Synchronization - Paramount Fitness ME II User Manual


The wrong star was centered in the eyepiece when the mount was synchronized. Improper
synchronization results in the telescope cross hairs to be displayed at the wrong spot on the Sky
Chart. And this error is particularly apparent after the mount is homed.
Many come to the incorrect conclusion when the telescope cross hairs on the Sky Chart are wrong, there
must be something wrong with the homing process. Homing is generally very reliable and rarely fails. The
procedure below demonstrates that, after homing, the Paramount is always in the same mechanical
position.
1. Home the mount.
2. On each axis, place a piece of masking tape over the rotating portion and cut the tape between
the rotating parts of the mount. The "vertical" edges of the tape mark the home position in that
axis.
3. Use the joystick (or TheSkyX Professional Edition) to slew the mount to any orientation.
4. Double-tap the joystick to find home again.
The Paramount will dutifully return to the identical position in each axis.
This "homing repeatability test" will hopefully provide confidence that, after finding home, the mount is
always pointing to hour angle 2 and declination 0 (in the northern hemisphere), and will help narrow down
the actual causes of pointing errors (most commonly, an invalid synchronization, incorrect settings in
TheSkyX Professional Edition, or poor polar alignment).

Synchronization

Synchronizing (or "syncing") the Paramount initializes the control system to a specific equatorial
coordinate. In short, you tell the mount, "You are here!" Synchronization involves centering a known star
Figure 4: Marking the Paramount's home position.
Paramount User Guide
25 | P a g e