remain readable The contrast settings range from 1 to 100 The factory default setting is 67 For example CONTRAST 67 MUST BE VISIBLE indicates that the contrast is at 67 Note that the text on the bottom should be readable When you have adjusted the contrast to suit your requirements press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the value from what it originally was the word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device lt gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 92 SETUP DATE TIME Function SETUP DATE TIME allows you to set your time zone and the current local date and time ARGO NAvis contains an in built battery backed time of day clock An internal lithium coin cell battery powers the clock even when the power is switched off or the main batteries are removed Though Arco NaAvis does not require you to set the time or your location to operate doing so provides the following additional features and benefits e The local time and date the UTC Greenwich time and date and the
97. IMING ccc E E T 98 SETUP EO TABOE enie a ri e e ri e S 101 SETUP GOTO ER S DA DE DE EE 103 SETUP CUIDE MODE E EE eee eee eee eee ee 106 SETUP LCD e e e ee ee ee ee eee 108 SETUP LOAD CA MP ee eee eee ee 109 SETUP LOCATION ameter eee arte rte ee eee eee eee eee eee ee 111 SETUP MOUNT EY AMA ene YY YE 114 SETUP MNT ERRORS 2 cccccccceccceesceesceesonesceeseeeseeeceeesseeseeeseeeceeecessoaesoassoaesoaees 115 SETUP Ned cts tie ce ea ed E E E EE 143 DE FO CRAT R amam sm ee ee 145 SETUPS lt P ME A ete ae ae nae ene A A YE e 147 SETUP e Sere eee ee ee eee ee en e e ee 148 ARCONAUT soktware Uti E ED NENE ENERE 152 ARGONAUT introduction o eeeeeccesecessecesecesecesevenseserseeaseveseseresensesensesttessnressetents 152 What does ARGONAUT dO vue cccsccesccsseceesecesecsecesecnreeesevsaesenreventesensevsnseenetentenes 152 What else do need besides ARGONAUT Looe cececccseceseecnseeeeseceretensessseenrevenresseeens 152 Installing ARGONAUT M anan 153 Launching ARGONAUT M aran 157 EstaDlishing COMMUNICA Olene sz au es ema al alaka alama e e onlan al 157 Where to obtain Asteroid Comet or Satellite Orbital ElementrFiles 160 Howtocreateyourown sercatalogfiles 161 Iransferringcatalogtiles m m m m gt gt m gt m gt m m m 163 Updating catalog gg EE A EM MM rreri 166 Deleting loadable cata
98. ION SETUP SERIAL lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 105 SETUP GUIDE MODE Function SETUP GUIDE MODE allows you to examine or set certain attributes that influence how information is displayed when the unit is in GUIDE MODE GUIDE mode itself is entered via the MODE CATALOG MODE IDENTIFY or MODE TOUR menus SETUP GUIDE MODE provides sub menus that allow you to examine or set the following attributes e the GUIDE ALT ARROW direction sense The possible selections are DEFAULT and REVERSED When reversed a GUIDE mode arrow that would normally display as an T will display as an J and vice versa Do not confuse the GUIDE mode arrow direction sense with the Alt encoder direction sense See SETUP ALT STEPS The GUIDE mode arrow direction sense only changes the arrow symbol that is displayed for a given guiding direction and is simply a matter of personal preference whereas the setting of the encoder direction sense in SETUP ALT STEPS Is dependent on several factors and only has one correct setting for your mount e the GUIDE AZ ARROW direction sense The possible selections are DEFAULT and REVERSED When reversed a GUIDE mode arrow that would normally display as an will display as an and vice A lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations versa As with the GUIDE ALT ARROW setti
99. LA ITEM 2 A 5 Note in the previous display the residual was shown in arcseconds Spinning the DIAL anti clockwise one step more might show SIRIUS ITEM 1 A 30 Spinning the DIAL anti clockwise one step more would then show START OF DATA When the display shows START OF DATA if you press ENTER the display will show START OF DATA DELETE ALL NO where the word NO will be flashing By spinning the DIAL you can alternate the flashing text between NO and YES To delete all the pointing data you would select YES and press ENTER To avoid deleting the data either press EXIT or select NO and press ENTER or EXIT You can also delete individual items For example spin the DIAL clockwise one step and the display might show lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations SIRIUS ITEM 1 A 39 lf you press ENTER the display would then show SIRIUS DELETE ITEM To delete the item press ENTER To avoid deletion of the item press EXIT If you delete an item the item numbers automatically re sort Now spin the DIAL clockwise until the display shows for example END OF DATA RAW RMS 6 7 A This shows the raw RMS for the sampled data That is the RMS if no terms were in use Now press ENTER The display might then show END OF DATA DELTAS RAW A where the text RAW A will be flashing By spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the bottom
100. LT REF SETUP MNT ERRORS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 60 MODE IDENTIFY Function MODE IDENTIFY allows you to attempt to identify an unknown object or to locate the nearest object that is of interest In either case the ARGo Navis searches its Catalogs database for the object nearest to where the telescope is pointing You can search for particular types of objects and specify a limiting magnitude as well as a particular constellation or diameter of sky in which to limit the search Once an object is identified you can guide to it by pressing ENTER Pressing ENTER again will give you detailed information about the object Note MODE IDENTIFY assumes that you have performed a valid alignment If you wish to identify ASTEROIDS COMETS or PLANETS it is also assumed that the current date and time have been set in SETUP DATE TIME If you wish to identify SATELLITES it is further assumed that your location in particular your current latitude and longitude have been set in SETUP LOCATION For identifying ASTEROIDS COMETS SATELLITES and USER objects it is assumed you have loaded the appropriate catalog Using MODE IDENTIFY Spin the DIAL in the top level menu until you see A lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations MODE IDENTIFY then press ENTER If a valid alignment has not been performed you will see the following
101. LT REF step if you so choose Part of the utility of the TPAS N system is that once you have sampled some stars and put an initial model in use it can further refine your ALT REF point irrespective of your mount type including a GEM Sampling stars Once you have aligned the system you can then begin to start sampling some stars The initial alignment star s are a good place to start Since the last alignment star will become the default object when you enter MODE CATALOG it is sometimes convenient to use that mode to GUIDE to that star For example say the last star you aligned on was SIRIUS Navigate to MODE CATALOG and press the ENTER button a successive number of times until the GUIDE mode appears in the bottom line In this example the display might show lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations SIRIUS GUIDE 981 0 00 Now press ENTER The display might then show SIRIUS DESCRIPTION where the word DESCRIPTION will be flashing Normally at this point rather than the word DESCRIPTION appearing ARGO Navis would have displayed a scrolling description of the object However when SAMPLE MODE is ON this new submenu appears By spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the bottom line of the display can be alternated as follows e DESCRIPTION e SAMPLE MNT ERROR f you want to view the description of the object spin the DIAL until the word DESCRIPTION appears
102. N USE NOW submenu rather than the word WARP appear the display will show the word OWARP This acts a reminder that you have non zero mount terms and an associated pointing model in place If you perform a second or subsequent alignment and Arco Navis has failed to detect that the telescope has moved the alignment will not be performed and a warning message will appear For example ALIGN ALPHERATZ SAME TELE POS Indicates an alignment on the star Alpheratz has failed because the telescope did not appear to move In this situation you might want to check your encoder cable and connections Additional information both introductory and advanced that discusses many of the causes of pointing errors and how to diagnose them can be found in the SETUP MNT ERRORS section of this Manual Note For German Equatorial Mount users only your second alignment star can be sighted with the optical tube on either side of the mount See also lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations MODE ALIGN STAR MODE ALIGN MODE FIX ALT REF SETUP MOUNT SETUP MNT ERRORS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 42 MODE AZ ALT Function MODE AZ ALT allows you to determine the position of the telescope in an azimuth altitude co ordinate system This mode assumes that you have performed a valid alignment that the current date and time hav
103. N and GEM EXACT ALIGN for German Equatorials The following procedure assumes that the mount has been accurately polar aligned If that is so only one alignment star is required When Arco NAvis is first powered on after initializing it will prompt you with MODE ALIGN STAR Press ENTER The display should show something like ALIGN ACHERNAR If you have a German Equatorial Mount and are in the Northern Hemisphere position the tube on the West side of the mount If you have a German Equatorial Mount and are in the Southern Hemisphere position the tube on the East side of the mount lf you have a Fork mounted scope orient the tube the normal way up that you observe with it Look up at the sky and pick a familiar bright star Spin the DIAL and look for that ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 24 stars name There are 35 to choose from The MODE ALIGN STAR reference page lists the alignment stars If you cannot find the star you have chosen in the list pick another that is in the list Sight the star If you have a German Equatorial mount and would like to sight the star with the tube on the opposite side of the mount go to SETUP ALT STEPS and change the direction sense sign Whenever you wish to re align using the scope on the original side of the mount be sure to change the sign back Centre the star as accurately as possible
104. NP 6 10 stars CH 10 30 stars DCEC DCES For ALTAZ DOBSONIAN and EQ TABLE EXACT 4 stars IE 5 6 stars NPAE 6 10 stars CA 10 30 stars ECEC ECES lt may seem tempting to simply set all terms to COMPUTE However the best model is the one that provides the best possible fit with the smallest number of terms ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 141 The following rules may assist in that regard e Except for the Index Error terms ID IE IH and the Polar Misalignment terms MA ME never use a term in a model unless its value is at least two to three times larger than its reported Standard Deviation also known as its sigma e When adding a term to a model look at its own individual Standard Deviation its effects on other terms and whether both the RMS and the Population Standard Deviation PSD decreased PSD is often a better indication of whether there was a real improvement If the RMS decreased but not the PSD consider revising the model by removing or trying a different term Using TPAS to assist with polar aligning a mount f your SETUP MOUNT setting is FORK EXACT ALIGN Or GEM EXACT ALIGN and you would like to align your mount more accurately the following procedure will be helpful Perform a pointing sample run and fit the best possible model to the data Then manually edit the MA and ME terms
105. O MCG UGC and Local Group galaxies e MISC GALAXY CLUS miscellaneous galaxy clusters such as the Abell and Hickson clusters e MISC GLOBULARS miscellaneous globular clusters that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs e MISC OPEN CLUST miscellaneous open clusters that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs e MISC PLANETARIES miscellaneous planetary nebulae that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs e MISC VARIABLE ST miscellaneous variable stars that do not appear in the BRIGHT STAR catalog e NGC the complete New General Catalogue including all non stellar stellar and non existent objects Also includes letter suffixed objects such as NGC 554A and lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations NGC 554B and all objects that are also Messier objects e PLANETS SUN in our solar system e POPULAR DEEP SKY a convenient cross reference to objects in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs that have popular names such as ANDROMEDA GALAXY GHOST OF JUPITER and TARANTULA NEBULA e SATELLITES artificial earth orbiting satellites assuming your Arco Navis has a satellite catalog currently loaded e SCRATCH see SETUP SCRATCH e USER OBJECTS assuming your Arco Navis has user defined objects currently loaded By way of example say you are interested in the planetary nebula popularly known as the Ghost of Jupiter Spin the DIAL and press ENTE
106. O Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 116 then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL until the display reads AZ ALT ENC STEPS 9000 9OOO When in this mode the value of Azimuth steps range from 0 to the number of steps set in SETUP AZ STEPS minus 1 Altitude steps range from 0 to the number of steps set in SETUP ALT STEPS minus 1 lf your mount is of the style that allows you to lock the Alt or Dec axis lock it Take note of the left hand displayed value which is the Az or RA encoder count Rotate the mount through 360 in Az RA and re center the object Take note of the displayed Az encoder count value Ideally it should be within an encoder step or two of the value from which you started Keep in mind that the displayed count wraps so that for example a value that is equivalent to the number of steps set in SETUP AZ STEPS minus 1 is only 1 step away from a count of zero Now exercise the scope back and forth in Az RA to attempt to induce any potential encoder shaft slippage error or the like Again re center the object and check that the displayed value has returned to within a step or two of what it Originally was Now take note of the right hand displayed value which is the Alt or Dec encoder count If your mount is of the style that allows you to lock the Az or RA axis lock it Now exercise the scope up and down in Alt Dec to
107. ONAUT will display informational warning and error messages in its Status window and show the transfer progress on its Progress Bar Messages will also be displayed on the bottom line of the unit s display Some examples follow In the case of a User catalog transfer you would see the message LOAD CATALOG USER LOAD Remember the catalogs will not actually be committed to FLASH until ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 109 ARGONAUT sends a write command In the case of a User catalog being written you would briefly see LOAD CATALOG USER WRITE In the case of an incorrectly formatted file the display will show LOAD CATALOG FORMAT ERROR An invalid Right Ascension field in a User catalog might show LOAD CATALOG RA VALUE ERROR An invalid Declination field in a User catalog might show LOAD CATALOG DEC VALUE ERROR An invalid object type in a User catalog will show LOAD CATALOG USER BAD TYPE An out of range magnitude in a User catalog will show LOAD CATALOG MAG VALUE ERROR When there is an unexpected command the display will show LOAD CATALOG COMMAND ERROR Many other error messages can appear and they are hopefully self explanatory lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations When purging a Comet catalog the display will show LOAD CATALOG COMET PURGE
108. Once you have selected the type of object you are interested in press ENTER The ARGo Navis will then prompt you with a message such as FAINTEST MAG ANY where the word ANY is flashing By spinning the DIAL you can specify the limiting magnitude to eliminate objects from the search that might be too faint for your circumstances lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations The limiting magnitude values range from 6 very bright to 16 very faint along with the special entry of MAG ANY If for example you select a value of 10 then only objects with a limiting value of 10 or brighter will be considered NOTE Not all objects within the Arco Navis catalogs have a defined magnitude These objects will only be found if the limiting magnitude is set to MAG ANY irrespective of how bright the object s magnitude might really be For example to find DARK NEBULAE or SATELLITES always choose a limiting magnitude of MAG ANY Once you have selected the limiting magnitude press ENTER ARGO Navis M will then prompt you with a message such as IN ANY CONSTEL where the letter A in ANY will be flashing By using the DIAL and the ENTER button you can use the ntelligent Editing System to enter the name of any constellation in which to limit the search or to chose the special entry of ANY CONSTEL By turning the DIAL clockwise the letter at the flashing cursor position will alphabetically i
109. P ATLAS Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP ATLAS then press ENTER The display will indicate the current star atlas reference For example HERALD BOBROFF indicates that the Herald Bobroff ASTROATLAS is the current reported reference This is the factory default Spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time toggles the atlas to be either HERALD BOBROFF MILLENNIUM ATLAS sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations STAR ATLAS 2000 URANOMETRIA 2K 1 First Edition or URANOMETRIA 2K 2 Second Edition When you have set the desired atlas reference press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the atlas from what it originally was ARGO Navis will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device When reported Herald Bobroff ASTROATLAS is abbreviated HB Millennium Star Atlas is abbreviated MSA Star Atlas 2000 as SA Uranometria 2000 Edition 1 as UM and Uranometria 2000 Edition 2 as UM2 For the Herald Bobroff ASTROATLAS Arco Navis will report a reference to the highest resolution chart one of F E or D charts and the lowest resolution chart C chart that the object or co ordinate position appears on Example Assume your scope is pointing at the co ordinates 12 26 8 RA and 63 07 Dec In the top level menu spin the DIAL until you find MODE RA DEC Then press ENTER and then press ENTER again The display would briefly show
110. P SKY then press ENTER ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 47 Use the Intelligent Editing System to enter the name of GHOST OF JUPITER and then press ENTER The display might then show GHOST OF JUPITER GUIDE 5358 713 Move the telescope in both axes until the display reads GHOST OF JUPITER GUIDE 0 8 9 0 Pressing ENTER again will display the following scrolling information about the object GHOST OF JUPITER ALSO KNOWN AS NGC 3242 PLANETARY NEBULA IN HYDRA SIZE 25 MAG 7 8 GHOST OF JUPITER BLUE GREEN BRIGHT INNER DISK amp FAINT HALO RA 10 24 46 DEC 18 38 34 ee ABOVE HORIZON MSA VOL II 85 While the text is scrolling you can enter manual scroll mode by moving the DIAL Note Had you known that the Ghost of Jupiter is also Known as NGC 3242 you might well have accessed it via the NGC catalog Note that when SAMPLE MODE Is ON In the SETUP MNT ERR ACQUIRE DATA submenu rather than a scrolling description immediately appearing a new Submenu appears In this case by spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the bottom line of the display can be alternated as follows sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations e DESCRIPTION e SAMPLE MNT ERROR If you want to view the description of the object spin the DIAL until the word DESCRIPTION appears and then press ENTER If you want to sample the position of
111. Produces a shift that is zero at zero Declination i e the Celestial Equator and reaches a maximum at the pole of the scope i e the Celestial Pole If the scope had this error on its own there will be an area around the pole to which it could not point TUBE FLEXURE Tube Flexure In an equatorial mount the gravitational flexure of the tube NP NON PERPEN Non Perpendicular axes error AXES For an equatorial mount the non perpendicularity sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 124 The following tables lists the terms available for each of the various mount types The tables also indicate which terms are recommended to always be used which terms are not persistent and should never be saved and which terms may be better to re compute from session to session with a short sampling run Specifically in this last regard the CA and CH Collimation Error terms for Alt Az and equatorial mounts respectively may not always be persistent in magnitude or direction from session to session particularly if the scope is re collimated the optical tube rotated in the rings of a mount a mirror diagonal rotated etc Therefore it may be best not to save the CA or CH term and instead re compute it each session by performing a short sampling run For EXACT ALIGN mounts the decision to save the polar misalignment terms MA and ME for
112. R when you see POPULAR DEEP SKY You might be then presented with the message in the top line that reads 47 TUCANAE where the 4 will be flashing By spinning the DIAL and pressing the ENTER button you can use the Intelligent Editing System to enter the name of the object in which you are interested in this example Ghost of Jupiter By spinning the DIAL clockwise the symbol at the flashing cursor position will alphabetically ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 45 increase By spinning the DIAL anti clockwise the symbol will decrease Wrapping occurs when the maximum symbol is displayed and the DIAL is turned clockwise or when the minimum symbol is displayed and the DIAL is turned anti clockwise Note A symbol might be a number or letter or even a special character such as a a or even a space In general Arco Navis treats special characters as alphabetically before numbers and numbers as alphabetically before letters See the section on How Argo Navis orders its symbols for a reference table Spell out the name of the object by spinning the DIAL and pressing ENTER to select a character and advance the cursor to the next editable field The Intelligent Editing System will only prompt you with valid names A tip is to concentrate just on one letter at a time In this example spin the DIAL clockwise until the le
113. TER Now make the third character a Y The display should now show IN ANY CONSTEL then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL and make the first flashing digit a 3 then press ENTER Make the second digit a 6 then press ENTER Now make the third digit a g The display should now show ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 33 WITHIN 368 then press ENTER Arco Navis then will briefly display the message SEARCHING before showing you the name of the closest object Now move your scope across the sky Notice how quickly Argo Navis provides you with the name of the closest object It is searching its entire database of tens of thousands of objects several times every second The speed by which it does this should be testimony to its powerful processing ability Whenever the name of an object that looks interesting appears on the display stop moving the scope By pressing ENTER or spinning the DIAL one click you can lock on to it as ARGO Nav s enters GUIDE mode Pressing EXIT or spinning the DIAL one click will return you to the continual search mode Remember that while in GUIDE mode you can press ENTER to get a scrolling description of the object Example 5 You would like to tour every Galaxy of 13 Magnitude or brighter in Fornax Point your scope to the part of the sky from which you would
114. TER again The display might show something like this M53 GUIDE 45 gt 25 Now move the scope in Azimuth Right Ascension on a polar aligned scope and try to make the first set of digits as close to 0 0 as possible For example ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 31 M53 GUIDE 9 9 25 Now move the scope in Altitude Declination on a polar aligned scope and try to make the second set of digits as close to 0 0 as possible For example M53 GUIDE 0 8 9 0 Now look through the eyepiece and hopefully there is your object Now press ENTER again You will see a scrolling description of the object M53 ALSO KNOWN AS NGC 5024 GLOBULAR CLUSTER IN COMA BERENICES SIZE 12 6 MAG 7 6 RA 13 12 56 DEC 18 18 98 2000 8 ABOVE HORIZON HB C29 While the message is being displayed you can grab the DIAL and scroll the text back and forth if you so desire When you have finished reading it press ENTER or EXIT and the display will return to GUIDE mode M53 GUIDE 0 0 9 0 Now press EXIT again and return to MODE CATALOG Example 2 You want to locate the Sombrero Galaxy assuming it is above the horizon You know it has both a Messier and NGC number but you have forgotten both Enter MODE CATALOG and spin the DIAL until you see O lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations POPULAR DEEP SKY Then press ENTER Spin the
115. TUP then press ENTER The display will then show the name of the menu that appeared when you last exited from MODE SETUP since power on By spinning the DIAL the various SETUP menus can be displayed The menus appear in alphabetical order as the DIAL is spun clockwise and wrap at the last menu Note that the SETUP EQ TABLE menu will not appear unless you have set a mount type of EQ TABLE EXACT in SETUP MOUNT The SETUP menus are e SETUP ALIGN PICK e SETUP ALT REF e SETUP ALT STEPS e SETUP ATLAS e SETUP AZ STEPS e SETUP BRIGHTNESS e SETUP CONTRAST e SETUP DATE TIME e SETUP DEBUG e SETUP DEFAULTS sm lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations e SETUP ENC TIMING e SETUP EQ TABLE e SETUP GOTO e SETUP GUIDE MODE e SETUP LCD HEATER e SETUP LOAD CAT e SETUP LOCATION e SETUP MOUNT e SETUP MNT ERRORS e SETUP REFRACTION e SETUP SCRATCH e SETUP SCROLL e SETUP SERIAL See also SETUP ALIGN PICK SETUP ALT REF SETUP ALT STEPS SETUP ATLAS SETUP AZ STEPS SETUP BRIGHTNESS SETUP CONTRAST SETUP DATE TIME SETUP DEBUG SETUP DEFAULTS SETUP ENC TIMING SETUP EQ TABLE SETUP GOTO SETUP GUIDE MODE SETUP LCD HEATER SETUP LOAD CAT SETUP LOCATION SETUP MOUNT SETUP MNT ERRORS SETUP REFRACTION ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 70 Wkdeand innovations SETUP SCRATCH SETUP SERIAL SETUP SCROLL lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Nav
116. UIDE to a scratch object press exit and turn the DIAL until you see MODE CATALOG then press ENTER If need be spin the DIAL until you see SCRATCH OBJECTS then press ENTER Use the Intelligent Editing System to enter the name of the scratch object of interest and then press ENTER The display might then show NOVA GUIDE 1255 743 Move the telescope in both axes until the display reads NOVA GUIDE 0 8 9 0 lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Pressing ENTER again will display the following scrolling information about the object For example NOVA SCRATCH OBJECT IN HYDRA RA 18 22 22 DEC 20 01 00 J2000 0 ABOVE HORIZON HB C6 While the text is scrolling you can enter manual scroll mode by moving the DIAL See also MODE CATALOG ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 146 SETUP SCROLL Function SETUP SCROLL allows you set the automatic scroll rate for text ARGo Navis automatically scrolls any text message that is longer than the width of the display For example object descriptions and some warning messages automatically scroll to make them possible to read However you should remember that you can always manually scroll a long message at any time by simply moving the DIAL The legibility of scrolling text can be influenced by a number of factors e The scroll rate e The LCD b
117. User catalog files ARGO NAvis has a powerful feature whereby you can create your own User catalog files Use a plain text editor such as NotePad Do not use an editor such as Word or WordPad as they will embed hidden text formatting characters that will corrupt your file Save your file with a txt suffix Typically you can load up to 1100 objects depending upon how much free space is available in your loadable catalog memory pool and how long the names and descriptions of objects are Later when you load a User catalog file into ARGO NAvis a USER catalog will appear in the MODE CATALOG menu You can even identify or tour your own User objects in MODE IDENTIFY and MODE TOUR Here is an example of a small User Catalog file below containing some fictitious objects lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 161 Wildcard innovations BEBOP GALAXY 12 34 56 12 34 GALAXY 14 2 COOL OBJECT FIRST SHOWN TO ME BY CHARLIE JAZZ GALAXY 00 01 23 52 09 GALAXY 15 2 SIZE 10 BRIGHT CORE MORPH Sa OBSERVED IN THE 20 SAX NEBULA 13 45 2 12 33 PLANETARY 12 1 MAG 15 STAR AT CENTER USE FILTER THE SPOT 18 12 00 75 00 DARK NEBULA ANY SIZE 2 0 x3 0 VERY OPAQUE BIG NOVA 23 34 14 75 34 VARIABLE 6 THELONIOUS TRIPLE 03 09 12 12 23 45 TRIPLE STAR 10 2 TRIANGLE OF RED WHITE BLUE STARS The formatting rules for User catalog files are as follow
118. Wildcard innovations TM lt S gt GA ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis Model 102 amp 102B Firmware version 2 0 1 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 Congratulations You have purchased one of the most sophisticated devices for rapidly and confidently locating celestial objects The ARGO NAvis Digital Telescope Computer DTC brings not only accurate positioning information to your telescope but also provides an enormous detailed database of tens of thousands of objects Stars galaxies galaxy clusters globular clusters open clusters planetary nebulae nebulae planets asteroids comets earth orbiting satellites and more Magnitudes surface brightness object sizes common names stellar classifications stellar luminosity classes double star separations variable star periods Hubble galaxy morphologies constellation detailed parameters of planets comets asteroids satellites and a wealth of other information are available at your fingertips with a simple spin of the dial A large range of mounts can accommodate the ARGO Navis including Dobsonians Forks German Equatorials and Equatorial Tables Handheld and powered by AA batteries or an optional external DC source ARGO NAvis operates completely standalone After fitting a pair of optical encoders to yo
119. abwe 2 hours lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 217 Wildcard innovations Appendix J Warranty Wildcard Innovations Wildcard warrants that its products shall be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of original retail purchase Wildcard will repair or replace such product or part thereof which upon inspection by Wildcard is found to be defective in materials or workmanship As a condition to the obligation of Wildcard to repair or replace such product the product must be returned to Wildcard together with proof of purchase satisfactory to Wildcard The Proper Return Authorization Number must be obtained from Wildcard in advance of return Email customer service at sales wildcard innovations com au to receive the number to be displayed on the outside of your shipping carton All returns must be accompanied by a written statement setting forth the name address daytime telephone number and or email address of the owner together with a brief description of any claimed defects Parts or product for which replacement is made shall become the property of Wildcard The customer shall be responsible for all costs of transportation and insurance both to and from the Wildcard repair facility and shall be required to prepay such costs The customer shall be responsible for carrying out all fir
120. acters are essential Co ordinates are assumed to be at the J2000 0 Epoch and acceptable formats are identical to those accepted by the User Catalog feature Object types are identical to that accepted by the User Catalog feature Example b fp SUPERNOVAI12 34 560 4 12 34 STAR 1 OIBRIGHTENING BY THE HOUR o m lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 179 Wildcard innovations meade Function Enter Meade emulation mode meade can be used as a shell startup command See SETUP SERIAL A sub set of the Meade protocol command set is accepted ACK 0x06 report mount type Aa start automatic alignment sequence CME calibrate mount D request distance bars GA fetch telescope altitude GC fetch local date MM DD YY GD fetch declination GF get find field diameter GG get offset from GMT GL get local time GM get current site name GN get current site name GO get current site name GP get current site name GR fetch RA GS get sidereal time GT get tracking rate in Hertz GVD get firmware date GVF return Autostar string GVN get firmware number GVP get product name GVT get firmware time GZ fetch telescope zenith Ga get current local time in 12 hour format Gb get brighter magnitude limit Gc re
