Trouble and ambiguity with finding Polaris

[Deadlake]

On 07/02/2021 at 21:41, Stu said:

I think the app is designed to allow you to accurately polar align, by telling exactly where to position Polaris in the polar scope, not how to find Polaris in the first place. Us visual observers don’t really need to be that accurate so it’s probably not that relevant. However, I don’t see a big deal about using an app to make life a bit easier, you don’t need to keep looking at the phone after it is done so it won’t affect dark adaptation.

You place your phone in the puck, then using daytime align you can move the mount so it's aligned as close to Polaris as possible using a direction indicator in the App. Useful if your neighbours tree is in the way! 

Star hop looks interesting as no interference from metal of mount with phones gyroscopes/compass etc.

I suspect that @JeremySand @mikeDnight can see thru solid matter as so never needed any gadgets to help them... 😄
 

[JeremyS]

6 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

You place your phone in the puck, then using daytime align you can move the mount so it's aligned as close to Polaris as possible using a direction indicator in the App. Useful if your neighbours tree is in the way! 

Star hop looks interesting as no interference from metal of mount with phones gyroscopes/compass etc.

I suspect that @JeremySand @mikeDnight can see thru solid matter as so never needed any gadgets to help them... 😄
 

Or just use an altaz mount that you don’t need to align with Polaris 😊

[Deadlake]

5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Or just use an altaz mount that you don’t need to align with Polaris 😊

Yes, however the star book makes going over the moon vibration free at the EP great, unlike my Scopetech. Also tracking Jupiter, very easy.
 An AZ100 with motors is the answer, however the star book is such a great controller.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Deadlake

[JeremyS]

42 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Yes, however the star book makes going over the moon vibration free at the EP great, unlike my Scopetech. Also tracking Jupiter, very easy.
 An AZ100 with motors is the answer, however the star book is such a great controller.

I also use an AZ EQ 6 in AZ mode. I just need 2 alignment stars which can be anywhere in the sky, not necessarily Polaris

Edited February 10, 2021 by JeremyS

[Deadlake]

5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I also use an AZ EQ 6 is AZ mode. I just need 2 alignment stars which can be anywhere in the sky, not necessarily Polaris

SXP2 needs to be aligned near Polaris (which polar align App does) and then two star align is good enough.





 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Deadlake

[Deadlake]

Today this turned up, a cradle you can attach to a mount using the printed vixen bar on the bottom. Place the phone in the cradle, align using the star aligns built in bubble and then go to daytime align to find Polaris.

You can attach a polar finder as well. 

Will try out tonight if weather permits

.

 

 

[Jiggy 67]

23 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Today this turned up, a cradle you can attach to a mount using the printed vixen bar on the bottom. Place the phone in the cradle, align using the star aligns built in bubble and then go to daytime align to find Polaris.

You can attach a polar finder as well. 

Will try out tonight if weather permits

.

 

 

Thats interesting, It'll be good to know how you get on with it.....better than a piece of wood 😀 where did you pick that up from ?

[Deadlake]

18 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

Thats interesting, It'll be good to know how you get on with it.....better than a piece of wood 😀 where did you pick that up from ?

I found the 3d stl files on 3d thingy, for both top and bottom . Then printed using 3d printing co uk, screwed together my self. Cost £40 + postage. The main advantage is that I can align the phone to be in the correct direction now, at present my phone does not ly flat on the saddle. 

Added: Can take up to XS Max sized phone in Apple case. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3642636

Edited February 18, 2021 by Deadlake

[Deadlake]

On 18/02/2021 at 11:45, Deadlake said:

I found the 3d stl files on 3d thingy, for both top and bottom . Then printed using 3d printing co uk, screwed together my self. Cost £40 + postage. The main advantage is that I can align the phone to be in the correct direction now, at present my phone does not ly flat on the saddle. 

Added: Can take up to XS Max sized phone in Apple case. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3642636

Just an update. Used this now and can get out of the doors and aligned in 10 minutes when using PS align pro and the phone cradle. 

For better results set the phone magnetic to true north in the compass settings.

[ecuador]

On 09/03/2021 at 13:59, Deadlake said:

Just an update. Used this now and can get out of the doors and aligned in 10 minutes when using PS align pro and the phone cradle. 

For better results set the phone magnetic to true north in the compass settings.

That's nice to hear.

Note that PS Align Pro can tell if you have magnetic North in your device settings and will calculate the magnetic declination and apply it to get true north anyway, so no worries  

[Deadlake]

1 hour ago, ecuador said:

That's nice to hear.

Note that PS Align Pro can tell if you have magnetic North in your device settings and will calculate the magnetic declination and apply it to get true north anyway, so no worries  

Seems to be off if I don't set the compass to true north or maybe metal in mount confusing the phone... 

[ecuador]

16 hours ago, Deadlake said:

Seems to be off if I don't set the compass to true north or maybe metal in mount confusing the phone... 

It must have been a coincidence. Both in magnetic and true north mode, iOS uses the same functions internally to constantly try and calibrate against local magnetic fields (with varying levels of success depending on the environment of course), the only thing that the true north setting does is at the end of this, if you have selected it, it calculates the magnetic declination for your location and adds it to the result. PS Align will do that last calculation itself if it receives magnetic north information from the system (and will warn you if you have set a manual location instead of GPS, as magnetic declination depends on it).
In fact, in recent iOS versions (not sure when the change happened), the true north is available to apps if they request it, regardless of the device settings, so that setting should not matter at all.

Just a technicality, but you made me go back and check to make sure I am not missing something  

So in any case don't worry about that setting, but do worry about interference - both settings are affected equally. On that front though, I am preparing an addition for the daytime tool for the current version under development. It will allow you to calibrate the compass during the day using the sun's shadow for those who can't get an accurate compass reading. I noticed that at least for my mount it is quite easy to align it with the sun's shadow with good accuracy, so trying to take advantage of it.