Polar alignment, looking for more accurate methods. You dont need to do it every time you set up the mount. The position of polaris depends by the latitude and the sideral local time. The qhy polemaster allows you to obtain a high precision polar alignment up to 30 arcseconds in about two minutes. Whether you are a visual astronomer or astro imager the one thing when using an equatorial mount is to ensure the r. Polar alignment sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and. The eqmod software has a polar scope simulator for this. Polarfinder calculate, just in time, the sideral local medium time and the position of the polaris. Polar alignment tool video tutorials ken has put together some video tutorials on the new phd2 polar alignment tools.
Use the altitude and azimuth adjusters to placec polaris into the small circle in the polar scope reticule. However, you should still have performed the aligning the polar scope reticule procedure. Please note that the only inapp purchases available are tips. Polar alignment, looking for more accurate methods oct 25, 2017 hello everyone, im looking for better methods to improve my polar alignment. When unscrewing the polar alignment scope plug m4037 be sure to only remove the m4037. Which actually is a small refractor with printed drawings of ncp and position of polaris in relation to it. Normally to do this means getting down and looking. Polar alignment relies on one theory as a fulcrum that the polar axis of your telescope should be parallel to the earths axis of rotation. For noncomputerized telescopes, a polar scope is the best option. Easily install it onto any equatorial mount through mountspecific adapters, even on mounts without a polar scope. This simply means that you should be pointing your telescope at a celestial pole so you can cancel out the motion of the sky by turning the axis by hand motor drive at the same rate as the earths.
Take the strain out of polar alignment with the ioptron ipolar electronic polarscope. The actual position of polaris now compared to when the polar scope was made has to be taken into consideration, and is a best guess on how to place polaris the issue i have is limited views to the east and west, so where most drift alignment routines fall over for me is selecting suitable stars low enough down on the eastern western. A polar scope makes aligning the polar axis of this mount with the north celestial pole much easier. This means that the user often has to nudge the scope in two directions simultaneously to compensate for the earths rotation and follow a celestial object. Neither of these two parts will be used with the new configuration.
By recognizing the stars in each of the pictures, sharpcap can work out two things. Install the finder into the polar finder port, located at the rear of the mount, and focus the eyepiece until the reticle is sharp. Adjust the mount using the alt and az bolts so that the pole star is in the little circle. No matter which camera tracker or equatorial telescope mount youre using, when it comes to astrophotography, accurate polar alignment is critical if you have ever struggled to polar align your telescope mount with the north or south.
Starshoot p1 polar alignment camera w atlasprosvp adapter. To get really accurate ncp alignment this program will show you where to put polaris in your sights to be correctly aligned. So in astrophotography an accurate polar alignment, like accurate focus, is critical. All of the telescope mounts on the list above include a polar alignment scope depending on the version you order, with the exception of the celestron cgem. Plug the polar alignment scope into the lowerend opening and secure it with thumbscrews. Invaluable as a guide to this topic which can be very confusing. Before we begin the polar alignment procedure, the mount has to be prepared by aligning the polar scope to the mounts axis. Get some help polar aligning your celestron cgem, advanced vx, or cg5 mount with the addition of the polar finderscope. The alignment software will perform plate solving near the pole star area. Polar alignment when your scope is not in zero position for mounts like ioptron zeqcem on which you can always access the polar scope. Your mg32 doesnt even need to be perfectly aligned with your optical tube. Remember zero position on celestron skywatcher orion. The scope has an etched reticle usually illuminated that shows the offset from polaris to true celestial north. This is a major issue for the long exposure times required for deepsky objects on 35mm film, but is still an issue for dim objects with a ccd camera.
Simple polar alignment for beginners lonewolf online. Remove polar scope covers and rotate dec axis until you see opening in it. Polar scope align pro for ios free download and software. The time and latitude for calculating sideral local time are read directly from the system and the gps present in the mobile device. You take one picture, let sharpcap analyze it, rotate your mount by about 90 degrees about the ra axis and take the second picture. Threaded cap for rightangle polar scope adapter m16106a we are making this cap available separately as a spare in case you lose the one included with the ri. Polar alignmentaligning the skywatcher heq5orion sirius. Schmidt cassegrain telescope advice astrophotography.
Polar align with polar finder scopes electronic polar. An equatorial mount allows a scope to move in the celestial directions of northsouth and eastwest. If you order an altair gpcam camera with your mg32, you get a free 1 year sharpcap pro software license with the camera, so you can polar align your telescope or camera lens with extreme accuracy out of the box in minutes. Qhy polemaster polar alignment camera free shipping opt. Easy polar alignment for astrophotography step by step.
