Simple if the procedure is too complex it will be prone to error. Easy polar alignment for astrophotography step by step. Are the calibrate home and calibrate sensors features of the setup menu applicable to a permanently mounted polar aligned scope. If you have a forkmounted schmidtcassegrain telescope, you can begin your polar alignment process during the day. So heres my questionafter polar alignment, either by kochab or drift method, when i power up. None of these methods require the scope to be powered up and tracking, so its convenient to do the polar alignment before the mount is all festooned with cables and hand controls i use. Polar align and calibrate homesensors lx200 series. I currently do a rough polar alignment for observing then kick off a session but upon searching for more accurate methods other than drift alignment found these re.
The method has some hefty prerequisites in that it works with a ccd camera, either ccdsoft or maxim dl, and either thesky or pinpoint for plate solving some versions of maxim provide pinpoint. Wcs fast and accurate polaralignment for astronomical mounts using stardriftcalculation and webcam, drift alignment nov 23, 2012 im curious as to how many people here use this method to achieve precise polar alignment for their mounts and how they get on with it. Im curious as to how many people here use this method to achieve precise polar alignment for their mounts and how they get on with it. Survey of polar alignment methods celestial wonders. A new way to polar align if you are using an equatorial mount, fork or german equatorial, for imaging, that mount has to be accurately polar aligned. Polar scope align is designed to be accurate within a. Accurate polar alignment with eq3eq5heq5 and eq6 mounts. With paa, you can easily polar align your gem quite accurately. With pempro version 3 you can now correct your mounts periodic error, polar alignment and backlash using your ccd camera or webcam to dramatically improve tracking and guiding.
Polar alignment is an essential first step towards a night of visual observation or astrophotography. Goto accuracy is relatively immune to polar alignment being off. At this point, it would not be expected to have to change the wedge latitude adjustment more than 1 degree. You also need to set the rotation center of the mount, which can be calibrated after clicking the clear rotation center button onscreen. In this video, we discuss the concepts of polar alignment, drift alignment, and tracking targets for astrophotography. The use of laser pointers is becoming somewhat of a problem, particularly at star parties. By far the most frequently asked question i hear from beginners is how the hell do i polar align my telescope. Alpha polaris or sigma octan hour angle location ha will be calculate depending of your site location. It is hoped that the seemingly difficult concept of polar alignment can be. Set up and align the goto system in whatever way the mount requires. Lets go through a quick and easy kochab clock polar alignment for the night of june 15. Dec 20, 20 in this video, we discuss the concepts of polar alignment, drift alignment, and tracking targets for astrophotography. I intend to include more detailed comparisons, but in the short term, i hope that the following is useful.
In the southern hemisphere the procedure is the same but you have to use the asterism in octans. Paul boltwood has pioneered a very simple and effective technique for polar alignment. Astromate x64 is a project for automating repeating astrophotography tasks, such as equatorial mount polar alignment and target centering, by integrating existing tools and especially plate solving to the ascom telescope control interface. For use with my equatorial mounts i have recently acquired the qhy polemaster polar alignment camera system and have been able to simply adapt its mount so that it can be used in place of the polar scope or laser on the astrotrac. Clays kochabs clock polar alignment method for the german equatorial mount this is a very simple method of achieving a very precise polar alignment with the lxd75 mount using the polar scope. Polar scope align is designed to be accurate within a few arcseconds. Sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and deep sky imaging. Next, do a rough polar alignment, and then take a 60second ccd image of the pole. The right ascension axis has to be pointed precisely at the north celestial pole or south celestial pole. A borescope is a small telescope, usually with an illuminated reticle, inside the polar axis of a german equatorial mount.
Polar alignment is the act of aligning the rotational axis of a telescopes equatorial mount or a sundials gnomon with a celestial pole to parallel earths axis. One of the coolest polar alignment methods to come along is the freeware polealignmax by larry weber and steve brady. Youll need to enter in your latlong coordinates of your location, which you can easily find online or using the gps on your phone. By aligning the axis of your telescope mount with the motion of the sky, you can accurately track objects in space. This procedure is quick and easy and can make a huge difference to your astrophotography. Fine tune your polar alignment in sharpcap step by step. Using goto for polar alignment without software feature. For accurate polar alignment for astrophotography exposures longer than a few minutes per frame there are a lot of methods, one is the time consuming drift method.
Make sure that the proper pole location is labeled on the chart. Feb 11, 2017 tutorial on how to use ekos polar align assistant tool paa. Although all of these methods work with varying results, i am not really happy with most of them for one reason or another. I first set the scope to home and then center polaris. The star deck observatory kochabs alignment for the gem. A wide range of features makes sharpcap suitable for many types of astroimaging including planetary, lunar, solar, deep sky and eaa electronically assisted astronomy. Allstar polar alignment celestron telescopes, telescope. Polar alignment free polar alignment software download. Clays kochab clock precise portable polar alignment every time. Guide to polar alignment of a meade lx200gps telescope page 7 of 11 when it asks for the scope to be placed in polar home position, hit enter. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions before i do though. Your polar alignment will be off by nearly a degree in this case. Drift alignment getting the longest exposure possible with precise polar alignment duration. This is suitable for mounts with setting circles or polaralignment scopes, such as bore scopes.
Personally, i find polar alignment with a polar alignment scope faster and more convenient than a mounts polar alignment software, and sufficiently accurate for most purposes, so i rarely use the software feature on mounts that have a polar alignment scope. The red reticule pattern describe the polaris position like a polar scope. Then i adjust the kochab offset using the adjustments on the wedge. I am using manual polar alignment wedge and the kochab method. The drift align method can be used in either hemisphere by using a free software called phd2 guiding. Just follow the steps in the video and polar align your mount in few.
