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Hell hope someone can help, whilst using the 3 star polar alignment routine in NINA, to align my AM5 mount l adjust the alt az screws as per the instruction given then wait to see the result of my imput I am finding that the mount even though it is tracking is usually worse than before the adjust ment. If I just leave it retake more measurements it continues to drift further and further out of wack. As far as I am aware once you do the nessary adjustment it should stay at the adjusted position and if not correct you readjust until you get to polar alignment. It just nor possible to reach PA if the mount is not holding on the previous adjusted position. To say the least this is very frustrating. Help on this issue would be greatly appreciated. Regards Mick.

Hello Everyone I will explain my experience about that as soon as possible ... Beppe

It is long time I wondered whether the mount polar scope could be used in a less tiring, but more effective way to achieve a convenient, very quick and fairly precise polar alignment (till better as 1 arcminute), than could be achieved usually, and without having to buy rather expensive devices made for this purpose. The solution I found – easily achievable and doable for the most of Astro DIYers - is to mount a small video camera attached to the polar scope eyepiece. This will allow us to achieve an excellent alignment to the celestial pole. I invented the acronym VAPA (Video Assisted Polar Alignment) to define my mount stationing method. NCP on January, 2018 NCP on May, 2021 (Stellarium) Theoretical premises In addition to the Polaris, there are two stars of mag 6.5 just around the North Pole celestial field, in Ursa Minor constellation. They are λ (lambda) and HIP 7283 (double star) As you can see the position of two stars is very interesting, in fact their RA position differs by a value very close to 135°. In addition, it is possible to see in the same field two other fainter stars whose positions are very peculiar too. If you draw a line from each tiny star to meet the NCP, you will see that these two lines define a right angle having its vertex at the NCP. (see pics below) I made this modification on my standard HEQ5 (old black 'Heavy Duty' one), but the same arrangement can be applied to any other mount that has a polar scope with removable eyepiece and sliding ring with glass reticle. Considering that the HEQ5 has a very small polar scope (its objective lens has a diameter of about 14 mm), the system will work even better on other mount models, equipped with polar scopes of much larger aperture. Polar camera construction Materials - 1 IMX 225 (or IMX322) module with 6mm lens, equipped with Video out, OSD and power supply cables (from Aliexpress) - 1 OSD menu pcb (optional) - 1 small plastic box - 1 film plastic can (135) - 1 rca panel connector - 1 coaxial power connector (3.5 mm) - coaxial cable (conductor plus shield) - some 2mm screws, spacers and bolts - 1 epoxy resin The small polar camera looks as you can see from the pictures below Making the Reticle Materials (see photos below): an A4 paper sheet on which we have printed a circle graduated in degrees 0.030 mm (30 micron) fishing wire 3 small truncated-cone springs scotch tape cyanoacrilate adhesive Construction technique - Unscrew the eyepiece and remove the three adjusting grubs of the reticle ring. - Remove the reticle ring and unscrew the threaded flange which holds the glass reticle in place - Remove the glass and reposition the flange. - Attach the ring to the centre of the graduated circle with a very small amount of vinyl glue (flange down) - Stretch (gently!) a piece of wire and fix its ends tightly (with small pieces of scotch tape) at 0° and 180°, in order to precisely bisect the circle and the ring. - Do the same thing with another piece of wire, stretching it between 45° and 225°. - Make sure that the two wires cross in the centre of the ring accurately (although extreme precision is not required). See photo below - Using a very small amount of cyanocrilate, solder the four wire ends on the ring, just where they get each other into contact. - Allow to dry. At the end of this procedure we will have created a wire reticle delimiting two couples of angles, 45° and 135° wide respectively. - From the inside of the eyepiece barrel, do insert the tiny truncated cone springs into the three grub threads, the smaller base pointing outwards from the barrel. - Replace the ring in its place with the reticle towards the polar scope objective. - Screw in the grubs until the ring is secured, but do not tighten them (see photos below) Calibrating the reticle - Adjust the eyepiece so that the reticle can get focused (use glasses if you wear them to see well at a distance!) then fix it with a drop of silicone just on the visible part of eyepiece thread. - Unscrew the locking ring of the polar scope tube and adjust the distance between the reticle and the objective so that you can see a distant object (a bright star, or a detail on the roof of a building) well focused together with the reticle. - Fix the tube ring. If there are one or more grubs around the locking ring, they must be screwed in tightly. Displaying the area of the celestial pole Materials - 1 7" 1024x600 HDMI screen - 1 RCA -> HDMI video converter - Connection cables Insert the camera nose (135 film barrel) on the polar scope eyepiece and aim the polar axis at the sky area just around the Polaris If all the connections are correct, we will see the Polaris on the screen (if we don't see it right away, we can easily find it by searching near around) together with a good number of other stars. In a Bortle 6-7 sky (as it happens in many suburban areas) we can easily find out stars up to 10th magnitude (provided the atmosphere is transparent enough). The field of view will be about 3°x 5° (see photo). Camera configuration by OSD menu The camera menu will get elicitaded pressing central button and you can do your choices pushing up, down, left and right buttons Fill in the follow parameter: Push central button to enter Main menu. Push down button to enter submenus and right or Left one to select voice: - Lens → Manual - Exposure → Shutter → 15-20 → AGC → 6 → Brightness 1 → Return → Main menu - Day/night → B / W → Return → Main menu - NR → High → Return → Main menu - Special → Defect - live DPC → On → AGC level 50-60 → Level 0 → Return - White DPC → On → -level 0 → AGC 5-7 → Sense-Up 30 → Start → Follow indications → Return → Return → Return → Save & end. Leave all other voices at default position Notice: DPC is the dead (hot) pixel control Video assisted reticle alignment This is done by grubs provided just for this task. Truncated cone springs make the operation very easy and confortable. As you find Polaris in your screen, put it at the center of crosshair. Rotating the polar axis, you can see the star will move from its initial position, so, you should screw the three grubs in and out until Polaris will stay ever at the crosshair center in any direction you can rotate the polar axis. Grubs should be secured, but they should no be tighted. Video assisted Polar alignment procedure By adjustement of Alt-Az knobs, you should: 1) put the reticle center on the right angle vertex (NCP position on current date) made by tracing two virtual lines, starting from the two faintest stars, as indicated in previous image. If you are very accurate, you can reach the NCP within a maximum error of 1 arcminute. 2) rotate the polar axis till the two brighter stars get both hidden by two crossed hairs of reticle (the pair one crossing until each other at 135°). If it doesn’t happen, it mean your mount is too much far from NCP, so you must repeat the step 1). Note: performing step 2) doesn’t be mandatory, but it will enhance alignment precision. Photos above are recorded by SharpCap (stacking), thus they don’t display the correct image aspect ratio (12:7) as you can see visually, watching your ‘on the mount’ lcd screen. In fact, SharpCap do not change aspect ratio (720x576 lines for PAL system) of native analog image captured by a video grabber (Easy Cap or similia). That is why the above image appears a bit higher as it should be. Obviously, you can align your mount with your notebook screen rather as with lcd display on the mount. To do that, you must use a video grabber device and OBS Studio to record movies or snap shot. OBS Studio is a big free software allowing make all necessary image adjustement to reach the correct aspect ratio. Below I posted an OBS Studio clip (sorry for the big amount of dinamic noise due the sudden ‘défaillance’ of my chinese video grabber … ) 2021-05-07 22-41-02.mp4 Beppe

