Polar Alignment From A First Time Poster

[Tablelands Astro]

Hi All and thanks for allowing me to join this group.

I purchased a new HEQ5 Pro and PoleMaster last year.  I figured this would offer a good starting point for a number of years to begin my quest in Astrophotography, firstly using DSLR technology. I figured that this would be a rig that I could grow into rather than out of. 

I have devoured any reading possible but am yet to get past the Polar Alignment stage.  Maybe I am a tad slow or am missing something but gather that this step is maybe like learning to ride a bike and hoping that once the penny drops, the rest will follow.

As stated, I have watched and read nearly every offering but alas have not been able to locate the star pattern as required.  Last night however, I think I may have progressed and then again I may not have.

My question: If I have set up the mount and thru the PoleMaster screen have reached a stage where if I spin the mount, the viewable stars move in a concentric circle around the middle of the screen, have I reached a point where I am in the sky position that I should be...in other words am I on the right track?

Any answers and indeed any other help or encouragement would be massively appreciated.

Thanks In advance!       

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I use the Polemaster and once mastered then PA becomes 5 minutes of a job. And for sure a HEQ5 is a great mount for starting out in Astrophotography, and often many use them for a lifetime.

I assume things work the same for the Southern pole star as for Polaris. So the main think is to roughly align your mount in the right direction so that the polemaster camera is pointing at the southern Pole Star (Sigma Octantis). I have read that this can e particularly difficult to identify so you need to ensure you are looking at the correct star.
In the North Polaris is fairly easy to find as it is much bigger than the others around it (and there are easy ways from a well known constellation to find it) but once I did actually manage to point the mount at another similar size star and had similar issues as I could not get the other stars to fit the pattern on the screen.

So my first question is have you set your mount declination to roughly the correct angle for your location ?

Then my second question is are you sure you are clicking on the correct star ?

If so then also make sure you have the South selected in Region selection in the top left hand corner.

Then match the screen template to the surrounding stars by moving the slider under "Confirm Polaris/Oct", you can get better finer adjustment just clicking on the + and -, so move slider till close and fine adjust with the + and -.
The stars should all then be inside the circles, they might not all be directly in the middle of the circles, some may be in centre and others a bit closer to the outer rings ut just line them up best you can.

Then you have to click on one of the outer stars ( choose a bright star and one far away from the pole star will be more accurate than one close to it, but not too far that is will go off the screen when rotated. Also it does not need to e one of the stars in the circles) and then rotate the mount using the East button on the hand set about 15 degrees, keep an eye on the star you clicked on.

When rotated about 15 degrees click on the star again, rotate another 15 degrees (or more) and click on the same star again.

Then send the mount back to home position and watch the screen it will have a circle on it and the star you clicked on will follow the circumference of that circle if all went okay.
If you do not move your Polemaster camera in the mount the next time you do the PA you can skip this rotation as it will ask you to use the last recorded rotation.

Then really its a matter of clicking on the pole star and following the remaining on screen instructions and adjusting the mount to line the star up with a circle.

Then click on monitor and you may need to do some very fine adjustment to the mount so get two crosshairs to align perfectly.

Steve

[StevieDvd]

It seems like you have started well. Using Polemaster to PA means that you can't really get too much wrong.  It uses platesolving so would not go through it's full process if you were not pointing in the right direction and using the correct stars.

The point you made about spinning the mount is sort of right.  I can only explain using Polaris as an example, and assuming my polarscope was correctly aligned. Once polaris was in it's correct position in the polarscope reticule then spinning the mount would make polaris stay in the guide circle as you'd be manually imitating the movement of polaris over a 24 hour period.  So if your screen has a marker for the SCP and stars stay on a circle around that point I would say your mount is aligned.

Once you have correct PA, then the next step is to check your goto accuracy. Even with perfect PA this can go wrong as it also depends on the date/time - the mount will expect a target to be on a known point of that circle (as per above) around the pole and if your clock is wrong it will look in the wrong spot, so date/time are important. Loose clutches or out of balance setups can have an impact as well.

Hope that helps and encourages too.

Steve

 

[Tablelands Astro]

Guys...

Many Thanks for the thoughtful and helpful advice.  I am taking baby steps and tonight was able to carry out a successful polar alignment in hand or manual mode only...(rough I know but the aim was repeatability when identifying the stars required.  I will practice this for a few nights until I am confident in finding Octans at various times and orientation.  Rather than try and chew on the whole mount operation, I am attempting to break it down into manageable chunks.  PA/Mount Operation and then camera settings, lens choice etc etc...

I have checked and double checked all basic adjustments and tonight appears to have verified these items.  I have also marked the surface of my "viewing area" and will laser engrave some stainless plates and attach these to the concrete to act as guides for "exact" mount locating going forward. 

Next, will be practicing the Synscan equipment and general mount operation in a "live" sense  and see if I can build on tonight's success...

Again, many thanks for your input!!!

Regards,

Rod

[teoria_del_big_bang]

3 minutes ago, Tablelands Astro said:

I have also marked the surface of my "viewing area" and will laser engrave some stainless plates and attach these to the concrete to act as guides for "exact" mount locating going forward. 

That's a great idea, I have marked mine with a marker pen but have to keep re-doing them to stop them disappearing but your idea is much better 🙂 

Steve

[blameTECHIE]

@Tablelands Astro - reading through the thread above, I feel your pain.  Last night was a terrible experience trying to PA using SharpCap and I'm waiting on an adapter to connect my PoleMaster to my EQ6-R.

Whilst it doesn't help your situation, I'm so glad to read that it isn't just me and the replies have helped me enormously, so thank you for posting and thanks to those that have replied.

Hope that it all falls into place for you soon and I look forward to your next post saying how easy it has become and getting goto accuracy is (hopefully) less troublesome.

Kev

[iapa]

This quite a good one for our souther friends.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwig5-7o1ZnwAhUNZcAKHdeGBe8QwqsBMAB6BAgGEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVKjGc-VjUFk&usg=AOvVaw37fUUpOZxSBPLlq83wpgf3

Even I understood it.

But it should get you where yo need to be for the Polarscope.

One thing I’ve done is place a length of wood across the E/W legs of the tripod and spray a line along it that I can use to speed things up.

Edited April 25, 2021 by iapa

[Tablelands Astro]

10 hours ago, blameTECHIE said:

@Tablelands Astro - reading through the thread above, I feel your pain.  Last night was a terrible experience trying to PA using SharpCap and I'm waiting on an adapter to connect my PoleMaster to my EQ6-R.

Whilst it doesn't help your situation, I'm so glad to read that it isn't just me and the replies have helped me enormously, so thank you for posting and thanks to those that have replied.

Hope that it all falls into place for you soon and I look forward to your next post saying how easy it has become and getting goto accuracy is (hopefully) less troublesome.

Kev

It is refreshing to know that my issues are shared by others.  So much to learn and so much time invested.  I do enjoy a challenge and will continue to learn and not be afraid to put my hand up for help when I find myself in a bind.  Good luck in your endeavours Kev!!!

[Tablelands Astro]

9 hours ago, iapa said:

This quite a good one for our souther friends.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwig5-7o1ZnwAhUNZcAKHdeGBe8QwqsBMAB6BAgGEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVKjGc-VjUFk&usg=AOvVaw37fUUpOZxSBPLlq83wpgf3

Even I understood it.

But it should get you where yo need to be for the Polarscope.

One thing I’ve done is place a length of wood across the E/W legs of the tripod and spray a line along it that I can use to speed things up.

Thanks for the link...it is one that I have watched a few times...