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QHY PoleMaster

johnrt

By johnrt
in Discussions - Cameras

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astrodude

astrodude

Posted
Posted

Marketing hype I suspect. Goto alignment does much more than take into account polar alignment error - it corrects errors in the RA/DEC home position,  the alignment of the telescope on the mount itself, telescope cone errors and optical distortions - non of these can be measured or subsequently corrected by looking through the polar scope - be it traditional or a plate solving camera combination. 

Chris.

If doing a 3-star alignment it also corrects for cone-error.

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astrodude

astrodude

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Will cone-error cause star trails?

No I do not think so. I can mount a dslr on my OTA on a ball mount and point it anywhere and guide scopes often point in a different direction to the main OTA axis. The star alignment procedure is only for the GOTO so the mount software can make a really accurate model of the night sky from your location. The polar alignment is the key to good tracking. If you have done this really well then a single star alignment will work reasonably well as it has the CNP and a single star to compute the model. Two star alignment is better though as that gives 3 points, the CNP+ 2 stars. In a three star alignment the software does the normal CNP+ 2 stars and uses the third star to calculate how off-centre the OTA is from the RA axis (polar alignment axis). This makes the GOTO more accurate and typically it should put a target dead-centre almost. 

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nightster

nightster

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Posted

Glad to know cone error is a non-issue for the imager. I plate solve with ATortilla when I slew to a bright star. I do this so I can focus but AT will automatically add a Sync point (1 star alignment.)  Then I'll slew to either due east or west for PHD2 calibration, I also plate solve here usually takes 30-60 secs. This should be the 2nd star alignment.  I then slew to the target and plate solve to center, 3rd star alignment.  The plate solving is adding to the model and accuracy of the pointing, its doing two jobs, really. 

Is it worth the money?  If your a setup and teardown imager that shoots longer than 5 minutes, yes I believe you will get more usable subs each night.  If your shooting short exposures or have a permanent obsy maybe not.  Maybe you could rent one for a few nights?  Do you have mobility issues that make peeking through a Polar Scope difficult or dangerous? Yes its worth it get one today.  Do you have difficulty understanding drift aligning (like myself) or difficulty repeating that procedure (like me)? Yes its worth it.  Do you like cool tech or want the bleeding edge gear before your friends get it? Yes its worth it get it.  Here in the States its $300.  The EQ6 was $1400 to give cost reference. It has made me believe I got several more years before I outgrow that mount whereas before I was thinking I needed to get a more precise mount to get the long subs. 

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nightster

nightster

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Anyone know if these will fit a Vixen GP? I measured the aperture as 35.3mm. The NEQ6 adaptor states 35mm.

Contact them or QHY to find out. But I do know that the first batch of adapters where 3D printed. Which means the plans for the camera side are out there, all anyone would need to do is get the mount side specs designed and some one with a 3D printer could make you a workable adapter until QHY gets around to making an aluminum part specific to your mount.

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  • 2 weeks later...
zicklurky

zicklurky

Posted
Posted

The other night I had awful guiding, and awful polar alignment as I had field rotation in my images. Turns out the camera inside the housing had unscrewed itself slightly and was a bit wobbly. Probably from moving the mount in and out these last couple weeks. Tightened it up, and have great polar alignment and guiding again tonight. Just in case anyone else runs into this.

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nightster

nightster

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Here's the workflow: after each step there is some sort of confirmation diaglog box that needs to be clicked.

Roughly align mount. Open Polemaster software. Press CONNECT to activate cam.  Adjust Exposure and Gain to your liking.  Click on the center of Polaris with your mouse.  A template layer of red circles will appear on top of your liveview image.  Mouseover the slider and rotate the template until it matches the neigboring stars (use the mouse roller here.)  Next you will click on another star in the FOV, not Polaris (note: remember which one you click.) It will now ask you to move the mount clockwise then click that same star again.  It will do this 2 times.  I then park the mount back to its starting position. As the mount returns a Green Circle appears and the star you have been clicking should track perfectly around the edge. You will click Polaris again. You will adjust star template once again, roller mouse button. The Rough Actual and Rough Current centers of rotation will be displayed. You will adjust mount until Polaris is inside the small green circle.  That completes Rough PA, now Precise PA.  Press Start Monitor 2 Green boxes will appear, one on Polaris one on its companion. A zoom box appears and a Green and Red Target appear. Adjust Alt and Az bolts until the targets are aligned and your done.   The next time you run the process it will ask you if you want to use the previous rotational data (right before you slew the mount clockwise.)  

I've used this 6 separate nights and no longer dread having to do my PA. 

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nightster

nightster

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It really is intuitive once you understand the process. And its very fast. No more sore necks from craning into the  polar scope.  Make sure you can see your laptop screen from your mount, that's the only real issue.  I think this should be a recommended item for a beginner as it can demystify polar alignment. 

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knobby

knobby

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Had a quick play in the 1 hour cloud gap last night, if you use the beta software http://www.cyclopsoptics.com/content/drivers/PoleMaster%20v114%20Setup.zip the instructions are pretty ok. I had a decent align in about 5 minutes, one thing to note though, if you have to align polaris above your house, the warm air currents wobble things around massively ! I aligned as it was getting dark at about 5:30 to 5 ish quite easily but as things got dark/heat rising from roof it would have been very difficult.

In no way the Polemasters fault, just pointing out incase you think you have a faulty one !

Managed a 90 second unguided with nice round stars, then tried guiding (very new to me) managed 4 minute sub before clouded over... so very happy !

good luck all

 

DSC_3093.png

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PeterCPC

PeterCPC

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Posted

I used to have Starsense but gave up on it because I just could not get a decent PA. Pity as I could have used it now after using Polemaster. I'll just do a 2 star alignment after using the Polemaster - when these clouds finally break that is. Thanks for the help.

Peter

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