121. afts rotated quickly with the fingers Alternatively if the encoders are mounted on a scope but have been geared to produce a much higher resolution the user should be careful not to exceed the sampling rate see the section on MODE ENCODER for a discussion of the sampling rate and how to calculate the maximum slew rate for your setup RA and Dec values seem to change simultaneously when scope is moved in one axis Symptoms e After performing a star alignment you examine the readout in MODE RA DEC and see that when you move the scope only in one axis both RA and Dec values appear to change Suggestion If your mount is only roughly polar aligned or is of the Az Alt type such as a Dobsonian this is not a problem at all When such scopes move only in one axis at a time both RA and Dec values should change simultaneously This is because the axis of rotation of your mount does not match the axis of rotation of the sky Only exactly aligned polar mounts have this attribute lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 207 Wildcard innovations Appendix H How Arco NAvis orders its symbols The Intelligent Editing System allows you to rapidly enter the name of an object by spinning the DIAL and pressing the ENTER button This table indicates whether a symbol is regarded as alphabetically before or after another SPACE 9
122. alid to customers who have purchased this product from an Authorized Wildcard dealer lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 219 Wildcard innovations Appendix K Conformance FCC CONFORMITY Note This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures e Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna e Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver e Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected e Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help Modifications not expressly approved by the manufacturer could void the user s authorit
123. alog data to FLASH e Count Return a count of how many satellite elements are currently loaded e Purge Remove the satellite catalog from RAM e Memory Report free space in bytes in loadable catalog memory pool e Delete lt OBJECT gt Delete the specified satellite from RAM All input lines except Count Memory and Quit commands will be responded to with either e OK e ERROR lt MESSAGE gt lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 186 Wildcard innovations servocat Function servocat is an unpublished proprietary protocol that allows for connection to a StellarCAT ServoCAT GOTO controller also running the servocat protocol servocat is typically used as a shell startup command See SETUP SERIAL Note that StellarCAT recommend that users upgrade the firmware of their ServoCAT system to allow use of this new protocol Previously ServoCAT users used the skycomm protocol Contact StellarCAT for details When used in conjunction with the features of SETUP GOTO the servocat protocol offers additional benefits over the skycomm protocol such as the ability to send the equivalent of an ARGO Navis ENTER button press from the ServoCAT handpad during the alignment process Alt limit checking horizon checking and audible alarms Note that a special serial cable is required for interfacing the ServoCAT to the
124. amp Support Enquiries sales wildcard innovations com au Corporate amp other Enquiries wildcard wildcard innovations com au Arco Navis ARGONAUT Intelligent Editing System Telescope Pointing Analysis System and TPAS are trademarks of Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd All other trademarks belong to their respective owners Copyright 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd Printing of a single copy of this User Manual for personal use permitted lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 228
125. an object as part of a pointing test spin the DIAL until the words SAMPLE MNT ERROR appears and then press ENTER See SETUP MNT ERRORS for details Pressing EXIT will return you to GUIDE mode GHOST OF JUPITER GUIDE 0 8 9 0 Pressing EXIT again will return you to the top level menu MODE CATALOG Example 2 You want to align on MARS Spin the DIAL until you see MODE CATALOG then press ENTER Spin the DIAL until you see PLANETS SUN then press ENTER Spin the DIAL until you see MARS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 48 Wkdeanrd innovations Press EXIT Mars is now the Current Object Spin the DIAL counter clockwise until the display reads See alst MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN STAR SETUP DATE TIME SETUP LOCATION SETUP GUIDE MODE ALIGN MARS Catalogs How Argo Navis orders its Centre Mars in the eyepiece and press symbols ENTER to perform the alignment then press ENTER The display should show SNS lt T TM A ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 49 MODE ENCODER Function MODE ENCODER allows you to check the functioning of your encoders You can display the encoder values either as angles or encoder steps Using MODE ENCODER Enter MODE ENCODER by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see
126. and then press ENTER However to continue with the example of sampling the star position spin the DIAL until the display says SAMPLE MNT ERROR Now center the star using a high powered or reticle eyepiece Then press ENTER to sample the star position For example the display might then show for two seconds SIRIUS ITEM 1 A 39 ITEM 1 denotes that this was the first item sampled ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 130 The A symbol is the capital Greek letter Delta and Arco Navis uses it to denote a raw pointing residual Thus A 30 denotes that the raw pointing error residual was 30 arcseconds In this example you may be surprised that the raw pointing residual was non zero despite the fact this star was just aligned on There can be several reasons for why you may see a value that is not exactly zero One factor is due to the finite resolution of the encoders in your system For example the resolution of a 10 000 step encoder is approximately 2 16 arcminutes per step MODE IDENTIFY and MODE TOUR can also be used to assist you in sampling stars For example you might point your telescope at a bright star e g if you performed a two star alignment perhaps this time the first star you aligned on and then using the DIAL and ENTER button you might select MODE IDENTIFY FIND STAR FAINTEST MAG 4 IN ANY CONSTEL WITH 368
127. at meets the selection criteria During this time ARGo Navis will display this message SEARCHING When the search is completed ARGO Navis automatically enters GUIDE mode The top line of the display will show the name of the closest object that meets lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations the selection criteria and the bottom line of the display will show guiding information For example ABELL 35 GUIDE 25e 372 means the telescope should be moved 25 in azimuth and 3 2 in altitude to locate Abell 35 The arrows represent a relative movement For example if the lt arrow is displayed even though the arrow points to the left whether one moves the telescope to the left or to the right is dependent on several factors according to your setup If you wish to change the default direction sense of one or both arrows you can do so by changing the settings in SETUP GUIDE MODE In any case you should move the telescope in the direction that causes the angle to become smaller As the telescope is moved the display continually updates the angles and changes the direction arrows if the object is passed When an angle less than 10 is displayed the arrow also acts as a decimal point For example 3712 means 3 2 Generally you might find it is easier to move the telescope in one axis at a time When the telescope is at the correct position the bottom line of the display will show ABELL 35
128. at you have performed a second or subsequent alignment The alignment star was Vega The WARP factor was 0 1 degrees which is the difference between the computed angular positions of the alignment objects and the angular distance the telescope moved In this case the alignment should probably give reasonable results If you had set AUTO ADJUST ON in MODE FIX ALT REF then you should always see a WARP factor of 0 00 unless an ALT REF adjustment could not be computed See MODE FIX ALT REF If an ALT REF adjustment could be automatically computed the designation A for Automatic will appear after the WARP factor to remind you that AUTO ADJUST is ON For example ALIGN BETELGEUSE WARP A indicates that you have performed a second or subsequent alignment The alignment star was Betelgeuse and ARGO Navis automatically computed the ALT REF adjustment When the automatic ALT REF adjustment cannot be computed the designation X will appear after the WARP factor as a warning For example ALIGN BETELGEUSE WARP 94 66 X indicates an alignment on Betelgeuse has failed because the ALT REF adjustment could not be computed See MODE FIX ALT REF for an explanation of the reasons the alignment may have failed ARGO Nav s User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 41 Note that if you have non zero terms in the SETUP MNT ERRORS SET ERROR VALUES I
129. ays might be different for you This angle is the user specified angle that you can set in SETUP ALT REF Once you have selected the desired reference angle move your scope in altitude to that position then press ENTER If you have not performed any alignments the bottom line of the display will briefly show WARP ALT FIX OK If you have performed an alignment the bottom line of the display will briefly ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 59 show a WARP factor See MODE ALIGN STAR for an explanation You may re perform a MODE FIX ALT REF step at any time Note that if you have non zero terms in the SETUP MNT ERRORS SET ERROR VALUES IN USE NOW submenu rather than the word WARP appear the display will show the word OWARP This acts a reminder that you have non zero mount terms and an associated pointing model in place When you have finished press EXIT If you have changed the selection from what it originally was the word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device The display will then return to the top level menu MODE FIX ALT REF Tip Sometimes it is instructive to examine MODE ENCODER after you have performed a FIX ALT REF operation See MODE ENCODER If you examine the altitude angle in MODE ENCODER angle mode it should now be the same value a
130. blished how many steps each encoder is spin the DIAL within the SETUP menu level until you see SETUP ALT STEPS Press ENTER and the display might show something like this ALT 8010000 where the sign will be flashing Leave the sign as a for now and press ENTER and edit the fields as need be by using the DIAL to change a value and ENTER to advance to the next field When the correct number of steps is displayed press either ENTER or EXIT and if the value has changed from what it originally was ARGO NAvis will briefly display the words SAVING while it saves your settings into its memory EEROM device and then display the message SETUP ALT STEPS You have now set your altitude encoder step setting However as will be explained later you may need to come sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations back and change the encoder direction sense the sign or sign depending upon your circumstances Setting azimuth steps Using the DIAL go to SETUP AZ STEPS Press ENTER again and the display might show something like this AZ 0010090 where the sign will be flashing Leave the sign as a for now and press ENTER and edit the fields as need be by using the DIAL to change a value and ENTER to advance to the next field When the correct number of steps is displayed press either ENTER or EXIT and if the value has changed from what it
131. both units are running the servocat startup command protocol The GOTO LIMIT SOUND sub menu can be used to either activate or mute alarm requests The ServoCAT controller may issue an alarm request for a variety of reasons For example it may issue an up beat good alarm sound request if you use the align from ServoCAT hand pad feature It may issue a down beat bad alarm sound if you attempt to slew the mount beyond its mechanical limits Using SETUP GOTO Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP GOTO then press ENTER The display might then show GOTO LIMIT SOUND ALARM ON where the top line of the text will be flashing By spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the top line of the display can be cycled as follows e GOTO LIMIT SOUND e GOTO LIMITS lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations When you have selected the desired attribute that you wish to modify press ENTER For example in the case of the GOTO LIMIT SOUND selection you might see GOTO LIMIT SOUND ALARM ON where the ON will be flashing The ON state indicates that ARco Navis will sound an alarm when commanded to by the GOTO controller Spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time toggles the value to be either ON or OFF For example ALARM 0F F indicates that the Argo Navis will remain silent when the GOTO controller issue
132. by the size of this manual If you just want to get going it is suggested that you read e Initial setup of the ARGO NaAvis e Alignment procedures and e An introductory run If you want to know all of the features of the ARGO NAvis it is suggested that you read all of the chapters sequentially Don t forget there is a glossary and an index if you need it and the operating modes are all fully described If you are reading this manual online as a PDF file be sure to make use of the hyperlinks and the Acrobat Bookmarks navigation menu to help find your way around Watch for updates of this manual at the Wildcard Innovations web site ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 6 Wildcard innovations The Arco NAvis interfaces This section describes the various interfaces of the ARGo NAvis Types of interface The Arco Navis has 3 interfaces e the user interface e the encoder interface e the serial interface Each type of interface is described below The user interface The user interface is the front panel and consists of five elements as shown in Figure 1 the ON OFF switch the liquid crystal display LCD the DIAL the ENTER button the EXIT button The ON OFF switch is located at the top left hand of the front panel ON is marked with I OFF is marked with O The LCD is the horizontal window located near
133. ced that discusses many of the causes of pointing errors and how to diagnose them including the use of TPAS can be found in the SETUP MNT ERRORS section of this Manual ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 200 Wildcard innovations Appendix E Factors that affect encoder direction senses Whether the direction sense of an encoder is or is dependent upon a number of factors This section outlines those factors 1 Encoder on Azimuth Right Ascension or Altitude Declination axis By convention the direction sense of one is interpreted as the opposite to the other 2 Encoder shaft inward or outward facing The encoder shaft can either be facing inwards towards the scope or outwards away from it 3 Altitude encoder on left bearing or right bearing 4 Encoder geared even or odd number of times 5 Encoder shaft rotates or encoder body rotates while shaft stationary For example on most Fork mounted scopes the Altitude encoder shaft rotates whilst the body remains stationary whereas the Azimuth encoder body rotates while its shaft remains stationary 6 Encoder A B Channel wiring swapped Quadrature encoders have an A Channel and a B Channel If the Channel wiring is swapped the direction sense is reversed lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Encoder direction sense in SETUP AZ STEPS and SETUP ALT STEPS Changing the sign
134. cept upgrading firmware use the following procedure For upgrading firmware you will need to also read the section Transferring firmware files lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 157 Wikdeand innovations The Baud rate selection of ARGO NAvis and ARGONAUT need to match Wildcard Innovations recommends that you set both Baud rates to 38400 This is the default Baud rate for ARGONAUT To set your Baud rate on ARGO NAvis do the following Power on your unit Go to MODE SETUP then SETUP SERIAL then press ENTER Spin the DIAL to match the serial port number that is accommodating the serial cable then press ENTER Spin the DIAL until you see the BAUD selection then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL and select the Baud rate 38400 recommended then press EXIT Now spin the DIAL one click and you will see the STARTUP selection Press ENTER Spin the DIAL until you see navis then press EXIT Power off your ARGO Navis then power it back on You need to determine the correct COM Port selection on ARGONAUT Unfortunately there is usually no easy way to do this except by trial and error If you have a serial mouse chances are that your COM port selection is COM 2 Use the pull down Port menu to select your COM port like this Argonaut Argo Navis T Connection Transfer Delete Ensure that the ARGONAUT Baud rate
135. change the state of a specific term press ENTER and then spin the DIAL to select the required state To edit a fixed value press ENTER then use the DIAL and ENTER button to alter the value a field at a time Values are expressed as plus or minus minutes and decimal minutes of arc There are 60 arcminutes to 1 degree Once you have selected the required state then press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the state from what it originally was ARco Navis will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device Continuing with the earlier example assume you have so far sampled 4 stars lf your SETUP MOUNT setting is FORK EXACT ALIGN Or GEM EXACT ALIGN the number of terms that you can define as COMPUTE is equal to the number of stars you have currently sampled lf your mount is of any other type the number of terms you can define to COMPUTE is equal to the number of stars you have sampled minus three f your SETUP MOUNT setting is FORK EXACT ALIGN Or GEM EXACT ALIGN then at this point it is recommended you set the following terms to COMPUTE ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 132 e DEC INDEX ERROR ID COMPUTE e HA INDEX ERROR IH COMPUTE e POLAR LEFT RIGHT MA COMPUTE e POLAR VERTICAL ME COMPUTE All other terms should be set to DON T USE f your SETUP MOUNT setting is FORK ROUGH ALIGN Or GEM ROUGH ALIGN then at this point it is r
136. cope s optical axis not being perpendicular to its Alt axis the scope s optical axis not being parallel to its pointing axis misaligned optics etc If the scope had this error on its own there will be an area around the pole of the scope the zenith that the scope cannot point Collimation Hour Angle For an Equatorial mount the non perpendicularity between the pointing axis and the Dec axis Results in an East West shift in the sky that is constant for all Declinations On a Fork mount when it is pointing above the pole a positive value of CH moves the pointing axis West of where it would otherwise be On a GEM if the scope is pointing West of the meridian a positive value of CH means it is pointing further West than it would be if CH were zero If the scope is pointing East of the meridian a positive value of CH means it is pointing further East than it would be if CH were zero CH can result from many causes such as the scope s optical axis not being perpendicular to its Dec axis the scope s optical axis not being parallel to its pointing axis misaligned optics etc Note that lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 121 Wildcard innovations rotating a tube within the rings of a mount or rotating a diagonal mirror will affect this term If the scope had this error on its own there will be an area around the pol
137. ction ARGO Navis will return the values to the system default values when the unit is switched off and then back on Another feature of MODE TOUR is the ability to leave a tour at any point and to ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 80 then rejoin the tour from that same point you were last at If you re enter MODE TOUR having been on a tour the top line of the display will prompt you with a message such as FIND ANY OBJECT However this time the word FIND will be flashing By turning the DIAL you can alternate the flashing value to either e FIND Or e REJOIN LAST TOUR By pressing ENTER when the display shows REJOIN LAST TOUR you will rejoin the tour from the point you were last at This could be at the start or the end of the tour or at any point in between You can still search forward or backward through the tour and exit and rejoin it at any time Note that the last object found in MODE TOUR automatically becomes the Current Object That means that it will appear as the alignment object when entering MODE ALIGN and will be the default object when entering MODE CATALOG Examples Example 1 FIND GLOBULAR CL FAINTEST MAG ANY IN CENTAURUS might result in lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations NGC 5286 GUIDE 4e 417 This is prompting you to move the scope 4 in azimuth and 41 in altitude in order to locat
138. de will abort the COMPUTE Submenu Pressing ENTER will transition to a state that allows you to accept reject or save terms For example if your SETUP MOUNT setting is FORK EXACT ALIGN or GEM EXACT ALIGN the scrolling information might read RMS 1 5 WAS 6 7 ID 78 8412 9 TH 1 9 1 0 MA 11 145 4 POLAR AXIS EAST OF SCP MOVE WEST 13 2 ME 78 6412 5 ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 133 POLAR AXIS ABOVE SCP LOWER 1 31 In this example TPAS has computed the best fit values of the four terms that were set to the COMPUTE state in DEFINE MODEL It has done this based on the error residuals of the sampling data The RMS of the fitted data using the model defined by DEFINE MODEL was reported to be 1 5 The RMS of the data using the pointing kernel s current in use model was reported to be 6 7 TPAS reported that the ID term was 78 8412 9 The value after the sign is a Statistical measure of that term known as the Standard Deviation also known as sigma The significance of Standard Deviation will be discussed further below The value of the IH term was reported as 1 0 1 0 ID amp IH are important terms and you should always compute and use them However since the values of the ID amp IH terms vary between sampling tests their actual values can largely be ignored and the term
139. deally be as close to 0 00 as possible A number in the range of 0 5 to 0 5 will probably give you reasonable pointing accuracy depending upon the accuracy of your initial FIX ALT REF step and fabrication errors within your mount If your WARP number was much larger you may want to check that you identified the correct stars and repeat the alignment procedure if need be Otherwise read the Troubleshooting Guide and the ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 29 Wien innovations introductory sections of SETUP MNT ERRORS This completes the alignment procedure Be sure to take the time to read the section on MODE FIX ALT REF Improving the accuracy by which you perform the FIX ALT REF operation will dramatically improve your pointing accuracy In particular your attention is drawn to the AUTO ADJUST ON feature of MODE FIX ALT REF Now go on to read An introductory run a lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 30 An introductory run This section gives a quick introduction as to some of the ways you might locate objects using your ARGO Navis It does so by way of examples It assumes that you have successfully aligned the unit by following the instructions in Alignment procedures It purposely doesn t give a lot of detail as to how things work that is cove
140. distributed uniformly across the sky lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Once you have sampled a sufficient number of stars anywhere from 2 to 150 depending upon your requirements you can define a model and then have TPAS compute the values of each of the terms in the model When TPAS computes the value of the terms of the defined model it also provides you with important statistical feedback that will assist you in determining the merit of the overall model and the merit of each of the individual terms Depending upon the values provided by this statistical feedback you might then decide to either apply this model as your current pointing model or to reject the model and try another For example you might decide to experiment and add or remove terms from your model TPAS allows you to do this in a fast and convenient manner Once you have determined a model that provides the best pointing performance for your telescope you can save the model in the unit s non volatile memory EEROM device and then re use it on subsequent nights If no changes are made to the telescope then many terms also should remain the same from session to session Some terms however will not be persistent between sessions but you can quickly re establish these by performing a short sampling run at the beginning of the night TPAS works on all mount types whether they are an equatorial mount such as Fork
141. e message SETUP DATE TIME You have now successfully set your local time zone and your local date and time While the SAVING message appeared ARGO Navis saved your time zone setting into its memory EEROM device and the date and time into the battery backed time of day clock While the INITIALIZING message appeared ARGO NAvis re initialized such things as the positions of planets asteroids and ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 20 comets and recalculated the amount of precession and nutation to account for since the J2000 0 epoch It is handy to remember that whenever Daylight Savings comes into or out of force in your locality simply edit the time zone by adding or subtracting an hour from it as necessary There is no need to change the local time as changing the time zone will automatically perform the correct arithmetic Normally the lithium coin cell battery used by the time of day clock should last for several years If for any reason it should run flat when ARGO Navis is powered on it will display briefly this message RTC BATTERY FLAT Followed by this message SETTING DATE TO 12 00 1 JAN 2000 See the section How to replace the lithium coin cell battery for details Setting the location As was discussed in the section on setting the time zone date and time ARGO Navis does not require you to set your location to ope
142. e powerful features available to you in SETUP MNT ERRORS which allows you to effectively perform a super alignment on an arbitrary number of stars up to 150 at a time lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations The importance of an accurately performed FIX ALT REF step See MODE FIX ALT REF cannot be over emphasized For FORK ROUGH ALIGN and ALTAZ DOBSONIAN mounts Wildcard Innovations highly recommends you consider using the AUTO ADJUST ON feature when you perform THE FIX ALT REF step Using SETUP ALIGN PICK Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP ALIGN PICK Press ENTER and the display might show something like this ALIGN PICK LAST PICK 1 OF 1 PREV where the first 1 on the bottom line will be flashing The words on the top line indicate that ARco Navis will always utilize the last object that you aligned on This is the factory default In this example the words on the bottom indicate that for mounts that require more than one alignment object ARGO Navis will pick one other object from a one deep queue In other words ARco Navis will perform a two object alignment and will choose the object you just aligned with and the previous one to that By spinning the DIAL the PICK number can be toggled between a 1 and 2 f you were to choose 2 ARGO Navis will perform a three object alignment ARGO Navis User Manual Editio
143. e Azimuth offset where Go CCW The current guided object is that object which was most recently selected in GUIDE mode while in MODE CATALOG MODE IDENTIFY or MODE TOUR or was used to perform and alignment on in MODE ALIGN or MODE ALIGN STAR Remote system sends R Response is the Altitude elevation and Azimuth drive rates required to track the celestial sphere at the RA and Dec position that Arco NaAvis determines the telescope is currently pointing to Units are degrees minute Format is eight raw bytes representing two floating point values The floating point representation is Big Endian with a exponent biased by 128 To convert to industry standard IEEE Floating Point Format divide the returned values by 4 The first four bytes are the Altitude elevation drive rate where Go Up The next four bytes are the Azimuth drive rate where Go CCW Remote system sends q skycomm mode is exited This is an ARGO Navis extension lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 190 Wildcard innovations tangent Function Enter Tangent emulation mode This is the protocol used by NGC MAX Celestron Advanced Astromaster the Lumicom Sky Vector Orion and the Software Bisque BBox Tangent can be used as a shell startup command See SETUP SERIAL t There are two commands Remote system sends Q Respons
144. e Connection pull down If you are still unable to establish communications then check that the serial port connection at each end is correct and verify the ARGO NAvis serial setup once again Where to obtain Asteroid Comet or Satellite Orbital Element Files ARGO NAvis uses the same orbital element formats as TheSky software package You can obtain the orbital elements of Asteroids Minor Planets on the Internet from the Harvard Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics web site http cfa www harvard edu iau Ephemerides SoftwareEls html You can also download Comet orbital elements suitable for loading into ARGO NAvis from the following location http cfa www harvard edu iau Ephemerides Comets SoftwareComets html ARGO NAvis currently allows you to download a maximum of 50 Asteroid orbital elements and 10 Comet orbital elements at any one time If need be use a plain text editor such as Notepad to edit your downloaded orbital element files so as to choose the objects you would like to load Do not use an editor such as Word or WordPad as they might embed hidden text formatting characters that will corrupt your file Save your files with a txt suffix Later when you load an Asteroid file into ARGO NAvis an ASTEROIDS catalog will appear in the MODE CATALOG menu Similarly when you load a Comet file a COMETS catalog will appear When comets are first discovered there may not have been sufficient observations o
145. e Vers 2 0 1 213 Wildcard innovations Nauru Republic of 12 hours Nepal 5 45 hours Netherlands 1 hours Summer 2 hours Netherlands Antilles 4 hours Nevis Montserrat 4 hours New Caledonia 11 hours New Hebrides 11 hours New Zealand 12 hours Summer 13 hours Nicaragua 6 hours Summer 5 hours Niger 1 hours Nigeria 1 hours Niue Island 11 hours Norfolk Island 11 30 hours Northern Ireland 0 hours Summer 1 hours Northern Mariana Islands 10 hours Norway 1 hours Summer 2 hours O Oman 4 hours P Pakistan 5 hours Palau 9 hours Panama 5 hours Papua New Guinea 10 hours Paraguay 4 hours Summer 3 hours Peru 5 hours Philippines 8 hours Pingelap 12 hours Poland 1 hours Summer 2 hours Ponape Island 11 hours Portugal 0 hours Summer 1 hours Principe Island O hours Puerto Rico 4 hours Q Qatar 3 hours R Reunion 4 hours Romania 2 hours Summer 3 hours Russian Federation zone eight 9 hours Summer 10 hours Russian Federation zone eleven 12 hours Summer 13 hours Russian Federation zone five 6 hours Summer 7 hours Russian Federation zone four 5 hours Summer 6 hours lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 214 Wildcard innovations Russian Federation zone nine 10 hours Summer 11 hours Russian Federation zone one
146. e been set in SETUP DATE TIME and that your location in particular your current latitude and longitude have been set in SETUP LOCATION Using MODE AZ ALT The azimuth values range from 0 to 360 where north is 0 and east is 90 The altitude values range from 90 to 90 with 90 at the zenith 90 at the nadir and O at the horizon The angles displayed are shown in degrees and arc minutes Enter MODE AZ ALT by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE AZ ALT The display will show the telescope s azimuth on the left and the telescope s altitude on the right If a valid alignment has not been performed a scrolling warning message will be displayed possibly similar to this one TWO SIGHTINGS ARE REQUIRED FIX ALT REF MAY BE REQUIRED sm lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard Innovations WARNING DISPLAYED VALUES MAY NOT BE VALID Otherwise the bottom line of the display shows the name of the constellation that the telescope is currently pointing towards For example 195948 37 26 CETUS suggests the telescope is pointing southwest to 195 48 and is elevated to point 37 26 above the horizon Pressing ENTER again will briefly display the page number of the default atlas see SETUP ATLAS that covers the area of the sky the telescoping is pointing to 195 48 37 26 MSA VOL I 262 In this example Volume page 262 of the Mille
