That's very interesting Marc. Now you've made me curious about mine. I have
a 10" LX200 on a Milburn Wedge mounted on a steel pier. Since the wedge is
made of aluminum, I'd expect it to have some significant thermal changes
from our 100+ degree summers to our 10 degree winters.

How did you arrive at a consistent means of measuring the offset error
relative to your base line?

I don't believe I'd trust the LX200 to slew to 90 degrees with enough
accuracy, so I'd like to know your method to accomplish this.

TIA

Mike

Michael Conte (WA3ZII)
Located in Southern MD, USA
Home Page : http://members.aol.com/mikec1151/welcome.htm
SMAS Officer, http://www.ameritel.net/lmoore/smas.htm

"The beatings will continue until morale improves."


----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, December 06, 1999 10:45 AM
Subject: [M]: Perfect Polar Alignment with LX200


> In my pursuit of the perfect polar alignment, I have discovered that the
> polar axis alignment varies significantly with temperature so that I never
> really get consistent polar alignment from one night (or month) to the
next
> on my permanent pier installed 8" LX200 (on Meade wedge). (We're talking
arc
> minutes - I,m a
> stickler for precision). I have empirically quantified the effect and
have
> been able to mathematically model it in Altitude(Above or Below the
> Celestial Pole) with a 99% fit and thereby eliminate it, however, the
effect
> in Azm (East or West of pole) does not appear to show any consistency,...
at
> most a dubious trend.
>
> My question is whether there are material effects of temperature on polar
> alignment in Azimuth (East or West of the pole) rotation. (A 30 C temp
> change showed only a 5.5+/- .7 arc minute shift East-West of the Pole
> compared to
> a 23.5 +/- 1.4 minute shift in Altitude!). If so, I can attempt to model
out
> the effect.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions and comments.
>
> Marc Castel
> Wild Flower Ridge Observatory
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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