If you intend to do imaging, the next steps will cover the polar alignment process to dial in that last bit of precision for long exposure imaging. The skywatcher heq5 in this example features a builtin polar scope with an illuminated reticle. A comprehensive tutorial on setting up the polar scope finder for the popular heq5 mount and polar alignment. Prior to using the polar scope, you may want to do a rough polar alignment. Rightangle polar alignment scope adapter for 900gto mounts rap900 special note regarding a select few 900 mounts. I turn the mount on and feed the handset with all the current data and proceed to star alignment procedure. Polarscope is a polarscope alignment app that runs on your windows desktop, tablet and phone. Polar alignment is the act of aligning the rotational axis of a telescope s equatorial mount or a sundial s gnomon with a celestial pole to parallel earths axis. The polar alignment works by analyzing two pictures taken of the area near the pole. Yes, use the polar scope for a precise polar alignment.
Nightly alignment with hour angle for this procedure, you do not need to orient the polar scope reticule, as described below, since you will not be using the date scale index marker. Im using a star adventurer, the integrated scope is not accurate and precise at all, and even if some people say you dont really need very accurate alignments on small trackers, i still want to aim to. If you own a telescope with an equatorial mount, you will probably have a polar finder scope to help you align with the ncp. Polarscope is a polar scope alignment app that runs on your windows desktop, tablet and phone. The setup process can also be used with the eq6 mount and orion equivalents.
Simply attach the p1 to your mount with the included adapter, load up the software on your computer, and follow the easy step by step directions to. The polaris also moves on its orbit around celestial pole. The polemaster uses a sensitive camera to take a picture of sky around polaris. Qhy polemaster electronic polar scope high point scientific.
You only need to do this once, or if something comes loose, or just needs recalibrating. Perfect for polar alignment with sharpcap pro and altair gpcam. Mount accessories polar alignment scopes astrophysics. Lets say youre all set to capture photos of the 2017 solar eclipse with your trusty scope on a suntracking equatorial mount, but clouds thwart your view of the event. Polemaster is easy to use and alignment results are very good. Polar align on equatorial mount in southern hemisphere. The position of polaris the pole star is approx 1degree from the true north celestial pole ncp. The p1 performs a precise polar alignment in just a few minutes time, with an accuracy of up to 30 arc seconds. Allstar is our exclusive, innovative polar alignment procedureavailable on select celestron computerized telescopesthat allows users to choose any bright star not just one near the ncp while the software calculates and assists with polar alignment. Many equatorial mounts have an option to permanently mount a small telescope inside the hole bored through the polar axis. All of the optical polar alignment scopes, like the losmandy one, or the orion atlas one, have a small diameter fragile, round glass plate, having the markings etched on photo lithographed out of a chrome metal layer, like used in the semiconductor industry for litho mask layers. In the southern hemisphere the procedure is the same but you have to use the asterism in octans. You need the help of a tool to get good polar alignment. It works in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and comes with a selection of popular polarscope reticles.
Start by removing the 900 mounts polar axis rear cap m9403 or m12666 and the polar alignment scope plug m4037, if it has one. A polar alignment scope is a very small finderscope which gives a slightly magnified view of the area around polaris. Drift alignment software for german equatorial mounts. Features include one touch night vision touch the heading of any page to toggle night vision on and off. It works in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and comes with a selection of popular polar scope reticles. Very popular software for web cam imaging, which i believe can also be used for polar alignment. Tpoint by software bisque, used in conjunction with thesky tpoint will provide polar alignment data which can be used to polar align the mount. Plate solving and polar alignment if the ipolar has been calibrated, there will be a bright red cross on the screen, which is the polar scope camera centermount ra axis.
With the orion starshoot p1 polar alignment camera, you can forget about all of that. Move the mount in dec so the polar scope can be used and in ra so the pole star marker corresponds to the same position as shown in the polarscope view window. The qhy polemaster electronic polar scope was designed to make your polar alignment routine easier, and more precise. Jeffrey geiss is my special guest star and he covers all the details about the polemaster in p2. Unfortunately an accurate polar alignment isnt very easy to do. It only needs to be done once, unless you have removed the polar alignment scope from the mount. If polar alignment is lost, it is now a simple matter to bring it back without having to start from scratch. So to help us to perform good polar alignment, manufactures had implemented whats called polar scope finder inside of the mounts ra axis. Polar scope align will calculate the position of polaris or. Celestron cgem, skymaster pro, altas eqg, atlas pro, neq6, exos2gt, and the eq6azeq6. Polar drift alignment pda and static polar alignment spa they can be viewed here. I attached a youtube video on how to use the polar scope. Qhyccd polemaster polar alignment results, software. Octantis in your polar scope reticle for your location using your.
A telescope on an altazimuth mount simply moves updown altitude and leftright azimuth. For visual observers youre set now, and can stop following the tutorial here. Now when i perform very first goto of the star alignment, the handset software assumes that we start from perfectly polar aligned position and also from home position of the mount, so the first goto should be somehow precise. Do not allow the bearing thrust plate behind it to turn. Octantis in your polar scope reticle for your location using your phones gps, allowing a quick and accurate polar alignment.
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