147. e flashing ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 111 Now press the ENTER button You have now entered location name edit mode The M character will be flashing indicating that the cursor is at that location Turn the DIAL anti clockwise until the letter H appears then press ENTER to advance to the next letter which is an A Turn the DIAL in either direction to make it an 0 press ENTER and so on until you have spelt out the word HOME Continue to erase the rest of the characters in the old MAWSON BASE name by turning them into SPACES The SPACE character is found just after the letter Z if you are turning the DIAL clockwise When you have erased the last character press ENTER three times until the display shows this LAT 67 35 59 S LONG 62 53 090 W The top line is the latitude of Mawson Base which you will now change to your local latitude To determine your local latitude consult an atlas or one of the many location databases such as www heavens above com available on the internet Unless you plan on observing satellites or accurately knowing your Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST don t be too concerned if you cannot determine the exact co ordinates of your location Within a degree or so should be fine for most situations Using the DIAL and ENTER button edit the latitude fields to values appropriate for your observing l
148. e is the fixed format azimuth and altitude encoder step positions normalized as per the Tangent devices For example 01234 lt tab gt 00123 lt r gt Remote system sends P Response is a three digit status number where the first digit is the number of altitude encoder errors the second is the number of azimuth encoder errors and the third is O for power level low or 1 for power level OK For example 001 lt r gt Note that Tangent devices are not capable of having their current RA and Dec position queried They only return their raw encoder position Keep in mind that some star mapping and planetarium packages might expect the Baud rate to be set at 9600 when they are configured to communicate with a Tangent device lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 191 Wildcard innovations therm Function Report the unit s current internal temperature Conversion time takes approximately 2 seconds therm accepts the following optional argument e f report the current internal temperature in degrees Fahrenheit therm with no arguments returns current internal temperature in degrees Celsius Examples therm 30 1250C b therm f B033 9F NS lt T TM A ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 192 Wildcard innovations uptime Fu
149. e scope rad accepts the following optional arguments e d report co ordinates in decimal degrees e r report co ordinates in radians e S report co ordinates in sexagesimal format rad with no arguments returns the position in radians The output is in fixed format This includes padding with leading and trailing 0 s as need be Declinations are always signed even for the 00 000000 case The various formats can be deduced as per the following examples Examples rad 0 012873 0 000000 rad 1 205068 0 288230 rad r 1 205214 0 288230 rad d 069 0626 16 5143 rad S 04 36 18 16 30 52 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 184 Wildcard innovations samples Function Allow dumping of TPAS pointing data for offline analysis by Wildcard Innovations The samples shell command puts ARGo NAvis into the samples command interpreter state When the samples command is issued ARGO NAvis will respond with a prompt of samples gt While in the samples command interpreter state ARGO NAvis processes input a line at a time A line can either be e Anempty line or e A samples interpreter command The samples interpreter commands are as follows e output Dump pointing data in ASCII hex format e quit Exit the samples command interpreter state and return to the shell For transfer to Wildcard In
150. e scope was moved towards the East then go back to SETUP AZ STEPS and change the direction sense sign If the Declination reading decreased as the scope was moved towards the North then go back to SETUP ALT STEPS and change the direction sense sign If you changed either or both signs power the unit off and then on and repeat the procedure to verify that the new encoder direction senses are correct Setting the final mount type During the initial once only setup procedure you were asked to set the mount type to FORK EXACT ALIGN You will now need to set your mount type to match your actual mount If you have a Fork mount that is exactly polar aligned you obviously do not need to change the setting Otherwise power the unit off then on Turn the DIAL clockwise until you see MODE SETUP ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 17 Wkdeand innovations Press ENTER Now turn the DIAL while it saves your settings into its clockwise until you see memory EEROM device and then display the message SETUP MOUNT SETUP MOUNT Now press ENTER The display should show FORK EXACT ALIGN where the whole line will be flashing Spin the DIAL and select your mount type The various mount types are tabled below Once you have selected your mount type press either EXIT or ENTER ARGO Navis will briefly display the words SAVING Menu selectio
151. e should appear once again Now power it off and power it on again The battery flat message should now not appear Otherwise remove the coin cell and check that the clip is tight lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Model 102 Coin Cell Replacement The following outlines the procedure for replacing the coin cell battery on the earlier Model 102 To replace the battery refer to Figure 15 Screw 1 Screw 3 Screw 4 Figure 15 ARGO Navis Model 102 shown Remove the two Philips head screws on the battery housing cover the raised section at the top of the back of the Arco Navis Also remove the two screws at the bottom of the back of the Arco Navis Gently lift the bottom of the battery cover and pry the cover off Now refer to Figure 16 ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 203 Wildcard innovations Screw 5 Screw 6 Gently place the upper half face down on a static free work bench Place the lower half with its battery compartment side facing down just to the right of it The flying battery leads should just be long enough to allow you to do this Do not touch any of the internal electronic parts or circuit board or you could damage them Now identify the coin cell battery holder Using a small flat bladed screwdriver gently lift the clip near the end that sits on the coin cell by a height of approximatel
152. e sign alternately between a anda When you have selected the correct sign hit ENTER which advances the flashing cursor to the first numeric field You can change the value in that field by turning the DIAL When you have selected the correct value advance the cursor to the right by hitting the ENTER button again and so on When you have finished editing the last field most people will live in a time zone that is only a whole number of hours offset from UTC pressing the ENTER button again will result in a display something like DATE 23 APR 2006 TIME 15 390 45 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Where the first digit will be flashing Again as in editing the time zone edit the correct local date and time by using the DIAL and pressing the ENTER button to advance over fields If you make a mistake press EXIT and start over again Keep in mind that you are entering your local date and time here not the UTC time ARGO NAvis will perform the appropriate arithmetic to convert the date and time you enter to internal UTC time by taking into account the time zone you entered When you have edited the last field you may like to synchronize the pressing of the ENTER button against some correct time reference ARGO NAvis will then briefly display the words SAVING and then the words INITIALIZING in the lower half of the display before returning to the SETUP sub menu with th
153. e the REVIEW DATA submenu to examine the fitted pointing residuals If any one item stands out as having a very large fitted residual compared to sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations other items then you might contemplate whether the object was misidentified and therefore should be deleted After deleting a term it is recommended to use the COMPUTE function to fit and put in use a new model However it is recommended you delete judiciously Deleting perfectly valid samples which happen to have high residuals in order to reduce the overall RMS contradicts the purpose of a pointing test Specifically the system will have less information from which to derive meaningful results for your telescope Continuing the pointing test The advantage of fitting and putting in use a model early during the pointing test is that your pointing improves and the risk of misidentifying a subsequent sample star is reduced Thus having fitted an initial model you may then wish to continue with sampling more stars One useful feature of using MODE TOUR to perform a sampling run is the REJOIN LAST TOUR selection For example say you had been using MODE TOUR to perform a pointing run and then had exited from that mode in order to use the features of SETUP MNT ERRORS f you re enter MODE TOUR having been on a tour the top line of the display will prompt you with this message FIND ANY OBJECT However
154. e the effective sampling rate of the encoders and how much power they consume See MODE ENCODER for a further discussion of encoder sampling A higher sampling rate means that the telescope can be slewed more quickly without encoder steps being missed When encoder steps are missed an encoder error message is displayed However the TON and TOFF values also influence the overall power consumed by the encoders This can impact upon battery life If the unit is always powered by an external DC power source such as a Car battery where power consumption is not an issue then it might be worth considering setting TON to any value and TOFF to 0 Since the encoders are then never switched off this will result in the highest possible sampling rate This mode of operation can also be useful to help track down an encoder or encoder cabling sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations fault If slewing the telescope still results in encoder error messages when the unit has been set in such a way chances are that the encoder cable or one or more encoders themselves have developed a fault If using internal AA cells and both encoders have a native resolution of 8192 steps it might be worth trying a TON value of 2 and a TOFF value of 10 This will produce a high sampling rate with only modest power consumption If this setting results in frequent encoder error messages next try a setting of TON 4 TOFF 10 See al
155. e the object Now spinning the DIAL clockwise might then show OMEGA CENTAURI GUIDE 3 5 772 Spinning the DIAL clockwise again might then show RUPRECHT 186 GUIDE 532 517 Spinning the DIAL clockwise one more time might then show NO MORE OBJECTS You might then decide to backtrack to take one more look at Omega Centauri You would turn the DIAL anti clockwise two detent clicks and guide to it once again Example 2 TOUR POPULAR FAINTEST MAG 11 IN CETUS might result in CETUS A GUIDE 452 973 ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 81 Wildcard innovations You could then guide to it Pressing GUIDE 89 OTD ENTER again will display scrolling a information about the object While the Which is the point that you were at when text is scrolling you can enter manual you last left the tour scroll mode by moving the DIAL See also Tug AMS EM 7 iSO nan CETUS SIZE 7 1 x6 8 MAG 8 8 ee SB 12 9 MORPH R SA rs b MODE CATALOG M77 BRIGHT SEYFERT RA 2 42 39 a DEC 00 00 50 J2000 0 ABOVE HORIZON MSA VOL I 262 SETUP DATE TIME SETUP GUIDE MODE Pressing EXIT will return you to GUIDE SETUP MNT ERROR mode CETUS A GUIDE 0358 019 Pressing EXIT again will return you to the top level menu MODE TOUR You might then perform some other operation and then decide to rejoin the tour Make sure that the display shows MO
156. e to the effects of precession nutation and proper motion the positions of objects are catalogued by astronomers according to where they were at some moment in time or Epoch The J stands for Julian and refers to the time keeping system used Older catalogs often have B1950 0 positions In this case B stands for Besselian Julian Date the number of days that have elapsed since Julian day 0 on 1 January 4713 BC Julian Meridian an imaginary circle passing North South through the celestial poles and the zenith directly above you Nadir the point directly beneath you opposite to zenith Nutation an approximately 11 000 year wobble in the Earth s axis that causes an apparent displacement of the stars when viewed from the Earth See Precession Precession an approximately 25 000 year wobble in the Earth s axis that causes an apparent displacement of the stars when viewed from the Earth See Nutation Refraction the bending of light rays through the atmosphere that causes objects close to the horizon to appear higher in altitude than they actually are Real Time a computing term used to describe a system that responds extremely quickly to external events As you move your telescope ARGO NAvis has sufficient compute power to respond in real time lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0
157. e to which the scope cannot point pes AXIS FLEXURE Declination Axis Flexure The sag downward under gravity of the Dec axis on a GEM NN DEC CENTER COS Declination Centering Error Cosine For an equatorial mount cosine component of a once per revolution cyclic effect produced by miscentered Dec encoder or Dec bearing eccentricity DCES DEC CENTER SIN Declination Centering Error Sine For an equatorial mount sine component of a once per revolution cyclic effect produced by miscentered Dec encoder or Dec bearing eccentricity ECEC EL CENTER COS Elevation Centering Error Cosine For an Alt Az mount cosine component of a once per revolution cyclic effect produced by miscentered Alt encoder or Alt bearing eccentricity or tube flexure ECES EL CENTER SIN Elevation Centering Error Sine For an Alt Az mount sine component of a once per revolution cyclic effect produced by miscentered Alt encoder or Alt bearing eccentricity or gravitational flexure Flexure of fork arms in Fork mount a HA CENTER COS Hour Angle Centering Error Cosine For an equatorial mount cosine component of a once per revolution cyclic effect produced by miscentered RA encoder or RA bearing eccentricity HCES HA CENTER SIN Hour Angle Centering Error Sine For an equatorial mount sine component of a once per revolution cyclic effect produced by miscentered RA encoder or RA bearing eccentricity DEC INDEX ERROR Index error Declination For an equatorial mount the D
158. ec encoder zero point correction ID brings about a fixed North South offset and on lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 122 INDEX ERROR EL HA INDEX ERROR POLAR LEFT RIGHT SQ Wildcard innovations FORK ROUGH ALIGN and GEM ROUGH ALIGN mount types combines with the ALT REF value to help provide a more accurate Alt encoder zero reference point than the ALT REF value alone ID is not persistent from session to session and for this reason should not be saved Probably best described as a term that helps provide a best fit for all other terms given that the mount is initially aligned on arbitrary stars Index error Elevation For an Alt Az mount the Alt encoder zero point correction IE brings about a fixed vertical offset and combines with the ALT REF value to help provide a more accurate Alt encoder zero reference point than the ALT REF value alone IE is not persistent from session to session and for this reason should not be saved Probably best described as a term that helps provide a best fit for all other terms given that the mount is initially aligned on arbitrary stars Index error Hour angle For a GEM EXACT ALIGN or FORK EXACT ALIGN mount the RA encoder zero point correction IH is not persistent from session to session and for this reason should not be saved Probably best described a
159. ecommend you set the following term to COMPUTE e DEC INDEX ERROR ID COMPUTE All other terms should be set to DON T USE f your SETUP MOUNT setting is ALTAZ DOBSONIAN or EQ TABLE EXACT then at this point it is recommended you set the following term to COMPUTE e INDEX ERROR EL IE COMPUTE All other terms should be set to DON T USE Once you have set the states of the terms as recommended exit the DEFINE MODEL submenu by pressing EXIT The COMPUTE submenu Spin the DIAL until you see COMPUTE then press ENTER For a brief moment the top line of the display will then show COMPUT ING lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations followed by COMPUTATION DONE The bottom line of the display will begin scrolling information Whilst the information is scrolling to change the default scroll rate see SETUP SCROLL various options are available to you e Press EXIT to abort the COMPUTE submenu e Press ENTER to transition toa state that allows you to accept reject or save terms e Wait until the text has completed scrolling and ARGo Navis will automatically enter the state that allows you to accept reject or save terms e Move the DIAL and then manual scroll mode is entered Turning the DIAL clockwise scrolls the text forward for convenient reading at your leisure while turning the DIAL anti clockwise scrolls text in reverse Pressing EXIT while in manual scroll mo
160. ed mount was set in SETUP MOUNT the 0 point will become equivalent to Declination 0 after a valid MODE ALIGN or MODE ALIGN STAR operation has been perfomed If a non polar aligned mount was set the 0 point is determined when a FIX ALT REF operation is performed and subsequently might be automatically adjusted during an alignment operation if AUTO ADJUST ON was set see MODE FIX ALT REF In all cases once ARGO Navis has been aligned the 0 point should therefore correspond to the tube being at right angles to the Azimuth axis In the case of a polar aligned mount the 90 point would then correspond to the North Celestial Pole and the 90 point to the South Celestial Pole For non polar aligned mounts the 90 point would correspond to the tube pointing upwards ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 50 and being at right angles to the base i e the Azimuthal plane If the DIAL is rotated one detent click at a time the display can be alternated between AZ ALT ENC ANGLE and AZ ALT ENC STEPS modes For example AZ ALT ENC STEPS LZ39 5790 suggests that the Azimuth encoder is at the 1235 step point and the Altitude encoder is at the 5790 step point Azimuth steps range from 0 to the number of steps set in SETUP AZ STEPS minus 1 Altitude steps range from 0 to the number of steps set in SETUP ALT STEPS minus 1 The or
161. ee eee 24 FP UFDOSE OT alignment sari ace lisli le la le ikea s k ao klimani Hakaamsens 24 Fork Exact Align and German EguatorialExactAlignMounts 24 Alt Az Dobsonian Mounts includingonEguatorialTables 20 FOP OLEN PRGA MOUNTS se e m ei E ie adl l 2 GF NPR OUI E ute atec setae 28 Am INFOCUS TOR WA A Poedeiok ar otdeeteeed aeneenasace 31 Operatingmodes eee 36 MODE ALIGN A RA A MM EM ER MORE MR e ee ee 37 MODE ACION EE EN NM EA EEE EO A EY 39 MODE AZ A A YY E E AD 43 MODE CATALOG A KE Ae 44 MODE ENCODER A NY eee 50 MODE EQ TABLE NN eee ne YA AT ee es 54 MODE EN NE Ea ee eee eee ee eee 57 INT re PU YY A EEA 61 MODE RA A ere 68 MODE NEY eee ee eee 70 MODE DB old oo E ne ee 72 NODESTA MI ears stead EK at E AY A A 73 MODE TIME EM ee ee ee ee 14 MODE TIMER NC KN RE ANE 15 MODE VE NEN e eee 76 SETUP ALION PIGE AR PE MV e EY ee ye 83 m lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 3 Wildcard innovations SETUP e YY MY ede 85 SETUP ALT TEP gt eee ene eee eee eer eee eee eee een eee 87 oa A E YE PP EE 88 SETUP AZ TEP EE EY 90 SETUP BEKR R NE DO err E E email iel 91 SETUP CONTRAS T rererere E E E E 92 SETUPDATET ME aaa anan 93 SETUP DEBUG NY eee 96 SETUP DEFAULT MC ES 97 SETUR ENG T
162. elections The encoder interface The encoder interface is the receptacle Wildcard innovations found on top of the unit and marked by the label ENCODERS See Figure 2 If you study your encoder cable you will find one end has an 8 way RJ 45 plug from which two 4 way cables split Insert this plug into the encoder interface receptacle If you have an encoder cable assembly supplied by Wildcard Innovations the 4 way cable that has a white sleeve near the encoder end will go to the Altitude axis encoder The other 4 way cable will go to the Azimuth axis encoder The Arco Navis Digital Telescope Computer DTC encoder interface was designed to be pin and electrically compatible with that used on the older JMI NGC MAX Celestron Advanced Astromaster Lumicom Sky Vector skyComm Engineering Sky Commander and similar Digital Setting Circle DSC units Therefore if you are upgrading to an Arco Navis from one of these older units you can retain your existing encoders and cable Note however that the ARGo Navis supports a higher encoder sampling rate SERIALI ENCODERS SERIAL2 DCIN Figure 2 ARGO NAvis Model 102B shown lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 8 than these older units and therefore will reliably support higher resolution encoders Though Arco Navis will work with lower resoluti
163. elescope cursor control Meade Sky Commander Tangent and ARGO Navis native command mode e Serial communications cables available as option e USB Serial Adaptors available as option Clock e Real time clock with separate 3V lithium coin cell backup battery Date time valid to year 2100 AD lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Storage temperature e 20 C to 60 C 4 F to 140 F ambient Operating temperature e 0 C to 50 C 32 F to 122 F ambient when using internal battery with no heater e 10 C to 40 C 14 F to 104 F ambient when using external DC power with heater Enclosure e ABS plastic e Dew resistant but not water proof e Secure thumbscrew fastened battery compartment lid Dimensions 195mm L x 101mm W x 50mm H 7 7 L x 4 0 W x 2 0 H Weight e 336g 11 85 oz without batteries e 433g 15 27 oz with 4x AA cells Manufacturing Manufactured in Australia under IS09001 quality control standards Certification e Meets FCC Class B Part 15 e Meets CE EN5022 Class B EN5024 EN6100 4 2 EN6100 4 3 e Meets C Tick AS NZS 3548 Class B AS NZS 61000 4 3 Warranty amp disclaimer Limited 1 year Disclaimer Specifications are subject to change without notice ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 198 Wildcard innovations Appendix C Port pin descriptions
164. emember by grabbing the DIAL you can stop the automatic scrolling and instead scroll manually That concludes this brief introductory run Hopefully by now you might have got some feel for how the unit operates Arco Navis has many more features than are mentioned here As suggested earlier you are encouraged to read the various reference pages in the Operating modes section of this manual to help give you further insight into its various capabilities a lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 35 Operating modes The Arco NaAvis interface is designed as a set of menus This section describes the purpose of each menu and how to use it Examples are provided Each menu is listed in alphabetical order which provides for a handy reference Essentially there are two main sets of menus There are the top level MODE menus and there are the SETUP menus The SETUP menus are accessed via entering MODE SETUP in the top level menu Use the DIAL to select a menu Use the ENTER button to enter the menu and the EXIT button to exit it The MODE menus are MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE MODE lt S gt TM A ARGO NAVIS ALIGN ALIGN STAR AZ ALT CATALOG ENCODER EQ TABLE FIX ALT REF IDENTIFY RA DEC SETUP SIDEREAL STATUS TIME TIMER TOUR Wildcard innovations
165. ence page lists the alignment stars If you cannot find the star you have chosen in the list pick another that is in the list that is not too far from the Celestial Equator For example say you have chosen Sirius Spin the DIAL until you see ALIGN SIRIUS Centre Sirius in the eyepiece then press ENTER The display will briefly show something like this ALIGN SIRIUS WARP 0 00 Now press EXIT and spin the DIAL until the display shows MODE RA DEC then press ENTER The display should show the approximate Right Ascension and Declination of the last star you aligned on In the example of Sirius the display might show something like this 96 45 3 16 43 CANIS MAJOR While watching the RA reading on the display rotate the scope slowly in an Easterly direction The RA value should increase If instead it decreases take note of that fact and continue for now SNS lt T TM S ARGO Navis Wildcard innovations While watching the Dec reading on the display rotate the scope slowly in a Northerly direction The Dec value should increase a negative Dec value that becomes more and more negative is in fact decreasing If the Dec value is decreasing take note of that fact and continue If the Right Ascension and Declination directions were consistent with the above procedure you do not need to alter the SETUP ALT STEPS Or SETUP AZ STEPS direction senses If the Right Ascension reading decreased as th
166. er version of firmware will have a higher version number To leave MODE STATUS press EXIT MODE STATUS remembers what state you last left it in However if you power off the unit STATUS POWER becomes the default state when you power the unit back on ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 73 MODE TIME Function MODE TIME shows you the following e Local Time including the day of the week day month and year The time is shown in 24 hour format e Universal Co ordinated Time UTC including the day of the week day month and year The time is shown in 24 hour format e Julian Date the number of days and decimal fraction of days that have elapsed since Julian day 0 on 1 January 4713 BC Julian MODE TIME assumes that the current date and time have been set in SETUP DATE TIME Using MODE TIME Enter MODE TIME by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE TIME The display will show you either the Local UTC or Julian date time depending upon what state you last exited MODE TIME since you powered on Arco Navis For example LOCAL 13 15 47 THU 28 APR 2006 sm lt gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Shows the local time in hours minutes seconds format on the top line and the date on the bottom By turning the DIAL clockwise one detent click the displayed time format ca
167. erform the loading or deleting of the catalogs via either one of the unit s serial ports ARGO Navis will not allow any catalog to be loaded unless it is in the SETUP LOAD CAT state When catalogs are being loaded Arco Navis places them into its RAM Random Access Memory When the ARGONAUT utility instructs it to do so Arco Navis then commits the catalogs into its FLASH memory so that they will be retained even when the unit is powered off The operation of committing the catalog data to the FLASH memory takes ARGO Nav s a second or two In that brief time ARGO Navis is not able to perform any other task For that reason any alignment that you may have performed might be invalidated because ARco Navis might have missed the fact that the telescope moved It is lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations therefore a good idea to re align your unit if need be after loading new catalogs For upgrading new firmware you do not place the unit into the SETUP LOAD CAT state Instead you need to put the unit into the BOOT LOADER state See the Transferring firmware files page for details Using SETUP LOAD CAT Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP LOAD CAT Then press ENTER The display will then show LOAD CATALOG READY The unit is now ready for catalogs to be loaded Use ARGONAUT to begin your transfer While the transfer is occurring ARG
168. esolution of your altitude encoder Using SETUP ALT STEPS Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP ALT STEPS Press ENTER again and the display might show something like this ALT 8010000 where the sign will be flashing By spinning the DIAL the sign can be toggled between a and a This sign denotes the direction sense of the altitude encoder and it is very important that it be set correctly Follow the instructions on Determining encoder direction senses in the section Initial Setup of the ARGO Navis to determine what the correct setting should be for your scope Once you have set the correct sense press ENTER and edit the fields as need be by using the DIAL to change a value and ENTER to advance to the next field When the correct number of steps is displayed press either ENTER or EXIT and if the value has changed from what it originally was ARGO Navis will briefly display the words SAVING sm lt gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations while it saves your settings into its memory EEROM device and then display the message SETUP ALT STEPS You will then have set your altitude encoder step setting and sense Note that changing the number of steps will invalidate any prior star alignment you may have performed including any FIX ALT REF ALIGN OR ALIGN STAR operation The number of steps that can be entered ranges from 1 to 99999
169. etup parameters to standard output e Read item_no Dump the setup parameter specified by item_no to standard output e Write parameter value Write the value for the specified setup parameter to RAM e Version Return the current firmware version number All input lines except Count Read Version and Quit commands will be responded to with either e OK e ERROR lt MESSAGE gt When setup parameters are Read the returned format is parameter value comment lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 188 Wien innovations sitech Function sitech is a proprietary protocol that allows for connection to a Sidereal Technology SiTech GOTO controller sitech is typically used as a shell startup command See SETUP SERIAL The Baud rate of the corresponding serial port should be set to 19200 When Arco Navis is configured to communicate to a SiTech controller using the sitech protocol it receives its encoder data from the SiTech servo encoders via the serial interface Thus in this configuration the encoders are not plugged into the ARGO Navis encoder port The SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS menus should be configured to have the same encoder step values and encoder direction sense signs as directed by Sidereal Technology You should align ARGO NAvis as if it had the encoders attached directly to it Note that you
170. even lets you store into its FLASH memory over a thousand of your own user defined objects including magnitudes and descriptions You can erase them and store new ones as often as you like This User Manual shows how the ARco NAvis Digital Telescope Computer can make your observing sessions more enjoyable and rewarding ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 2 Wildcard innovations Contents e 6 The ARGO Navis interfaces ME errr re err rr ennt 7 Theuser WAC ACE AN T Iheencoderinterface eee 8 Iheserialinterface a 9 Initial setup of the ARGO NA WS ia ema la alakadar lll mala aa ikebi makillnemaseklek 11 e e ge NA A EN ER A RR ME ED 11 Settingtheinitialmountiype 13 Settingencodersteps resolution 13 SSUM e e EN EM DE N YA AA EYY 14 Seting azim SIEDS ienesa YA ee eee 14 lestingencodercommunicatlon 15 Determiningencoderdirectilonsenses 16 Settingthefinalmourntiype mmm A A m A 17 settingthelocalttmezone dateandtime 19 DC ING ge e eg E 21 settingrefracttonmodelling 23 Allonment ge lt lt NR A eee eee
171. for the powerful ARGo Nav s M Telescope Pointing Analysis System TPAS which allows you to measure model compute analyse and store the values of various types of systematic errors in your mount telescope Using its advanced pointing kernef Arco Navis will attempt to compensate for these errors when you align and point your telescope The system works with all mount types For FORK EXACT ALIGN and GEM EXACT ALIGN mounts the system has the additional benefit of being able to assist you with polar alignment About pointing errors You may be reading this section because you have a pointing issue Therefore before detailing how to use the functionality of SETUP MNT ERRORS it is worth reviewing here the subject of pointing errors in general Historically some telescopes used mechanical scales known as setting circles to assist the operator in determining the co ordinates of where the telescope was pointing Whether one is using some mechanical measuring device or the readout of a digital telescope computer such as the ARGo Navis at any one place in the sky the angular difference between where the telescope thinks it is pointing and where it is actually pointing is known as a pointing error residual or simply residual sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations For practical purposes when you use ARco Navis to locate or identify objects pointing err
