Drift align + obsy?

[shaunster]

Hi

I have a chance to build an obsy in the garden, but the only site for it cant see north so cant polar align, is it easy to do a drift align on the pier to be accurate even though i cant see polaris?

if not i can just put a pier in the middle of the garden, but then i cant leave things set up and not have the benefits of an observatory

[Merlin66]

Yes is the answer!

I have a 12" lx200 on a wedge in my Argos TSO (Tin Shed Observatory) and can't see Polaris.

Just set the mounting roughly north/ south using the direction of the sun at noon, or by compass, then do your drift alignment.

Once done correctly, you'll probably never need to do it again.

Ken

[Bizibilder]

You can set the altitude (polar axis angle) roughly on the tripod then move to the pier for fine adjustment using drift.

[lukebl]

Yes. I've just built my own obsy, and the northern view is completely obscured.

I just made sure when I built the pier that the plate which holds the mount was oriented exactly due north (used the shadow of a vertical stick at midday to get it right, taking into account my longitude causing the local time to be a few minutes ahead of Greenwich. Close enough! ). Then just drift aligned to get it spot on.

Takes a bit of practice, but once you've learnt it you never forget.

[martin_h]

Download EQalign if you have a webcam for your 'scope - it makes life easyer