Question, is my pier out of level if I'm trying to PA (with asiair pro) and both directions are moving when I adjust the alt bolts? I can't get the mount polar aligned. Mount neq6 pro Pier mounted on a concrete slab OTA c8 with .63 reducer Camera asi294mc pro Zwo OAG Thanks in advance

Hi All - I'm fortunate to have a EQ6R Pro that has been in residence for about a year (unfortunately predominately hidden in garage due to weather and forest fire conditions for most of the year). The few times I've had it out, I've failed to get a proper Polar Alignment. I've used all the tools Sharp Cap, PoleMaster, Plate Solving and so on. My main issue has been once I'm within a couple of degree's I can get it to position no better. Fine adjustments on both RA and DEC give cause to jump around. I've watch every video/help show and finally have to admit defeat (hopefully short lived). The EQ6R Pro has the same issues the EQ6 has (with northern latitudes). RA adjustments are just as horrendous no matter how sensitive I try to be. The EQ6 had some tools created for it that one could purchase (RAIL Kit) that seemed to solve one of my issues (unfortunately not available for the Pro). My question is: Has anyone else experienced this and if so how have you addressed it. I'm at that place where I'm thinking on replacing this mount if I can't resolve it and the next step is quite more expensive. Jim Vernon, BC Canada

Hi guys I have a few questions I've recently upgraded to an ASI533mc pro from a DSLR. As I am living in the southern hemisphere and in bortle 6 light pollution, I don't have site of Sigma octanis to get a rough initial polar alignment and previously found that using the reticle feature on my DSLR live view with the synscan polar alignment routine, I could get quite accurate polar alignment in 5-10 minutes (180second unguided subs with around 80% keepers, I don't trust the estimates but under 2 arcminutes generally) My initial setup is usually 3 or 4 degrees out in azimuth. I had a go with phd2 PA last night without much luck, I'm assuming because my initial setup was more than a couple of degrees out. I'm happy to just use the synscan routine as I can complete it quickly enough and achieve a good enough alignment, especially now that I'm guiding, and it would seem I would have to run a few iterations of it anyway to get my initial setup close to simulate you lucky northerners with your bright polaris in the polar scope. So my question is, what is a decent piece of software with reticle live view to use with my Asi533mc pro? I currently have NINA, ASI studio and PHD2 installed and I couldn't figure out how to superimpose a reticle last night. Also, Sharpcap pro seems to be the most commonly recommended software for polar alignment. However I am using an SCT telescope and a smaller sensor camera so my field of view doesn't meet the requirements stated by sharpcap. Has anybody tried using Sharpcap pro PA at 1500mm and 945mm (f6.3 reducer) with any success? Besides drift alignment, which would take longer than the synscan routine for me, are there any other pieces of software that I should try that won't cost an arm and a leg? I'm running an HEQ 5 with a Celestron 6se using an Asi533mc pro imaging cam with an ASI290mm mini on a ZWO OAG for guiding. I'm open to suggestions for other software to use for imaging, I only installed NINA because the functionality and price point is amazing, and it gets rave reviews. Thanks in advance wonderful people!