172. gt All Files Open as read only Files of type hy Nera Pec Argonaut Argo Navis TM load utility il Es Connection Transfer Delete be Terminal Hep KEL MEL deeri EEE ER EEE e pa no 2002 85 G6 000 0 217471 12 2959671 10 12711150 5689 1227 7879 2000 12002 S 6 080 8 142811 12 408702 A 706A 206 5994 1255 7788 2008 12002 05 6 08010 256669 12 399613 21 57611214 3048 90 2264 2006 12002 05 6 000 0 171998 12 346480 1 5837 94 8143 1356 4828 2008 12002 05 6 00018 149167 12 7775431 9 40191144 5174 1342 2979 2008 12002 05 6 0801 8 071687 12 555135 6 10121356 5486 62 3112 2008 18 Melpomene 20 Massalia 25 Phocaea Dal pi 27 Euterpe 28 Bellona 29 Amphitrite Urania Pomona Isis Ariadne Musa EASL HZ 12482 206z 206z AS AS 45 AS AS H6 H6 H6 H6 H6 Tawelcome to Argonaut _ kirama ne te eaty AEA A eo teed anne izni 2 Informations 2979 bytes to transfer Di ie sire a ei pp 0 e 4 ee transferred 2979 at e 595 ae jeune gh EL eld EE 147447 481886 223653 168673 148564 365882 i D86686 i 440729 i 2 2810i 4232161 lt S gt TM A ARGO NAVIS a ff oF A mh Oo Oe 0785 1387 5277 1228 53851 84 4768 1265 98381131 9324 i 86 981 5684 0258 6135 EEr EEL da 2688 i 2664 50792 9151 7076 7416 288E 208K 288K pinlo ARGO Nav s User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 1
173. haracter These state commands are as follows e Quit Leave the comet state and return to the shell e Write Commit all loadable catalog data to FLASH e Count Return a count of how many comet elements are currently loaded e Purge Remove the comet catalog from RAM e Memory Report free space in bytes in loadable catalog memory pool e Delete lt OBJECT gt Delete the specified comet from RAM All input lines except Count Memory and Quit commands will be responded to with either e OK e ERROR lt MESSAGE gt lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 174 Wildcard innovations date Function Return the current date and time date accepts the following optional arguments e j return the current Julian Date e return the local Date and Time e u return the UTC date and time date with no arguments returns the local time Examples date j 2453845 63 81 Julian date l 13 18 49 THU 20 APR 2006 Local date u 03 18 53 THU 20 APR 2006 UTC date Lot 18 97 THU 20 APK 2906 Local h SNS lt T TM A ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 175 Wear innovations enc Function Report the azimuth and altitude encoder step positions Example b enc 08002 07764 h SNS lt T TM A ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis
174. have access to these facilities seek the services of a good electronics technician The replacement procedure for the coin cell battery is dependent upon what style casing your ARGO NAvis has The newer Model 102B case is deep blue in color and has a compliance plate on the AA cell battery hatch identifying it as a Model 102B The earlier Model 102 case lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Figure 14 Arco NaAvis Model 102B shown ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 202 Do not touch any of the internal electronic parts or circuit board or you could damage them Now identify the coin cell battery holder Using a small flat bladed screwdriver gently lift the clip near the end that sits on the coin cell by a height of approximately 1mm 1 24 Simultaneously use another small flat bladed screwdriver to nudge the coin cell out of the holder Discard it Now that the old coin cell is removed gently depress the clip a little with the flat bladed screwdriver to ensure that it will maintain a tight spring fit when the new coin cell is inserted Remove the new coin cell from its packaging but do not touch the terminals with your fingers If you do so clean them with a clean cloth While holding the coin cell with a clean cloth or clean cotton gloves gently insert it with the side up under the clip Power on the unit and observe the battery flat messag
175. he right or to the left is dependent on several factors according to your setup If you wish to change the default direction sense of one or both arrows you can do so by ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 46 changing the settings in SETUP GUIDE MODE In any case you should move the telescope in the direction that causes the angle to become smaller As the telescope is moved the display continually updates the angles and changes the direction arrows if the object is passed When an angle less than 10 is displayed the arrow will move to double as a decimal point For example 543 means 5 3 Generally you might find it is easier to move the telescope in one axis at a time When the telescope is at the correct position you will see GHOST OF JUPITER GUIDE 0 8 9 0 If a proper alignment has been performed the object should appear within the field of view of a moderate power eyepiece for example one that gives a field of view of about 30 arc minutes If objects do not appear consistently within the field of view you might want to perform a re alignment or review the section Factors that affect pointing accuracy At any time during GUIDE MODE if you press ENTER a scrolling description of the object is given Typical descriptions include the full name of the object other popular names the object might be known by what constellation the object is
176. he DIAL one click while in the REMAINING time mode returns the display to show the ELAPSED time ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 55 To stop and reset the equatorial table timer if it is running press ENTER To restart the timer press ENTER again At any point EXIT can be pressed and Arco Navis will return to the top level menu The equatorial table timer and alarm feature will continue to operate in the background if the timer was left running Examples Example 1 You would like to perform an alignment while the table is stopped Move the table to its start position enter MODE EQ TABLE and ensure that the equatorial table timer is stopped Perform your FIX ALT REF step and two star alignment as normal Example 2 Assume that the table and timer were both started earlier in the night and are still running and that you would now like to perform an alignment Perform a FIX ALT REF step or and or alignment as whilst the table and timer is still running ARGO NAvis provides you with the flexibility to perform an alignment either when the table amp timer are stopped or as in this case when the table and timer is running Example 3 You would like to GUIDE to an object while the table is stopped Move the table to its start position enter MODE EQ TABLE and ensure that the timer is stopped GUIDE to the object as normal sm l
177. hese parts of the world are West of the Greenwich meridian and will therefore have negative time zone settings If changing your time zone setting you should then check that the local date and time is correctly set Similarly when SETUP REFRACTION S set to ON you should also check that you have correctly entered your observing location s latitude and longitude in SETUP LOCATION paying particular attention as to whether you live North or South of the Equator and East or West of the Greenwich Meridian Common category 1 operator errors include incorrect setting of the ALT REF point on mounts that require a two star alignment and incorrect identification of alignment stars lf your mount is of a type that requires a FIX ALT REF to be performed you are strongly encouraged to review and use the AUTO ADJUST feature See also SETUP ALT REF for details Using AUTO ADJUST ON can sometimes bring about a dramatic improvement in pointing performance and for those mounts that have negligible fabrication errors its use alone may suffice to achieve excellent pointing performance Common category 1 encoder installation errors include encoder shafts that slip due a loose setscrew or problem with the coupling For example some couplings that use rubber O rings can become stiff in low temperatures and allow the encoder shaft to slip lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations For Dobsonian telescope owne
178. hile the INITIALIZING message appeared ARGO NAvis re initialized such things as the positions of planets asteroids and comets and recalculated the amount of ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 94 Wildcard innovations precession and nutation to account for since the J2000 0 epoch It is handy to remember that whenever Daylight Savings comes into or out of force in your locality simply edit the time zone by adding or subtracting an hour from it as necessary There is no need to change the local time as changing the time zone will automatically perform the correct arithmetic Normally the lithium coin cell battery used by the time of day clock should last for several years If for any reason it should run flat when ARGO Navis is powered on it will display briefly this message RTC BATTERY FLAT Followed by this message SETTING DATE TO 12 00 1 JAN 2000 See the section How to replace the lithium coin cell battery for details Note that changing the date or time will invalidate any prior star alignment you may have performed including any FIX ALT REF ALIGN or ALIGN STAR operation Changing the time zone alone will not See also MODE SIDEREAL MODE SETUP MODE TIME SETUP LOCATION SETUP REFRACTION lt S gt TM A ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 SETUP DE
179. ht then show SERIALI STARTUP navis This is the factory default By spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the startup command selection can be changed The possible choices are e meade e navis e pbt e servocat e sitech e skycomm e tangent See the Programmer s reference for an explanation of these commands Once you have selected the desired startup command for this port press either EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the value from what it originally was the word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device Keep in mind that the chosen startup command will not execute until next time you power on your Arco Navis Pressing EXIT again will cause the display to show SERIALL STARTUP where the 1 will be flashing By spinning the DIAL until it shows 2 and then pressing ENTER it is then possible to edit the Baud rate and startup command for SERIAL2 as was done for SERIAL1 Alternatively the EXIT button could be pressed and the unit will return to the SETUP menu level Pressing EXIT once more will return it to the main MODE menu level Of course it is possible to perform the above steps in any order editing only the required parameters for the required ports Interfacing via a USB port lf your PC Mac does not have a RS 232 serial port
180. ich Change the W to an E depending upon whether your location is East or West of the Greenwich Meridian For example if you lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations live in the United States or Canada your location will be West of Greenwich so you will enter a W If you live in Australia for example your location will be East of Greenwich so you will enter an E When you have edited the last longitude field press ENTER The display will then show HOME where the word HOME will be flashing Press EXIT to set HOME as your observing location The display will briefly show SAVING And then the words INITIALIZING In the lower half of the display before returning to the SETUP sub menu with the message SETUP LOCATION You have now successfully set your location While the SAVING message appeared ARGO NAvis saved your location settings into its memory EEROM device While the INITIALIZING message appeared ARGO NAvis re initialized such things as the current Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST You can edit as many of the locations in the SETUP LOCATION menu as you desire Whenever you change observing location simply enter the SETUP LOCATION menu turn the DIAL until ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 22 the name of the location you are observing from appears then hit EXIT Reme
181. ike TIMEZONE 98 08 Where the or possibly sign will be flashing To understand the concept of time zone it is important to know that ARGO NaAvis always internally keeps track of time in ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 93 terms of Universal Co ordinated Time UTC which was previously referred to as Greenwich Mean Time GMT The time zone is the number of hours that your local time differs from UTC For example in New York when Daylight Savings Time Summer time is not in effect the time zone setting is 05 00 hours When Daylight Savings Summer Time is in effect the time zone is 4 00 In Sydney when Daylight Savings time is not in effect the time zone setting is 10 00 hours and when Daylight Savings is in effect 11 00 In New Delhi the time zone is 05 30 Use the section World timezones to determine your local time zone If you are in a time zone that is west of Greenwich you will set the sign to a If you are ina time zone that is east of Greenwich you will set the sign to a By turning the DIAL you can change the sign alternately between a and a When you have selected the correct sign hit ENTER which advances the flashing cursor to the first numeric field You can change the value in that field by turning the DIAL When you have selected the correct value advance the cursor to the
182. ildcard expressly disclaims any lost profits general special indirect or consequential damages which may result from breath of any warranty or arising out of the use or inability to use any Wildcard product Any warranties which are implied and which cannot be disclaimed shall be limited in duration to a term of one year from the date of original retail purchase Some countries and states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages or limitation on how long an implied warranty lasts so the above limitations and exclusions may not apply to you This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights that vary from country to country and state to state Wildcard reserves the right to modify or discontinue without prior notice to you any of its products lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 218 Wildcard innovations If warranty problems arise or if you need assistance in using your Wildcard product contact Your Arco Navis dealer from whom you purchased the unit or sales wildcard innovations com au Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd 20 Kilmory Place Mount Kuring Gai NSW 2080 Australia Phone 61 2 9457 9049 Fax 61 2 9457 9593 Monday Friday 9AM 5PM AEST http www wildcard innovations com au This warranty supersedes all other product warranties This warranty is v
183. in the centre of the eyepiece not just the finder scope When the star is perfectly centred press ENTER For example say you have chosen Sirius The display will briefly show ALIGN SIRIUS WARP 0 00 This completes the alignment procedure Now go on to read An introductory run Alt Az Dobsonian Mounts including on Equatorial Tables If you have set your mount type to be ALT AZ DOBSONIAN Or EQ TABLE EXACT then use the following procedure You will be required to perform an operation called FIX ALT REF and two star alignments If you are using an equatorial table park the table to its start position and switch it off for now When Arco NAvis is first powered on after initializing it will prompt you with FIX ALT REF lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wien innovations Press ENTER Turn the DIAL until you see ALT REF 9 AUTO ADJUST OFF Now move your telescope to a position in altitude so that the tube is pointing at right angles with respect to the base like thus tube 90 degrees with respect to base Figure 6 The scope does not have to be level on the ground Only the orientation of the tube to the base is important If the telescope is sitting on an equatorial table it is the orientation of the tube to the plane of the table that is important Due to mechanical constraints in your mount you may not be able to get the scope at exactly right angles Try to get it as close ARGO Navis
184. ions to possible problems Low battery Symptoms Some signs that the power source might be low include the following e The unit fails to power on e The unit powers on and shows a SOURCE BAT LOW message during initialization e n MODE STATUS STATUS POWER the SOURCE BAT LOW or SOURCE EXT LOW message appears e The unit powers on but then keeps showing the INITIALIZING message again and again e The unit powers on seems to run for a short while then the display goes blank e The unit power on but the display goes blank when the encoders are connected e Encoder error messages begin to appear more regularly e The unit behaves erratically Suggestion Replace the batteries with fresh alkaline ones or check the external power source and external power lead lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Nickel cadmium batteries and zinc carbon batteries are not well suited because of their large voltage drops under load Mechanical slippage Symptoms e While observing the MODE ENCODER readout an encoder appears to lose steps when it is turned back and forth in its bearing e While observing the MODE ENCODER readout one encoder does not register moving Suggestion Ensure that the set screws are tight on the encoder shafts Check whether any gear or pulleys are slack On Dobsonians check whether the pivot bolt in the base of the scope is rotating Sight distant stationary objects when checking for
185. is User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 71 MODE SIDEREAL Function MODE SIDEREAL shows you the Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST This mode assumes that the current date and time have been set in SETUP DATE TIME and that your location in particular your current latitude and longitude have been set in SETUP LOCATION The Local Apparent Sidereal Time corresponds to the hour of Right Ascension crossing the local meridian which is the imaginary north south circle that passes through the local zenith The zenith is the point directly overhead Knowing the current LAST might be handy for example if you wanted to determine the hour of Right Ascension RA that is currently overhead where the sky tends to be darkest Using MODE SIDEREAL Enter MODE SIDEREAL by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE SIDEREAL The display will show the Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST in the top line and the name of your location that you selected in SETUP LOCATION SNS lt T TM S ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations For example LAST 23 48 27 CAPE TOWN Indicates that Right Ascension 23 48 27 is crossing your local meridian from your observing site in Cape Town You might then decide to grab your star charts corresponding to this hour of RA In this case you might decide to observe in Sculptor which would be directly overhead
186. is currently ON or OFF For example REFRACT ION OFF indicates that refraction modelling is currently off which is the factory default Spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time toggles the state to be either OFF or ON When you have set the desired state press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the state from what it originally was ARGO Navis will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device Note that as a special feature if your current latitude is set at 00 00 00 and your longitude is set at 000 00 00 which are the factory default values for SETUP LOCATION then if you attempt to turn refraction modelling on ARGO NAvis will warn you with the message REFRACT ION ON CHECK LOCATION See also MODE SETUP ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 143 Wkdeand innovations SETUP DATE TIME SETUP LOCATION Factors that affect pointing accuracy lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 144 SETUP SCRATCH Function SETUP SCRATCH allows you to enter the name and the Right Ascension RA and Declination Dec of up to two scratch objects which you can then GUIDE to from the SCRATCH OBJECTS catalog of MODE CATALOG lf you wish to create more than two user defined objects at any one time it is recommended that you consider the dow
187. ite sleeve near its encoder end should go to the altitude encoder If neither or only one angle changes on the display check that the connections to the encoders are correct in particular making sure that the plug that connects to the encoder pin header is inserted the right way up On encoders and cables supplied by Wildcard Innovations the NS lt T TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations correct orientation can be ascertained by matching the small circular sticker on the plug with the same type of sticker on top of the encoder the side opposite that from which the shaft protrudes Also ensure that any set screw holding the encoder shaft in place is firm and is not allowing the encoder shaft to slip Finally check the batteries in your ARGO Navis and replace them if necessary f you are performing the above test without having installed the encoders on your mount and you are simply turning the encoder shafts with your fingers you may see one of the following messages on the display e AZ ENCODER ERROR ALT ENCODER ERR BOTH ENCODER ERR This simply means that you have turned the encoders too quickly and have exceeded their sampling rate thus missing counts ARGO Navis typically samples the encoders at a very high rate much higher than older Digital Setting Circle or DSC units and when the encoders are installed on your mount you should not see these errors during normal operation f the
188. ite space before and after commands and their arguments Once a command is completed the shell re issues the command prompt The meade pbt servocat sitech skycomm_ emulation modes put the ARGO Navis serial port terminal device into a line discipline that is compatible with the devices being emulated These commands along with the navis command can all be used as startup commands See SETUP SERIAL lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 172 Wildcard innovations asteroid Function The asteroid shell command puts ARGo NAvis into the asteroid orbital element processing state When the asteroid command is issued ARGO NAvis will respond with OK Orbital element files can be downloaded from the Internet ARGO NAvis uses the same orbital element format as TheSky software package A short example file follows 1 Ceres 2002 05 06 00010 079116 2 766412 10 5835 80 4863 73 9844 20001189 2752 3 34 0 12 0 00 2 Pallas 2002 05 06 000 0 229937 2 773483 34 8425 173 1716 1310 3944 2000 175 4143 4 13 0 11 0 00 3 Juno 2002 05 06 000 0 258898 2 667458 12 9711 170 1326 247 9936 2000 73 8333 5 33 0 32 0 00 5 Astraea 2002 05 06 000 0 193003 2 572864 5 3695 141 6928 357 7118 2000 243 8043 6 85 0 15 0 00 6 Hebe 2002 05 06 000 0 201452 2 425562 14 7667 138 8476 238 9243
189. ixed at 38400 Make sure the other end of the cable is connected to your PC s serial port Start ARGONAUT and set the appropriate COM port Also ensure that ARGONAUT is set at 38400 Baud rate Use the Connection pull down menu and Connect to the COM port On Arco NAvis press and keep depressed the EXIT button and then power the unit on The display should show something similar to this BOOT LOADER 1 0 X where X is a digit representing the version of the Boot Loader Now release the EXIT button ARGO NAvis is now running exclusively out of its Boot Loader region in the FLASH memory The Boot Loader s job is to take commands and data from ARGONAUT and write the data to the Firmware area Check the ARGONAUT Terminal window If it says USE OTHER PORT then you have inadvertently plugged the connector into ARGO NAvis SERIAL2 port Otherwise as a test of communications try typing a character in the Terminal window followed by the keyboard s Enter key ARGO NaAvis should respond with OK Now use the Transfer pull down menu and select Send Firmware File A file navigation dialog should pop up Select the appropriate firmware file and press Open The Terminal window should now start filling with OK responses from ARGO NAVIS You can monitor progress by watching the File Transfer Progress meter and by watching the ARGO NAvis display After the first 2 is transferred ARGO NAvi
190. lands 0 hours Summer 1 hours Canton Enderbury Islands 11 hours Cape Verde 1 hours Caroline Island 11 hours Cayman Islands 5 hours Central African Rep 1 hours Chad 1 hours Channel Islands 0 hours Summer 1 hours Chatham Island 12 45 hours Summer 13 45 hours Chile 4 hours Summer 3 hours China People s Rep 8 hours Christmas Islands 10 hours Cocos Keeling Islands 6 30 hours Colombia 5 hours Congo 1 hours Cook Islands 10 hours Costa Rica 6 hours Cote d Ivoire O hours Croatia 1 hours Summer 2 hours lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 210 Wildcard innovations Cuba 5 hours Summer 4 hours Curacao 4 hours Cyprus 2 hours Summer 3 hours Czech Republic 1 hours Summer 2 hours D Dahomey 1 hours Denmark 1 hours Summer 2 hours Djibouti 3 hours Dominica 4 hours Dominican Republic 4 hours E Easter Island 6 hours Summer 5 hours Ecuador 5 hours Egypt 2 hours Summer 3 hours El Salvador 6 hours England 0 hours Summer 1 hours Equatorial Guinea 1 hours Eritrea 3 hours Estonia 2 hours Summer 3 hours Ethiopia 3 hours F Falkland Islands 4 hours Summer 3 hours Faroe Island 0 hours Summer 1 hours Fiji 12 hours Finland 2 hours Summer 3 hours France 1 hours Summer 2 hours French Guiana
191. le 12 26 8 63 97 CRUX Pressing ENTER will briefly display the page number of the default atlas see SETUP ATLAS that covers the area of sky the telescoping is pointing to 12 26 8 63 97 MSA VOL II 1982 In this case Millennium Star Atlas Volume Il page 1002 As you move the scope the displayed Right Ascension Declination values and constellation name will update in real time For a stationary telescope Right Ascension constantly changes as a ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 68 function of time as the Earth rotates This rate of time is known as a Sidereal Rate If your scope is accurately polar aligned and the clock drive on your scope is switched on you might notice a cyclic pattern whereby the values of RA appear to slowly increase then suddenly decrease The reason for this is the finite resolution of your azimuth Right Ascension encoder For example a 10 000 step encoder has at best a resolution of 2 16 arc minutes ARGO Navis has an internal sidereal clock that is used to update the Right Ascension value As the clock drive on your scope moves it around in azimuth Right Ascension periodically the azimuth encoder will step When this occurs the displayed Right Ascension value will appear to briefly jump backwards Keep in mind for non polar aligned scopes moving them purely in azimuth or altitude will re
192. le 3 PoE NOT ALWAYS NOT ALWAYS po CYS po YESS po CEES FORK ROUGH ALIGN or GEM ROUGH ALIGN Always Use Not Persistent Often Persistent between sessions between sessions i e do not SAVE i e may be OK to SAVE Oo NOT ALWAYS NOT ALWAYS po CVS po CYS po CYS lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 126 Wildcard innovations Table 4 FORK EXACT ALIGN Terms Always Use Not Persistent Often Persistent between sessions between sessions i e do not SAVE i e may be OK to SAVE PCH NOT ALWAYS NOTALWAYS CEG po VES ogs Jo ye HCE ES HCES PES e ES JID VES VES S O AVES VES O YE 0000 portable Se e portable o y OYES O TE O ya lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 127 Wildcard innovations Table 5 Often Persistent GEM EXACT ALIGN between sessions i e may be OK to Terms Always Use Not Persistent between sessions i e do not SAVE SAVE CHT NOT ALWAYS NOT ALWAYS O ee DAF YES YE DCEC ege o i DCES po ES HCEC ES HCES po VES SS JID COVES VES AVES VES O YE 0000 portable KA oe portable gt gt gt YES i Power recommendations before performing a large star pointing run If you are considering performing
193. like to begin the tour The scope does not necessarily have to be pointed at Fornax Return to the top level menu and spin the DIAL until you see MODE TOUR sm lt gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL until you see FIND GALAXY then press ENTER Now spin the dial until you see FAINTEST MAG 13 then press ENTER Now spin the DIAL and make the first flashing character an F The display should now show IN FORNAX then press ENTER Arco Nav s then will briefly display the message SEARCHING before showing you the name of the closest Galaxy in Fornax of 13 Magnitude or brighter Notice that you have automatically been put into GUIDE mode For example NGC 1849 GUIDE 144 35 You can then move the scope and guide to the object While in GUIDE mode if you spin the DIAL one click clockwise ARGO Navis will find you the next closest object and so forth When you reach the end of the tour you will see the message NO MORE OBJECTS You can even spin the DIAL anti clockwise at any time and go backwards ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 34 Wildcard innovations through the tour While it is searching backwards you will briefly see the message BACKTRACKING At any time while in GUIDE mode you can press ENTER to get a scrolling description R
194. ling correction or perform a mount error sample test on a GEM EXACT ALIGN or FORK EXACT ALIGN mount or use the DAF or TF mount error terms either lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations when computing or using a model or would like some of the other features or benefits previously mentioned Note that when you exit from SETUP LOCATION that if you have changed your latitude and longitude any prior star alignment you may have performed will be invalidated including any FIX ALT REF ALIGN or ALIGN STAR operation You can also view your current location Using MODE SIDEREAL See also MODE SIDEREAL MODE TIME MODE SETUP SETUP DATE TIME SETUP REFRACTION ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 113 SETUP MOUNT Function SETUP MOUNT allows you to specify what type of mount your telescope is on You must set this before you can begin to use Arco NAvis Using SETUP MOUNT Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP MOUNT then press ENTER The display will indicate the current mount type setting For example ALTAZ DOBSONIAN ALTAZ DOBSONIAN tables EQ TABLE EXACT For altitude azimuth mounts mounted on top of an accurately polar aligned equatorial table Wildcard innovations indicates that the current mount is of the Altitude Azimuth type Spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time cycles
195. logs A A ME MEPA 166 Querying loadable catalogfreeememony 167 Iransferringfirmwaretiles mmmmme mem A e m e gt mm 168 Linux operating systemfiletransferutilities 170 Mac OS X operating systemfiletransferutiliiy 171 Programmer S referente semer iin ek ye yim inene ae si ekli dila ram ink a ik 172 SUC OI KA pe sane ae one E AE ees ewe RM YEP RAK NE A 173 COMO eee e 174 dale A ee NT A N YE AN AY E 175 GO aes eh ese gd hs ee ere dn an ch eet ees aise ect ote e MAR 176 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 Wildcard innovations SLE l ayan aramalara arayanlar Spam arayalslaream yar 177 A es ct cee eects ie R Sina we eee pee eee te eee 178 E PA MY 179 icc e A ee ee 180 FS EM NN A A 182 FID ssc a a a la Dal ai a a be arkan aile pme dalip ni 183 9 E AN MA A EKA A O E PE 184 SVS AE EN EN A EE E 185 ME 186 SEVO CAI A EZ EE NV neces aaneeoecmen ce nec wate oe eaeeees eee 187 SEUD S easier A MN RM MEYE A A MK ME EE MEAN 188 z FE A ee ee 189 OMNI mk a izm nl cian bape cise te olamk ykm o a la almanlar a indr lie ee 190 ETES p EM EN AE NAM A HA KANADA CE A EY ME YE E 191 gg A YK ME ceases 192 UDU E A KR 193 OY 2g A EA e A YE M Re 194 Appendix Catalogs
196. losest object that meets your criteria lf EXIT is pressed again the ARGO Navis will exit from MODE IDENTIFY One feature of MODE IDENTIFY is that it remembers the last selections you made This includes the type of object to find the limiting magnitude and if you chose ANY CONSTEL the WITHIN diameter Therefore when you re enter MODE IDENTIFY those last selections will become the default values If you had chosen a particular constellation in which to limit the search MODE IDENTIFY will sm lt gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations prompt you with the name of the constellation that your telescope is currently pointing to as the default constellation selection ARGO NaAvis will return the values to the system default values when the unit is switched off and then back on The last object found in MODE IDENTIFY automatically becomes the Current Object That means that it will appear as the alignment object when entering MODE ALIGN and will be the default object when entering MODE CATALOG Examples FIND GLOBULAR CL FAINTEST MAG ANY IN CENTAURUS might result in NGC 5286 FOUND Pressing ENTER will take you into GUIDE mode NGC 5286 GUIDE 25e 372 This is prompting you to move the scope 25 in azimuth and 3 2 in altitude in order to locate the object FIND POPULAR FAINTEST MAG 11 IN CETUS might result in CETUS A FOUND ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for
197. ly those with well known historical names such as BETELGEUSE and those with Bayer Greek alphabet or Flamsteed numbers Names have constellation abbreviation first then Bayer or Flamsteed identifier For example FOR ZETA for Zeta Fornax They are ordered this way to make the catalog easier to browse COMETS assuming your ARGO Navis has a comet catalog currently loaded FROM PLANETARIUM consists of the single FROM PLANETARIUM object When Arco Navis is interfaced via a serial port to an appropriate planetarium program and a GOTO command is issued from that program the RA Dec co ordinates corresponding to that GOTO position and optionally the name of some associated object are transmitted to the FROM PLANETARIUM object This then allows you to GUIDE to the position that was sent from the planetarium program IC non stellar selections from the Index Catalogue MESSIER the complete Messier Catalogue ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 44 e MISC BRIGHT NEB miscellaneous bright nebulae such as emission and reflection nebulae that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalogs e MISC DARK NEBULA miscellaneous dark nebulae e MISC DOUBLE STAR miscellaneous double stars that do not appear in the BRIGHT STAR catalog e MISC GALAXIES miscellaneous galaxies that do not appear in the MESSIER NGC or IC catalog such as ES
