TAO - Slew time measurement script

' SLEW TIME MEASUREMENT PARAMETERS
DecForRAMeasure = +85.                ' Dec. (degrees) at which RA slew time measurements will
                                      ' be performed. Suggested values are +60 for latitudes
                                      ' north of +15 deg, and -60 for latitudes south of
                                      ' -15 deg
dRAInit = 0.000093                    ' Initial value of the RA increment (hours) during the RA  
                                      ' slew time measurements
dDecInit = 0.0018                     ' Initial value of the Dec increment (deg) during the Dec
                                      ' slew time measurements

DecForRAMeasure. This parameter specifies the declination (in degrees) at which the right ascension slew time measurements will be performed. Suggested values are +60 for stations at latitudes north of 15°N and -60 for stations at latitudes south of 15°S.
dRAInit. This parameter specifies the length (in hours) of the first (and shortest) slew in right ascension whose duration will be measured. A value of the order of 0.0001 is usually adequate.
dDecInit. This parameter specifies the length (in degrees) of the first (and shortest) slew in declination whose duration will be measured. A value of the order of 0.001 is usually adequate.

Safe telescope position/parking option

' SAFE TELESCOPE POSITION/PARKING OPTION
SafeAlt = 70.                         ' Altitude (deg) of safe telescope position
SafeAz = 270.                         ' Azimuth (deg) of safe telescope position
parkOnCompletion = True               ' True to park telescope upon completion
checkForDisconnectAfterPark = False   ' Set this to True if the connection between ACP and the
                                      ' telescope is terminated shortly after the telescope is
                                      ' parked (as in TheSky-controlled telescopes), and to False
                                      ' otherwise (as in SciTech telescopes)

SafeAlt. This parameter specifies the altitude (in degrees) of a safe telescope position, to which the telescope will slew in certain situations when it could in principle stay tracking for long periods without doing any other action. This position should be such that the telescope could track for a long time without hitting any telescope slew limits. It should also be away from the ecliptic to prevent accidental pointing at the sun in case of some equipment or software problem. For German equatorial mounts, one would normally define this position to be west of the meridian (to prevent the mount from tracking into the meridian), north (south) of the ecliptic if the telescope is in the northern (southern) hemisphere.

SafeAz. This parameter specifies the azimuth (in degrees, measured from north = 0 deg through east = 90 deg) of the safe telescope position discussed above.

parkOnCompletion. Set this to True to park the telescope at the end of the slew time measurements, and to False otherwise.

checkForDisconnectAfterPark. This parameter serves to prevent a script error which occurs after parking certain automated telescope mounts. Set it to True if the connection between ACP and the telescope is terminated shortly after the telescope is parked (when this happens, the numbers in the ACP telescope display will disappear), as happens on TheSky-controlled telescopes (such as the Paramount). If ACP stays connected to the telescope after parking, set this parameter to False.

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© 1999-2004 Paulo Holvorcem