No questions but thought my experience with PA using Sharpcap and a Canon 800D might be of help to some. Although I thought I was nailing Polar Alignment with a polar scope on my Fornax Lightrack, I could not get longer subs than 150secs. I considered buying a Polemaster but I thought was a bit pricey, so looked at a small guide scope and a webcam solution with Sharpcap which was a good bit cheaper. Researching Sharpcap and DSLRs, I read that PA might be possible with my WO ZS73 (430mm) main scope. I needed to install the ASCOM platform and then the DSLR Camera Setup for Ascom and, of course, Sharpcap. Sharpcap recognised my 800D camera and I completed an "Excellent" PA within minutes. On the first night I managed 180sec subs and experimented with 240sec - all nice round stars. How far can I go? I had done a manual PA first which was a fair bit off from the Sharpcap PA, so not as nailed on as I thought! I'd rather not be using a laptop but I can't argue against the results. I hope that might be useful for some.

Hi all, as a complete beginner, who is gradually getting some kit together, the question of which Polar Alignment App I should get for my Android phone is exercising my mind. Looking at the android play store there seems to be a myriad to choose from, which do members recommend & why?

Hello! This is my first post on stargazer’s lounge, so forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask. I have a SkyWatcher AZ-GTi mount (with a firmware update + eq wedge so that it can run in eq mode). I also have a Raspberry Pi 4 with INDI, KStars, and Ekos tools. I don’t have a guidescope (and my budget is extremely limited), so I was wondering if there was a way to polar align my DSLR using just the software running on the Raspberry Pi. I’m also competent in Python, if that could be useful for anything.

In my own journey while learning this process and seeing similar areas of confusion among others, I decided to compile this FAQ. This FAQ has been put together using a combination of information from SkyWatcher manuals, my own experience and suggestions by various contributors on the forums. As most of the confusion is around the newer reticle, this FAQ deals with this in detail. Q: What is Polar alignment and why is it needed? A: Polar alignment refers to the act of aligning the Polar axis of an Equatorial mount telescope, so that it is parallel with the axis that the Earth revolves around. It makes the job of following objects across the sky much easier. Its of minor benefit to the visual astronomer but a necessity to the astrophotographer who is trying to take images of the night sky. Once a telescope is polar aligned and an object centred in the eyepiece, then assuming an RA motor is attached to the telescope, the object will stay centred. The better the polar alignment, the longer it will stay there. If no motor is attached then simply nudging the telescope around one axis will bring the object back to the centre of the eyepiece again. Q: Do I need to accurately do a Polar alignment? A: If you are a visual astronomer then its not that critical and you should be able to manage just doing a simple polar alignment by positioning the mount so that Polaris is in the centre of the reticle. But if you are doing astrophotography with long exposures then accurate polar alignment becomes critical to improve the quality of the images. Q: My reticle looks different to what is shown in the manual. A: There are 2 versions of this – the older one which has a bubble showing the location of Polaris Fig.1 and the newer one which has a clock face Fig.2. Figure 1 Figure 2 Q: How do I Polar align with the new Reticle? A: As Polaris is not located exactly at the North Celestial Pole (NCP), we can see it orbit the North Celestial Pole in a polar scope. The large circle seen in the centre of the pattern in Fig.2 is a representation of the Polaris’ orbit around the North Celestial Pole. When performing the polar alignment process, it is necessary to determine the orientation of the Polaris on the circle. The reticle is marked like a clock face with 0 at the top. Imagine this is the 12 position in a traditional clock. At the end of the initialization of the SynScan hand control, after entering the proper local longitude, latitude, date, time, and daylight-saving time, the SynScan hand controller will display the message: “Polaris Position in P.Scope=HH:MM”. Imagine the larger circle in Fig.2 as a clock’s face with 12:00 at the top, with the current time pointing to the “HH:MM”. The orientation of the hour hand of the clock represents the orientation of Polaris in the polar scope. Put the Polaris to the same orientation on the large circle to finish the polar alignment. In case you don’t use the Synscan hand controller, there are several apps available on Android and IOS which give you the position of Polaris on the clock face (such as SynscanInit for Android and Polar Scope Align for IOS). Skwatcher has their own app as well called Synscan Pro which shows the position of Polaris in the new reticle. The Polaris position also changes as time passes. The reticle displays 3 circles to represent Polaris’s orbit in the year 2012, 2020 and 2028. It also gives sub-dials at 0, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock position for year 2016, 2024 and 2032. An engraving labeled with the above years is also displayed on the right of the FOV for memo purpose. When doing polar alignment in the Northern hemisphere, the user should put Polaris on the correct circle corresponding to the present year for better alignment precision. This reticle is also covered in the SW EQ6-R manual. Q: When I position my mount in the Home position with the counterweight at its lowest point, the 0 mark on the reticle is not at the top. Is this a fault and how can I fix it? A: There is nothing wrong with your mount You just need to rotate the mount in the RA axis till the 0 is at its highest position. Now lock the RA axis and continue with the alignment process. Q: How can I ensure that the 0 is accurately positioned at the very top? A: 1) Firstly, level the mount and set it up pointing north as if making it ready for polar alignment. 2) Next use the Alt and Az bolts to centre Polaris in the reticle - i.e. put Polaris right in the centre of the cross-hairs, not on any circle. Be as accurate as you can. 3) Now using ONLY the Alt bolts, move Polaris vertically upward in the reticle from its central position until it reaches any of the circles. 4) Because you started with Polaris dead centre and moved it only vertically, Polaris is now exactly in the zero (12 o’clock) position on the circle. Now rotate the RA axis to put the reticle zero mark in exactly the same position as Polaris. Again, be as accurate as you can. 5) Lock the RA axis in this position and using a marker pen put alignment marks on the mount housing so that you can find this position again without the need to use Polaris. [Courtesy Jif001 on SGL] Q: How do I Polar align with the older reticle? A: Here is a good article http://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/polar-aligning-the-skywatcher-heq5orion-sirius-mount/ Q: How can I check if my polarscope reticle is aligned with the RA axis of the mount? A: Before using the polar scope for polar alignment, the polar scope itself must be calibrated to ensure the pattern in the polar scope is aligned to the mount’s R.A. axis. The following steps will outline how to calibrate the polar scope: This process is best done during daytime. Choose a fixed object (eg. a faraway object such as the tip of a TV antenna). Centre the reticle on the object by adjusting the two azimuth adjustment knobs and the two elevation adjustment bolts. Rotate the mount in R.A. axis for half a turn (180 degrees). Tighten the R.A. clutch after the rotation. If the object remains at the centre of the reticle in the polar scope after the rotation, then it means the polar scope has been aligned to the R.A. axis and no calibration is needed. If its not aligned, read this article which explains how to recalibrate https://www.myastroscience.com/polarscopecalibration There are also videos on YouTube that explain this process. Hope this helps. 🙂 Do let me know if you have other questions (and answers) and I can add to this.