198. mber in order to perform an alignment and to use most of the features of ARGO Navis you don t need to set your time zone date time or location unless you also decide to turn on refraction modelling correction or would like some of the other features or benefits discussed earlier Setting refraction modelling Due to the phenomenon of atmospheric refraction celestial objects close to an observer s horizon will appear to be higher in altitude than what they actually are ARGO Navis can compensate for the effects of atmospheric refraction However to do so ARGO Navis must have had the time zone date time and location set reasonably accurately It uses these parameters in conjunction with information it will obtain once you perform an alignment to determine where the observer s local horizon is Having determined that it then can correct for refraction If you do not plan to observe objects close to the horizon you may decide to leave refraction modelling off However if you are confident you have set your time zone date time and location correctly it is a good idea to turn it on to improve your pointing accuracy To turn refraction modelling on go to the SETUP REFRACTION sub menu and press ENTER The display might then show lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations REFRACT ION OFF where the word OFF is flashing Use the DIAL to change the setting to either ON or
199. miliar rate of time like that which occurs on a wristwatch Time zone the number of hours and minutes the local time is offset from Universal Co ordinated Time UTC Topocentric on the Earth s surface A topocentric Azimuth Altitude co ordinate system is one centred on the observer s location on the surface of the Earth A topocentric Altitude of 0 corresponds to the local horizon and that of 90 to the zenith A topocentric Azimuth of 0 is due North and that of 90 due East UTC Universal Co ordinated Time For practical purposes very close to the Greenwich Mean Time GMT time reference Zenith the point in the sky directly above you opposite nadir lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 225 Index ALIGNMENT PROCEDURES 24 ARGONAUT 152 ASTEROID 173 BATTERY POWER 11 external 12 Internal 11 CATALOGS 195 COMET 174 CONFORMANCE 220 DATE 175 DIAL 8 ENC 176 ENCCTL 177 ENCODER INTERFACE 8 EVENT 178 FP 179 GLOSSARY 223 INITIAL SETUP 11 INTERFACES 7 LCD 7 MEADE 180 MODE ALIGN 37 MODE ALIGN STAR 39 MODE AZ ALT 43 MODE CATALOG 44 MODE ENCODER 50 MODE EQ TABLE 54 MODE FIX ALT REF 57 MODE IDENTIFY 61 MODE RA DEC 68 MODE SETUP 70 MODE SIDEREAL 72 MODE STATUS 73 MODE TIME 74 MODE TIMER 75 MODE TOUR 76 NAVIS 182 OPERATING MODES 36 PBT 183 PORT PIN DESCRIPTIONS 199
200. mn lists the abbreviated name of the term These abbreviations are identical to that used by many professional observatories and are thus a de facto industry standard nomenclature ARGO Nav s also displays abbreviated term names using this same convention Whenever Arco Navis displays the name of a term in a longer fashion it does so according to the long names shown in the second column The third column contains the full name and a detailed description of each term Note that the error terms that TPAS will make available to you depend on your mount type setting in SETUP MOUNT For example if the mount type is set to FORK EXACT ALIGN additional terms are available compared to when the mount type is set to FORK ROUGH ALIGN Examples of additional terms in this instance are the polar misalignment terms MA amp ME flexure terms FO amp TF and RA axis harmonic terms HCEC amp HCES ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 120 Table 1 Term Displayed long abbreviation name on ARGO on ARGO Navis Nav s COLLIMATION ERR COLLIMATION ERR Wildcard innovations Term full name and description Collimation Azimuth For an Alt Az mount the non perpendicularity between the pointing axis and the Alt axis Results in a left right shift in the sky that is constant for all Altitudes Can result from many causes such as the s
201. mware Upgrade procedures when firmware is made available to correct defects or otherwise Wildcard shall use reasonable effort to repair or replace any product covered by this limited warranty within thirty days of receipt In the event repair or replacement shall require more than thirty days Wildcard shall notify the customer accordingly Wildcard reserves the right to replace any product that has been discontinued from its product line with a new product of comparable value and function In the event no product of comparable value and function is then marketed by Wildcard Wildcard may in lieu of replacement pay the current fair market value of the product in serviceable condition This warranty shall be void and of no force of effect in the event a covered product has been modified in design or function or subject to abuse misuse mishandling or unauthorized repair or has been damaged through the use of cables or components not supplied or directly endorsed by Wildcard Misuse shall include failure to observe all warnings within this manual Further product malfunction or deterioration due to normal wear is not covered by this warranty Wildcard disclaims any warranties express or implied whether of merchantability of fitness for a particular use except as expressly set forth herein The sole obligation of Wildcard under this limited warranty shall be to repair or replace the covered product in accordance with the terms set forth herein W
202. n For example you might see ALIGN JUPITER WARP 9 98 This indicates that you have aligned on Jupiter In this case the alignment was a second or subsequent alignment see MODE ALIGN STAR for explanation The WARP factor was 0 08 degrees which is the difference between the computed angular positions of the alignment objects and the angular distance the telescope moved In this case the alignment should probably give reasonable results since the WARP factor was close to 0 00 Note that if you have non zero terms in the SETUP MNT ERRORS SET ERROR VALUES IN USE NOW submenu rather than the word WARP appear the display will show the word OWARP This acts a reminder that you have non zero mount terms and an associated pointing model in place lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeanrd innovations See also MODE ALIGN STAR MODE CATALOG MODE FIX ALT REF SETUP MOUNT SETUP MNT ERRORS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 38 Wildcard innovations MODE ALIGN STAR Function Using MODE ALIGN STAR MODE ALIGN STAR allows you to align Enter MODE ALIGN STAR by spinning the Arco Navis quickly and conveniently DIAL in the top level menu and pressing on any of 35 bright naked eye stars ENTER when you see Arco Navis can actually be aligned on any object see MODE ALIGN However MODE ALIGN STAR the convenience of MODE ALIGN STAR make
203. n 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 83 Once you have chosen the desired PICK number press ENTER You can then spin the DIAL and choose the depth of the queue Arco Navis will consider If the PICK number was 1 then the PREV number can range from T to 5 If the PICK number was 2 the PREV number can range from 2 to 5 For example ALIGN PICK LAST PICK 1 OF 5 PREV indicates to perform a two object alignment using the last object and one other from a choice of up to 5 previous objects before that In making a decision as to which previous object to choose ARGO Navis will pick the one that is the greatest angular distance away from the last one you aligned on In the case of a three object alignment ARGO Nav s will pick the two objects that are furthest away from the last one you aligned on To leave SETUP ALIGN PICK press either EXIT or ENTER If the values have changed from what they originally were ARGO NAvis will briefly display the words SAVING while it saves your settings into its memory EEROM device and then display the message SETUP ALIGN PICK Note When there have been insufficient alignments to perform the chosen alignment strategy ARGO lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Navis uses a fall back approach For example in the case of a roughly aligned
204. n Number of alignment stars required ALTAZ DOBSONIAN For altitude azimuth mounts such as FIX ALT REF step plus 2 Dobsonians but not on equatorial alignment stars tables EQ TABLE EXACT For altitude azimuth mounts FIX ALT REF step plus 2 mounted on top of an accurately alignment stars polar aligned equatorial table FORK EXACT ALIGNED For any accurately aligned equatorial One alignment star mount such as a fork mount but not a German equatorial or an equatorial table FORK ROUGH ALIGN For any roughly aligned equatorial Fix ALT REF step plus 2 mount such as a fork mount but not alignment stars a German equatorial or an equatorial table GEM EXACT ALIGN For an accurately polar aligned One alignment star German equatorial GEM ROUGH ALIGN For a roughly aligned German FIX ALT REF step plus 2 equatorial alignment stars lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 18 Setting the local time zone date and time Arco Navis contains an in built battery backed time of day clock An internal lithium coin cell battery powers the clock even when the power is switched off or the main batteries are removed Though Arco Navis does not require you to set the time or your location to operate doing so provides the following additional features and benefits e The local time and date the UTC Greenwich time and date and the c
205. n at the top of the back of the Arco Navis Gently slide the battery cover slightly toward the top of the unit by about 1cm and then lift it off e setting your location e enabling refraction modelling Power sources There are two types of power source To place the batteries in refer to Figure 4 Be sure to observe the polarity indicators inside the battery housing on the battery should be placed at the same end as the on the markings inside the 4 AA 1 5V batteries provide the battery housing Replace the battery internal battery power These should be hatch cover and thumbscrew alkaline lithium or rechargeable NiMH batteries Since NiMH batteries have reduced capacity below 20C 68F their use is not recommended in cool or cold or not used for prolonged periods in climates Do not use NiCd or regular case of battery leakage heavy duty zinc oxide batteries e Do not charge rechargeable batteries whilst in battery housing e internal battery power and e external battery power Internal Battery Power e Ensure batteries are removed from the Arco Navis if it is to be stored To install batteries refer to Figure 3 Using a coin remove amp retain the battery lt gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 11 Wildcard innovations External battery power The optional external DC power cable allows you
206. n be changed For example UTC 3715250 THU 20 APR 2006 shows the current UTC time and date The UTC time is what was once known as Greenwich Mean Time GMT By again turning the DIAL clockwise one detent Click the format can be changed to show the Julian Date For example JULIAN DATE 2453845 63625 shows the current Julian Date including a decimal fraction of days Knowing the Julian Date is useful to variable star enthusiasts who by convention report their observations by quoting the Julian Date Continuing with the example if the DIAL is turned clockwise one detent click again the displayed time will return to LOCAL format To leave MODE TIME press either EXIT or ENTER See also SETUP DATE TIME ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 74 MODE TIMER Function MODE TIMER provides you with stopwatch functionality You can START STOP and RESET the timer You can display the elapsed time in terms of either a Synodic or Sidereal Rate A Synodic Rate means Sun time the familiar rate of time like that which occurs on a wristwatch Sidereal Rate means Star time the rate at which stars appear to move across the sky Using MODE TIMER Enter MODE TIMER by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE TIMER Assuming you have not already set the timer going the display will
207. n your computer Itiz strongly recommended that you close all other applications you have running before continuing This Will help prevent any conflicts during the installation Process Click Next to continue or Cancel to exit Setup Cancel Press Next gt Then you should see the Select Destination Directory dialog box Select Destination Directory E4 Select the folder you would like Setup to install Argonaut to C Program Files Wildcard ja Program Files Accessories J Common Files ComPlus Applications Intel A Internet F enlorer E c hdal The program requires at least 0 4 ME of disk space Click Next to continue or Cancel to exit Setup lt Back Cancel Select an appropriate folder in which to store ARGONAUT then press Next gt lt S gt TM a ARGO Navis ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 154 The Select Program Group Dialog will appear Select Program Group Setup will add the program s icons to the following Start Menu group Microsoft Developer Network Microsoft Office Tools Microsoft Visual C 6 0 Norton Anti iris Click Next to continue or Cancel to exit Setup Back Cancel Press Next gt Then the Ready to Install dialog appears Ready to Install Setup is now ready to begin installing Argonaut on poar computer
208. ncrease By turning the DIAL anti clockwise the letter will decrease Wrapping occurs when the maximum letter is displayed and the DIAL is turned clockwise or when the minimum letter is displayed and the DIAL is turned anti clockwise Spell out the name of the constellation or the special entry ANY CONSTEL by using the DIAL and ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 62 using the ENTER button to advance the cursor to the next editable field The Intelligent Editing System will only prompt you with valid names When there are no more fields to edit pressing ENTER again will cause the Arco Navis to begin to search for the closest object that meets the selection criteria During this time ARco Nav s will display this message SEARCHING When the search is completed the top line of the display will show the name of the closest object that meets the selection criteria and the bottom line of the display will show the word FOUND For example ANDROMEDA GALAXY FOUND If no object meets the selection criteria this message will be displayed NO MATCH FOUND However if the special entry of ANY CONSTEL was selected the ARGO Navis will instead prompt you with a message such as WITHIN 368 ARC where the number 3 will be flashing By using the DIAL and ENTER button you can use the Intelligent Editing System to ente
209. nction Report how long the unit has been powered on for in days hours minutes and seconds When the unit is powered off the uptime returns to zero Example b uptime O ie o The above example indicates the unit has been powered on for 8 hours 33 minutes and 5 seconds lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 193 Wildcard innovations user Function The user shell command puts ARGo Nav s into the user catalog processing state When the user command is issued ARGO NAvis will respond with OK The User catalog format and an example is detailed in How to create your own User catalog files While in the user catalog processing state ARGO NAvis processes input a line at a time A line can either be e An empty line or e A User object entry line or e A user state command All state commands begin with a character These state commands are as follows e Quit Leave the user state and return to the shell e Write Commit all loadable catalog data to FLASH e Count Return a count of how many User catalog objects are currently loaded e Purge Remove the User catalog from RAM e Memory Report free space in bytes in loadable catalog memory pool e Delete lt OBJECT gt Delete the specified User catalog object from RAM All input lines except Count Memory and Quit commands will be responded
210. ng do not confuse this with the Az encoder direction sense See SETUP AZ STEPS e the GUIDE DECIMAL mode This specifies whether one or two digits are displayed after the decimal point in GUIDE mode operations when the angle is less than 0 1 Therefore angles can be displayed either to the nearest 1 10 or nearest 1 100 of a degree Keep in mind that the actual displayed angle is still limited by your encoder resolution Setting 2 decimal digits might be appropriate if your encoder resolution is 8192 steps or higher Using SETUP GUIDE MODE Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP GUIDE MODE then press ENTER The display might then show GUIDE ALT ARROW DEFAULT where the top line of the text will be flashing By spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the top line of the display can be cycled as follows e GUIDE ALT ARROW ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 106 e GUIDE AZ ARROW e GUIDE DECIMAL When you have selected the desired attribute that you wish to modify press ENTER For example in the case of the GUIDE DECIMAL selection you might see GUIDE DECIMAL 1 DECIMAL PLACE where the 1 will be flashing This indicates that one digit after the decimal point will be displayed while guiding when the angle is less than 0 1 This is the factory default Spinning the DIAL a detent click
211. nloadable USER CATALOG feature Using SETUP SCRATCH Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP SCRATCH then press ENTER where you will then see an object name and an RA Dec co ordinate pair such as this SCRATCH 1 00 00 00 00 OO where the top line of the display will be flashing If you turn the DIAL you can alternate between the two scratch objects If you would like to retain the existing name simply press ENTER multiple times until the blinking cursor steps to the start of the RA Dec co ordinates in the bottom line of the display If you wish to change the name of the object to act as a mnemonic use the DIAL and the ENTER button to edit the name one character at a time For example let us edit the name of the sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations SCRATCH 1 object which is the factory default name to NOVA Select the object you wish to edit in this case SCRATCH 1 by turning the DIAL Now press the ENTER button You have now entered object name edit mode The S character will be flashing indicating that the cursor is at that location Turn the DIAL anti clockwise until the letter N appears then press ENTER to advance to the next letter which is a C Turn the DIAL in either direction to make it an 0 press ENTER and so on until you have spelt out the word NOVA Continue to erase the rest of the characters in the
212. nnium Star Atlas To leave MODE AZ ALT press EXIT See also MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN STAR MODE RA DEC SETUP DATE TIME SETUP LOCATION ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 43 MODE CATALOG Function MODE CATALOG allows you to look up an object by name then to optionally GUIDE to it and to also optionally retrieve more information about it When an object is accessed in MODE CATALOG it automatically becomes the Current Object That means that it will appear as the alignment object when entering MODE ALIGN Objects in the ARGo Navis are grouped in a number of catalogs MODE CATALOG allows you to browse the available catalogs and to either access a particular object in a particular catalog or to browse objects within the catalog Using MODE CATALOG Enter MODE CATALOG by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE CATALOG appear on the display You will be prompted by a message such as BRIGHT STARS where the words BRIGHT STARS will be flashing By spinning the DIAL you can cycle through the list of available catalogs The catalogs are listed in alphabetical order The current catalogs are lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations ASTEROIDS assuming your ARGO Navis has an asteroid catalog currently loaded BRIGHT STARS a selection of stars to magnitude 6 5 particular
213. novations all data from the output command including the START OF DATA and END OF DATA header and footer should be saved to a file lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 185 Wildcard innovations satellite Function The satellite shell command puts ARGO Navis into the satellite orbital element processing state When the satellite command is issued ARGO NAvis will respond with OK Orbital element files can be downloaded from the Internet ARGO NAvis uses the TLE orbital element format A short example file follows ISS ZARYA 25544U 9806 A 02135 48405093 00042932 00000 0 52092 3 Q 44 9 2 25544 51 6362 217 3518 0008319 67 3940 105 9317 15 59833453198923 HST 1 20580U 9003 B 02135 20522200 00004651 00000 0 39011 3 0 9856 2 20580 28 4059 50 4208 0003933 194 1220 285 2443 14 796114977400 50 OKEAN O 25860U 99039A 02134 609951329 00001845 00000 0 30159 3 0 9343 2 25860 97 8984 185 6866 0000510 90 8169 269 3102 14 72001125151752 While in the satellite orbital element processing state ARGO NAvis processes input a line at a time A line can either be e An empty line or e An orbital element entry as above or e A satellite state command All state commands begin with a character These state commands are as follows e Quit Leave the satellite state and return to the shell e Write Commit all loadable cat
214. nted normal way up intuitive Fortunately you can perform a test with your scope that will tell you what the correct senses are Once you have patiently worked through the test and have determined the correct settings for the encoders on your mount you should If your scope is on a German never need to change them again Equatorial Mount GEM roughly polar align it If you are in the Northern Hemisphere place the tube on the West side of the mount If you are in the Power off your ARGO NAvis and Southern Hemisphere place the tube on then power it back on After it initializes the East side of the mount you should see Figure 5 To determine the direction senses of your encoders follow these instructions If your scope is on an Alt Az Mount such as a Dobsonian just continue MODE ALIGN STAR reading If your Alt Az mount is mounted on top of an equatorial table accurately then press ENTER The display should polar align the table move the table to the show something like start position and switch it off for now ALIGN ACHERNAR sm lt S gt TM A ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 16 Look up at the sky and pick a familiar bright star not far from the Celestial Equator the imaginary line in the sky where Declination 0 Spin the DIAL and look for that star s name There are 35 to choose from The MODE ALIGN STAR refer
215. ntly switched on This value results in the encoders drawing the maximum power from your unit If you are powering your unit from internal AA cells sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations only this will have a dramatic effect upon the life of the batteries Once you have selected the value for the Time Off parameter press ENTER The word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGo Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device If there is a requirement to stop the encoders on a once only basis the following procedure can be used Power off ARGO NAvis and press and keep depressed the ENTER button Now power the unit on The display will show ARGO NAVIS INITIALIZING followed briefly by ENCODERS STOPPED Release the ENTER button and then press EXIT and you will be in the top level menu The encoders will be halted Encoder Timing The following table itemizes some typical TON TOFF settings showing the resulting ON OFF times in microseconds as well as the effective sampling rate Also shown is the power consumption as a percentage of the case where the encoders are permanently ON ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 98 TON TOFF ON OFF Sampling Power Time Time Rate Consumption As Percentage of Encoders Always ON Any 0 Always Never 16kHz 100 Value ON OFF 7 Ni Ni
216. o not use an editor such as Word or WordPad Save your files with a txt suffix When you later load a Satellite file into ARGO NAvis a SATELLITES catalog will appear in the MODE CATALOG menu Since the orbits of many satellites decay and alter quite quickly you should always use a recent set of orbital elements if you plan to observe satellites Also Keep in mind that the Space Shuttles are entering and leaving orbit on a periodic basis As a rule of thumb don t use satellite orbital elements that are more than about a week old Make absolutely sure that your current date time and location are accurately set ARGO NAvis may devote unnecessary computational time trying to calculate a position for a satellite when the date has been incorrectly set or when the orbital elements become old Delete or update old Satellite catalogs on a regular basis Though Arco NAvis allows for the names of objects to be up to 32 characters long those names must be unique within the first 16 characters Edit the names if need be to create unique entries ARGO NAvis will flag missing or incorrectly formatted fields as errors and the transfer will be aborted if they are encountered ARGO NAvis organizes its loadable catalog area as a pool of memory that is shared between Asteroid Comet Satellite and User catalog entries If the memory pool is full then you may need to delete a catalog before loading a new one How to create your own
217. o the pointing accuracy you will achieve To understand FIX ALT REF and why it is so important some background is required The encoders that are fitted to your telescope are known as incremental encoders They send out electrical pulses or steps whenever they are rotated ARGO Navis keeps count of these steps as the encoder is rotated back and forth Since you tell ARGO Navis what the resolution of each encoder is in SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS it can deduce through what angle an encoder has turned However the incremental encoders have no inherent zero degree point They simply send out pulses and unless ARGO Nav s is told where the starting point is all angles that it measures are only relative It turns out that ARGO Navis never needs to know the zero degree point of the Azimuth encoder However for the Altitude encoder some way of referencing the zero degree point is vitally important This is the job of MODE FIX ALT REF If you look at the following figure of a telescope on an Altitude Azimuth Alt Az Wildcard innovations mount you will see that it has three axes e An Altitude axis e An Azimuth axis e An Optical axis Azimuth axis Optical axis Altitude axis Optical axis 90 degrees with respect to Azimuth axis Optical tube at 0 degree altitude point Figure 8 The Altitude and Azimuth axes were hopefully made perpendicular
218. observing location The display will briefly show SAVING and then the words INITIALIZING ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 112 in the lower half of the display before returning to the SETUP sub menu with the message SETUP LOCATION You have now successfully set your location While the SAVING message appeared ARGO NaAvis saved your location settings into its memory EEROM device While the INITIALIZING message appeared ARGO NAviIs re initialized such things as the current Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST You can edit as many of the locations in the SETUP LOCATION menu as you desire Whenever you change observing location simply enter the SETUP LOCATION menu turn the DIAL until the name of the location you are observing from appears and then hit EXIT As a convenience when editing the name of a location ARGO NAvis will automatically transition to the latitude longitude sub menu whenever you enter two consecutive blank spaces after the name of the location When you edit the name of a location and then press EXIT ARGO NAvis automatically sorts the location entries alphabetically for your convenience Remember in order to perform an alignment and to use most of the features of ARGO NAvis you don t need to set your time zone date time or location unless you also decide to turn on refraction model
219. ocation Latitude is displayed in terms of degrees minutes seconds or degrees decimal degrees either North or South of the Earth s equator Change the first colon character to a decimal point lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations if the latitude available to you is in degrees decimal degrees format Change the S to an N depending upon whether your location is in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere After editing the North South field pressing ENTER again will allow you to begin editing the longitude on the bottom line of the display Edit it as you did the latitude replacing the fields with values appropriate to your observing location Longitude is displayed in terms of degrees minutes seconds or degrees decimal degrees either East or West of Greenwich Change the first colon character to a decimal point If the latitude is available to you is in degrees decimal degrees format Change the W to an E depending upon whether your location is East or West of the Greenwich Meridian For example if you live in the United States or Canada your location will be West of Greenwich so you will enter a W If you live in Australia for example your location will be East of Greenwich so you will enter an E When you have edited the last longitude field press ENTER The display will then show HOME where the word HOME will be flashing Press EXIT to set HOME as your
220. olar aligned ARGO Navis also requires the table to be accurately polar aligned Tables are driven at a sidereal rate see Glossary by their own internal motor They have a start position and an end position Normally the table is brought to its start position the table s tracking motor is switched on and the table slowly turns until it can move no further when it reaches its end position The table is then reset back to its precise start position and tracking is commenced once again Most tables allow approximately 30 to 80 minutes of tracking time before they require to be reset Using Arco Navis with equatorial tables In order for it to make allowance for the telescope s rotation around a virtual polar lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations axis ARGO Navis has an in built equatorial table timer You need to ensure that the table has a mechanically reproducible start position The following rules govern the use of Arco Navis with an equatorial table 1 Ensure that the table is accurately polar aligned 2 Always start the table from the mechanically reproducible start position 3 Whenever the table is switched on from this start position you should simultaneously start the Arco Navis equatorial table timer How to set the timer running is explained further below If you are not confident that you performed the two operations simultaneously simply reset the
221. ollows e USE NOW Select this if you would like to use this term in the current pointing kernel e USE NOW amp SAVE Select this if you would like to use this term in the pointing kernel as well as save it into non volatile memory EEROM device for use during a subsequent observing session e DON T USE Select this if you do not want to use the term in the current pointing kernel ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 Once you have selected what you wish to do with the term press ENTER TPAS will then prompt with the next term For example IH 1 941 0 USE NOW Make your selection and press ENTER as before At any time should you decide to cancel the acceptance of the entire model press EXIT The display will then briefly show ALL SETTINGS CANCELLED Otherwise when you press ENTER when the last term appears the display will return to COMPUTE All about Standard Deviation When the COMPUTE function reports the values of terms it also reports a statistical measure for the term known as Standard Deviation This is the number that appears after the symbol You are probably familiar with the most common statistical measure of all which is the average also known as the mean To find the mean value of a set of data we add up the values of each data item and then divide by the total number of i
222. on encoders Wildcard Innovations recommends that you consider upgrading to 10 000 step encoders if you would like to achieve potentially finer pointing accuracy The serial interface Arco Navis has two RS 232 serial ports on top of the unit marked SERIAL1 and SERIAL2 See Figure 2 ARGO Navis can be used completely standalone However it is also possible to interface it to a PC or Macintosh computer assuming your PC Mac has an RS 232 serial port or a USB port If you use an RS 232 serial port external modem with your PC it is possible to unplug temporarily the modem and to plug in the optional ARGo Navis serial port cable Wildcard Innovations Part No pn ser cbl lf your PC Mac does not have a RS 232 serial port but is equipped with a USB port Wildcard Innovations have available a USB to RS 232 Serial Port Adaptor Wildcard Innovations Part No pn usb which works in conjunction with the optional RS 232 serial cable pn ser cbl By communicating with your PC you can perform the following tasks e Download firmware amp in built catalog upgrades to the unit See the page on Transferring firmware files for details e Download asteroid comet and satellite orbital elements See the page on Where to obtain Asteroid sm lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Comet or Satellite Orbital Element Files for details e Download your own user objects See the page on How to create your own U
