Polar Alignment The easy way !!!!! hmmmm

[Gaze Away]

Hi all,

well I am ordering my c11 xlt ota and neq6 mount tomorrow. I have also looked at the weather for next 2 weeks and "APPARENTLY" we are looking good to go as from wed-thur onwards.

Polaris is right in my back garden.

This guy makes polar alignment look easy

.

He used polar finder exe. So I take it when he looks at this software, he is just putting polaris in the same position as it is in polar finder exe in his eyepiece???

Never done polar alignment before so just trying to get a heads up. Any comments on how this guy is doing it and if its any good will be much appreciated,

thanks

[Digz]

Accurate polar alignment relies on a calibrated polar scope. Once the polar scope is calibrated you can set it for your particular date and observation time. This will put the polaris circle in the right place for you to align your mount too.

Can be quite a daunting task at first. I would suggest, if its just for observing, that you can get away with locating polaris in the larger circle for now.

[Gaze Away]

Hi lee,

I think I can get the polar align down but its questions like, once aligned is my home position north? Do I start at polaris to send my scope on the goto. How many stars do I have to align and will I know what they are???

Its all going to take time but Im sure stargazers will be as helpfull as ever,

Thanks again

Andy

[Digz]

Hey Andy, thats half the battle won then if you understand polar alignment!

The home position, by default is scope up weights down (hope that makes sense).

Star alignment is a matter of preference. One star can be sufficient if you are observing one particular part of the sky just choose a star near your object. Others will say that you should do a two star alignment and try and choose stars as close as 90deg apart as possible and on opposite sides of the meridian. TBH I have only ever use 1 star alignment and have had no problems. Your handset should give you a list of alignment stars to use.

HTH

[Bizibilder]

Have a look here: http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/103827-polaris-transit.html#post1432597 If you go to post number 5 (by great_bear) there is a simple method of doing polar alignment. No software or tricks, quick to do and most importantly, it works!

[Gaze Away]

Hey Andy, thats half the battle won then if you understand polar alignment!

The home position, by default is scope up weights down (hope that makes sense).

Star alignment is a matter of preference. One star can be sufficient if you are observing one particular part of the sky just choose a star near your object. Others will say that you should do a two star alignment and try and choose stars as close as 90deg apart as possible and on opposite sides of the meridian. TBH I have only ever use 1 star alignment and have had no problems. Your handset should give you a list of alignment stars to use.

HTH

Scope up weights down, so set at about 51 degrees.?

I suppose I can use stellarium to choose my star or stars for alignment? or does the mount after being aligned sort of know where it is ? ie will the goto function sort this out?

Thanks

[Gaze Away]

Have a look here: http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/103827-polaris-transit.html#post1432597 If you go to post number 5 (by great_bear) there is a simple method of doing polar alignment. No software or tricks, quick to do and most importantly, it works!

Hi , thanks for that. Can I bookmark this page? ie is there a way to save it on the site for me to keep looking at it instead of having to keep finding it?

Thanks

[Digz]

I guess thats about right, sorry, I've been answering assuming a newt on eq mount but yours isnt is it? It kind of wants to look like all the photos you find of your scope on the internet.

The point of star alignment is to tell the scope exactly where it is so it can calibrate itself with the data contained in its database.

[Gaze Away]

I guess thats about right, sorry, I've been answering assuming a newt on eq mount but yours isnt is it? It kind of wants to look like all the photos you find of your scope on the internet.

The point of star alignment is to tell the scope exactly where it is so it can calibrate itself with the data contained in its database.

Ha ha, thats ok but this is why I was asking if this guys polar align

would work? seems a bit easy to me, to easy to be true maybe?