There was no head snapping involved -- and I apologize for it coming off that way. There was no intent -- just explanation.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 74444Point at any three bright stars sequentially, no names required.
Enjoy the tour.
Quoting: Orion GuyUsing the GPS models, the telescope will STILL be the one to choose which stars it is aligning to, I believe. It will have a good idea on what's overhead by the lat, long, time, and date, but will probably need a little interaction to be uber-accurate.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 74444Actually, I am looking at the details in the Prion catalog right now and it specifically says that it is point and shoot system. It states the following ...
"Skyalign makes the often tedious initial alignment of the scope for computerized operation as easy as 1,2,3! You just aim the scope sequentially at any three bright stars or planets in the sky - and you don;teven have to know their names! Then - PRESTO! The telescope is oriented and ready to go"
That said, if the Earth did flip, the telescope would be able to track the stars for the moment it was aligned. After that it would fail, because the same assumptions are built into the GPS models as older GOTOs.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 74444That makes sense
It is the Celestron CPC series. Specifically the CPC 800 XLT, 925 XLT and the 1100 XLT. I am kinda leaning toward the 1100...
I'll have a look. Sounds nifty. But *eyepieces* is where it's at. Get a lot of different, varied ones -- and a good, wide planetary eyepiece. Makes all the difference in the world.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 74444Thanks for the tip. I definitely want some good eyepieces. This is my first big purchase as the scope itself will cost 2700.00 and it is a Schmidt-Cassegrain which is a new scope for me.
Exactly. But if the "map," overhead, is moving in weird unpredictable ways (as you implied with the Sun rising in 'strange places') there isn't any way for the telescope to figure it out. It's still blind as a bat, it just has a very accurate map in its brain, and very precise knowledge of how the sky is SUPPOSED to move. It can't adapt to any weird motion -- it doesn't even have a way to SENSE weird motion.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 74444That is completely logical, but can you explain why the abrupt stoppage of Chandler's wobble did not affect anyone's scopes?? This Chandler's wobble thing is what made me begin to think this way. As long as we have star map vs. constant(ie earth rotation and timing), would it really matter where you were?
How is it that you can go anywhere on earth and have them still be accurate even though the line of sight regarding earth has change
Anyhow -- I didn't mean to come off like I was insulting you. Apologies.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 74444That being said, no need for apologies but it was appreciated. This place has trolls with industrial downriggers so sometimes you walk in here with the gloves up so my apologies as well.
