Easy for Polar Alignment

[Hamey]

Which mount is easy for Polar Alignment? Is there any difference in Polar alignment for AZ mount and EQ mount. Or are there GPS mounts that can simply polar align without any manual adjustments? Please help me with this.

[scitmon]

AZ mounts do not require polar alignment because they are not designed to follow the Earth's rotation.

There are no EQ mounts that you can just tell to polar align and it does it for you, but there are cameras you can attach to your mount such as the iOptron iPolar which (when paired with a computer) make it easier to get a more precise polar alignment.  But this is overkill unless you are doing astrophotgraphy?  If you are just visual get a GOTO AZ mount, or use the polar scope on a EQ mount to get it roughly right and thats all you need.

Edited June 19, 2020 by scitmon

[wornish]

All mounts need manual adjustment to do the first polar alignment.  If you move your setup location then again a manual alignment is required. Using software tools like Sharcap or PHD2 or many others make it a lot easier.

If you want to do DSO astro photography then getting good polar alignment is very important.  If its just visual use then polar alignment is a lot less critical or in fact unnecessary for alt -az mounts.

Edited June 19, 2020 by wornish

[Jiggy 67]

I wouldn’t worry about polar alignment. It will frustrate you for the first couple of attempts but very quickly it will be second nature to obtain accurate alignment so I wouldn’t let it influence your choice of mount, there are far more important factors particular to your requirements that should drive your choices

[Hamey]

On 19/06/2020 at 14:12, scitmon said:

AZ mounts do not require polar alignment because they are not designed to follow the Earth's rotation.

But What about EQ-AZ Mounts? arnt they follow earths rotation? isnt it AZ mount? It has AZ on it!

[Hamey]

On 19/06/2020 at 14:15, wornish said:

All mounts need manual adjustment to do the first polar alignment.  If you move your setup location then again a manual alignment is required. Using software tools like Sharcap or PHD2 or many others make it a lot easier.

If you want to do DSO astro photography then getting good polar alignment is very important.  If its just visual use then polar alignment is a lot less critical or in fact unnecessary for alt -az mounts.

Yes I understand that. I am into Astrophotography. I have really big issue. Since I am at 4 degrees from equator, for me Polaris doesnt raise only for a degree from horizon. So basically its always blocked by something or by clouds. I am having difficulties in aligning. 

[Hamey]

On 19/06/2020 at 17:00, Jiggy 67 said:

I wouldn’t worry about polar alignment. It will frustrate you for the first couple of attempts but very quickly it will be second nature to obtain accurate alignment so I wouldn’t let it influence your choice of mount, there are far more important factors particular to your requirements that should drive your choices

Thank you. I will not let this go that easily.

I have few concerns. I live in Indian Ocean country (The Maldives.) which is located on Equator. So basically I cannot see both poles. which I meant was both polar stars. I am having difficulties in polar aligning. 

 

I have bought few good rig for my astrophotography. But it is harder then I expected. I thought I once I buy this I can easily start astro imaging. But I was wrong. this is not an easy task.

 

I own An Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount, Skywatcher esprit 100ed scope, ZWO Cameras and ZWO ASIAIR Pro. I have spend a lot on this. but I still cannot do it right way. I thing the issue is my mount. even though I enter the correct date and time it still shows me stars below horizon. and when I ask to go for stars on the sky it says those stars are below horizon. I couldn't solve this issue.

[Jiggy 67]

24 minutes ago, Hamey said:

Thank you. I will not let this go that easily.

I have few concerns. I live in Indian Ocean country (The Maldives.) which is located on Equator. So basically I cannot see both poles. which I meant was both polar stars. I am having difficulties in polar aligning. 

 

I have bought few good rig for my astrophotography. But it is harder then I expected. I thought I once I buy this I can easily start astro imaging. But I was wrong. this is not an easy task.

 

I own An Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount, Skywatcher esprit 100ed scope, ZWO Cameras and ZWO ASIAIR Pro. I have spend a lot on this. but I still cannot do it right way. I thing the issue is my mount. even though I enter the correct date and time it still shows me stars below horizon. and when I ask to go for stars on the sky it says those stars are below horizon. I couldn't solve this issue.

Ah, now I see your problem. If you are inputting correct time, date and location the fact that you are not polar aligned might explain why Synscan has the stars wrong as it needs some sort of polar alignment. I don’t think it’s a fault with the mount. I don’t know how you polar align on the equator, googled it but couldn’t get an answer. Hopefully someone will come along with an answer

By the way you live in a beautiful part of the world....best holiday I ever had!!  😀

[Hamey]

12 hours ago, Jiggy 67 said:

Ah, now I see your problem. If you are inputting correct time, date and location the fact that you are not polar aligned might explain why Synscan has the stars wrong as it needs some sort of polar alignment. I don’t think it’s a fault with the mount. I don’t know how you polar align on the equator, googled it but couldn’t get an answer. Hopefully someone will come along with an answer

By the way you live in a beautiful part of the world....best holiday I ever had!!  😀

Yeah beaches are beautiful and very less light pollution in most of the parts. but the problem is location. urghhh. I have asked several people who knows a lot. but they also have no idea on my situation.

[scitmon]

14 hours ago, Hamey said:

But What about EQ-AZ Mounts? arnt they follow earths rotation? isnt it AZ mount? It has AZ on it!

Some mounts are capable of running in both EQ and AltAz mode.  For the purposes on Astrophotography you will only need to use EQ mode. 

If you have issues seeing Polaris I think your best bet is hooking your camera up to a laptop and using a drift alignment tool.  Hopefully someone with more experience with that can comment on the best tools. 

[AstroMuni]

16 hours ago, Hamey said:

Thank you. I will not let this go that easily.

I have few concerns. I live in Indian Ocean country (The Maldives.) which is located on Equator. So basically I cannot see both poles. which I meant was both polar stars. I am having difficulties in polar aligning. 

 

I have bought few good rig for my astrophotography. But it is harder then I expected. I thought I once I buy this I can easily start astro imaging. But I was wrong. this is not an easy task.

 

I own An Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount, Skywatcher esprit 100ed scope, ZWO Cameras and ZWO ASIAIR Pro. I have spend a lot on this. but I still cannot do it right way. I thing the issue is my mount. even though I enter the correct date and time it still shows me stars below horizon. and when I ask to go for stars on the sky it says those stars are below horizon. I couldn't solve this issue.

Have you considered the Celestron StarSense for Skywatcher mounts? https://www.celestron.com/products/starsense-autoalign-for-sky-watcher-mounts  Several of my friends have it and swear by it. Its expensive but does the job.

On a different note, assuming you dont wish to spend that much, the EQ6-Pro is a very good mount. Have you done the initial 2 or 3star align process?

Ref your question on how to align when on equator, if you google for "polar align without polaris" you should get loads of links. Several of us have the same problem, i.e. cant see polaris even though we live up north 🙂

Edited June 23, 2020 by AstroMuni

[theropod]

Scitmon has given you the best advice possible. Learn drift alignment and never look back.