I have an HEQ5-Pro mount, which has had relatively few outings. I also have a problem with polar alignment. I've watched all the videos (slight exaggeration - but lots) and I totally get the idea. I have a practical mobility problem in that I struggle to get myself into a position where I can look through the polar scope with any degree of comfort. I've bought a right angle prism device but still struggle really hard. It's a massively frustrating problem which is stopping me enjoying my hobby and, effectively, precluding me from starting imaging. Any hints, tips or pointers that can help and don't involve getting on my knees would be gratefully received.

Beginner here who is really struggling! Apologies in advance if this is long! I only began pointing my camera up about two months ago. I have a Canon T7i. Last week my Star Adventurer Pro arrived and the frustration began. I’ve watched countless videos and know what I’m “supposed” to do - but it seems to all go out the window when I’m fumbling in the dark. I realize these questions are probably silly, but I can’t seem to find an answer online. I’ve only had three clear nights so far to practice and there’s been some improvement, but I’m way off! A pole master and/or guiding is not in the budget right now. Polaris - tripod pointing north. Level it properly. Set altitude. Look through and see so many stars and they look almost equally bright. How do you know you’re on the correct star? Last night I went out at dusk (can’t see Polaris from my yard so I have to lug everything to a different location) and that helped tremendously, as it was the only star there. But that’s not practical long term... can’t always head out that early. Should I get a laser pointer? Any other tricks or tips? PA - last night was the first time I had even marginal success. With 0 up and 6 down, I used an app to get the correct position of Polaris. I was not perfect, but close, which was a huge improvement in itself for me! I set up my camera with a Rokinon 135mm lens, balanced it, moved it to roughly the position I wanted to shoot, checked my PA and it was slightly off so I readjusted. Some time goes by and I’m noticing anything over 15 seconds has very noticeable trailing. Polaris is way off when I look in the scope. My axis is obviously turned to position the camera and I had no idea if I’m supposed to be repositioning Polaris to where it should be on a clock face - ignoring where the 0, 3, 6 and 9 are actually showing - or to realign to where it would be in relation to the numbers. I hope that makes sense! I ended up positioning Polaris where roughly 9 would be (as it was shown on the app by this time) and ignored that the number 9 was in a totally different position in the scope. Still could not get any images over 15 seconds without trailing. I’m sure my polar alignment wasn’t perfect when I started - before it all went totally to hell - but I really thought I was close and should’ve been able to get longer exposures. Any help or advice appreciated! It’s so frustrating when you go through your checklist and think everything was done correctly only to realize you screwed up bad somewhere. Balance - thoroughly understand and am able to properly balance my camera and counterweight. But I am certain that I was throwing my balance totally off when I would loosen the clutch underneath and rotate the actual camera to point in a certain direction. How do you compensate for that? The idea of moving everything back to “home” position and starting over can’t be right! Lol Anyone who stuck with me this long - thank you!!! This is completely new and overwhelming - yet very excited to learn. I don’t have the gear to get the amazing pics I see here, so trying to learn with what I do have before investing any more money. Have recently purchased the tracker, ordered a new tripod and bought two Rokinon lenses. Hubby has had enough! Lol Equipment - canon T7i, Star Adventurer Pro, relatively inexpensive tripod until the Star Adventurer one arrives, have only tried using my Rokinon 135 lens. Need to master that before I attempt anything heavier. I also have an intervalometer. Last suggestions needed - clip in filters? Which are a must? I have photoshop and Lightroom but see so many other programs. What should I consider getting down the road for post processing? Thanks again!