223. op level menu spin the DIAL until you see MODE ALIGN STAR then press ENTER The display should show something like ALIGN ACHERNAR Look up at the sky and pick a familiar bright star Sight the star in the scope without moving more than 90 in declination That infers that you should not cross the North or South Celestial Pole in order to sight the first star Spin the DIAL and look for that star s name There are 35 from which to choose The MODE ALIGN STAR reference page lists the alignment stars If you cannot find the star you have chosen in the list pick another that is in the list For example say you sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations have chosen Sirius Spin the DIAL until you see ALIGN SIRIUS Centre Sirius in the eyepiece then press ENTER The display will briefly show something like this ALIGN SIRIUS WARP 1 75 1 Your WARP number will probably be different but don t worry Now pick a second bright alignment star You can now move the telescope in any direction to sight it Preferably choose one approximately 30 to 90 away from the first and which will involve having to move the scope in both axes For example say you have chosen Capella Spin the DIAL until you see ALIGN CAPELLA Centre Capella in the eyepiece then press ENTER The display will briefly show something like this ALIGN CAPELLA WARP 2 Your WARP number should i
224. ope is defined by the angular value of the Alt Encoder which can be examined at any time using MODE ENCODER When the mount type set in SETUP MOUNT is of a type that requires a FIX ALT REF step and a two star alignment you should be aware that the Altitude of the scope cannot be established until you have performed the FIX ALT REF step Thus the limits set In SETUP GOTO will not be valid until the FIX ALT REF step is performed Likewise for mounts that require only a one star alignment the Altitude value cannot be established until you perform a valid MODE ALIGN STAR or MODE ALIGN step When the Arco Navis serial communications port to which the controller is attached is running either the servocat or sitech startup commands in addition to the above check on the Altitude encoder value ARGO Nav s also checks for requests from the GOTO controller that would cause the mount to slew beneath the local topocentric horizon Arco Navis can only determine where the local horizon is if you have set a valid time zone date time and location and a valid alignment Where the telescope is pointing in terms of a topocentric azimuth altitude co ordinate ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 103 system can be determined by examining MODE AZ ALT The ServoCAT controller also has the capability to command the ARGO Navis to issue an alarm sound when
225. or issues can usually be split into two broad categories 1 Unit setup errors operator errors and encoder installation errors These types of errors cannot be corrected by the features of SETUP MNT ERRORS 2 Mount telescope fabrication errors Some of these types of errors can be compensated for by the features of SETUP MNT ERRORS Category 1 errors Irrespective of how much experience you have had with the system you should always consider category 1 errors first as they by far dominate the number of real world pointing issues Common category 1 unit setup errors include incorrect settings in SETUP AZ STEPS SETUP ALT STEPS SETUP DATE TIME and SETUP LOCATION For example the number of encoder steps and in particular the encoder direction sense signs need to be correctly established When SETUP REFRACTION is switched to ON Arco Navis assumes that you have correctly set your time zone date time and location in order to help it determine where your local horizon is If they are incorrectly set then the pointing corrections this feature provides will be incorrectly applied perhaps being quite large in some areas of the sky ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 115 In this regard a common error for users who live in North Central amp South America is to enter a positive time zone offset into SETUP DATE TIME Users in t
226. ord SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device See also MODE SETUP ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 96 SETUP DEFAULTS Function SETUP DEFAULTS allows you to restore your unit to its factory default settings This will erase all your settings that you have stored in the SETUP menus Therefore it is advisable to keep a copy on paper of any of your settings that you might later wish to restore In particular you should probably take note of your SETUP ALT STEPS SETUP AZ STEPS SETUP LOCATION SETUP MOUNT and SETUP MNT ERRORS settings Using SETUP DEFAULTS Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP DEFAULTS then press ENTER The display will show FACTORY NO Spin the DIAL a detent click at a time to toggle the FACTORY state to be either YES or NO For example FACTORY YES indicates that factory defaults will be restored when you leave SETUP DEFAULTS When you have set the desired state press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the state to YES ARGO Navis will restore the factory defaults to its sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations memory EEROM device Your old settings will be erased There is an additional way of setting your unit to its factory default setting Power your unit off Keep dep
227. ou have also set the date and time and assuming you have turned refraction correction ON in the SETUP REFRACTION sub menu e The position of earth orbiting satellites can be computed assuming you have also set the current date and time e When the SETUP MOUNT type is set to FORK EXACT ALIGN or GEM EXACT ALIGN the DAF and TF mount error terms can be used See SETUP MNT ERRORS for details e When the SETUP MOUNT type is set to FORK EXACT ALIGN or GEM EXACT lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations ALIGN the correction applicable to the MA amp ME mount error terms will be correctly reported See SETUP MNT ERRORS for details Using SETUP LOCATION Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP LOCATION Then press ENTER where you will then see a location name such as this NOWHERE ATLANTIC If you turn the DIAL you will then see the names of 10 locations If you happen to live in one of them simply hit EXIT while its name appears in the display and you are done Chances are however that you do not live in any of the locations indicated This is not a problem since you can edit the locations to places that you observe from For example say you are unlikely to do any observing from Mawson Base in Antarctica Let us edit the MAWSON BASE location to HOME While in MODE LOCATION Turn the DIAL until MAWSON BASE appears on the display The whole line will b
228. ou can then program this angle to be your FIX ALT REF reference point See SETUP ALT REF You would then start your observing session by parking the scope at that position and performing a FIX ALT REF step at that point For Alt Az and Fork mounts but not German Equatorials MODE FIX ALT REF also offers an additional mode called AUTO ADJUST which can be used in conjunction with a user specified angle In this case you only need to specify the angle within a degree or so Then when you perform an alignment ARGO Navis will perform a computation based on the sighting of the two alignment objects and attempt to adjust the reference point that you provided However for German Equatorials GEMS AUTO ADJUST cannot be used This means the setting of the reference point must be done with some precision sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Using MODE FIX ALT REF You will not see the MODE FIX ALT REF menu if you have selected a mount type of FORK EXACT ALIGN or GEM EXACT ALIGN Otherwise Enter MODE FIX ALT REF by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE FIX ALT REF appear on the display By spinning the DIAL you can then cycle through the following choices ALT REF AUTO ADJUST OFF ALT REF 90 AUTO ADJUST OFF ALT REF 000 AUTO ADJUST OFF ALT REF 000 AUTO ADJUST ON The angle reported in the last two displ
229. owever PSD also factors in the number of terms used in the model to attempt to provide a better estimate of the model s performance Sometimes when you add a new term to the model the RMS will reduce If the PSD reduces as well then that is good However if the PSD increases then the new term should probably be removed as ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 135 it is likely to being doing more harm than good Therefore carefully note the RMS PSD and individual Standard Deviations of terms whenever you COMPUTE a model TPAS provides these statistical measures to assist you in determining the merit of your model The SET ERROR VALUES submenu Using the SET ERROR VALUES submenu you can e Review and optionally edit the values of terms that are currently In use by the pointing kernel e Review and optionally edit the values of terms that are currently saved in non volatile memory EEROM device for use on subsequent sessions To access this submenu spin the DIAL until you see SET ERROR VALUES then press ENTER The display might then show SET ERROR VALUES IN USE NOW where the bottom line of the display will be flashing If you wish to leave the SET ERROR VALUES submenu press EXIT Alternatively by spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the bottom line of the display can be alternated as follows
230. played press either ENTER or EXIT and if the value has changed from what it originally was ARGO Navis will briefly display the words SAVING sm lt gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations while it saves your settings into its memory EEROM device and then display the message SETUP AZ STEPS You will then have set your azimuth encoder step setting and sense Note that changing the number of steps will invalidate any prior star alignment you may have performed including any FIX ALT REF ALIGN or ALIGN STAR operation The number of steps that can be entered ranges from 1 to 9999999 10000 steps is the factory default setting However some mounts may be fitted with encoders that provide a different number of steps per revolution such as 8192 or 5000 If you would like to know the angle in arcminutes that one encoder step subtends divide 21 600 by the number of encoder steps Thus a 10 000 step encoder provides a resolution of approx 2 16 per step See also MODE ENCODER MODE SETUP SETUP ALT STEPS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 90 SETUP BRIGHTNESS Function SETUP BRIGHTNESS allows you to adjust the brightness intensity of the Liquid Crystal Display Dimming the display has two advantages 1 It helps you preserve your night vision which assists in being able to observe faint objects 2 It results in
231. port 24 hour clock format Gd report current object target Dec J2000 0 airless Gf get faint magnitude limt Gg get current longitude Gh get high limit Go get low limit Gr get current object target RA L2000 0 airless Gt get current latitude LI get object information lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 180 Wildcard innovations MS slew to most recent RA Dec fill FROM PLANETARIUM object Me command motion east until quit is received Mn command motion north until quit is received Ms command motion south until quit is received Mw command motion west until quit is received P high precision toggle Q stop motion Qe stop motion east Qn stop motion north Qs stop motion south Qwi stop motion west SC MM DD YY set current date SG SHH set offset from Greenwich SL HH MM SS set current local time Sd sDD MM or Sd sDD MM SS defines commanded declination Sg DDD MM or Sg DDD MM SS set current longitude Sr HH MM S or Sr HH MM SS defines commanded RA St sSDD MM or St sDD MM SS set current latitude 1 increment manual tracking rate by 0 1Hz 1 decrement manual tracking rate by 0 1Hz TM select manual tracking rate TQ select quartz tracking rate U toggle between long and short formats W1
232. press either ENTER or EXIT If you have changed the setting from what it originally was the word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device See also MODE EQ TABLE MODE SETUP lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 102 SETUP GOTO Function SETUP GOTO is used to set or examine parameters that provide Altitude motion limit checking and audible alarms when Arco Nav s is interfaced to specific motorised GOTO controllers The following table summarizes which features of SETUP GOTO are supported for various GOTO controllers when the ARGO Navis serial communications port to which the controller is attached is running the startup command cited GOTO ALT LIMIT check support AUDIBLE ALARM support Controller amp serial port startup command ServoCAT M controller Startup command servocat SiTech controller Startup command sitech Skytracker controller Startup command skycomm It is the user s responsibility to ensure that they do not attempt to slew their mount beyond its mechanical limits lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations To assist you in this regard you may wish to set the lower and upper Altitude limit parameters in SETUP GOTO In this instance the Altitude of the sc
233. r These can be purchased from Wildcard Innovations Part number pn usb e The optional ARGO NAvis serial cable Wildcard Innovations part number on ser cbl e If you want to retrieve the latest asteroid comet or satellite orbital elements or obtain the latest firmware and catalog upgrades you will also need a connection to the Internet You will use your existing Internet communications software such as your web browser to retrieve these source files from the net You will then use ARGONAUT to transfer them from your PC to ARGO Navis That means that if you will be sharing the serial port with your modem you will need to transfer the files from the net to your PC first Installing ARGONAUT You can install ARGONAUT from the supplied CD ROM or download it from Wildcard Innovations If installing from the CD ROM use the Explorer to navigate to the software folder and then to the windows folder Double click on the argo_setup exe icon Par argo setup ex E The following Setup dialog box will appear Setup K 2 This will install Argonaut Do vou wish to continue lt S gt TM A ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 153 Wildcard Innovations Press Yes Then the Welcome dialog box should appear Welcome E4 Welcome to the Argonaut setup program This will install Argonaut Version 1 0 0 o
234. r Astroplanner that allows you to download observing lists into the ARGo NAvis user catalog Another one of these commands is called meade because when it executes it emulates a sub set of the Meade LX 200 protocol commands This enables you to interface your ARGO Navis to a PC running a program such as TheSky or SkyMap Pro which you would configure as if it were communicating to a Meade telescope This would also enable you to have a tracking cursor display against a map of the sky on your PC screen When used in conjunction with the appropriate startup command ARGO Navis can be interfaced to every known planetarium program Planetarium programs that support the ASCOM Initiative for Windows are fully supported In this case you should configure your ASCOM driver as if it were communicating to a Meade LX 200 Planetarium programs running on the Linux operating system are fully supported by the INDI library Arco Navis provides support for the ServoCAT GOTO controller via the servocat startup command Arco Navis provides support for the SiTech GOTO controller via the sitech startup command Arco Navis provides support for the SkyTracker GOTO controller via the skycomm startup command ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 148 Arco Navis can be piggybacked to a device that respond
235. r Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 162 Wildcard innovations e USER e VARIABLE STAR The characters between the square brackets are optional For example you only need enter GALAXY CL or galaxy cl for GALAXY CLUSTER n MODE IDENTIFY and MODE TOUR FIND searches will match both the type you specified as well as the type USER OBJECT For example if you loaded an object with the type GALAXY you can search for it by specifying GALAXY or NON STELLAR or USER OBJECT If you give the object the type USER then FIND searches will only match it if you specify USER OBJECT If you give the object the type ASTEROID or COMET the object will only appear in the USER catalog and not the ASTEROID or COMET catalogs However MODE IDENTIFY and MODE TOUR FIND searches will still match it if you specify ASTEROID or COMET This can be handy if you know the RA and Dec of an asteroid or comet on the night you wish to observe but do not know its orbital elements MAGNITUDE can be in the range 26 7 to 28 or the special keyword ANY or any Use ANY if you do not Know the magnitude or if a magnitude is not appropriate for the entry An empty magnitude field is equivalent to ANY The OPTIONAL DESCRIPTION can either be left empty or can be any number of characters as long as the entire line entry does not exceed 254
236. r a value between 1 to 360 This represents an angular diameter in which to limit the search the centre point of the area being the RA Dec co ordinate location at which the scope is currently lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wien innovations pointing For example if the scope were pointing at the zenith an entry of 180 would select only objects in the sky above the horizon and an entry of 360 would select all objects even those currently below the horizon During partly cloudy nights pointing your scope at clear openings popularly known to some as sucker holes and limiting the WITHIN angle to an appropriate value will constrain you to finding objects within the opening When using the ntelligent Editing System to input a WITHIN diameter angle consider only one digit at a time For example if you want to select an angle of 15 turn the DIAL until the first digit is blank a flashing block cursor will display then press ENTER make the second digit a 1 then press ENTER make the third digit a 5 press ENTER again and you are done When a WITHIN diameter has been completely specified pressing ENTER again will cause the ARGo Navis to search continually for the closest object that meets the selection criteria Initially you will see SEARCHING When the first search pass is completed the Arco Navis will either show the name of the closest object that meets the selection criteria or the wo
237. r defined angle with AUTO ADJUST ON Therefore e If you have a mount that requires at least two objects to perform an alignment See SETUP MOUNT e and you want to use a FIX ALT REF angle other than O or 90 or e or you want to use AUTO ADJUST ON then SETUP ALT REF will allow you to specify your own angle A good example of the utility of SETUP ALT REF is in using it with some Dobsonian telescopes Most Dobs will not allow you to move the tube in altitude much past the scope s zenith 90 point Some fall a little short of the zenith Others allow you to go a little beyond it But many have a mechanical stop such as the back board that prevents you from positioning the scope at a higher altitude This stop position can be exploited to provide a convenient FIX ALT REF reference point sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations By experimentation or direct measurement you should be able to determine what angle the scope is at in altitude when it is parked at this stop position You can then program this angle to be your FIX ALT REF reference point You would then start your observing session by parking the scope at that position and performing a FIX ALT REF step at that point Similarly most Dobs also have a stop position when the tube is brought as low as possible towards the ground Alternatively that angle could be determined and exploited as a FIX ALT R
238. r example in the case of a good transfer you might see something similar to this TYVelcome to Argonaut 2 Information 2979 bytes to transter Information Writing to Argo Mavis FLASH memory 4 Bytes transterred 2979 at Bytes Second 595 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 165 Wildcard innovations In the case where you have forgotten to put ARGO Navis into LOAD CAT mode you might see this olnformation 2979 bytes to transter J Timeout ls Argo Mavis in SETUP LOAD CAT mode 10 Timeout ls Argo Mavis in SETUP LOAD CAT mode 11 Timeout ls Argo Mavis in SETUP LOAD CAT mode Updating catalog entries You can edit and re load an existing catalog at any time using the same procedure that you used for loading them Whenever a loadable catalog entry is transferred ARGO NAvis examines the first 16 characters of the object s name If the first 16 characters match an existing entry ARGO Navis updates that entry with the new data For example say you had previously loaded the satellite orbital elements for the Hubble Space Telescope The orbital element file entry might have listed this object under the name HST If you load a new satellite orbital element file that also has an entry for HST then your old entry will be replaced by the new entry which is probably what you wanted to do However as a f
239. rate however doing so brings about other features and benefits While in MODE SETUP turn the DIAL until you see SETUP LOCATION lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Then press ENTER where you will then see a location name such as this NOWHERE ATLANTIC If you turn the DIAL you will then see the names of 10 locations in the world If you happen to live in one of them simply hit EXIT while its name appears in the display and you are done Chances are however that you do not live in any of the locations indicated This is not a problem since you can edit the locations to places that you observe from For example say you are unlikely to do any observing from Mawson Base in Antarctica Let us edit the MAWSON BASE location to HOME While in SETUP LOCATION Turn the DIAL until MAWSON BASE appears on the display The whole line will be flashing Now press the ENTER button You have now entered location name edit mode The M character will be flashing indicating that the cursor is at that location Turn the DIAL anti clockwise until the letter H appears then press ENTER to advance to the next letter which is an A Turn the DIAL in either direction to make it a 0 press ENTER and so on until you have spelt out the word HOME Continue to erase the rest of the characters in the old MAWSON BASE name by turning them into SPACES The SPACE character is found ju
240. rd innovations sgzload The sgzload command is used for loading firmware files These have a sgz suffix The syntax is sgzload s serial port f file v The default serial port is dev argo The f flag is followed by the name of the firmware file The v flag will print the sgzload version number and then exit sgzload will give percentage milestones or error messages on standard output Mac OS X operating system file transfer utility The ability to load and purge asteroid comet satellite and user catalogs as well as perform firmware upgrades is also supported for the Mac OS X operating system The Argoload utility for Mac OS X can be downloaded from Wildcard Innovations or from Jeff Terry s website This utility is kindly provided by Jeff Terry and is based upon the Wildcard Innovations GNU Public License GPL open sourced catload and sgzload Linux utilities and also includes a power graphical user interface Argoload supports the Keyspan USB RS 232 Serial Adaptor These adaptors can be purchased from Wildcard Innovations Part No pn usb and used in conjunction with the optional RS 232 serial cable Wildcard Innovations Part No pn ser cbl Other USB RS 232 Serial Adaptors can be supported by end user source code modification Thanks to Jeff Terry for providing Argoload to the ARGo NAvis Mac OS X community lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008
241. rds NO MATCH if there are no objects that meet the selection criteria lf NO MATCH appears press EXIT to leave MODE IDENTIFY You may then consider re entering MODE IDENTIFY and modifying your search criteria ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 63 If an object has been found either pressing ENTER or turning the DIAL one detent click will cause the ARGO Navis to lock that object into GUIDE mode The name of the object will appear in the top line of the display and guiding information will appear in the bottom line Move the telescope to find that object For example if the display reads NGC 1407 GUIDE 101425 this means the telescope should be moved 101 in azimuth and 25 in altitude to locate NGC 1407 The arrows represent a relative movement For example if the arrow is displayed even though the arrow points to the right whether one moves the telescope to the right or to the left is dependent on several factors according to your setup If you wish to change the default direction sense of one or both arrows you can do so by changing the settings in SETUP GUIDE MODE In any case you should move the telescope in the direction that causes the angle to become smaller As the telescope is moved the display continually updates the angles and changes the direction arrows if the object is passed When an angle less than 10 is displayed
242. red in detail in the Operating modes section However by following the directions you should quickly learn by this hands on experience Each example builds on the previous example so it is best to follow them in order The objects in the examples may not be viewable from your site or when you perform a search you may not find the same ones but you should still be able to grasp the basic ideas Arco Navis provides a great deal of flexibility and power in the many ways it can help you locate or identify objects For a more detailed discussion of these methods it is recommended you read the following reference pages MODE CATALOG MODE IDENTIFY MODE RA DEC MODE TOUR Examples Example 1 You want to locate the Messier object M53 assuming it is above the horizon You have already aligned your scope Enter MODE CATALOG by spinning the O lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE CATALOG appear on the display You will be prompted by a message such as BRIGHT STARS where those words will be flashing The catalogs are listed in alphabetical order Spin the DIAL clockwise and cycle through the list of available catalogs until you see MESSIER then press ENTER Spin the DIAL clockwise until the display shows M5 then press ENTER Spin the DIAL clockwise until the display shows M53 then press EN
243. ress EXIT or ENTER to have the ARGO Navis go back to GUIDE mode Or you can wait until the description has completed scrolling and ARGo Navis will automatically return to GUIDE mode If you move the DIAL while the description is scrolling manual scroll mode is entered Turning the DIAL clockwise scrolls the message forward for convenient reading at your leisure whilst turning the DIAL counter clockwise scrolls the message in reverse By pressing EXIT or ENTER ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 64 while in manual scroll mode the ARGO Navis will return to GUIDE mode Note that when SAMPLE MODE Is ON In the SETUP MNT ERR ACQUIRE DATA submenu rather than a scrolling description immediately appearing a new Submenu appears In this case by spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the bottom line of the display can be alternated as follows e DESCRIPTION e SAMPLE MNT ERROR If you want to view the description of the object spin the DIAL until the word DESCRIPTION appears and then press ENTER If you want to sample the position of an object as part of a pointing test spin the DIAL until the words SAMPLE MNT ERROR appears and then press ENTER See SETUP MNT ERRORS for details While in GUIDE mode if either EXIT is pressed or the DIAL is turned one detent click the ARGo Navis will return to continually searching for the c
244. ressed both the EXIT and ENTER buttons then power the unit on The message FACTORY DEFAULTS RESTORED should appear followed by ARGO NAVIS INITIALISING You should then release the buttons If this message appears FACTORY DEFAULTS NOT RESTORED there might be a problem with your unit In this case contact Wildcard Innovations See also MODE SETUP ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 97 SETUP ENC TIMING Function SETUP ENC TIMING allows the timing parameters of the encoders to be altered Changing the encoder timing from the factory default values to some other value may result in your ARGo Navis being unable to correctly read the encoders If in doubt contact Wildcard Innovations for advice Using SETUP ENC TIMING Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP ENC TIMING then press ENTER The display will show something like this SETUP ENC TIMING TON 17 TOFF 17 where the 17 will be flashing This is the encoder Time On parameter and its factory default value is 17 It may be changed dynamically by spinning the DIAL Once you have selected the value for the Time On parameter press ENTER The Time Off parameter can then be edited dynamically by spinning the dial Its factory default value is 17 The value of is special and will leave the encoders permane
245. ria 10 hours Summer 11 hours Australia Australian Capital Territory 10 hours Summer 11 hours Australia South 9 30 hours Summer 10 30 hours Australia Tasmania 10 hours Summer 11 hours Australia Western 8 hours Austria 1 hours Summer 2 hours Azerbajian 3 hours Azores 1 hours Summer 0 hours B Bahamas 5 hours Summer 4 hours Bahrain 3 hours Bangladesh 6 hours Barbados 4 hours Belarus 2 hours Summer 3 hours Belgium 1 hours Summer 2 hours Belize 6 hours lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 209 Wildcard innovations Benin 1 hours Bermuda 4 hours Summer 3 hours Bhutan 6 hours Bolivia 4 hours Bonaire 4 hours Botswana 2 hours 65 Brazil Acre 4 hours Summer 5 hours Brazil Atlantic Islands 1 hours Summer 2 hours Brazil East 3 hours Summer 1 hours Brazil West 4 hours Summer 3 hours British Virgin Islands 4 hours Brunei 8 hours Bulgaria 2 hours Summer 3 hours Burkina Faso 0 hours Burundi 2 hours C Cambodia 7 hours Cameroon 1 hours Canada Central 6 hours Summer 5 hours Canada Eastern 5 hours Summer 4 hours Canada Mountain 7 hours Summer 6 hours Canada Yukon amp Pacific 8 hours Summer 7 hours Canada Atlantic 4 hours Summer 3 hours Canada Newfoundland 3 30 hours Summer 2 30 hours Canary Is
246. rial mount but suspect a problem with the FIX ALT REF step you performed Move the tube so that it is at right angles to the Azimuth axis and oriented the normal way up you would observe through it The encoder altitude reading should read 0 As you move the tube in altitude toward the north the Altitude encoder value should increase Example 5 When you move the scope in Azimuth you note in MODE ENCODER that the Altitude value changes and vice versa You have the encoder cables swapped around On an encoder cable assembly from Wildcard Innovations the cable with the white sleeve near the encoder end should go to the Altitude encoder lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations See also MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN STAR MODE FIX ALT REF SETUP ALT STEPS SETUP AZ STEPS SETUP ENC TIMING ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 53 MODE EQ TABLE Function MODE EQ TABLE allows you to examine and control the equatorial table timer This menu will only appear if you have set a mount type of EQ TABLE EXACT In SETUP MOUNT About equatorial tables Equatorial tables also known as equatorial platforms allow Alt Az mounted telescopes such as Dobsonians to track the stars The table causes the telescope riding upon it to rotate around a virtual polar axis In order to accurately track the apparent motion of the sky the table must be precisely p
247. right by hitting the ENTER button again and so on When you have finished editing the last field most people will live in a time zone that is only a whole number of hours offset from UTC pressing the ENTER button again will result in a display something like DATE 23 APR 2006 TIME 15 39 45 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations where the first digit will be flashing Again as in editing the time zone edit the correct local date and time by using the DIAL and pressing the ENTER button to advance over fields If you make a mistake press EXIT and start over again Keep in mind that you are entering your local date and time here not the UTC time ARGO NAvis will perform the appropriate arithmetic to convert the date and time you enter to internal UTC time by taking into account the time zone you entered When you have edited the last field you may like to synchronize the pressing of the ENTER button against some correct time reference ARGO NAvis will then briefly display the words SAVING And then the words INITIALIZING In the lower half of the display before returning to the SETUP sub menu with the message SETUP DATE TIME You have now successfully set your local time zone and your local date and time While the SAVING message appeared ARGO NAvis saved your time zone setting into its memory EEROM device and the date and time into the battery backed time of day clock W
