AlignMaster star set

[JRWASTRO]

Hello There,

I have been testing and using AlignMater to align my portable kit. The problem that I encountered was the limited number of stars offered in the default star set and the use of common names. To over come this shortfall I created the attached list of stars ( AlignMaster_Stars_lat_34p5.txt ). It is biased to the latitude S 34.5 degrees but may be of use to Northerners.

Jeremy.

[JRWASTRO]

This is the file:

JeremyAlign_Stars_140925_original.txt

[JRWASTRO]

Apologies , but I up-loaded the wrong file. This is the one that I should have uploaded.

Excuse:  I was in a hurry to get out and water the plants as it is going to be 28C today.

Jeremy

AlignMaster_Stars_lat_34p5.txt

[JRWASTRO]

In a moment of idleness I altered the star file to look "pretty" by using letters from the greek alphabet :

sterne_with_greek letters.txt

The file looks pretty and works in AlignMaster BUT the greek letters do NOT show up as greek letters.

Perhaps the author of the AlignMaster code can get his program to display greek letters. That will look very nice!!

Jeremy.

[Dave_D]

i gave up using alignmaster. carefully calibrating my polarscope and using eqmod polar align function has proved a lot faster and more accurate for me... not to mention the pain in getting useable stars having no east or south view because a great big lump of brick (house) being in the way.

[JRWASTRO]

Greetings Dave,

Yes, when ones view of the sky is restricted the use of AM can be quite trying. You have the advantage of being able

to observe a pole star but sigma-Octantis is a poor approximation to a marker of the SCP !

 AM selects pairs of stars such that they are on either side of the meridian they never cross straddle the meridian. Why? I do not know.

Now, about the selection of stars my star set is biased to our latitudes and from what

I have seen AM makes more use of the circumpolar stars if these are provided.

 The stars provided in the list are based on the stars I can see when I stand next to my pier on my patio.

If there is a set of stars you can see to your north you may try adding these to the list

Looking at the Cartes Du Ciel display there are many bright  stars "spinning around" Polaris that may be pressed into service. 

Jeremy