Fieldsy Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Hi guys getting totally confused none of it making sense anymore. so when starting out ,roughly point north on mount and level it up with spirit level. Connect scope guide scope cables and then balance it all. laptop and battery turn on and make sure mount main cam and guide cam all connected . so back to mount/scope should the mount be at a angle so that the mounts polar scope has 0 at the top or weight at 6 o’clock and scope at 12 before u do pad on PHD2 have tried both ways and spent over an hour chasing stars into polar align box then redo pad and the box is not over star so have to readjust and this goes on and on . Not sure what’s happening I have polar aligned once with PHD2 perfectly and never again ( thinking now hot pixel). So I got fairly close so just thought I would see if apt would slew to item Ursa Major directly above my head and it ended up pointing west in to my house at that point I thought I would give up for a bit and have a cuppa . any suggestions always welcome .? thanks Si Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knobby Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 To polar align - start by aiming mount north and up towards Polaris (not level) the scale on mount is a rough guide to Polaris elevation (use your latitude from Google earth or a GPS) then start the PHD2 polar align feature. Your mount should be looking north and up ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie alert Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Fieldsy..I see you're from Kent, what part? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fieldsy Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) 42 minutes ago, newbie alert said: Fieldsy..I see you're from Kent, what part? Shooters hill/bexley heath Edited April 21, 2019 by Fieldsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fieldsy Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 2 hours ago, knobby said: To polar align - start by aiming mount north and up towards Polaris (not level) the scale on mount is a rough guide to Polaris elevation (use your latitude from Google earth or a GPS) then start the PHD2 polar align feature. Your mount should be looking north and up ? Yeah I start pointing up and north but it seems to wrong from then on ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knobby Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Are we getting star alignment and polar alignment confused ... Polar alignment allows better tracking of the apparent star movement while star alignment allows accurate goto. Also have you set the correct time / location on your mount ? Can't see the equipment you use as on a mobile device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fieldsy Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 1 hour ago, knobby said: Are we getting star alignment and polar alignment confused ... Polar alignment allows better tracking of the apparent star movement while star alignment allows accurate goto. Also have you set the correct time / location on your mount ? Can't see the equipment you use as on a mobile device. Hi knobby It's a synscan goto using laptop and eqdir so cord and lat time come from that dont they.as for star alignment cant find that anywhere on phd2 or apt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam J Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) The polar alignment routine in PhD2 is junk in my humble opinion. Just use the polar scope. If you want more accurate after that then the only thing that works for me in phd2 is drift alignment. But seriously just use the polar scope for now your doing 60second max exposures with guiding it's really not that critical. You have bigger fish to fry at the moment. Edited April 21, 2019 by Adam J 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fieldsy Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 12 minutes ago, Adam J said: The polar alignment routine in PhD2 is junk in my humble opinion. Just use the polar scope. If you want more accurate after that then the only thing that works for me in phd2 is drift alignment. But seriously just use the polar scope for now your doing 60second max exposures with guiding it's really not that critical. You have bigger fish to fry at the moment. I dont have a frying pan big enough ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael8554 Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Plenty of online videos on Polar Aligning an EQ Mount, much easier than trying to explain. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthonyexmouth Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Do yourself a huge favour and shell out £10 for sharpcap. polar alignment is so much easier with that, you'll NEVER have to get on your knees and look through a poxy polar scope again. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atreta Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) +1 for sharpcap, it takes me about 5 minutes or less for the PA. I also made some markings on the floor after i did my polar alignment and when i place the mount over them it gets me very near. Last tine i did this i got it within a 6' error. Edited April 22, 2019 by Atreta Typos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fieldsy Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 22 hours ago, Anthonyexmouth said: Do yourself a huge favour and shell out £10 for sharpcap. polar alignment is so much easier with that, you'll NEVER have to get on your knees and look through a poxy polar scope again. Just reading about sharpcap polar align not sure I've ever seen 15 stars in my fov. 32mm x120mm scope 4.83x3.63 mm chip size Qhy5l-iic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knobby Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 You might not but the camera will pick them up, just need to crank up the gain and go for about 1.5 to 2 seconds ( on the guide cam) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthonyexmouth Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 4 minutes ago, Fieldsy said: Just reading about sharpcap polar align not sure I've ever seen 15 stars in my fov. 32mm x120mm scope 4.83x3.63 mm chip size Qhy5l-iic Play with your gain and exposure. Be very surprised if you can't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fieldsy Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 16 minutes ago, knobby said: You might not but the camera will pick them up, just need to crank up the gain and go for about 1.5 to 2 seconds ( on the guide cam) Gain 100 1.5 secs . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthonyexmouth Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 I regularly use over 2 sec exposure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knobby Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 I'm just across the Thames from Bexley and Sharpcap static PA works fine with a finder guider set up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam J Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 54 minutes ago, Fieldsy said: Gain 100 1.5 secs . Gain 100 on the QHY? I never go over 80% in PHD. With that tiny ZWO guide scope you will certainly see sufficient stars. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fieldsy Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 Well was going well . I cant plate solve anything .if on auto runs for 3 mins+ then I just stop it Or if blind solve it cant find apm? What ever that is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam J Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Fieldsy said: Well was going well . I cant plate solve anything .if on auto runs for 3 mins+ then I just stop it Or if blind solve it cant find apm? What ever that is ok probably need a longer exposure for more stars Make sure you are feeding it the current scope position as a starting point for solving. Edited April 22, 2019 by Adam J 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam J Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 5 minutes ago, Fieldsy said: Well was going well . I cant plate solve anything .if on auto runs for 3 mins+ then I just stop it Or if blind solve it cant find apm? What ever that is so second button down on point craft, says scope position. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam J Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 9 minutes ago, Fieldsy said: Well was going well . I cant plate solve anything .if on auto runs for 3 mins+ then I just stop it Or if blind solve it cant find apm? What ever that is Also make sure that you have given APT the focal length of the scope (650mm) and the pixel size 2.4um in the tools tab. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fieldsy Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 (edited) Doh handy downloaded index files. ? making progress oh wow 2 of 85 looks like I will just be doing this tonight then ?? Edited April 22, 2019 by Fieldsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam J Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 20 minutes ago, Fieldsy said: Doh handy downloaded index files. ? making progress oh wow 2 of 85 looks like I will just be doing this tonight then ?? your lucky tobe doing anything, nothing but cloud here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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