248. rightness Brighter displays make for easier reading but can have a greater impact upon night vision See SETUP BRIGHTNESS e The LCD contrast This should be set to the optimum value See SETUP CONTRAST e The temperature of the LCD Cold displays particularly below 0 C or 32 F have slower responses See SETUP LCD HEATER e Human perception Using SETUP SCROLL Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP SCROLL lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations then press ENTER The display might show something like this SCROLL RATE 3 This indicates the current scroll rate is 3 which is the factory default setting Spin the DIAL in either direction to select a scroll rate value The scroll rate settings range from 0 very slow to 9 very fast When you have set the desired value to suit your requirements press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the value from what it originally was the word SAVING will appear briefly on the bottom line as ARGO Navis stores the new setting into its memory EEROM device You might then like to check the rate of scrolling by looking at an object description in MODE CATALOG See also MODE CATALOG MODE IDENTIFY MODE TOUR MODE SETUP SETUP BRIGHTNESS SETUP CONTRAST SETUP LCD HEATER ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 147 SETUP SERIAL Function Arco Navis
249. rs you should check that the Az pivot bolt is secured firmly to the base of the ground board and that the encoder shaft is held captive with the Az pivot bolt When the Az pivot bolt on a Dobsonian is not secured tightly to the base of the ground board it can give rise to some back and forth rotational play in the bolt This latter effect falls into a class of errors termed by the technical name of hysteresis For encoder installations that use gears check that the setscrews are tightened so that the gears do not slip on their shafts or bearings Some installations have brackets known as tangent arms fabricated either from metal or plastic that go from the body of the encoder to some fixed point on the mount You should check that the hex nut above the shaft of the encoder holds the tangent arm securely You should check that the tangent arm is not pushing the encoder to one side thus causing the encoder shaft to be no longer parallel with the coupling to which it is attached To help identify encoder installation errors it is strongly recommended that you perform a daylight encoder test Daytime encoder test The following describes how to perform a daytime encoder test During the day using a high powered eyepiece or cross hair reticle center a distant fixed terrestrial object Power on ARGo Navis and after it has initialized spin the DIAL until the display reads MODE ENCODER ARG
250. s There can be only one entry per line and the entry can only be one line long A line entry can be no longer than a total of 254 characters The various fields of the entry are separated by vertical bar characters White space characters Spaces and Tabs are allowed before and after vertical bars Empty blank lines are permitted ARGO NaAvis will flag missing or incorrectly formatted fields as errors and the transfer will be aborted if they are encountered The entry format is NAME RA DEC OBJECT TYPE MAGNITUDE OPTIONAL DESCRIPTION NAME can be up to 32 characters long but must be unique within the first 16 characters Names are case sensitive Therefore the object BEPOP GALAXY is regarded as different to the object bebop galaxy Names must not begin with a character RA is expressed in hours minutes and seconds Many formats are acceptable such as 12 34 56 12 34 5 12 34 etc DEC is expressed in degrees Many formats are acceptable including 12 34 56 12 34 5 12 34 12 34 56 12 34 etc Don t forget the sign for Southern objects OBJECT TYPE is case insensitive and can be one of e ASTERISM e ASTEROID e BRIGHT NEBULA e COMET e DARK NEBULA e DOUBLE STAR e EMISSION NEBULA e GALAXY e GALAXY CL USTER e GLOBULAR CLUSTER e NEBULA e OPEN CLUSTER e PLANETARY NEBULA e REFLECTION NEBULA e STAR e TRIPLE STAR lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis Use
251. s should show BOOT LOADER 2 RECEIVED Further progress is shown in 2 increments The transfer should take between 25 to 40 minutes When the display says that 100 has been transferred power off your ARGO Navis and power it on normally If your unit should fail to initialize check the batteries and then try setting factory defaults in the EEROM as follows Power off your unit press and keep depressed both the ENTER and EXIT buttons Power on your unit After initialization release the buttons If the unit still fails to initialize put it in BOOT LOADER mode again and try repeating the firmware installation Be sure to regularly check the Wildcard Innovations web site for firmware upgrade announcements lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 169 Wkdeand innovations Linux operating system file transfer utilities The ability to load and purge asteroid comet satellite and user catalogs as well as perform firmware upgrades is also supported for the Linux operating system Two command line utilities are currently provided for Intel based Linux platforms You can copy them from the supplied CD ROM or download them from Wildcard Innovations You should move them into a suitable bin directory on your system Make sure that the directory is in your execution path If installing from the CDROM perform the following
252. s of interest You can tour particular types of objects and specify a limiting magnitude as well as a particular constellation or diameter of sky in which to limit the search ARGO NAvis begins the tour by examining where your telescope is initially pointing and then finds the closest object that meets your search criteria Having done that ARGO NAvis automatically enters GUIDE mode By following the guiding information you can move your telescope to locate the object Pressing ENTER in GUIDE mode will give you detailed information about the object while spinning the DIAL clockwise one detent click advances you to the next closest object in the tour and so forth You can spin the DIAL anti clockwise to backtrack through the tour ARGO NAvis flags when you reach the end of a tour by telling you that there are NO MORE OBJECTS You can even tour objects that you have loaded into the USER CATALOG You can leave a tour at any time perform other operations and then optionally rejoin the tour from the point at which you were at previously The flexibility power and speed of TOUR MODE allows it to become a real work horse during your observing sessions sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Note MODE TOUR assumes that you have performed a valid alignment If you wish to tour ASTEROIDS COMETS or PLANETS it is also assumed that the current date and time have been set in SETUP D
253. s was just set with the FIX ALT REF operation Keep in mind if you had AUTO ADJUST ON set then the angle might have been automatically adjusted lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Note AUTO ADJUST ON may not always be able to compute an adjustment angle for some alignments particularly on fork mounted scopes In these circumstances the WARP factor will be non zero and suffixed with an X on the bottom line of the display If this should happen choose another object to align on Examples Example1 You want a better estimate for the vertical stop position angle on your Dobsonian You move your Dobsonian scope to its vertical stop position You have entered a value of 90 000 in SETUP ALT REF and have performed a FIX ALT REF operation with AUTO ADJUST ON with the scope at that position You then perform a two star alignment using MODE ALIGN STAR You determine that the scope s pointing accuracy is very good You move the scope back to the stop position and examine the altitude reading in the angle display mode of MODE ENCODER The angle reads 89 67 AUTO ADJUST ON has compensated it from the original 90 After some more star alignment trials you average your readings and deduce that the stop position is pretty nearly 89 67 You enter that value into SETUP ALT REF and use that value whenever you start your observing sessions from then on See also MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN STAR SETUP A
254. s a term that helps provide a best fit for all other terms given that the mount is initially aligned on arbitrary stars A small error in the time setting of SETUP DATE TIME or a small error in site longitude set in SETUP LOCATION is indistinguishable from this term polar Misalignment Azimuth For an equatorial mount the misalignment of the polar axis left or right of the celestial pole ARGO NAvIs ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 123 Wildcard innovations In either hemisphere a positive MA corresponds to the mount s pole being to the right of the Celestial Pole POLAR VERTICAL polar Misalignment Elevation For an equatorial mount the misalignment of the polar axis above or below the Celestial Pole In the Northern Hemisphere a positive ME means the mount s pole is below the refracted North Celestial Pole In the Southern Hemisphere a positive ME means the mount s pole is above the refracted South Celestial Pole NON PERPEN Non Perpendicular Axes Error AXES For an Alt Az mount the non perpendicularity between the Az and the Alt axes Produces a shift that is zero at zero Altitude i e the horizon and reaches a maximum at the pole of the scope i e the zenith If the scope had this error on its own there would be an area around the pole of the scope the zenith to which it could not point between the RA and the Dec axes
255. s an alarm command When you have set your alarm sound preference press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the value from what it originally was ARGO Nav i s will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device To alter the limits of travel in Altitude for the scope spin the DIAL until the top line of the display shows the GOTO LIMITS selection then press ENTER For example the display might then show GOTO LIMITS LOW 10 HI 88 where the value after LOW will be flashing This value which is expressed in degrees is the lower limit that the scope can be commanded to slew in Altitude from the GOTO controller ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 104 Wildcard innovations To change the value spin the DIAL until the desired lower limit appears and then press ENTER The value after HIGH will then be flashing This value which is expressed in degrees is the upper limit that the scope can be commanded to slew in Altitude from the GOTO controller To change the value spin the DIAL until the desired lower limit appears When you have set your GOTO limits preference press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the value from what it originally was ARGO NAvis will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device See also MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN STAR MODE AZ ALT MODE ENCODER MODE FIX ALT REF MODE SETUP SETUP DATE TIME SETUP LOCAT
256. s detent clicks that you can feel when you rotate it EEROM Electrically Erasable Read Only Memory ARGo NAvis uses EEROM to store such parameters as your mount type location and encoder resolution settings so that these values may be retained even when the power is switched off or if the batteries are removed Encoder an electro mechanical device that creates pulses when its shaft is rotated Encoders are fitted to your telescope on each of its two axes and are the means by which your telescope computer can determine where the telescope is pointing Firmware a term used to describe software that is embedded in an electronic appliance such as the ARGO Navis lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 223 Wildcard innovations FLASH a type of high speed electronic memory that can be written to and erased electrically ARGO NAvis uses FLASH memory to store its firmware and catalogs including user loadable catalogs Firmware and catalogs can be downloaded from a PC using the supplied ARGONAUT software utility Hubble Morphology a system for classifying a galaxy based on its appearance For example whether it is spiral spiral barred elliptical irregular peculiar etc ARGO Navis uses a succinct notation used by astronomers to describe galaxy morphologies J2000 0 Epoch 12 00 UTC 1st January 2000 Du
257. s expressed in hours minutes seconds of time where hours range from 0 to 24 Declination Dec is expressed as an angle in degrees and values range from 90 to 90 with 90 at the North Celestial Pole NCP 90 at the South Celestial Pole SCP and 0 at the Celestial Equator Right Ascension can be displayed either as hours minutes seconds or as hours minutes decimal minutes depending upon the user s preference Declination is always displayed as degrees and arc minutes Enter MODE RA DEC by spinning the DIAL in the top level menu and pressing ENTER when you see MODE RA DEC The display will show the telescope s Right Ascension on the left and the telescope s Declination on the right If a valid alignment has not been performed a scrolling warning message will be displayed possibly similar to this one TWO SIGHTINGS ARE REQUIRED FIX ALT REF MAY BE REQUIRED lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard Innovations WARNING DISPLAYED VALUES MAY NOT BE VALID Otherwise the bottom line of the display shows the name of the constellation that the telescope is currently pointing towards For example 12 26 51 63 7 CRUX shows that the scope is at 12 hours 26 minutes and 51 seconds in RA and 63 degrees 7 arc minutes in declination within the constellation Crux If the DIAL is rotated one detent click the Right Ascension will be shown in hours minutes decimal minutes format For examp
258. s it compelling to use particularly for appear on the display Then spin the your initial alignments DIAL until the name of the star you wish to align on appears The alignment stars are listed in the following table Name o Constellation Greek RA J2000 0 Dec J2000 0 Mag ACHERNAR ALPHA _ 01 37 43 57 14 27 51 oesau rau apna Toeosss 1620 foo 08 44 ARCTURUS o BOO ALPHA 141540 19 14 0 0 BETELGEUSE ORI ALPHA 05 55 10 07 24 DUBHE ALPHA 11 03 43 61 45 FOMALHAUT PSA O ALPHA 22 57 39 29 37 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 39 Wildcard innovations HADAR BETA 14 03 48 60 22 0 6 KAUS AUSTRALIS EPSILON 18 24 11 34 22 cs MIMOSA CRU BETA 1 9 12 47 43 59 41 MIRFAK PER ALPHA 03 34 19 49 52 MIZAR ZETA NAVI POLARIS POLLUX UMA CAS UMI GEM ALPHA BETA 13 23 55 54 56 GAMMA 00 56 42 60 43 89 16 28 01 02 31 50 07 45 20 PROCYON CMI ALPHA 07 39 18 05 24 RASALHAGUE OPH ALPHA 17 34 56 12 34 BETA REGULUS RIGEL RIGEL KENT SIRIUS LEO CEN CMA 10 08 22 12 13 14 1 4 08 12 60 38 16 43 05 14 32 14 39 37 06 45 09 SPICA ALPHA 13 25 11 11 10 SUHAIL VEGA VEL Never use Polaris as an alignment star on an Equatorial mount and never use a star near the Zenith for alignment of an
259. s simply accepted on faith The value of MA which is the polar misalignment term in Azimuth was 11 145 4 TPAS then reports that this value is equivalent to the polar axis being East of the South Celestial Pole SCP by 13 2 this example test having been conducted in the Southern Hemisphere The value of ME which is the polar misalignment in Elevation i e Altitude was 78 64 12 5 TPAS then reports that this value is equivalent to the polar axis being above the SCP by 1 31 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations At this point it may be tempting to adjust the mount in Az and Alt in order to improve the polar alignment However there are two disadvantages to doing that at this time e Whenever you move the mount the pointing data becomes invalid the data would need to be deleted and the pointing test done again e By sampling more stars additional terms may be tried in the model and the polar misalignment terms will become better defined Later in this section a suggested procedure for using TPAS to improve a polar alignment will be given If you have been examining the reported information in manual scroll mode and would now like to accept the terms press ENTER The display might then show ID 78 8412 9 USE NOW where the words USE NOW will be flashing By spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the bottom line of the display can be cycled as f
260. s to Tangent protocol commands via the pbt command Such devices include the Orion IntelliScope controller NGC MAX Celestron Advanced Astromaster the Lumicom Sky Vector and the Software Bisque BBox To interface these devices to ARGO NAvis a special serial cable is required that acts as a nuli modem device Contact Wildcard Innovations for details on how to purchase this cable Using SETUP SER AL Enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP SERIAL then press ENTER For example the display might then show something like this SERIAL1 BAUD where the 1 will be flashing Spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time toggles the serial port selection to be either 1 or 2 When you have selected the appropriate serial port press ENTER In this example the word BAUD will then start flashing Spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time toggles this selection to be either BAUD or STARTUP To change or view the current Baud rate select BAUD and then press ENTER For example the display might then show something like this SERIAL1 BAUD 38400 m lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations In this case the SERIAL1 port communications rate is currently set at 38400 Baud This is the factory default By spinning the DIAL a detent click ata time the Baud rate selection can be changed The possible Baud rates are
261. se objects will only be found if the limiting magnitude is set to MAG ANY irrespective of how bright the object s magnitude might really be For example to find DARK NEBULAE or SATELLITES always choose a limiting magnitude of MAG ANY ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 TT Once you have selected the limiting magnitude press ENTER ARGO Navis M will then prompt you with a message such as IN ANY CONSTEL where the letter A in ANY will be flashing By using the DIAL and the ENTER button you can use the ntelligent Editing System to enter the name of any constellation in which to limit the search or to chose the special entry of ANY CONSTEL By turning the DIAL clockwise the letter at the flashing cursor position will alphabetically increase By turning the DIAL anti clockwise the letter will decrease Wrapping occurs when the maximum letter is displayed and the DIAL is turned clockwise or when the minimum letter is displayed and the DIAL is turned anti clockwise Spell out the name of the constellation or the special entry ANY CONSTEL by using the DIAL and using the ENTER button to advance the cursor to the next editable field The Intelligent Editing System will only prompt you with valid names When there are no more fields to edit pressing ENTER again will cause ARGO Navis to begin to search for the closest object th
262. se until you see MODE SETUP Press ENTER Now turn the DIAL clockwise until you see SETUP DATE TIME Notice how Arco NaAvis orders its various menus alphabetically so you can find a particular one logically and quickly Press ENTER Arco Navis will display something like TIMEZONE 98 08 Where the or possibly sign will be flashing To understand the concept of time zone it is important to know that ARGO Navis always internally keeps track of ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 19 time in terms of Universal Co ordinated Time UTC which was previously referred to as Greenwich Mean Time GMT The time zone is the number of hours that your local time differs from UTC For example in New York when Daylight Savings Time Summer time is not in effect the time zone setting is 05 00 hours When Daylight Savings summer time is in effect the time zone is 4 00 In Sydney when Daylight Savings time is not in effect the time zone setting is 10 00 hours and when Daylight Savings is in effect 11 00 In New Delhi the time zone is 05 30 Use the World timezones section of this manual to determine your local time zone If you are in a time zone that is west of Greenwich you will set the sign to a If you are in a time zone that is east of Greenwich you will set the sign to a By turning the DIAL you can change th
263. selection is the same as that on the ARGO Navis Then attempt to Connect to the PC COM port using the Connection pull down menu Argonaut Argo Mavi Connection Transfer Del Connect Disconnect Exit Alt NS lt T TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 158 Wikdeand innovations To check whether your PC can communicate with ARGO Navis try putting your mouse cursor into the large white Terminal window see figure below for location and pressing the Enter key on your computer s keyboard a couple of times Argonaut Argo Navis TM load utility OY X Connection Transfer Delete Memory Terminal Help Port Baud com Z J38400 TP Autowap V Allow FLASH write TERMINAL WINDOW ARGO Navis should respond with a character prompt if communications have been established File Transter Progress If you do not get a prompt or Windows displays an error dialog such as this Error 2 CreateFile The system cannot find the file specified lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 159 Wildcard innovations then try another COM port selection To do this use the Disconnect selection in the Connection pull down Change the COM port selection Then use the Connect selection in th
264. ser catalog files for details e Communicate with a sky mapping program such as Star Atlas PRO M The Sky SkyMap Pro or Xephem and many more to have a tracking cursor display See the SETUP SERIAL page for details The two serial ports operate completely independently Their Baud rates communications speeds can be set from the Arco Navis front panel See the SETUP SERIAL page For all operations except downloading new firmware either serial port can be used For downloading firmware SER AL is special and is the only port that can be used for this purpose WARNING The pin assignment on the Arco Navis serial ports is not compatible with those of the SkyComm Engineering Sky Commander However they are compatible with those on the JMI NGC MAX Celestron Advanced Astromaster Lumicom Sky Vector and similar Digital Setting Circle DSC units See Port pin descriptions To avoid possible damage to your ARGO Navis or PC we recommend you use only a genuine Arco Navis optional serial interface cable Wildcard Innovations Part No pn ser cbl ARGO Nav s User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 9 Wildcard innovations WARNING When interfacing your Arco Navis to a PC you should be aware of the possibility of electrostatic discharge that could result in damage to your Arco Navis PC and associated peripherals Be sure
265. show 00 00 00 0 SYNODIC RATE The displayed time is in hours minutes seconds decimal seconds format To start the TIMER press ENTER The timer will begin counting upwards and the word START will briefly appear on the display before being replaced by the word RUN For example 08 56 25 6 RUN SYNODIC RATE lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations suggests that 56 minutes and 25 6 seconds have elapsed By turning the DIAL one detent click the elapsed time can be shown in terms of a Sidereal rate thus 98 56 34 9 RUN SIDEREAL RATE Turning the DIAL again one click returns the display to Synodic rate To stop the timer press ENTER At that point the elapsed time will be frozen on the display and the word STOP will appear briefly For example 92 06 12 9 STOP SIDEREAL RATE indicates an elapsed time of 2 hours 6 minutes and 12 9 seconds To reset the timer press ENTER again The word RESET will briefly appear thus 00 00 00 8 RESET SYNODIC RATE Pressing ENTER will start the timer again While in MODE TIMER you may press EXIT at any time including while the timer is running In this case the timer will continue to run in the background When you return to MODE TIMER the correct elapsed time will be displayed ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 19 MODE TOUR Function MODE TOUR allows you to tour object
266. so MODE ENCODER MODE SETUP SETUP DEFAULTS SETUP LCD HEATER ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 100 SETUP EQ TABLE Function The SETUP EQ TABLE menu will only appear if you have set a mount type of EQ TABLE EXACT in SETUP MOUNT SETUP EQ TABLE provides sub menus that allow you to examine or set the following e the EQ TABLE ALARM time which is the amount of sidereal time see Glossary that will appear in the EQ TBL REMAINING time display of MODE EQ TABLE when the equatorial table timer is stopped e EQ TABLE SOUND which determines if an audible alarm will be emitted when the EQ TBL REMAINING time display reaches 00 00 00 0 in MODE EQ TABLE Using SETUP EQ TABLE Assuming you have set a mount type of EQ TABLE EXACT in SETUP MOUNT enter the MODE SETUP menu then spin the DIAL until you see SETUP EQ TABLE then press ENTER Then spin the DIAL to choose one of the following sub menus EQ TABLE ALARM EQ TABLE SOUND Press ENTER again to enter the chosen sub menu lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations EQ TABLE ALARM can be used to set the amount of sidereal time that will appear in the EQ TBL REMAINING time display of MODE EQ TABLE when the equatorial table timer is stopped For example if you enter EQ TABLE ALARM the display might show EQ TABLE ALARM TIME 12 00 00 6 97 where the first digit to the right of the
267. spin the DIAL until the word DESCRIPTION appears and then press ENTER If you want to sample the position of an object as part of a pointing test spin the DIAL until the words SAMPLE MNT ERROR appears and then press ENTER See SETUP MNT ERRORS for details While in GUIDE mode each time the DIAL is turned one detent click clockwise ARGo Navis will search for SNS lt T TM S ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations the next closest object that meets your selection criteria When the end of the tour is reached the display will show NO MORE OBJECTS While in GUIDE mode if the DIAL is turned anti clockwise you can backtrack through the tour In this case while it is searching ARGO NaAvis will briefly display the message BACKTRACKING When you can backtrack no further this message will be displayed START OF TOUR At any time in GUIDE mode if EXIT is pressed ARGO Nav s will exit from MODE TOUR One feature of MODE TOUR is that it remembers the last selections you made This includes the type of object to find the limiting magnitude and if you chose ANY CONSTEL the WITHIN diameter Therefore when you re enter MODE TOUR those last selections will become the default values If you had chosen a particular constellation in which to limit the search MODE TOUR will prompt you with the name of the constellation that your telescope is currently pointing to as the default constellation sele
268. st after the letter Z if you are turning the DIAL clockwise When you have erased the last ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 21 character press ENTER multiple times until the display shows this LAT 67 35 59 S This is the latitude of Mawson Base which you will now change to your local latitude To determine your local latitude consult an atlas or one of the many location databases such as www heavens above com available on the Internet Unless you plan on observing satellites or accurately knowing your Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST don t be too concerned if you cannot determine the exact co ordinates of your location Within a degree or so should be fine for most situations Using the DIAL and ENTER button edit the latitude fields to values appropriate for your observing location Latitude is displayed in terms of degrees minutes seconds either North or South of the Earth s equator Change the S to an N depending upon whether your location is in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere After editing the North South field pressing ENTER again will result in the display showing this LONG 962 53 00 W This is the longitude of Mawson Base Edit it as you did the Latitude replacing the fields with values appropriate to your observing location Longitude is displayed in terms of degrees minutes seconds either East or West of Greenw
269. sult in both Right Ascension and Declination values changing The effects of precession and nutation cause an apparent displacement of the stars when viewed from the Earth See Glossary If the date and time has been entered accurately in SETUP DATE TIME Arco Navis will correctly take these effects into account when displaying the RA and Dec values Thus the values sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations shown are with respect to what is known as the Epoch of Date EOD Refraction is the bending of light rays through the atmosphere that causes objects close to the horizon to appear higher in altitude than they actually are If you have accurately entered the date and time in SETUP DATE TIME entered your location and in particular your latitude and longitude in SETUP LOCATION and have turned refraction modelling on in SETUP REFRACTION this effect will be taken into account when displaying RA and Dec values To leave MODE RA DEC press EXIT ARGO Navis saves the last Right Ascension display format you used in memory EEROM device See also MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN STAR SETUP DATE TIME SETUP LOCATION SETUP REFRACTION ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 69 MODE SETUP Function MODE SETUP provides the entry point to the various SETUP sub menus Using MODE SETUP Spin the DIAL in the top level menu until you see MODE SE
270. t TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 12 Setting the initial mount type Arco Navis requires you to specify what style of mount your telescope is on However for the purpose of this once only initial setup procedure you will be asked to set your mount type to the FORK EXACT ALIGN setting irrespective of what type of mount you really have Later you will be asked to set the mount type to match the type of mount you are using Power the unit on Turn the DIAL clockwise until you see MODE SETUP Press ENTER Now turn the DIAL clockwise until you see SETUP MOUNT Notice how Arco NAvis orders its various menus alphabetically so you can find a particular one logically and quickly Now press ENTER The display might then show ALTAZ DOBSONIAN where the whole line will be flashing Spin the DIAL until the display shows FORK EXACT ALIGN Then press EXIT or ENTER ARGO Navis will briefly display the words SAVING lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations while it saves your settings into its memory EEROM device and then display the message SETUP MOUNT Setting encoder steps resolution Before you can perform an alignment you need to set up in ARGO Navis the resolution and direction senses of your altitude and azimuth encoders Encoder operation background Most
271. t S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Example 4 You would like to GUIDE to an object while the table is running Ensure that the equatorial table timer was set running simultaneously with when the table was set running from its start position GUIDE to the object as normal Example 5 You would like to determine the amount of time your table tracks for before requiring resetting In subsequent runs you would like ARGO Navis to provide an audible alarm to warn you when it is time to reset the table Ensure that the equatorial table timer was set running simultaneously with when the table was set running from its start position Place the unit in MODE EQ TABLE and observe the elapsed time display When the table reaches the end of its tracking run note the amount of elapsed time and enter that value into the EQ TABLE ALARM Setting in SETUP EQ TABLE Ensure that EQ TABLE SOUND ALARM has been set to ON in SETUP EQ TABLE so that a brief audio alarm will be sounded on subsequent runs See also MODE ALIGN MODE ALIGN STAR MODE FIX ALT REF SETUP EQ TABLE SETUP MOUNT ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 56 MODE FIX ALT REF Function MODE FIX ALT REF allows you to define the altitude encoder reference point For mounts that require you to align on two objects See SETUP MOUNTS a FIX ALT REF step is essential and vitally important t
