USING YOUR COMPUTER
If you wish to start using your MAX computer immediately without reading through the manual, or you just want a quick refresher course, please refer to the
The MAX computer has several modes, or applications to enhance your observing time. Below is a list of the modes available:
ALIGN STAR or STAR FIX
RA DEC
CATALOG
GUIDE
ALIGN
ENCODER
SETUP or Install
TIMER
POLAR
alignment stars (chosen with the UP/DOWN buttons) and then center that star in your telescope's eyepiece.
With the chosen star centered as well as possible in your telescope's eyepiece (not the finder scope), press the ENTER button to align the MAX computer on that star. Never use Polaris as an alignment star for an Equatorial mount and never use a star near Zenith for an Alt/Az mount. Any delay in pressing the ENTER button might allow the star to drift slightly from center, thereby decreasing the accuracy of your alignment — try to keep this delay as small as possible, with five seconds or less being about right. For increased accuracy during the alignment process, it is recommended that a short focal length (high power) eyepiece be used.
If you should accidentally press the ENTER button and align the MAX computer before you had the star centered in your eyepiece, you will need to reset the unit by turning it off, waiting five seconds, and then turning it back on.
When you press ENTER for the first alignment, the MAX computer will briefly report a "warp" factor such as the following:
WARP=- 0.2
IDENTIFY
Upon turning the unit on, you will see a brief message, followed by ALIGN STAR or STAR FIX. (If instead you see a message to point the telescope a particular direction, you should do so if you plan to align the computer with the sky. See SETUP on page 11 for further information. When operating the unit apart from the telescope, you may simply press ENTER at this point.)
Use the UP and DOWN buttons to scroll through the various modes. Notice that either of these buttons pressed for more than an instant will cause the options to scroll faster until the button is released. Following is a detailed description of each of these modes and how to use them. For reference, the UP and DOWN buttons scroll through options (whether choosing a mode, star name, catalog number or other option), and the ENTER button selects the currently displayed option. The MODE button is solely for returning to the mode level to permit selection of a new mode.
It is recommended that the new user study each of the following mode descriptions with the MAX computer in hand.
ALIGN STAR or STAR FIX
Upon entering this mode, the display will read ALIGN ACHERNAR or similar. When connected to your telescope's encoders, you would need to select one of the
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If you are using either of the EP or GP mount settings, which assume that the mount is perfectly polar aligned, the warp value will show zero and you will be ready to begin using the other features of the unit. If you are not using EP or GP (see SETUP on page 11) then you should finish this section before continuing.
Since the telescope is not perfectly polar aligned (i.e. you are not using the EP or GP mode), you will need to align on one more star to complete the alignment procedure. For best results, the second star should be between 60° and 120° distance from the first star. Simply repeat the initial procedure of selecting a star name, pointing the scope to that star, then pressing ENTER. (Note: for simplicity, the method of aligning on two stars is presented here. In reality, the user may choose to align on any two objects in the MAX computer database, including the user definable objects, via the ALIGN mode.)
Once again you will see a warp factor displayed. This message is reporting how many degrees the telescope is from where the MAX computer expected it to be when pointing at your selected alignment object. This number should be within plus or minus
If the warp factor is considerable, you should confirm that