Polar Alignment help needed!!!!

[Craigyboy3542]

Hey All 

I am trying to get in to imaging more and i know i need a really good alignment for this, due to being in a wheelchair i am really struggling with this i have tried 2 different mods but find these aren't really helping at all i am looking into drift alignment or using Alignmaster (more the latter) but just want to know how close the initial alignment needs to be?? i am not wanting to set a pier in place as i would like to be mobile. 

Mods i have tired 

1. Converted a SPC900 webcam. but find when it gets dark enough to see Polaris you can't see any markings in the polar scope. Cam mod 

2. Right angle polar scope viewer, when i have tried this one i find everything is inverted and really confusing where Polaris is. 

And my final problem but this is probably just me being thick is i find it hard to distinguish Polaris from the other stars when looking through the Polar Scope. 

Any advise or tips would be most helpful as i currently feel there is no point me continuing with the hobby if i can't get this basic step sorted

[VigdisVZ]

I always find polaris to be very distinct in the finder scope. Once you've seen it once, its very obvious.

It might help the camera to adjust the led power in the polar scope, there is a setting on the synscan.

How mobile are you out of the chair? I can picture doing it somewhat like my grandfather did, when he was in a wheel chair and working on cars on his back on a rolling board.

However I think some kind of right angle polar scope viewer/periscope thingy is the way to go.

Also research into drift alignment, should be sufficient if you get a rough alignment done with just compass and grade scale on the mount.

Keep us posted on progress.

[Owmuchonomy]

As Carl says above. Also, If you really want to be mobile it does mean setting up each time. If being mobile wasn't a major concern then I would suggest that you mark your tripod position. I use this method at home. It does mean though that you need to get a really good polar alignment once. After you've achieved this, if you've marked your tripod position you don't need to see Polaris ever again. Instead you use the 2 star alignment followed by the Polar Alignment routine in the Synscan software. I find it takes 2 to 3 iterations of this process to get Mel and Maz errors less than 30" which is good for imaging. I hope you find a solution that suits you.

[Tiny Small]

Yup, drift alignment is the way to go. It sounds a lot harder than it is. Once you have done it once, the hardest thing then is developing patience to do it properly.

[Zakalwe]

A laser pointer can help when starting out. Hold it against the body of the mount and point it at Polaris. You can then spot in the polarscope which star is which.

Alternatively, does your Synscan handset not have a polar alignment routine? if not, would a firmware upgrade add it?

[jambouk]

Are you setting up in various locations, or mostly the same place?

If the latter, i would get someone to help you polar align and mark the points where the tripod needs to stand, and don't adjust the tripod legs again if possible and do not adjust the elevation knob, so hopefully only the azimuth will need adjusting to get reasonable polar alignment.

Does the right angled finder project the image at a good height/angle for you? If so, you need to work out a way to get to grips with it.

The above will hopefully permit you to get an ok polar alignment with the polar scope. If you have a handset with a polar alignment routine, you could use that too and tighten that up even more.

If you want to do unguided imaging, depending on your focal length, you might be able to get 30-240 seconds; 240 would need very good polar alignment and doesn't factor in periodic and non-periodic errors.

Can you get a semi-permenant set up? A pier? And leave the mount largely polar aligned all the time?

Good luck

James

[Ouroboros]

I found a neat solution to not being able to see the reticule when polar aligning my EQ5 mount.

I used a red LED on the end of some wire to illuminate the reticule. I just passed the LED into the hole above the polar scope. I even made up a little flasher circuit so the LED flashed very slowly with a period of a couple of seconds so that I could see where Polaris was in relation to the pattern on the reticule.

It might work with your camera is what I'm thinking.

... Actually waving a torch near the input end of the polar alignment tube works too. But I found the LED helped make the alignment hands free.

If you're not averse to bit of simple electronics, it's a simple solution to problem I had, and I'm not disabled.

[Stargazer33]

Hi, something like this might be good for illuminating the reticle in the polarscope - should work with your SPC900. This particular one has a nice clip that should hold it in place and a high and low setting as well as blink.

As far as drift aligning goes, unfortunately petesastrophotography website with its really good drift alignment simulator is no longer available. But I have found this site helpful too.

