Faster Drift Alignment?

[CKemu]

I've been working on drift aligning my scope, and whilst I can now get reasonably accurate drift corrections for my scope, I'm finding the process very time consuming and a bit arbitrary.

I use the Meade 12mm Illuminated Eyepiece: http://www.meade.com/manuals/%20MA_12mm_Astro_Eyepiece_V011311.pdf

My method is usually to time five minutes, note the direction of drift and adjust, re-centre using the motor drive and repeat the process.

This is VERY time consuming, so my question is, can I speed the process up, or have some "measure" to suggest how far I adjust by. I tend to find if I see drift that is severe within five minutes, I will move the star all the way to the edge of the eyepiece via the mount controls and then re centre with the motors...but this still seems more guess work than science or at least a quantifiable method.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[barkis]

There isn't any quick way to drift align, it's a task that needs patience. I assume you intend fairly long subs astrophotography.

If not, then an alignment on Polaris is sufficient for visual astronomy. If you are an imager, I hope you have a permanent pier setup, which makes drift alignment a one off task. If it is an ongoing chore, I would try to lay markers down, that will permit accurate positioning of the tripod and mount, to minimise the aligning process for yourself. Auto guiding will take care of small alignment inaccuracies, but it is better to get it spot on if you can.

Ron.

[Demonperformer]

Haven't tried it myself, but this has previously been recommended on SGL:

http://www.astronomy-pictures.com/Zeroing%20it%20in.%20Using%20a%20DSLR%20or%20CCD%20to%20Align%20Your%20Scope.pdf

[ncjunk]

I like that link a lot, i was taking a reference picture and then taking a longer one and trying to measure the difference.

I did'nt think of doing it all in one sub and using the handcontroller..great method.