StuartJPP

Even with a DSLR and no inverting of the image (refractor) I still find it a bit tricky when it says "Left xx.x", "Down xx.x". "Left xx.x" means that you need to move the FOV (or NCP) left, which actually means moving the mount right...it comes down to the azimuth bolts that are inverted i.e. using the left bolt moves things right...and vice versa...I can only imagine it getting trickier with a refractor and a CCD... What I do (since I am using Windows XP), is pop live-view on and adjust the bolts by observing a star, then there is no mistaking it. Usually you can hit it within a couple of iterations. I have managed to do a complete polar alignment by being doing it blind, i.e. plonking the mount and scope on the ground roughly pointing north and using PhotoPolarAlign, however I'd recommend using a polar scope at the very least to get it as close as possible to start with.

One thing I am not sure of is does the quantum efficiency decrease with temperature drop or does it increase? I know that the noise decreases with a decrease in temperature, but does the QE also decrease or any other criteria related to wanted signal? Removing as much unwanted noise is good, removing signal is not good...I accept that we are wanting to improve the S/N ratio which we are doing by decreasing the noise, but sometimes that is not the whole picture. I have seen dark images of 60 minute exposures where there is very little noise...now please point that camera to the stars and show us some results, preferably alongside a stock camera that hasn't been cooled. I am sure that the cooled camera will win hands down, but by how much?

Another tester here...works quite well I find. What I like about it is that there is no DEC slewing like AlignMaster so any potential backlash does not skew results. With some automation this could be made very fast indeed.

Not if you have got the AstroTrac head (or similar). It has RA and DEC "controls"...I would be interested in people in the southern hemisphere trying this out...preferably before March next year

I am assuming that the premise is to take an image in the east then slew in RA only to the west, the error is calculated between the two resolved plates and an adjustment made on alt/azi (based on the arcseconds per pixel of the image)? I was thinking of something similar a while ago...this helps me to not bother about doing it...a stand alone version would be nice albeit a bit large for the off-line plate solving database.