Where shall I place my pier

[Richie092]

Have almost finished putting my pier together with bits and pieces I have scrounged from various scrap piles and help from my friend the welder. I think even by the time I give it a coat of Hammerite it wont be pretty but I'm quietly confident it will do the job.

Now to placement. I don't have much of a horizon at all but to simplify the description it is a fairly large, square garden with big tree in each corner.

As long as I position it in the middle ish I will be OK for Polaris but would like to know what area I should prioritize on. North, East or West ( South has my house in the way so not great. It isn't a case of all or nothing but I do have some options for prioritizing on a particular direction so thought I would get opinions as I don't have a clue..... as usual.

Lastly, If I polar align to the best of my abilities and only undo one AZ bolt when i remove from pier of an evening what chances do I have of keeping alignment?

Look forward to hearing your opinions

[dmahon]

South would be best, failing that take your pick of east or west I don't see that it makes any difference (other than time of year that you can see certain things early doors).

Mind you, I do spend a lot of time on northerly objects too

[Richie092]

Ok Thanks for the reply. If South is best I can move right over to get as best a shot at it as I can.

Gonna start digging today :-)

[Bizibilder]

The best South you can manage followed by either East or West is the way to go. If you set up on a tripod for a while and place it around the garden you will soon find the "best" position.

[Richie092]

Thanks Roger.

That was my first thought however with work and the weather being what it is I probably would have needed 6 months to make my decision.

I will place it with the best possible views of the south. This will mean partial views of polaris but reading a few threads on here I recon I will get by aligning it with only a partial view.

Will put up some pics of my home made pier when I get a minute. It's a bit tatty but am sure it will do the job.

[Astrokev]

Look forward to seeing some pics, and good luck with the digging!

[lukebl]

Enjoy it! If your scope is permanently I wouldn't worry about seeing Polaris. Just drift align. I can't see Polaris at all from my obs, so I just check alignment every now and then by drift alignment. Very easy. The most important view is east through south to west, as most things pass that way at some time or other.

[James]

Enjoy it! If your scope is permanently I wouldn't worry about seeing Polaris. Just drift align.

Seconded...

I placed mine at the western end of a patch of patio deliberately to allow me to image objects rising in the east - the light pollution is less in that direction and coincidentally there's a gap where Polaris is visible but as Luke says above just drift align

I tend to just image objects as they rise in the east until they get to the meridian then move to the next object that's rising and so on...as to what direction you prioritize in you may want to think about which is the worst for light pollution (in my case Exeter is 8 miles south west) and where the weather comes from - I've had a few nights where the weather has started getting bad from the west/southwest and I've been able to capture several more subs before it got to the eastern sky.

James

[Gina]

Thirded (is that a word? ) I'm lucky in having my best views NE round through south SW. I use drift alignment too - reminds me - must check it again.

[Richie092]

Ginna - if it isn't it should be!

Luke - thank you

James- very valid point re light pollution. London is a few miles to the west so probably a waste of time going that way.

Kev- will be putting it in the ground Monday so will update this thread then. Having read all the pier threads on here I can safely say I have very much under engineered this one but am confident it will do the job.