After what felt like a decade my Mesu e200 was finally delivered. It is such a beautiful piece of machinery, no frills just pure functionality. I had the counter weights manufactured locally and completed the mechanical assembly, pretty straight forward. Thanks to @Jonk, https://stargazerslounge.com/profile/37161-jonk/ for providing me with the dimensions for a 16,5kg counterweight in stainless steel. I downloaded and installed SciTech.exe plus the other bits of software to make it work. The only thing I’m still uncertain about is Carte du Ciel. I’m used to Stallerium for my Skywatcher and Celestron PWI, which I love. I guess I’ll just have to get used to CDC. I need some assistance and would appreciate help. My mount is not going to have the luxury of a permanent pier, I have to move it off the balcony every time I’ve finished my session. I have a very limited view of the South (I’m in South Africa) and no view of the SCP. Despite this I can polar align to a high degree of accuracy with the Synscan routine embedded in the SkyWatcher EQ6R Pro hand controller. Having had a cursory glance at the help menu in the SciTech Polar Alignment tab and it appears that I will need to have a view of the Celestial Pole. Does anyone have advice please? Thanks Shaun

Hi All, I have a Star Adventurer but have had problems getting consistent results even when setup was as near to perfect as I can do, (this was focussed on due to this issue). It took me a while to find out that when the eyepiece is is extended for focus it is very loose, so loose the graticule moves indipendantly of Polaris / background. I have asked the supplier, "Astroshop.eu", to highlight the problem and ask for their feedback. Question to Astroshop.eu: I have had a constant issue with Polar Alignment. As I cannot use it so often, (visibility), it has taken me a while to identify the problem. When I adjust the polar scope focus the eyepiece is so loose that the graticule moves a lot laterally in all directions in the view. I can send a video but I think you can understand what I am saying. Basically I must be getting something very wrong or there is an issue with the product. The thread is so loose it is entirely unstable. Please advise what we can do about this. Answer from Astroshop.eu: 1. "I'am sorry to say, but this is very normal and does not affect the function of the star adventurer". 2. "My collegue confirmed that this will not be a issue". I have subsequently asked the guy to ask his colleague again, but some time has gone past and I have no further reply. I think it is clear enough from the text and would really appreciate some experienced answer, any comments very welcome. Additionally here are the videos I have sent to show them, (hand holding the phone so a bit shaky but issue can be seen. I'd really appreciate some help before I spend too much time again tring to get it to work, for reference the eyepiece wobble is around 3.5 graticule intervals, so not small. As it's full of grease it took me a long time to see how poor quality the Polarscope build quality is. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VC1p30t8n45oS6fkdxjkztrnoR1r7c6x/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mjBaecqTmIhXgJUC-dERRYBb-LaryLMN/view?usp=sharing Thank you all, Andy

Hi All, I had the first chance with clear skies yesterday since Christmas Eve! I thought I'd take the opportunity to get myself properly polar aligned (on Christmas Eve I set up Ascom/EQMod/Stellarium/PC controlled mount, which took up the whole evening). As mentioned in previous threads, I don't have a view of Polaris from my covered Balcony and only views from the East to the South. My plan was two fold: Use the Synscan Handset to do a three star alignment, check the Polar alignment error and adjust alt/az accordingly until error reduced as close to zero as possible. Use the DARV alignment process via APT here I quickly found out that of the available stars on the three star alignment method via the SynScan handset, I could only see two in the night sky. I'm hoping on a clearer night I can return to this method. The DARV alignment method asks that you use stars at zero dec (celestial equator) in both the South and East regions. I couldn't see any stars that were near 0 dec in the south and unfortunately it seems 0 dec in the east (which is very near the horizon) is obscured by buildings! My question is; how close to 0 dec do you need to be in the South and East for DARV to be effective? Is it more important that you're as close to South/East as possible or 0 dec? S.

Hi All When I use SynscanInit to help me to Polar Align, it shows me an image of Polaris against an Octans reticle (as fitted in my Polar Alignment Scope) as follows: However, when I look through my Polar Alignment Scope, the image I see is like this: It's upside down with respect to the SynscanInit view. So my questions are: 1. Is my Polar Alignment Scope fitted upside down in my mount (SW EQ3-Pro)? 2. If not, How do I read the information from SynscanInit? Should I position Polaris in the corresponding position, ie at the top of my view? Thanks in advance Mark P.S. Sorry for the huge pictures.

So i just got my first telescope as a gift for my birthday which is celestron powerseeker 114EQ, and what i want to ask is do i have to do the polar alignment before i use it and what is the purpose of polar alignment?

Hi all, First post here, and I'm pretty new to AP, just picked up a Star Adventurer mount a couple months ago and have been happily playing around with it with DSLR and various lenses and a 72mm Sky-Watcher refractor. I'm new to the whole setup process, and I'm trying to do a decent job of leveling the tripod/mount, polar alignment, and I should probably think more about balancing the weight of things. I've gotten some decent shots, like 60-120 second subs with up to 300mm lens. My last time out I was getting star trails at 200mm and 15 second exposures, which could have been just a sloppy polar alignment, but today out of curiosity I looked through the polar scope and rotated the RA axis 360 degrees, and I saw that the target circle jumped a few times. I'm guessing that the target circle should appear not to move while the numbers 3, 6, 9, 12 would rotate around as I rotate the RA axis. So my guess is that the polar scope would need to be calibrated?

