polar alignment - a daft question.

[prasadka]

Hi

Let's say, we cannot spot polaris from a particular location. Then,

1. Is it possible to polar align a scope?

2. If so how? If not can a rough alignment be performed?

3. If a rough alignment is performed, how long can we expose photographs before trailing becomes apparent?

Thanks in advance..

Cheers,

Prasad

[GazOC]

If you can't see Polaris then you''d be best off roughly aligning and then drift aligning if you want to image.

[prasadka]

Hi

Thanks for that.. any tips on drift alignment? or is it a software driven process?

Cheers,

Prasad

[GazOC]

You can do it either visually or through software. There are a few tips here on SGL, I'll try and find a couple.

[blinky]

Somebody sent me this link a few days ago, sorry folks cannot remember who. Anyway I have not had a change to use it but it allows you to use a webcam for polar drift alingment.

http://wcs.ruthner.at/index-en.php

[Astroman]

You can do a rough polar alignment without seeing Polaris if you 1)know your latitude and 2) know the position of an easily visible star. First, level your mount. Second, using a compass, locate roughly north. Third, set your altitude adjustment to your latitude. Fourth, locate the easily visible star. Fifth, adjust the azimuth of the mount until your declination circle closely matches the declination of the star. That should get you fairly close. You can then drift align to finalize. Last, once aligned, you want to mark the orientation of the legs of your mount on the ground for easy repeatability.

My drift align tutorial:

http://www.stargazing.net/Astroman/Alignme.html

[prasadka]

Hi..

Thanks for the tutorial and tips.. I probably can now do with some practice.

Cheers,

Prasad

[themos]

For drift alignment, I am going to blow my own trumpet

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4OtelWKWntc

[Astroman]

Practice is exactly right, Prasad. I can do a quick align in a few seconds and a decent drift align in a few minutes, while people are standing in line to view. Just takes practice. 8)

[themos]

For drift alignment, I am going to blow my own trumpet

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4OtelWKWntc

Now with English captions!

[beamish]

If you do have a w/cam and the paid up version of K3CCdtools then there is a primer on drift aligning with it by KK, but for some reason I can't seem to find it I'll have a look.

A ha 'ere we go,

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php?topic=10821.0

Karlo