TiffsAndAstro

i want to read your post more thoroughly, but the app won't let me attempt a PA until i've done a 2 star alignment. i think it gets mel maz values after a 2 or 3 star alignment. tbh even with what has turned out to be bad polar alignment at times the goto has been good to amazing. im not using big focal lengths though. ok your post really helps ty - just a bit confused about doing a pa in app before i do a 2 or 3 star alignment. also about home position. let me reread and have a think and see. ty so much for all of this.

im going to jinx myself, but i did a test earlier at 5mins and it looked good. i think stopping down to (i think) f4.5 helped make the stars a little more rounded, but just in case ive dropped it to 3mins and tests look good. all i've done toinight is: point polar scope/mount towards polaris centered polaris in cross hairs of the polar scope. move alt bolt so polaris is at the top on the center of the three rings. moved dec so that zero/12oclock is where polaris is in the polar scope and lock dec clutch. used alt/az bolts to position polaris in the polar scope at the correct clock position as shown in the synscan app tighten az bolts and the big bolts. 2 star alignment in the app 135mm 600d f4.5 iso400 (lots light pollution) and 182 or 183 sec subs cos my intervalometer combined with 2 sec mirror lock up has some issues i think. once orion drops too low i might have another go with polar alignment via app and the alt/az bolts. ty all for your efforts in helping me with this.

i'd love to see a synscan app manual somewhere

well polaris moves when i use them

the small green bolts on either side of the mount near the base.

so the reason why that sub i linked looks so bad as if tracking wasn't on is because.......its possible tracking wasn't on. even though i checked. I think the app on my older version of android sometimes crashes/hangs or causes the app to set itself back to not tracking. restarting and reconnecting the app to the mount and setting tracking back on seemed to do the trick. not very reassuring though. gonna see if i can run the app on something else.

well i just did a regular pa via the scope then a two star alignment in the app and NO polar alignment in app via alt/az bolts. seem to be back to doing decent 60 sec subs now. read below for more also, i did more stopping down tests and dropped it from wide open f2.8 to either f4 or f5.6, after checking a few tests - and particularly jupiter and its moons (which is v handy) i quite liked the results. ovalish, but from the little screen, i think the best i've managed. i will post my results of orion when i can for more hilarity, its the least i can do for all the help i've received

yeah i made inquiries a few weeks back, expecting trouble i just haven't been able to get to one of their meetings yet

one final update for now ty anyone who was reading did another polar alignment via scope, did another two star alignmnent. did a focus test on jupiter looks ok and did a 60 sec sub and the star trailing was within the error of how bad my star shapes are. i have stopped down to 4 or 5.6 (can't check with lens heater on and don't want to disturb it) btw so i went back to orion and did a 60 sec test sub there and it seems ok too. so to sum up i have no idea what i did so badly and i have no idea what i did to fix it. Im full of confidence and optimism my mel maz is still as posted above btw. gonna let it run at 60 sec subs until orion drops too low and will stack and process see what people think.

sorry but i think it best to try and continue this in one single thread, apologies im struggling more than ever now. https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/419327-polaris-moves-in-polar-scope-depending-on/page/3/ if anyone can be of help

ok so an update: its disastrously bad. 11 second sub biggest streaks ive seen. so i hibernated, cleared settings re polar aligned via polar scope and another star alignment didn't do a polar in app and the result is slightly less streaking but not much. see attachment. i have no idea where to go from here. my mel max from after taking attachment: mel 14.4' maz -5'57.2' tilt 3'32.7' id get better results pointing my camera on a ball head and tripod. gonna attempt a pa via synscap again can't be any worse. *********************** ok didn't use synscap to polar align, purely polar scope and alt/ax then a 2 star alignment and its even worse trails. its like tracking isn't even on, but the app says it is. my mel maz is exactly same as above btw if that points to anything. IMG_8488.CR2

Ty for all this. Hopefully I can give it a go tonight.

just to clarify. once i've centered polaris in the polar scope cross hair and then used alt bolt to position in at the top in the center circular line - do i rotated RA to move polaris into the correct position, or do i use the alt/az bolts?

tonight i will take another photo of my mel maz and some 1 3 and 5 mins exposures. what i meant by bang on is that doing the polar align in synscan app, i was easily able to center the chosen star as asked with alt and then az. and if i did another star it would find it almost perfectly and i could again center it as asked via the app and the alt az bolts. will jkust test 1 and 3 mins as advised on here.