Hello all. I've recently come across a great app - before I go any further, I have no interest in this app financially at all. As a newcomer to the hobby, I have found polar alignment quite challenging what with learning where Polaris is at any given point and how to align with a polar scope. I've got a QHY Polemaster but that doesn't let me set up in the day or at a location where Polaris isn't visible. Along comes PS Align Pro and although I'd used it for levelling the mount and the weather forecasting side of things, until today I was unaware that you can use the app to ROUGHLY polar align during the day/when Polaris isn't visible. Hopefully, this set of images and step-by-step instructions will help another newcomer like myself to get somewhere near polar alignment without a significant purchase, I think the app cost me about £3.00. On opening the app you set up your time date and location, after this you can change to various polar alignment reticules, make calculations and allsorts with this app, it is quite astounding. So, how do you align during the day? You'll need a piece of timber that is a similar width to your Dovetail/Scope mount, two short screws, a means to cut a piece of wood for a smartphone holder, a means of setting the wood square and some good old elastic bands. Step one Remove your scope from the mount and try your selected bit of timber in its place, we're using timber to 'try' and stop any metallic interference between mount and phone. Don't clamp it too tight, you may well damage or split the timber, tighten it just enough to get a good hold. Step Two Cut a 'noggin' from the end and make sure it has a square/level edge, this can be done with a simple set square etc. Step Three Insert one screw, you are better drilling a pilot hole to help you drive the screw home without splitting your 'noggin'. Step Four Align the noggin with your square and install the second screw. You should now be able to rest your phone/smart device thus Step Five Transfer the timber to your mount and attach the smart device with the super technical 'laccy bands! The image in the back is me and the Missus in Monte-Carlo BTW! Step Six, level the mount. You can use your preferred method or use the apps own level and compass bearing to roughly point you in the right way. Now, click done on the app and press the icon that looks like the sun, this will bring up the day time polar alignment module. If you're somewhere near, the app will look like this Follow the prompts (seen above as Up and R, note the arrows) and adjust your RA/DEC adjustments, the cross will start to move. Your aim is to get it looking like this or with the centre a little bit closer, I couldn't get it just right whilst screen-shotting the image! That's it!! You're somewhere near polar-aligned during the day or if Polaris isn't visible, this may not be good enough for no-trail images, but it will get you a lot closer than guesswork. Step Seven Replace scope onto the mount and you should be good to go, check your PA when it goes dark, there are other parts of this app that will help you with that too. Really hope this helps someone. Kev

POLAR ALIGNMENT IF THE POLE STAR IS OBSTRUCTED (e.g. OBSERVING ON A S-FACING BALCONY!!!) Set up your scope on the floor (assuming it's reasonably level) in equatorial mode, with a rough guess at North. Put the tube into whatever 'home' position the instructions specify, or that you have chosen. Now choose an easily recognisable bright star at mid altitude. Pretend you HAVE polar aligned, and tell the scope to go to this star. When the slewing stops lift the scope very gently and turn the mount round till the star is in the centre of the field of view and you should have a fairly good polar alignment. If you are for example videoing planets and can also autoguide, this alignment may be all you need. But you can now refine it by the drift method if you need to - see https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/accurate-polar-alignment/ This method should be quite useful for Southern hemisphere observing, where the 'south pole star' - Sigma Octantis - is difficult to find especially in light polluted skies. And of course my advice here applies if you have a North-facing balcony!

Okay, I'll try to make this as short as possible. Info: I have a EQ5 mount (soon to become motorised and GOTO'd) and, after reading countless astrophotographers praise the QHY PoleMaster, I thought it'd be a good idea to follow in their footsteps and buy myself a PoleMaster. I saw nothing about the PoleMaster supporting the EQ5, so I thought I'd ask whether or not the PoleMaster would make my life easier by supporting the EQ5. Clear skies, Leon.

