Using the PoleMaster - part ll

[Moonshed]

Back in November I asked why is it that when using the PoleMaster Polaris always appears very close to the bottom of the screen making alignment difficult. I kept thinking that after PA was achieved Polaris should surely be in the centre of the screen? Various ideas were suggested but none worked.

I have now discovered why and have corrected it. I can't believe it was so simple! All I had to do was rotate the PoleMaster in the mount until Polaris was nicely centred on the screen! Sometimes I have to question my sanity, that should have been obvious. The thing is I followed the instructions which said that the PoleMaster should be positioned such that the cable is on the left side of the mount and I did that and never questioned it. Obviously this is nonsense.

I thought I would put this out there in case others come up against the same problem and like me the obvious does not occur to them. I realise by doing so I have proved to all and sundry that I am really dumb. Nothing new there then ?

[PeterCPC]

" left side of the mount " - depends how you are looking at it surely. My cable is on the right of the mount looking North.

Peter

[tocster]

Whats a Polaris? 

[Moonshed]

40 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

" left side of the mount " - depends how you are looking at it surely. My cable is on the right of the mount looking North.

Peter

The instructions were that the cable should be on the left, as in when standing with your back to the north and facing the mount. However, as I said, that doesn't work for me and I had to rotate it, can't remember which way but it was an easy fix.

[Sp@ce_d]

Ooh is it left... haha.. I used mine for first time in ages at w/end to set up a grab n go & couldn't remember so pointed it down.. seemed to work well enough

[DorsetBlue]

On ‎09‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 13:57, tocster said:

Whats a Polaris? 

[AngryDonkey]

One thing to note is that if you are using the atmospheric refraction compensation for the PoleMaster then the camera must be setup as instructed (i.e. with cable coming out the left when looking at it) as otherwise the correction will be applied incorrectly. I guess that is why they mention it.

I can't remember Polaris every being close the edge of the image with my PoleMaster. Are you full zoomed out when thus happens?

[AngryDonkey]

Thinking about this, if you are polar aligned and the pole is not near the centre of the PoleMaster image then the camera is probably not mounted perpendicular to the RA axis. This doesn't affect the accuracy of the alignment but as you've discovered it sounds like it makes it harder to find the stars etc. when carrying out the alignment.

I guess rotating the PoleMaster has somehow improved the angle to bring it more centre. How is your PoleMaster attached to the mount?

[Sp@ce_d]

Yeah its all coming back to me now.. I read through Steve's version of the manual when I first got mine.

Section 5. Calculate the rotation centre

might be worth checking. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/user/manuals/polemaster_user_manual_english_UK_northern_hemisphere.pdf