Observations

This Calibration Observations window displays a scrollable list of observations in the current calibration. The list can be resized by dragging the bottom, and it can be scrolled by dragging the right-hand scroll bar.

Each alignment point is listed. If the alignment was based on a star, the star Name will be displayed. If Auto-Calibration was used, the name will be the date and time of the observation. The True RA and True Dec positions are displayed, as well as the measured residual Error in arc-minutes. The residual error shows how much error remains after the MaxPoint correction is made. You can also see separate ErrRA and ErrDec values (tip: these can be hidden if desired by resizing the window.)

The check boxes under Use allow you to disable a particular observation if you feel it may be suspect (i.e. inaccurate). Observations may be suspect if they have a large residual error after all your other observations have been made.

You can Save your observations to a comma separated variable (.csv) file. These files can be opened with any text editor or popular spreadsheet applications. The errors are not saved; they are recalculated when you load the file back into MaxPoint. Note: this only saves the current observations; generally speaking it is not necessary or useful to save a Recal Permanent or Recal Portable run.

You can Open a previously-saved calibration file. If Apply Corr. is checked on the Control Panel, the correction terms will be automatically recalculated and applied.

You can manually force a Recalculate of the pointing model and errors. You would normally do this after changing one of the Use check boxes. If Apply Corr. is checked on the Control Panel, the recalculation is always performed automatically.

Pointing Errors brings up a graphical display of the pointing errors for each observation. This is a useful tool for finding suspect observations.

Remove will permanently remove an observation from the list. Use this only to remove an observation permanently; to temporarily remove the observation, just remove the check mark under Use.

If you remove an observation by mistake, click Undo Remove . Note that changes to the model and error measurements will not be made unless you click Recalculate or Apply Corr. is turned on in the Control Panel.