Abstract : The topic of Polar Alignment is not at all new. Lot of approaches, automation tools are available. Yet, some aspects in all the current approaches drove me towards doing some more work. The key aspects of this approach are as follows. Ability to do the Polar alignment without polaris sited Relatively less complexity than drift alignment Ability to address to a good extent the atmospheric refraction to finally locate correct NCP / SCP position A good starting point for amateurs who wish to graduate towards sophisticated tools and techniques Ability to quickly verify if the polar alignment is intact after one object photographed or viewed, and the equipment is being pointed to another object. This point is mentioned in light of the fact that sometimes the polar alignment gets disturbed and the next object photographed shows star trails. This is especially true if payload is tweaked for next photo imaging. What is required? One should have a good understanding of the sky and ability to identify stars upto Mag 4.5 using star maps and basic concepts of RA and Dec. One should have Equatorial mount with ability to fine tune Azimuth and Alt adjustments. Availability of cross hair eye piece for the ability to locate the star exactly at the cross hair point. It is good to have finder scope attached and the finder cross hair is aligned with the main telescope eye piece cross hair. Please note this technique is not for the GoTo mounts which many times have Alt-Az mounts fitted with tracking motors. The GoTo alignment is done using 3 Star method. However, there are a few mounts which are equatorial design and also have GoTo tracking capabilities with RA and Dec motors. For these mounts, it is preferred to carry out polar alignment. The only point about these mounts, is that GoTo should have ability to start the RA motor ( tracking) without doing the 3 Star alignment, in other words, bypassing the steps for 3 Star alignment. The technique is based on the mathematics around the stellar current positions precisely computed. The technique suggests NCP or SCP alignment using specific pointing stars. Method The technique relies upon pairs of stars identified such that pair has same RA or same Dec. The details about finding such pairs, are given in the next section ( Mathematics). Step 1 Try to do a very coarse polar alignment using your latitude and pointing the equatorial axis approximately towards a possible Polaris direction. This is only to reduce the iterations in the method below. There is no dependency to visually site Polaris. Step 2 Select the pair of stars of the same RA from the table 1 below. Now, while choosing the pair, please select that pair which is closest to the zenith. This will reduce the error due to atmospheric refraction of siting those stars. Choosing such pair, will get better alignment. Note that the NCP and SCP lie on the same RA contour of the pair, you have just chosen. Locate the first star of the pair in the cross hair eye piece. Loosen the DEC knob of your Eq mount. Let the RA axis not to be loosened. Further, please start the RA motor and hence the tracking. In case of GoTo capability, please ensure the tracking is On, while the 3 Star alignment being bypassed. Rotate the telescope around DEC axis such that the second star of the pair is in the Cross hair eye piece. In the first attempt, the second star almost certainly will not be at the center of cross hair eye piece. And you need corrections. At this point, take the help of the finder with its wider field of view. Identify the position of the second star whether it is below or above the finder cross hair. Adjust the Azimuth of the mount through the coarse or fine depending on how off the second star has been. o Tip : In case, someone is facing difficulty in finding which direction to move Azimuth of the mount for correction, the following tips may be of use. A simple way to determine is to locate where the second star lies with respect to cross hair. Assume it is on the lower side of cross hair. Then the correction in the Azimuth of the mount should be such that the star is moved upward. It may be noted that your finder can be either inverting or non-inverting. Now, to determine the movement, please hold the finger on the lower side in front of the primary of the finder. And slowly lift the finger towards the center of the primary to obstruct it and continue moving upward. While doing so, please observe from the eyepiece. The blackish ghost image of finger will be seen moving. If movement is lower to upward, the optics is non-inverting. If ghost image moves from up to down, it is inverting. With this small trick, you would know how to apply correction. Once the correction is done, please point the finder to the first and then second star alternately simply by rotating around Dec axis of the mount. Both stars will be seen at the cross hair. At this point, coarse polar alignment is done. Now, please use the main telescope cross hair to locate the first and then second star using Dec axis movement. If required, please carry out the necessary Azimuth correction. Again, please use the above small trick to find out more on how to apply correction. At this point, please note that at the telescope’s high power ( with cross hair eyepiece), the Dec axis is correctly tracing two stars in your pair. Note that NCP/SCP lie on the same Dec axis. The Azimuth alignment of NCP/SCP is achieved. No more touching of azimuth knob of your Equatorial mount now. Step 3 Site the pair of stars of the same Dec from the table 2 below. Now, while choosing the pair, please identify roughly the midpoint of them. Now, select that pair whose midpoint is relatively closest to the Zenith. With this, one star is relatively East ward and other one almost at a same distance but Westward. This will reduce the error due to atmospheric refraction of siting those stars. Choosing such pair, will get better alignment In case you are unable to select a pair, please read Step 4. Note that the NCP and SCP lie on the centre of the Dec circle which the above pair inscribes. Locate the first star in the cross hair of finder. To locate the second star, please lock Dec axis. But loosen the Eq axis and rotate the telescope around Eq axis. Please carry out Alt adjustments of the mount. Please use similar procedure and tricks as in the step 2. Once the two stars are in the cross hair positions of the telescope, the polar alignment is completed. Step 4 ( only if you could not carry out Step 3) Site the pair of stars of the same RA from the table 1 below. Now, while choosing the pair, please select another pair which is off zenith. Please try to select such pair which has both stars approx same elevation from horizon, so that their atmospheric refraction is almost same. Effectively, we cancel the atmospheric refraction influence. Please note that in step 2, NCP/SCP is located to be on one of the RA lines. Now, we use another RA line with this newly selected pair. Again, for these stars to be centred, please keep Eq axis fixed and only move Dec axis ( similar to step 2). However this time, the mount corrections to be done are using Alt adjustments. Once the two stars are in the cross hair positions of the telescope, the polar alignment is completed. Mathematics The starting point was the star catalog where the Epoch 2000 is taken as baseline. Then I selected the stars brighter than mag 4.5. I applied the corrections due to Earth Precession and also the individual star’s proper motion. With the base data was ready for today's’ star positions. Then I programmatically picked up all pairs for same RA (within 0.001 difference) and later all pairs with same Dec (within 0.001 difference). I found mag 4.5 to be heuristically optimal. This magnitude is sufficient for visual locating these stars. Also, the number stars shortlisted from the main catalog is good enough to give sufficient number of required pairs. The pairs located today may not be valid after say couple of years due to Earth Precession and stellar proper motion. The below two tables will need fresh computation then. Disclaimer: I have tried few of the above mathematically found pairs from my location 19 Lat 73 Log. I use Bresser ExOS 2 mount. After the polar alignment, the tracking was tested for 10 min which was adequate for my current level of astrophotography. At different altitudes, different latitudes, this is not tested. I believe, the method will definitely work for small exposures. It is to be validated if this method works for very long exposures. Star Pairs Table 1 : Star pairs with same RA ( useful for Step 2 and 4) Sr No First star (name) First star HD Id Second star ( name) Second star HD Id 1 Gam Cas 5394 37 And 5448 2 Nu Per 23230 19 Tau 23338 3 Ups Tau 28024 71 Tau 28052 4 90 Tau 29388 53 Eri 29503 5 Kap Lep 33949 Rho Ori 33856 6 The Aur 40312 Del Aur 40035 7 Gam Mon 43232 Eta Gem 42995 8 Eps Gem 48329 30 Gem 48433 9 13 CMa 50013 V0415 Car 50337 10 Omi CMa 50877 The CMa 50778 11 P Pup 63922 Xi Pup 63700 12 Chi Car 65575 11 Pup 65228 13 Del Hyd 73262 E Vel 73634 14 B Vel 74180 V343 Car 74375 15 Iot Cnc 74739 Eps Hyd 74874 16 31 Leo 87837 Alp Sex 87887 17 Pi Cen 98718 Sig Leo 98664 18 Lam Mus 102249 Nu Vir 102212 19 Alp Crv 105452 Del Cen 105435 20 Gam Cen 110304 Gam Vir 110380 21 5 Boo 120477 2 Cen 120323 22 SHT 56 129116 Alp Lup 129056 23 Del Her 156164 Pi Her 156283 24 102 Her 166182 Pi Pav 165040 25 110 Her 173667 Phi Sgr 173300 26 Zet Cap 204075 Gam Pav 203608 27 Del Gru 213009 Del Cep 213306 28 Iot Cep 216228 Mu Peg 216131 29 Bet Peg 217906 Bet Psc 217891 Table 2 : Star pairs with same Dec ( useful for Step 3) Sr No First star (name) First star HD Second star ( name) Second star HD 1 7 Cam 31278 Gam UMaj 103287 2 Iot Cyg 184006 The Boo 126660 3 H Persi 26630 Dmi?? Cass 4180 4 Pi Aur 40239 Iot Her 160762 5 39 Cyg 194317 Omi Persi 23180 6 Eta Peg 215182 Zet Cyg 202109 7 Iot Cnc 74739 Bet Tau 35497 8 Bet Peg 217906 Vet Cyg 183912 9 54 Leo 94601 Alp Vul 183439 10 Alp Tau 29139 Gam Gem 47105 11 Mu Ceti 17094 Lam Ori 36861 12 Omi Psc 10761 Bet Cnc 69267 13 Pi Ori 30836 Del Hyd 73262 14 3 Agr 198026 Lam Agr 177756 15 Iot Ori 37043 Iot Vir 124850 16 Lam Eri 33328 Eta Eri 18322 17 The Lib 142198 Del Crv 108767 18 Bet Cet 4128 Bet CMaj 44743 19 88 Aqr 218594 Pi Sgr 178524 20 88 Aqr 218594 Xi Oph 156897 21 4 Xi CMaj 46328 3 Eri??? 18978 22 Rho Pup 67523 Omi CMaj 50877 23 Omc Cau??? 56139 61555 24 Bet Hyd 103192 43 Eri 28028 25 2 Cen 120323 Eps Sgr 169022 26 Alp CrA 178253 Mu Seo 151890 27 Bet CrA 178345 Lam Gru 209688 28 Phi Cen 121743 Eta Cen 127972 29 Eta Col 40808 73634 30 Vel 78647 Gam Phe 9053 Good luck Ashirwad Tillu ( ashirwadtillu@gmail.com), user name ( antariksha)

