Aligning to polaris and the ncp

[BigBlueOne]

Hi Everyone,

Another one of those silly questions, where the mount will be on

my decking polaris is obscured at times by the foliage of a tree

will this throw a spanner in the works.

If pushed I could go to other locations but it wont beat being in my own garden.

Any ideas apart from asking my neighbour to chop it down.

Thankyou BigBlueOne.

[brantuk]

Hi BigBlueOne - what sort of scope mount are we talking about here? (make/model etc). A dob or alt/az won't need polar alignment - this only applies to equatorial mounts or fork armed scopes on a wedge.

If you have an equatorial mount and not doing astro imaging then point it north using a compass and set the altitude scale to your latitude on Earth. This will give very rough polar alignment but is perfectly use'able for observing.

You'll mostly track in RA with odd tweaks in Dec using this method. Hope that helps

[BigBlueOne]

Hi Brantuk,

The scope is 80 ED DS Pro with the HEQ5 mount Im really

looking at the photographic side of things.

With the aligning it can be done its just hit and miss whether

the wind is playing the game allowing me to see polaris thru

the branches and all.

Thankyou BigBlueOne.

[brantuk]

Ahhh... sorry - thought you were a beginner when I noticed under ten posts lol.

Yes there are other ways to do PA - unfortunately I'm not experienced enough to explain them. Someone will though. Drift aligning is one of them I believe so you could research that.

But for AP - yes - you will want to be as accurate as possible with polar aligning - could give the branches a trim I guess - enjoy the forum!

[BertUK]

another point to notice is you mentioned 'on the decking' from my experience of having my mount on the decking its a waste of time because of the movement.i had to resort to this to stop all that wobbling.

[steppenwolf]

For AP you will definitely need an accurate polar alignment. If you can't see Polaris, then a drift alignment is the way to go. If you don't have an accurate polar alignment, your long exposure images will suffer from field rotation.

There are various articles on the Internet about drift alignment but the easiest methods make use of a digital camera. The Sky At Night magazine has also produced two articles on drift alignment with a camera - November 2010 and more recently the September 2011 issues.

[BigBlueOne]

Thankyou Brantuk, BertUK and steppenwolf,

The neighbour in question has said he knew the tree needed some

attention prior to my inquiry, which as prompted him to suggest

an 80%-20% in the cost of having the work done.

To me that really is a good deal if it gets me a clear view of polaris

for the forseeable future.

Thankyou BigBlueOne.

[astroandy101]

Apparently there is a way to drift align with " PHD Guiding", not had chance to try it myself but it is supposed to be very accurate and no need for polaris. Try a google search

[m.tweedy]

Thankyou Brantuk, BertUK and steppenwolf,

The neighbour in question has said he knew the tree needed some

attention prior to my inquiry, which as prompted him to suggest

an 80%-20% in the cost of having the work done.

To me that really is a good deal if it gets me a clear view of polaris

for the forseeable future.

Thankyou BigBlueOne.

hope he is paying the 80%

[BigBlueOne]

Hi m.tweedy

Yes he's paying the 80% the guy has been very descent

about the whole thing.

Thankyou BigBlueOne.

[ollypenrice]

Decking is a no-no for imaging. You can drift align without a good view of Polaris but it will take longer. However, if you can preserve the position of your mount it will only need doing every couple of years.

Olly

[BigBlueOne]

Thankyou Olly,

Looking at BertUK's base now thats something I would seriously

consider doing a little down the line, but for now I just need that tree trimmed. Just a quickie question are there plans for these

bases or is it a case of talking to your local fabricator thats

if there is one local one to me I'd hate to pay carriage on that

thing.

Thankyou BigBlueOne.