I'm happy its entertaining, but also sorry I'm struggling so much and taking advantage of members generous time and effort. It's probably something that could be sorted in 5 mins in person

I'm bit shocked I've never noticed it. I believe you but still gonna check asap. i just looked and the base of the mount has only a female 3/8inch hole. nothing else.

I'm really sorry I did work out what he meant. I didn't get the optional mount as it looked no sturdier than my random brand tripod so I dont have an az pin.

Worse is using specs to look through polar scope. Oh yeah and my back. Asi air looks more tempting by the day, but I might have a play with nina first on a laptop.

Fantastic link ty. Will follow you steps if clear tonight, but will also do a polar align in app after I do a two star alignment. I might also try a 3star alignment as its possible my mount is using a cone error from my last 3 star alignment, some time ago, which I may have botched.

01:00 so after doing a second pa i looked in information: id=2'28.5' ch=00.0' np=00.0' mel=00.1' maz=06.4 tilt=03,8' Sorry it was un a different post Apologies if my replies are clunky. I'm on a phone atm and I'm old also excited to ##$% it up again as its 3pm and see some blue sky

I took a photo of my mel maz things other night see if anyone could share any light on the values then googled the terms. They seem to be a measure of pa accuracy, maybe? Synscap app wont let me doing an in app polar alignment until it has mel maz values from a 2 or 3star alignment.

It does ty astromuni. It's also what I think I was managing to do. I was doing further polar alignments in conjunction with the alt/az bolts and synscap app. I posted my mel maz and now vaguely understand what they're for, but not the meaning of the values as I have no context. If clear tonight will follow your steps exactly and do 1 3 and 5 min subs to test.

I do read them and massively appreciate their time and effort. however theres seems to be conflicting ideas at least to a noob like me and stuff that doesnt even seem to apply to my mount. For example I seem to be being told to line up Polaris in the scope via slt/az bolts and ra now and both can't be the correct approach to a noob like me. Bare in mind a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. For me I mean.

ty so much for this malcom, but, like the video you reference its confusing me few questions: 1 - i screw the mount onto the 3/8 inch thread on the tripod. "The two Azimuth adjustment bolts should be open enough to fit the spike on the tripod between them" - my tripod doesnt have a spike. 2 - the manual contains nothing about setting up the polar scope. i have watched videos on general alignment but don't want to try to use that on my mount. as a test, if i center polaris in the cross hairs and rotate ra, polaris seems to stay centered. 3 home position - watching a video now from AstroFarsography. pretty sure i've never done this part - will find a spirit level for tonight after i watch the rest of the video. 4 "Slacken of the RA lock and rotate the mount until the bubble or markings on the polar scope is in the same "hour" of Polaris is in its rotation around the NCP and then lock off the RA axix" i think is the main bit of my confusion. the bubble that appeared on the video you linked does not appear on my polar scope. At this point as polaris should be on the middle ring at 12 oclock, i rotate the ra until polaris is in the postion shown by synscan app? bit lost here with the next part, sorry "Use the Az bolts and Latitude bolts to place Polaris on the ring and in the bubble / markings (as shown in that video I linked to)" as if i rotate ra so polaris is in the correct position i wouldn't need to adjust alt/az bolts? also a ra setting circle mentioned in the home position video i found doesn't seem to exist on my sw gti. also there seems no dec setting circle as in the video too. ive tried googling ones for my sw gti mount but very few about and none in detail 5 "This is a very simplified routine... but the main area where you are going wrong is that you are performing multiple polar alignments when they are not needed - It's a one off procedure done before any observing session" i was expecting a polar alignnment done via the app/alt/az bolts would refine my polar alignment further.

yeah the asi air looks like a very useful thing. i'd really like to improve my polar alignment skills manually, but might have to just get one.