How good does the polar alignment need to be? check the field rotation calculator (noob tip)

[uhb1966]

Hi!

For all the noobs (like me ) out there:

- The more your polar alignment is off, the more your pictures will suffer from field rotation

- the higher your declination (more towards polaris) you are, the bigger your field rotation

- http://celestialwonders.com/tools/rotationMaxErrorCalc.html  will calculate your error for you

- Example: If your guide star is 1° from your target, your scope has 800mm focal length, declination is 45° and your subs are 2 minutes, you'll get 3 microns of star trails if you have a large alignment error of 60 minutes=1°

- By playing around, you'll get a good feeling about how short your subs have to be

Clear skies!

Edited October 17, 2023 by uhb1966

[Albir phil]

Simple answer get it as good as you can, I use pole Master and it gets me very good alignment.

[sinbad40]

Used to do it manually, then tried plate solving through NINA, seems to give me good alignment.

 

[Stickey]

I use an Asiair, which uses plate solving to assist Polar Alignment. Depending on how patient I'm feeling, I can get it <10 arc-secs.