Software Bisque Paramount 6 Series - Page 24

Paramount GEM User Guide
24 | P a g e
Physically Marking the Home Position
If, after finding the home position, the cross hairs that are displayed on the Sky Chart are at the wrong
coordinates, one or more of the following is probably true:
• The mount is not aligned to the celestial pole. (Believe it or not, Software Bisque has had several
support cases claiming that the mount could not point the telescope correctly, only to discover
the Paramount’s polar axis was mounted in the wrong direction; for example, the polar axis was
pointing south in the northern hemisphere, in other words, 180 degrees off.)
• The optical tube assembly is mounted “backwards” on the Versa-Plate.
• TheSky Professional’s location, date, time, time zone or daylight-saving time settings are wrong
for your observing site.
• The wrong star was centered in the eyepiece when the mount was calibrated. Improper
calibration results in the telescope cross hairs to be displayed at the wrong spot on the Sky Chart.
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. The homing process is 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 TheSky Professional) to slew the mount to any orientation.
4. Double tap the joystick to find home again.