SStanford

I had the same issue with polaris. The gang on here have been really helpful recommending alternatives with drift alignment/2 star alignment with PA error on Synscan. Not being able to see Polaris from my location also scared me off a EQ mount initially! For observation only your setup seems ideal. I heard good thing about Turn Left too although I'm not too sure how useful it'll be for me based in Bortle 8; it's a star hoppers guide mostly, no?

Hi Wibblefish, I'm also new to Astronomy and am heavily dependent on the forum and books. The first question that was out to me was; what is your goal? Astrophotography or just observation? A decent mount capable of supporting your intended OTA weight is key, so I'm told. With the mount being the most important component overall. Which books have you finished? any recommendations? S.

Love the book @steppenwolf, really useful. Ordered Dark Art too.

Hi all, My copy of "Making Every Photon Count" arrived this morning after a weeks delay (cheeky royal mail). I'm nearly half way through it so I need to get the next book ordered and lined up! As a begginer in astrophotography I'd been keen to hear which books you consider essential reading, ideally in order of importance or interest. Just to add: I'm very impressed with "Making Every Photon Count", simple to follow and extremely useful! S.

Hi Wibblefish, welcome!

Hi Jim, welcome. Bortle 2 should provide some amazing views (and b.6 beats my b.8!)

Hi Francesco, welcome!

Platesolving; another new term!

I've just downloaded Skeye and was what I was looking for with reticle. Hopefully this will get me closer to Polaris than before, thanks a million. I think what I'll be doing next (when skies permit): 1 - Strap my phone with Skeye to the polar scope and align as close as I can here. 2 - Run a two star alignment with a 20mm eyepiece, then another two-star alignment with a 10mm, then PA via the SynScan handcontrol on any star, then another two-Star alignment (as outlined by @wimvb above). 3 - Use tracking alignment as outlined in the video shown here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVnOF2Q6e6U) using PHD2 on any star that shows up in my DSLR attached to the software. I'll also be adding a guidescope to my setup (second on my list of purchases!)

That's very useful! Great pictures of M38. I was thinking of using a guide scope/camera to compensate for PA error. I was recommended the following: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo/zwo-mini-finder-guider-asi120mm-bundle.html I'm told to look out field rotation error, have you encountered any problems with this?

Thanks Wimvb, Do you find this process to be accurate enough for AP or observing only? For 2-star alignment do you use any star you can see or one's that are close to celestial equator?

My thinking initially was to use this function when purchasing SynScan/go-to however I'm so far from the objects on the hand control that this function isn't very useful :(.

Okay, I'll do my research see if I can find a video that shows how it's done. Alignment is a tricky business without Polaris! Maybe I should knock a hole through my ceiling instead.

Thanks James, much appreciated. So I can drift align using PHD2 with any star visible? I don't suppose you know of any good guides for this process? Sorry to be a pest!

That's very useful. Do I need to get a guide scope and guide cam for this or can I just use my DSLR plugged into the computer with PHD2 and scope for initial alignment? Will I need to do drift alignment everytime I setup or once aligned can I mark the tripod on the ground with the altitude left the same on the mount? Thanks again

Hi all, I was fortunate enough to acquire an EQ3 pro with SynScan second hand from FLO last week week which arrived Friday. I've also bought a 12v power adapter that let's me plug it into the mains which means I've had my first play around this evening. I'm struggling a bit with polar alignment as I don't have a view of Polaris from my balcony. I'm able to level the mount well but I can't get a decent app on android that gives an estimate of Polaris without being able to see the star directly in the polar scope. I've got Star Walk 2 which tells me polaris is 51° in altitude, am I right in thinking this is what I set altitude to on the mount (with North being as accurate as possible). I know I'm out by quite a bit as I set "view object" to Mars before it slipped behind the clouds and, although in the right direction, was off by many degrees. I've been told that drift alignment works well without being in view of Polaris but can't see any guides online without proper PA initially so I'm a little stuck! I've also been told that, once properly PA'd I can mark the position of the tripod and leave the mount altitude settings as they are for future use. It's this the case with drift alignment too? I should mention that I'm interested in astrophotography so I'm aware that PA needs to be spot on. Although my current alignment is good enough even for observing! S.

Hi Andy, Welcome to the forum! As a fellow newbie I have found SGL very useful for learning the ropes.

Hi Jeff, sounds like you have good views despite the LP! Welcome.

This is very cool. Will be looking at this often.

Howdy Kevin, welcome to SGL.

Hi Kevin, I can't speak from much experience as a beginner myself but I've had good views of the rings of saturn and moons of jupiter from Harrow (Bortle 8!). I viewed this with a 650mm fl/100mm aperture scope so you should get some cracking views with the 750mm/150mm heritage 150 in your area!

Thanks chaps, very helpful.

Apologies for my ignorance, quite new to this! When you say sync to a bright star is this one star alignment? This is really useful, thank you. Field rotation error is another new area to explore! Can you suggest a guide scope and camera that would work well with eq3 pro/redcat (wide field) scope and dslr? Weight limit is my main concern. Thanks again.

Sorry to bump the topic! Having done a little more reasearch, I'm wondering if the following combined would provide alignment good enough for widefield AP on a EQ3 pro? - Rough Polar aligment as outlined by @Terrierist here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/323882-polar-alignment-during-the-day-polaris-not-visible-in-northern-hemisphere/ - 2/3 star aligment - Guidescope/cam connected to EQ3 to reduce tracking error I'm thinking that a loadout like this with a much smaller, dedicated AP scope (Redcat?) will allow at least 30s/1m subs? I've had a look at drift alignment as an option as Polaris is out of sight; looking at various vdeos this seems to require state of the art kit/much clearer skies than those offered by Harrow! Let me know your thoughts.

With a limited sky view, what would you recommend instead of 3 star alignment? So without polar alignment, astro photography is useless using 2/3 star alignment, even if you're using a wide view scope?