How to make a polarcam using a webcam for your equatorial mount. Three astrophotography tracking mounts professor morisons. Apr 02, 2018 download parot polar aligner for free. Ive been googling all evening and lost for a possible solution for tweeking the polar alignment for an observatory based heq5 mount. The following is a list of all the polar alignment software that i am aware of. Even at star parties, experienced users can be thrown off by a new location and suddenly need to relearn the art of accurate polar alignment. Align the ra axis of your astrophotography mount to the north celestial pole using polar alignment in sharpcap pro. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and usb frame grabbers. A decent polar alignment first can help the initial alignment stars come a little closer to the finders center, but that is it.
In the lx200gps manual the emphasis seems to be on altaz setups. As of now, there is an handcontroller gui application pad, which includes the use of a joypad device, and a helper for polar aligning an equatorial mount polar align. Polar alignment of your equatorial mount the blog formerly. This method will work well for any german equatorial mount having a polar scope installed in the mount. I have used several methods of polar alignment over the years. The time and latitude for calculating sideral local time are read directly from the system and the gps present in the mobile device. Dec 12, 2016 whether you have a portable or observatorymounted equatorial telescope, accurate polar alignment is a must if you plan to do any longexposure photography. Besides a small catalog browserreader catalogs, and a more specific align viewer gui application aimed at displaying current alignment data for the eqmod indi driver. 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.
I also show your how to polar align your mount very quickly and accurately using speedy polar alignment tool. You can easily achieve alignment accuracy better than 1 arcmin in 5 minutes of time. Polar alignment wcs fast and accurate polaralignment. According to his description, the technique should be as accurate as drift alignment but much faster and easier. I use the alignment tool in eqmod, which rotates the mount to the ha for polaris, but there are two factors which allow for a near enough rather than a. In fact, you dont really need software polar alignment features in your scope. Wait another 3 months, and now itll be off by close to 2 degrees.
Clay sherrods kochab clock, try setting the declination, to the ncp, by readjusting the dec for altitude and the wedgetotripod pivot for easttowest position. Using a planetarium program, create a chart of the area around the pole north or south. Once in this position, a quick finder centering of polaris and offset via the kochabs clock observational guidesreferencesprecise portable polar alignment using only the adjustments in the tripod not the slow motions of the telescope will get you very close to good polar alignment for a successful alignment and subsequent nights. Jul 21, 2015 ive been googling all evening and lost for a possible solution for tweeking the polar alignment for an observatory based heq5 mounti use the alignment tool in eqmod, which rotates the mount to the ha for polaris, but there are two factors which allow for a near enough rather than a spot on adjust. The polar alignment is now very precise, and good enough for most needs. Adjust the mount using the alt and az bolts so that the pole star is in the little circle.
Infact polarfinder using the gps location calculate the sideral local time. Jan 24, 2011 polarfinder calculate, just in time, the sideral local medium time and the position of the polaris. A buddy of mine polar aligned on kochab one night by mistake and his gotos were still good his tracking was pretty bad as you can imagine. The list includes polealignmax, align master, eq align, wcs, pempro, polar finder, star targ 2. Eqalign is a project that assists to align a german equatorial mount gem exactly to the earth polar axis. The equipment used in this example a skywatcher heq5 german equatorial mount.
Kochabs clock question lx200 series meade 4m community. After calculating sideral local time polarfinder calculate the polaris position. Whether you have a portable or observatorymounted equatorial telescope, accurate polar alignment is a must if you plan to do any longexposure photography. Very intrigued by the apparent ease of this method and about to strip the nicely collimated polar scope down to line it up with counterweight bar.
If you are using a polar alignment borescope, polemaster, sharpcap, or the kochabs clock method, do polar alignment now. Hi alli have an lx200r in polar mode on a permanent pier and ive been trying to get polar alignment using dr. Parot is a program for ultra fast and precise polar alignment of equatorial mounts. Phd2 is guiding software inspired by stark labs phd guiding. Accurate polar alignment is a specific requirement of any kind of astrophotography as only by achieving this alignment can accurate tracking of celestial bodies be made and this is a prerequisite of photographing sky objects. For instructions on polar alignment using drift align in the southern hemisphere, visit how to polar align easily in phd2 drift align. Sharpcap is an easytouse and powerful astronomy camera capture tool. Here is a link to the astro imaging channel that has an extensive discussion of pempro with the author. Use the altitude and azimuth adjusters to placec polaris into the small circle in the polar scope reticule. Clays kochab s clock polar alignment method for the german equatorial mount this is a very simple method of achieving a very precise polar alignment with the lxd75 mount using the polar scope. The method used is that of julius scheiner 185819 german mathematic, physic, astronomer and pioneer in astrophotography.
Obviously there could be others that i am not aware of. This is suitable for mounts with setting circles or polar alignment scopes, such as bore scopes. Polar drift alignment pda and static polar alignment spa they can be viewed here. Ken has put together some video tutorials on the new phd2 polar alignment tools. Polar align and calibrate homesensors posted in lx200 series. Using kochabs clock for precise polar alignment the. Polar scope align pro assists you in daylight polar alignment, useful for solar observing eclipses, or also for nighttime alignment where you dont have a line of sight to the polar star. For me, the ideal polar alignment procedure should be. Clays kochab clock precise portable polar alignment every. Polar alignment tool video tutorials ken has put together some video tutorials on the new phd2 polar alignment tools.
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