Sincere apologies if this has been covered previously in the numerous newbie SA questions. I had a search here and on Google using many different ways of asking but can't quite find the answer. I've just received the SA astro imaging bundle and have been familiarising myself with it before the skies clear. Am I right in assuming that by setting the date/time to October 31st at 00:00 is just to align the polar scope reticule squarely? As I understand it, once polar alignment is completed, it will rotate as the L bracket and camera are positioned. I have the PS Align app on my phone and the reticule set in that matches what I can see through the polar scope (clockwise 0, 3, 6, 9) so I think I'm on the right track and know what I'll need to do there. However, the month markings on my SA have a wider division at the end on the October range, as do all the months with 31 days. You can see them in the attached pic. The only images I've been able to find on-line (and the diagrams in the manual) show equal divisions throughout. So, I guess what I'm really asking is, do I align as per the attached photo with the 0 on the last division mark in October? The reticule looks pretty level to me but I didn't know quite how crucial it was. (I'll try not to have such a rambling question next time.) Simon.

Hello fellow astronomers! I'm an amateur astrophotographer and a student and I made a Polar Alignment app for Android for German equatorial mounts. I kept the UI very simple and easy to use. If you would like to share some feedback, that would be very helpful. Cheers and clear skies!

I was wondering if anyone know the diameter of the etched reticle of the Star Adventurer polar scope I experimented a little in the past years with a diy polar scope for my barn door tracker,using this useful article: http://www.marcellocucchi.altervista.org/cannocchiale_polare.pdf Italian pdf,I or Google can traslate as needed. The polar alignment was as fast as roughly pointing in the pole area,move the "mount" up,down,left,right to center all the stars in the relative circles,done. My reticle was as this one: this is one of the best shot I got, with the barn door tracker and the custom reticle,179 s at 300mm: Significant exif data: Would this be an improvement over the SA standard reticle? I think it should allow faster polar alignment and no need to have apps or software to get the position of Polaris Comments/feedback welcome! Andrea