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QHY PoleMaster (Part 1)


steppenwolf

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I took delivery of a QHY PoleMaster from Modern Astronomy last week and as posted elsewhere, I was very impressed with the build quality of the device but unfortunately, the clouds didn't allow me to actually test it on the sky immediately. A very brief spell (only minutes) a couple of days ago allowed me to actually use it to polar align my Mesu 200 mount and I have to say that it was very fast and simple to operate, working straight out of the box having downloaded the latest version of the drivers and application software. The reason that this is 'part 1' is that the clouds rolled in before I had a chance to confirm the accuracy of the alignment by carrying out a drift test - a report follows when the skies play ball again!

Modified Mounting

Although QHY supply a Mesu specific mount for the PoleMaster to bolt to permanently, I wanted to build in a little future-proofing and have the capability of removing it when not in use so ordered instead, the UNC mounting kit that has a quick install plate and a baseplate with a 1/4" - 20 threaded hole suitable for mounting to any standard tripod bush. I attached the base-plate to a modified Mesu polarscope mounting plate so I now have a quick release system for the camera and with a tiny bit of effort, can install the PoleMaster on a wide range of other devices equipped with a 1/4" - 20 thread.

PoleMaster_Mesu.png

 

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Looking forward to your full review of PM on a Mesu mount.

I have PM for my NEQ6 Pro. It attaches to the front hole where the polar scope would look through. 

The setup and use is logical to me, however, I have wondered how the PM and supplied software performs when attached to the "edge" and not the "centre" of the Mesu mount. I have a order in for the mount with Modern Astronomy, eta March.

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I have been using Polemaster for approx 6 months now but was wondering if there has been an upgrade in the software? When it came out the mapping was valid I think up to June 2016, has there been a revision since?

regards

Mike

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8 hours ago, Star101 said:

I have wondered how the PM and supplied software performs when attached to the "edge" and not the "centre" of the Mesu mount. I have a order in for the mount with Modern Astronomy, eta March.

Doesn't matter where it is mounted as long as it rotates in RA only. It obviously has to be pointing towards the NCP/SCP within a few degrees...

When you rotate the mount 360° in RA, a chosen star captured on the camera should produce a perfect circle. It doesn't matter if the camera is pointing "in" our "out" or too far "up" or "down" or "left" or "right" or whatever, it will still form a perfect circle. Now if you then map the center of that circle to the NCP/SCP, you will be rotating around the NCP/SCP regardless of where the camera is pointing. Of course the camera has to be pointing in roughly the right direction to start with, say at a guess 5°.

This implies that if the center of rotation of the mount in RA perfectly matches the NCP/SCP then the mount is perfectly aligned.

From here:

 

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2 hours ago, mhard26339 said:

I have been using Polemaster for approx 6 months now but was wondering if there has been an upgrade in the software? When it came out the mapping was valid I think up to June 2016, has there been a revision since?

regards

Mike

Mike,

An update to the software was made available in October - Ver 132.  Among other things it updated the star database for the next 9 years. Here's a link to the update page.

Jim

http://note.youdao.com/share/?token=B18F5186FE2F4238A158CCD669D58C76&gid=7234866#/

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

I bought a PoleMaster in August 2016 and have now used it a number of times.

Though I have a polar scope in my EQ-AZ 6 ( and had one in my older EQ6) due to an old sports injury getting a comfortable view through the polar scope is painful.

First time use took about 45 minutes to get used to the set up routine and understand what I was doing. The software which has to be downloaded worked first time and is fairly logical. It takes you through a number of stages starting with 'Can you see the Pole star and surrounding stars clearly' question. This allows you to alter the exposure and gain to get a clear view. The camera is very sensitive and you often see satellites transiting across it. It also needs a decently dark sky otherwise it washes out.

You then choose a nearby star using your cursor and rotate the mount to see how it tracks in one direction and then back to park.

The last stage is a fine adjustment using the altitude and azimuth bolts to get Polaris cantered over a cursor. It has worked out the difference between Polaris and the true NCP.

Take time doing this because if you do you can get 2-3 mins unguided exposures...if you don't have light pollution.

I have used it now roughly 5 times and because i change between a 9.25SCT and an AA 152 frac OTA there are changes in the polar alignment.

It comes well packed and protected in a rather nice metal (tin) container. I really like this piece of kit as it is easy to set up and use.

 

Set up.JPG

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