[Astrosurf]

Hiya, we'll get you through this!

As has been said, Polaris is on its own in the polarfinder view, so if you see other stars, you're not on it. I ensure my mount is level and the altitude is as accurate as possible for that rough scale! I also have a long stick with a large compass at the end which has a groove which fits into the long bolt that attaches the tripod to the mount, and the stick sits on the eyepiece tray. The compass is far enough away so the metal of the kit doesn't affect it. It allows me to get the mount pointing north as much as possible. It should fit your mount. My friend made it for me for about £15. I can send you a pic if you're interested and will ask him if he'll make one for you. It'll be easy to make yourself so I could send you a template.

The laser pointer is a good idea and I use that when my set-up goes squiffy, but it's a fiddle. I'm thinking about fixing my laser to a tripod somehow and having it point to Polaris while I'm polar aligning.

Also, do you use Polarfinder to get Polaris accurately on its orbit circle? http://myastroimages.com/Polar_FinderScope_by_Jason_Dale/

Alexxx

[Alien 13]

I am a bit surprised that your RA finder inverts i use a standard camera one and it works fine i have an illuminated reticule on my polar scope and find turning it up very bright helps picking out Polaris from the background stars.

+1 for Polar finder but i use the Polaris hour angle in stellarium to set mine more accurately.

Alan

[Astrosurf]

Ahhh, so it's the bright reticule light that stops me from seeing other stars! I thought there weren't any. I'm daft!

I didn't know that Stellarium had the hour angle - useful to know.

[Alien 13]

Polaris is pretty much on its own but i did my 1st setup in weeks and moved my observing spot plus the slabs are a bit uneven so it took me ages to find initially due to the polarscopes relatively wide field view until i cranked up the brightness.

The hour angle works fine but you have to remember that the polar finder view is inverted so 0 hrs is at the bottom and goes CCW (I think).

Alan

[Earl]

As long as polaris is pretty center via your alt az mount adjustments in your medium power eyepiece and  your scope declination is set to 90 degrees your at a good starting point.

When you get your head around drift aligning please feel free to share

[WaveSoarer]

I find that polar aligning when it's properly dark can be a bit tricky as the other stars in the filed of view seem top be almost as bright as Polaris. However, if you have a light and angle it into the polar scope then the other stars vanish and only Polaris is visible. Having said that, I normally have the telescope is favourite spot in the garden so I susualy have it pretty close to start with. I just match the view in the polar scope with polarfinder and that's eveything good to go. I don't use guiding and I only have the basic dual axes motors for my eq5. I do manage to get decent 2 min subs though, wiith only a few needing to be thrown out due to tracking errors.

[themos]

As long as polaris is pretty center via your alt az mount adjustments in your medium power eyepiece and  your scope declination is set to 90 degrees your at a good starting point.

When you get your head around drift aligning please feel free to share

There you go, 

[sony500]

I have recently marked my position by placing some tiles in my garden, it makes a big difference to be able to set-up with the daylight and be already very close.  I have also used the simple technique of shining a torch on the other side of the polar scope to see the constallations.  Turn the RA to more or less their positions and then centre polaris in the circle.  A "precice" rough polar alignment.  Then I use alignmaster to get it spot on.   Recently I started using webcams to avoid fumbling around in the dark and risking to bump my scope. Anyway, I am at my PC so it just makes things a lot easier and a lot faster.  I have a small finder if I need to take a qwick look which has a wider field of view and a taped webcam (not modified) to the 9x50 finder.  Line it up in the finder.  I also have another webcam (not modified) taped to an illuminated eyepiece with double crosshairs. I have it slotted into the main scope.  Click on the second webcam and centre it in the square.  Obtain the necessary adjustments from Alignmaster and perform.  Repeat for more accuratcy or to check the results.  Pretty much perfect.  I was having a lot of trouble with my guiding recently.   I was getting rather frustrated as I was getting pretty perfect unguided 6min exposures and with the guider 2min were all over the place.  Thats another story...

Hope this helps.   Dont use modified webcams to do these jobs you only need to see the star positions.  Good luck!