Easy polar aligning??

[Milliways]

I spend about 20-30mins trying to polar align my scope so i dont get streaky stars when doing a long exposure.. (i still get streaks no matter what!) I was just wandering if there was a quick & easy method in doing this? or any pointers to help me with it?

Ta, Dave.

[Merlin66]

You don't say which method you use?

The drift method should get you very close quicker than 30 mins and if you use the same observing pitch, mark the positions of the tripod legs for the next time; you'll be pretty close.

[Milliways]

I dont really use any method.. I just get the tripod lvl and stick the scope at 90' then adjust the wedge to get polaris in the EP..

What is the Drift method?

Cheers.

[steppenwolf]

The method you are currently using is not really going to be anywhere near good enough for long exposure imaging so Drift Alignment is the answer as I am assuming that as you mention 'wedge' that you have no way of incorporating a polarscope. I use my CCD camera rather than the Mk I eyeball for doing a drift alignment but the eyeball (normal) method works well for most people. This Link should get you on the road.

[Psychobilly]

The wedge on the ETX is really only a tilting plate on top of the 844 tripod so fine adjustments arent really that easy...

[Tim]

I have heard of, and partly used a method using GOTO. It looks very simple, and if you have a GOTO mount then worth trying for speed.

I use this method described below. ITS EASY. The best I have got with a guided image was 25 mins no trailing, probably could have gone on longer.

http://www.petesastrophotography.com/

[Milliways]

Cheers for the info guys