272. t saves your settings into its memory EEROM device and then display the message SETUP ALT REF Assuming you have selected a mount that requires more than one object to align it See SETUP MOUNT you can then press EXIT and spin the DIAL until you see MODE FIX ALT REF then press ENTER You would then spin the DIAL until you see the user defined angle that you just entered lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Example You have determined that when you move your Dobsonian as far towards the zenith as it will go it reaches a fixed stop position the altitude angle corresponds to one of 89 25 If you had entered that angle in SETUP ALT REF then entered MODE FIX ALT REF you would see ALT REF 89 259 AUTO ADJUST OFF Spinning the DIAL again you would see ALT REF 89 259 AUTO ADJUST ON Having decided whether you want AUTO ADJUST OFF or AUTO ADJUST ON you would then move your scope to the fixed stop position and press ENTER to perform your FIX ALT REF step AUTO ADJUST ON can be used with Alt Az e g Dobsonian and roughly aligned Fork Mounts and can help compensate for a slightly inaccurate reference point setting See also MODE FIX ALT REF MODE SETUP ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 86 SETUP ALT STEPS Function SETUP ALT STEPS allows you to set the direction sense and number of steps r
273. t the finder scope then press ENTER A status message will briefly appear on the bottom line of the sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations display reporting the WARP factor for the alignment See MODE ALIGN STAR for a complete discussion of the WARP factor and alignment process Examples You would like to align on Jupiter In the top level menu spin the DIAL until you see MODE CATALOG then press ENTER Spin the DIAL until you see PLANETS SUN then press ENTER Spin the DIAL until you see JUPITER then press EXIT Spin the DIAL anti clockwise until you see MODE ALIGN then press ENTER The display should then show ALIGN JUPITER Centre Jupiter in your eyepiece not just the finder scope then press ENTER A status message will briefly appear on the bottom line of the display reporting the WARP factor for the alignment ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 37 The WARP factor is the difference between the angular distance the telescope moved and the angular distance between two alignment stars or objects as a function of time The details of the WARP factor message will differ depending upon the mount type you have set in SETUP MOUNT whether you have set AUTO ADJUST ON or OFF in MODE FIX ALT REF and whether this is the first or subsequent alignment See MODE ALIGN STAR for a full explanatio
274. t to hold new entries When no catalogs are loaded the amount of available free memory is approximately 125919 bytes approx 123KB lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 167 Wildcard innovations Transferring firmware files A key feature of ARGO NaAvis is the ability to upgrade its firmware via the serial port Wildcard Innovations will periodically offer free firmware upgrades on their web site After downloading the firmware file via the Internet you can then transfer it to your ARGO Navis Some of the key benefits of this include e New features and enhancements e New catalogs catalog corrections and improved descriptions e Bug fixes e No expense inconvenience or possible damage with pulling out ROM chips e It s free For these reasons it is worthwhile acquiring the optional serial cable pn ser cbl if you have not done so already The Arco Navis FLASH memory area is divided into 3 regions e Boot Loader e Firmware including in built catalogs e Loadable catalogs The Boot Loader area cannot be erased The Firmware and Loadable catalog areas however can be erased and re written The ARGONAUT utility services this function In the previous sections it was explained how you can use ARGONAUT to transfer loadable catalogs This section explains how you can upgrade the ARGO Navis firmware You should
275. tan 5 hours Summer 6 hours L lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 212 Wildcard innovations Laos 7 hours Latvia 2 hours Summer 3 hours Lebanon 2 hours Summer 3 hours Leeward Islands 4 hours Lesotho 2 hours Liberia O hours Libya 2 hours Lithuania 2 hours Summer 3 hours Luxembourg 1 hours Summer 2 hours Macedonia 1 hours Summer 2 hours Madagascar 3 hours Madeira 0 hours Summer 1 hours Malawi 2 hours Malaysia 8 hours Maldives 5 hours Mali O hours Mallorca Islands 1 hours Summer 2 hours Malta 1 hours Summer 2 hours Mariana Island 10 hours Marquesas Islands 9 30 hours Marshall Islands 12 hours Martinique 4 hours Mauritania O hours Mauritius 4 hours Mayotte 3 hours Melilla 1 hours Summer 2 hours Mexico 6 hours Mexico Baja Calif Norte 8 hours Summer 7 hours Mexico Nayarit 7 hours Mexico Sinaloa 7 hours 68 Mexico Sonora 7 hours Midway Island 11 hours Moldova 2 hours Summer 3 hours Moldovian Rep Pridnestrovye 2 hours Summer 3 hours Monaco 1 hours Summer 2 hours Mongolia 8 hours Morocco 0 hours Mozambique 2 hours Myanmar 6 30 hours N Namibia 1 hours Summer 2 hours lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmwar
276. tems The Standard Deviation gives some measure about the distribution or spread of data about the mean Therefore when a data item has a small Standard Deviation one would expect most values would be grouped around the mean lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Therefore ideally we want the Standard Deviation of a term to be as small as possible and the ratio of the actual value of a term to its own Standard Deviation to be as large as possible One analogy to help understand the significance of this is to think about a radio signal from a distant radio station The signal is subject to interference that manifests itself in the way of noise Think of Standard Deviation as being like noise The Radio Engineer wants to achieve the best signal to noise ratio possible Likewise if the values of your terms have associated large Standard Deviations it is difficult to distinguish what is real from what is noise As a practical guideline except for the ID IE IH MA amp ME terms never use a term in a model unless the value of the term is at least two to three times larger than its own reported Standard Deviation All about Population Standard Deviation PSD When there are more data samples than terms in the model along with RMS values the COMPUTE function also reports another useful statistical measure known as the Population Standard Deviation or PSD PSD is similar to RMS H
277. the convenience to power the Arco Navis from an external battery source such as a 12V car battery The external power receptacle is found on the top of the unit and is marked DC IN The external battery voltage should be in the range of 8V to 16V DC An incorrect power voltage source or polarity could cause damage to your unit and void your warranty Use only the optional external DC power cable supplied by Wildcard Innovations Part No pn pwr cbl for supplying external power to your unit Though Arco Navis provides in built reverse polarity and short circuit protection the optional cable contains a 350mA fuse for additional safety WARNING Never use a cable with an incorrect fuse we recommend 315mA and never bypass the fuse protection Observe all safety procedures when working with external batteries Many contain dangerous acids that can be spilt and some batteries are capable of delivering very large currents that can destroy equipment or cause a fire if they are short circuited Figure 4 ARGO NaAvis Model 102B shown e Do not connect any other form of WARNING Be careful not to trip or power supply to battery terminals allow others to trip over the external Fresh alkaline batteries with the display power cable or any other cables from fully dimmed can provide from 12 to 40 your unit hours usage of the unit depending on several additional factors including what type of encoders are installed lt S g
278. the mount type The mount types are listed in the table below When you have set the desired mount press EXIT or ENTER If you have changed the mount type from what it originally was ARGO Navis will save the new setting into its memory EEROM device It will also invalidate any previous alignment you have made Setting a mount type that requires a FIX ALT REF step as part of the alignment procedure will cause the MODE FIX ALT REF menu to appear in the top level menu See also MODE SETUP Menu selection Number of alignment stars required For altitude azimuth mounts such as Dobsonians but not on equatorial FIX ALT REF step plus 2 alignment stars FIX ALT REF step plus 2 alignment stars See also SETUP EQ TABLE FORK EXACT ALIGNED FORK ROUGH ALIGN ae eer Ae EXACT ALIGN For any accurately aligned equatorial mount such as a fork mount but not a German equatorial For any roughly aligned equatorial FIX ALT REF step plus 2 mount such as a fork mount but not alignment stars a German equatorial One alignment star For an accurately polar aligned One alignment star ae ner e Ree equatorial GEM ROUGH ALIGN For a roughly aligned German FIX ALT REF step plus 2 Equatorial alignment stars sm lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 114 SETUP MNT ERRORS Function SETUP MNT ERRORS forms the control center
279. the top of the front panel When the power is off the LCD will appear to be a blue colour When the power is on the display will appear to be a red colour ARGo NAvis uses a red display because this colour is less likely to impact upon your night vision which is important when you want to view faint celestial objects The brightness of the display can Figure 1 ARGo Navis Model 102B shown also be altered to suit your current viewing conditions See page SETUP BRIGHTNESS Ss Arco Navis lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 Firmware is the term used to describe the software in an electronic appliance The Arco Navis firmware is organized as a set of menus which you can navigate by using the DIAL and the ENTER and EXIT buttons The DIAL is located in the centre of the front panel It is used to scroll through the menus to alter an item within a menu and to manually scroll long text messages The DIAL has what are known as detent clicks see Glossary Sometimes you will need to move the DIAL one detent click at a time The ENTER button is located on the right hand side of the front panel It is used to enter a particular menu you have selected with the DIAL and to select a particular item within a menu The EXIT button is located on the left hand side of the front panel It is used to exit from menu s
280. their shafts rotated quickly with the fingers Alternatively if the encoders are mounted on a scope but have been geared to produce a much higher resolution the user should be careful not to exceed the sampling rate To calculate the maximum allowed instantaneous rotational rate in degrees per second refer to the table in the SETUP ENC TIMING section and determine the sampling rate according to your SETUP ENC TIMING TON and TOFF settings Multiply the sampling rate by 180 and divide by the number of encoder steps that occur when you rotate the scope axis 360 For example say you have geared an 8192 step encoder 2 5 times to give an effective resolution of 20 480 steps Say you also have TON 2 and TOFF 10 set in SETUP ENC TIMING which you determine in lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations the table in the SETUP ENC TIMING section to correspond to an effective sample rate of 11 500Hz Therefore 11 500 180 20 480 101 per second The encoder error messages can also appear if the batteries are running flat or if there is a fault with the encoder cabling or possibly the encoder itself Examples Example 1 You suspect that one of your encoder shafts is slipping During the daytime using a high power eyepiece sight a distant stationary object Enter MODE ENCODER and take note of the step reading in the axis you suspect has a slippage problem Move the telescope through a large angle in
281. tter G appears at the flashing cursor position The display might show something like GEM CLUSTER Now press ENTER to advance the cursor to the next editable field In this case the display might continue to show GEM CLUSTER but now the E in GEM will be flashing Spin the DIAL clockwise until an H appears at that place The display might then show GHOST OF JUPITER sm lt S gt TM x ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations with the H still flashing Now press ENTER again If a valid alignment has not been performed you will see the following warning message GHOST OF JUPITER NOT ALIGNED In this case pressing ENTER again will give a further alignment warning message If a valid alignment has been previously performed ARGO Navis will enter GUIDE mode Note As a special feature if you select the PLANETS catalog the planet of interest can be found by rotating the DIAL The planets are listed in Solar System order and are spelt out in full When the name of the planet of interest appears on the display simply press ENTER to go to GUIDE mode Continuing with our example the display might read GHOST OF JUPITER GUIDE 101425 This means the telescope should be moved 101 in azimuth and 25 in altitude to locate The Ghost of Jupiter The arrows represent a relative movement For example if the gt arrow is displayed even though the arrow points to the right whether one moves the telescope to t
282. two dimensional plots of pointing error residuals known as scatter diagrams Each of the small squares represents a sampled star position 46 in all These sampled positions were more or less lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations evenly distributed in azimuth and altitude across the whole sky to provide meaningful data about the telescope s whole sky pointing performance The distance a square is from the center of the circles represents the magnitude of that star s error residual The direction from the center of the circles represents the direction of the error residual The inner circle has a radius equivalent to the RMS of the data The outer circle has a radius that encompasses all the residuals Figure 11 shows the raw pointing residuals of a real telescope The raw RMS for the 46 stars was analysed by TPAS to be 14 5 arcminutes and some residuals were nearly 26 7 outer circle This represents the raw pointing performance of this particular telescope when no mount error modelling has been applied Sample Raw Pointing Data Residuals Figure 11 Figure 12 shows the fitted pointing residuals after a model was fitted by TPAS The fitted RMS drops to 2 1 about the same resolution as one step of ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 119 a 10 000 step encoder
283. uminosity class in the case of many double stars their separation in the case of many galaxies its abbreviated Hubble morphology the object s Right Ascension and Declination whether it is currently above or below the horizon and what volume and page of the default atlas the object would appear on See SETUP ATLAS While the description is scrolling to change the default scroll rate see SETUP SCROLL you can press ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 19 EXIT or ENTER to have the ARGO Navis go back to GUIDE mode Or you can wait until the description has completed scrolling and ARGo Navis will automatically return to GUIDE mode If you move the DIAL while the description is scrolling manual scroll mode is entered Turning the DIAL clockwise scrolls the message forward for convenient reading at your leisure whilst turning the DIAL counter clockwise scrolls the message in reverse By pressing EXIT or ENTER while in manual scroll mode the ARGO Navis will return to GUIDE mode Note that when SAMPLE MODE Is ON In the SETUP MNT ERR ACQUIRE DATA submenu rather than a scrolling description immediately appearing a new Submenu appears In this case by spinning the DIAL a detent click at a time the bottom line of the display can be alternated as follows e DESCRIPTION e SAMPLE MNT ERROR If you want to view the description of the object
284. ur mount using the ARGO NAvis is simple Perform a quick star alignment and off you go There is no need to level or accurately polar align your mount It s fast and easy Using the innovative ntelligent Editing System objects from the in built lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations catalogs can be accessed quickly and easily by name You can select a particular object and then ARGO Navis can provide you with guiding information that will allow you to zero in on it by simply manually turning the scope Alternatively objects of interest can be reported to you on the display in real time as you move your scope ARGO NAvis has a powerful 32 bit CPU at its heart that will easily allow you to continuously track satellites The sophisticated software even accounts for precession nutation and atmospheric refraction A battery backed real time clock provides local time UTC time Julian date and sidereal time The versatile and powerful tour mode allows you to tailor your searches of the sky so that you may seek to find the types of objects that interest you the most be they easy or highly challenging Though designed for standalone use ARGO Navis can also be interfaced to your PC or laptop which brings about a wealth of additional features It can operate with many of the popular sky charting packages to provide you with a tracking cursor display Using the supplied ARGONAUT utility it
285. urrent Julian date see Glossary will be available to you from the MODE TIME menu e The Local Apparent Sidereal Time LAST will be available to you in MODE SIDEREAL if you have also specified your location e The topocentric azimuth and altitude see Glossary will be available to you in MODE AZ ALT assuming you have also specified your location and have performed a valid star alignment e Correction for atmospheric refraction see Glossary will be made while you point your scope assuming you have also specified your location and assuming you have turned refraction correction ON in the SETUP REFRACTION sub menu e Objects will be precessed and nutated see Glossary from their internally stored J2000 0 epoch positions to their actual position at the time you observe them sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations e The positions of planets can be accurately determined e The positions of asteroids and comets can be computed from their orbital elements e The position of earth orbiting satellites can be computed assuming you have also specified your location For these reasons it is worthwhile setting your local time zone date and time Since ARGO NaAvis retains the time even when it is powered off you only need do it once and then possibly occasionally to correct for normal clock drift To set the local time zone date and time perform the following Power the unit on Turn the DIAL clockwi
286. urther example say you had loaded an object with the name SUPERNOVA DISCOVERY 1 Then at a later time you loaded an object with the name SUPERNOVA DISCOVERY 2 Since both of these names are not unique within the first 16 characters the second object will replace the first If you had really wanted them to be two distinct objects then you should rename them before loading them For example you might rename them SUPERNOVA 1 DISCOVERY and SUPERNOVA 2 DISCOVERY Loadable catalog entries will not replace objects in the ARGO NAvis in built catalogs The loadable catalogs reside in a different part of the units memory For example in the in built NGC catalog there is an entry for NGC 1234 If you download your own object that is also named NGC 1234 then it is regarded as a totally separate object When you edit and re load a catalog file any objects that you deleted from that file will be still present within ARGO Navis until you delete them from there as well Deleting loadable catalogs Loadable catalogs can be deleted on a catalog by catalog basis ARGONAUT currently offers no support for deleting individual object entries For this reason you should maintain your source catalog files on your PC so that you can edit and reload them into ARGO Navis as need be lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 166
287. use during a subsequent session will likely depend on whether your mount is portable or whether it is permanently mounted on a pier Other terms may or may not be persistent to the same order depending upon how much the telescope is changed between sessions For example if a Dobsonian telescope Is disassembled and then re assembled from session to session and had an encoder centering error then the ECEC and ECES terms might change each time the Alt encoder is re attached However ECEC and ECES also model gravitational flexure i e flexure on an sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations Alt Az mount has a mathematical signature indistinguishable to an encoder centering error If the ECEC and ECES terms are predominantly the result of gravitational flexure then they may be more consistent from session to session In this regard though Arco Navis does not require you to level the mount in order to align locate or identify objects assuring that the mount is reasonably level may help provide gravitational flexure terms that are more consistent between sessions ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 125 Table 2 Wildcard innovations ALTAZ DOBSONIAN or EQ TABLE EXACT Always Use Not Persistent Often Persistent between sessions between sessions i e do not SAVE i e may be OK to SAVE Terms CA ECEC ECES NPAE Tab
288. uth and altitude encoder step positions ARGO NAvis then accepts these encoder positions as if they had come from its own in built encoder device Thus in typical use the encoders will not be plugged into the ARGO NAvis encoder port but instead ARGO NAvis will receive all its encoder data from the attached serial device This therefore allows ARGO NAvis to be used in conjunction with telescopes that have attached legacy Tangent compatible devices The legacy device is then responsible for reading its attached encoders and for transferring this encoder data to ARGO NAvis via the serial interface upon request The net result is that the full functionality of ARGO Navis including such powerful features as TPAS is brought to the legacy telescope system The SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS menus should be configured to have the same encoder step values and encoder direction sense signs as the legacy system You should align ARGO NAvis as if it had the encoders attached directly to it There is no requirement to perform a star alignment of the attached legacy device itself as ARGO NAvis simply reads raw encoder positions rather than RA Dec co ordinates from it Example pbt lt T TM S ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 183 Wildcard innovations rad Function rad returns the Right Ascension and Declination position of th
289. value will constrain you to finding objects within the opening When using the ntelligent Editing System to input a WITHIN diameter angle consider only one digit at a time For example if you want to select an angle of 15 turn the DIAL until the first digit is blank a flashing block cursor will O lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wkdeand innovations display then press ENTER make the second digit a 1 then press ENTER make the third digit a 5 press ENTER again and you are done When a WITHIN diameter has been completely specified pressing ENTER again will cause the ARGo Navis to continually search for the closest object that meets the selection criteria Initially you will see SEARCHING When the first search pass is completed the Arco Navis will either show the name of the closest object that meets the selection criteria or the words NO MORE OBJECTS if there are no objects that meet the selection criteria If NO MORE OBJECTS appears press EXIT to leave MODE TOUR You may then consider re entering MODE TOUR and modifying your search criteria At any time during GUIDE mode if you press ENTER a scrolling description of the object is given Typical descriptions include the full name of the object other popular names the object might be known by what constellation the object is in the size of the object the visual magnitude of the object its surface brightness in the case of stars its spectral l
290. ve versions Utilities of similar functionality are also provided for the Linux operating system and for the Apple Computer Mac OS X operating system This section describes the installation and operation of ARGONAUT on the Windows platform What does ARGONAUT do ARGONAUT is communications software that can transfer data between your PC and the ARGO Navis It transfers data via an RS 232 serial port on each device The types of data that can be transferred are e Asteroid orbital element files e Comet orbital element files e Satellite orbital element files e User catalog files e ARGO NAvis firmware and catalog upgrades What else do I need besides ARGONAUT In order to use ARGONAUT you will also need the following e APCwith an RS 232 serial port Many PC s have a 9 way male D connector that provides serial port communications If you have an external modem that connects to the RS 232 serial port then you can temporarily swap it with ARGO NAvis while you do your transfers Note that USB ports and parallel printer ports are not RS 232 serial ports If you do not have a serial port or if lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 152 Wkdeand innovations you would like to install an additional serial port on your PC then it is recommended that you use a USB to RS 232 serial port adapto
291. ver a long enough period of time for the Minor Planet Center to accurately determine their orbital elements Therefore you should update your comet orbital elements on a very regular basis particularly if you plan on observing a recently discovered comet You should also ensure that the current date and time is correctly set on ARGO Navis otherwise it will calculate the positions of the Asteroids and Comets for the time it is set at Furthermore due to the iterative method used to compute the positions an incorrectly set date or a very old orbital element set may prevent ARGO NAvis converging on a solution In this case it will set the J2000 0 position of the object to RA 00 00 00 Dec 00 00 00 It will also provide a warning message when you look at the object s description In this circumstance you should delete the old catalog and load a newer orbital element set Orbital elements for Satellites known as Two Line Elements TLE s even though they are three lines long are available from a variety of places on the Internet including lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 160 Wildcard innovations http celestrak com NORAD elements ARGO NaAvis currently allows you to download a maximum of 25 satellite orbital elements at any one time Use a text editor such as Notepad to edit your downloaded orbital element files D
292. warning message TWO SIGHTINGS ARE REQUIRED FIX ALT REF MAY BE REQUIRED WARNING DISPLAYED VALUES MAY NOT BE VALID Otherwise the top line of the display will prompt you with a message such as FIND ANY OBJECT where the words ANY OBJECT will be flashing By spinning the DIAL you can change the flashing value to any of the following e ANY OBJECT however does not include artificial satellites e ASTERISM groups of stars e ASTEROID assuming your ARGO Navis has an asteroid catalog loaded e BRIGHT NEBULA such an emission or reflection nebula e COMET assuming your ARGO Navis has a comet catalog loaded e DARK NEBULA e DOUBLE STAR e GALAXY e GALAXY CL Galaxy Clusters ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 e GLOBULAR CL Globular Clusters e MESSIER objects from the Messier Catalog e NEBULA either a bright or dark nebula e NON STELLAR any object that is not a star nor an artificial satellite e OPEN CLUST Open Clusters e PLANET within our own Solar system e PLANETARY N Planetary Nebula e POPULAR Objects with popular names along with Messier objects and planets e SATELLITE Artificial satellites assuming your Arco Navis has a satellite catalog loaded e STAR e TRIPLE STAR e USER OBJECT assuming you have loaded user defined objects into the USER catalog e VARIABLE ST Variable stars
293. which this particular telescope was fitted with and the largest pointing residual dropped to less than 4 5 Sample Fitted Pointing Data Residuals Figure 12 These two diagrams therefore help illustrate the significance of the statistical measure known as RMS and provide an example of how TPAS improved the pointing performance of this particular telescope It may be convenient to imagine the circles represent the Field Of View FOV of an eyepiece It should therefore be apparent that after a model was fitted more objects fell within the FOV of a high powered eyepiece Pointing Terms The TPAS philosophy is as far as possible to provide pointing correction terms that describe real effects such as geometrical misalignments and gravitational flexures Some advantages of this approach include e The model may help you identify diagnose and correct mechanical deficiencies with your telescope lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS Wildcard innovations e If you make no changes to your telescope some terms will be persistent from session to session This allows you to perform a short sampling run to re synchronize those terms that do not persist from session to session e For exact align mounts polar misalignment in both axes can be determined using two specific error terms Table 1 lists the error terms supported by TPAS The first colu
294. y 1mm 1 24 Simultaneously use another small flat bladed screwdriver to nudge the coin cell out of the holder Discard it Now that the old coin cell is removed gently depress the clip a little with the flat bladed screwdriver to ensure that it will maintain a tight spring fit when the new coin cell is inserted Remove the new coin cell from its packaging but do not touch the terminals with your fingers If you do so clean them with a clean cloth While holding the coin cell with a clean cloth or clean cotton gloves gently insert it with the Figure 16 ARGO Navis Model 102 shown side up under the clip Power on the unit and observe the battery flat message should appear once again Now power it off and power it on again The battery flat message should now not appear Remove the two screws indicated Do not remove any other screws Now using both hands very gently pull the upper half j of the casing away from the lower half Otherwise remove the coin cell and being careful not to stretch the internal check that the clip Is tight battery leads that still join the two halves Put the two halves of the unit back together together and re insert all screws sm lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 204 Wildcard innovations Appendix G Troubleshooting guide This section forms a checklist to help you find causes and solut
295. y to operate the equipment under FCC rules lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO Navis M Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 220 Wkdeand innovations CE ARGO NAvis Model 102 Declaration of Conformity Manufacturer s Name Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd Manufacturer s Address 20 Kilmory Place Mount Kuring Gai NSW 2080 Australia declares that the product Product Name Argo Navis Model Number Model 102 conforms to the following Product Specifications EMC EN55022 1998 Class B Complies EN55024 1998 EN61000 4 2 Complies Criterion A EN61000 4 3 Complies Criterion A Supplementary Information This unit is not for mains connection The product was tested by EMC Technologies Pty Ltd Castle Hill NSW Australia Wildcard Innovations Mount Kuring Gai NSW 21 July 2002 lt S gt TM GA ARGO NAVIS ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 221 Wildcard innovations ARGO NAvis Model 102 C Tick Declaration of Conformity Manufacturer s Name Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd Manufacturer s Address 20 Kilmory Place Mount Kuring Gai NSW 2080 Australia Australian Business No 56 076 242 240 ACA Suppliers Code N11511 declares that the product Product Name Argo Navis Model Number Model 102 conforms to the following mentioned standards EMC AS NZS 3548 Class B Complies AS NZS 61000 4 3 Complies
296. you have chosen Capella Spin the DIAL until you see ALIGN CAPELLA Centre Capella in the eyepiece then press ENTER The display will briefly show something like this ALIGN CAPELLA WARP 12 Your WARP number should ideally be as close to 0 00 as possible A number in the range of 0 5 to 0 5 will probably give you reasonable pointing accuracy depending upon the accuracy of your initial FIX ALT REF step and how far you move from the initial alignment stars If your WARP number was much larger you may want to check that you identified the correct stars and repeat the alignment procedure if need be Otherwise see the Troubleshooting guide Only if you are using an equatorial table and you have set your mount type to be EQ TABLE EXACT then perform the following steps to begin tracking Press EXIT to go to the top level menu and then spin the DIAL until you see MODE EQ TABLE then press ENTER The display should show this ARGO Navis User Manual Edition 10 May 2008 for ARGO NAvis Model 102 102B Firmware Vers 2 0 1 26 EQ TBL ELAPSED 06 00 00 8 STOP Simultaneously start the table and press ENTER which will start the ARGo Navis equatorial table timer Refer to the section entitled MODE EQ TABLE in order to learn more about how to successfully use your ARGO NAvis with an equatorial table This completes the alignment procedure Be sure to take the time to read the section on MODE

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