Solar And Lunar Siting - Si, Sim - Kipp & Zonen Brewer Mk III Operator's Manual

7

SOLAR AND LUNAR SITING - SI, SIM

Accurate measurements depend on the instrument being aligned very accurately to the Sun (or
Moon). Not only is this important for the direct measurements, but for reasons of polarisation and
consistency, it applies to all measurements.
During installation, care is taken to ensure that the Brewer is oriented properly, but it is not possible
to mechanically align the Tripod and the Tracker to the accuracy required.
Following installation, the SI (SIM) command can be used to determine both "NORTH
CORRECTION" and "HORIZON CORRECTION" information which are used to compensate for
any solar misalignment of the instrument.
It is assumed that the date is correct, that the time is accurate to within 20 seconds of GMT, and
that the co-ordinates of the site are accurate to two decimal places of latitude and longitude
degrees.
The following procedure applies to both SI and SIM commands.
SI Procedure
1. From the Main Menu, issue the command sequence PDSRSI.
- PD turns on the printer
- SR zeros and resets the Tracker
- SI puts the software into the Siting Mode
- the default mode enables the controls on the Brewer
2. Being careful not to block the sun, look into the "Entrance Slit View Tube".
If a bright diffused image is nowhere to be seen, then go to step 4.
3. Using the UP/DOWN and CW/CCW controls on the front of the Brewer to move the Zenith
Prism and/or the Azimuth Tracker such that the diffused image is dissected by the black
rectangular image of the entrance slit.
Go to step 5.
4. Being careful not to block the Sun, look into the "Iris Viewing Tube".
If the Azimuth pointing is accurate to within about 10°, then a bright image of the Sun will be
seen.
If no image is seen, and none was seen in step 2, then the Tracker will have to be put into
rough alignment by observing shadows cast by various parts on the Brewer, and pushing the
CW or CCW buttons until an image appears.
Once the image is seen in the Viewport, the UP/DOWN and CW/CCW controls are used to
move the image into the aperture of the iris.
When the image disappears into the Iris aperture, then go to step 2.
7. SOLAR AND LUNAR SITING – SI, SIM
MKIII OPERATOR'S MANUAL
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