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Fed up off mucky knees using the polar scope?


g0ibi

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Here is a handy bit of kit I made having seen it on the Astronomers Shed (Credit where credit is due!).See attached pictures I used a 32mm plastic pipe end piece and drilled a 21mm hole in its base, then sanded down the flat end to the same thickness as the Phillips lens holder. Fitting it inside and clicking it into place. I also drilled a small 2mm hole to aid removal from the polar scope. When fitted you can use any web-cam software ie: Sharpcap and a laptop to polar align in comfort! Hope this helps some back-sufferers etc..

Ron

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I suppose now that you have suggested it, it is only a matter of time.... :):D

Gary

Im sure a self levelling self calibrating and aligning scope is more than doable,

of course it would have the "Astronomical" price to go with it.

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Very neat tech solution. My lower tech solution to avoid the mucky knees is a cheap gardener's kneeling pad. Can't say it helps the back though, or the need for the third hand to hold the red light torch over the exit hole in the mount whilst using the other two to adjust the azimuth bolts...:)

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Fantastic idea - I've just made one to use with the polar scope on an astrotrac and it works a treat in daylight. Just need some clear weather to try a night time run and see how well it can pick up the second and third alignment stars in the polar scope.

Thx for the suggestion

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Can you post an "action shot" when you're actually doing the alignment? I'd love to see what it actually looks like then. I'm assuming the polar scope isn't illuminated, so you'll be relying on the contrast with the sky to be able to see the alignment images?

James

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James, These are the links to the astroshed you tube videos. The first illustrates the concept and describes well how to go about the mod.

The second illustrates the real time view through the polar scope and the alignment of polaris. It looks like the polar scope is illuminated in the real time test.

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Just watched the videos :)

WOW!!! That IS brilliant :( I was surprised how well Polaris showed up in the webcam image. And it's such a simple mod, and cheap too.

Even though I expect to do the polar alignment just the once when I have my obsy built, I still think it's worth using the webcam. I have a spare front bit from the SPC900NC that I did the LX mod on so it won't even hog a webcam. In any case I have 5 spare ones that I bought from Morgans when they had a special offer :)

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Now if you can read the output of the camera and use it to control steppers to polar align...................
Oh no!!! Don't :( Not another project??!! I have enough already :)
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