HELP - How can I set up EQ mount when I cannot see Polaris

[BargeGazer]

In may back yard I am blocked out by a wall almost lying exactly E-W.

While I can ensure the mount is flat and exactly aiming at True North with a bit of daylight fiddling and careful marking of the ground, I can only get roughly aligned for Latitude using the pretty rough scale on the EQ3.

Any advice as to how to get it better aligned?

If I use GoTo and Sync via something like Cartes du Ciel and Ascom/EQMOD I am sure it will be good enough for visual but I would like to try a bit of Astro-Imageing and that seems to need better polar alignment for any chance of success.

Thanks for any help you can give.

David

[kookoo_gr]

you can upgrade your synscan handset to the latest version taht has a polar align method. I have used it twice at my scope with no access to NCP along with my ccd and after 3 itterations my PA was spot on, i only had to make corrections at the altitude using drift alignment which was almost detectable a bit off . Bear in mind these steps

1. level mount

2. polar align as best as you can the tripod using a copmass

3. enter your location data at synscan handset

4. first do a 3 star anlignment

5. run polar align tool

6. repeat steps 4 and 5

the more you do steps 4,5 the beter your PA gets provided that the tripod is as best at the NCP as possible

[PorkyB]

You will only need to get the lattitude setup once, so you could always take it out to somewhere you can see polaris, just for long enough to set it up.

I have had to do the same thing as polaris is only visible from the front of my house (so in the street then) whilst I do my observing from the back garden.

[kookoo_gr]

also to add this method is a bit time consuming, it took about an hour to do it

[Skuber]

Hi David,

If you are controlling your mount using Cartes du Ciel and Ascom, then you can use this software tool http://www.alignmaster.de/ (Alignmaster).

It's excellent - you basically pick two bright stars (such as Altair and Dubhe etc.), you do an align to each star, and the program works out your polar alignment error and shows you the exact alterations needed to fix it.

I tried it the other day, and it reduced the polar alignment time from 2 hours+ down to 10 minutes...

I know I sound like an advert for the software, but I have been very impressed with it so far.

Simon

[BargeGazer]

Simon

Thanks, I use Alignmaster in open spaces - it is a very good solution I agree - but it does rely on one of the stars being in my blank area. Maybe if I just knock down the neighbours wall it will help!

I will try the "set it up accurately in one spot (using Alignmaster probably)" and then transfer to an accurate N-S / E-W alignment on the tripod in the yard. Matching levelling as near as possible.

Many thanks to all who replied.

David