Polar Alignment

[spudicus]

Hi All,

At the moment my view to the north is blocked by a brick wall....

In an effort to achieve polar alignment I've been taking a bearing of Polaris (which appears to be bang on due North) using a compass and aligning off that. Is there any other methods I could try now that I'm getting into the photo side of things???

Cheers

[Jamie]

Hi Spud if you are just imaging the moon or the planets then rough polar alignment will do.

You only really need exact alignment when you are doing deepsky long exposure images.

Just the same its good to get the practice in as when you decide to (and you eventually will)

take up deepsky imaging you will have it down to a T by then.

There are other methods that you could use i am sure the other guys will fill you in.

[daz]

A popular method is Drift Alignment. This is where you watch a star and adjust your mount accordingly.

Detailed instructions can be found here

I am going to try this method myself, as getting to my polar alignment scope in the mount is a pain - literally!!!

Let us know how you get on, spud

[Jaffa007]

Thank goodness somebody else has the same problem as me. My Polar is obstructed by my house! 

Was thinking I was well and truly .... without a paddle!

Thanks for the link daz.

[radioactive]

A popular method is Drift Alignment. This is where you watch a star and adjust your mount accordingly.

Detailed instructions can be found here

I am going to try this method myself, as getting to my polar alignment scope in the mount is a pain - literally!!!

Let us know how you get on, spud

Daz thanks very much for the link here I have found it to be just what I was lokking for nice one matey

[Ant]

One of the S@N magazines had an article in it about polar aligning a scope without a polar scope. Might even have been the first issue now.

I'll see if I can find it next time I'm home.

Ant

[Naz]

If you go to the OVL site you can down load the manuals for all their mounts there., and there is a section on setting the mount up including polar alignment in the EQ2 & EQ3-2 instructions. they are PDF docs

nabban