Drift aligning question

[Keithp]

whooo think I may have got it. Well close anyway, no drift time is 01:18.

Switching to a SW target

[Keithp]

okay, got markab lined up now, see what happens 01:25

[Keithp]

looks like it's moving north a little, as I look in the eyepiece, orientated it so the star moves left and right and stays on the e/w line as I look in the eyepiece.

If I'm doing this wrong, anyone..please shout up

Regards

Keithp

time is 01:37

yep definitely drifted north a little bit so I've adjusted the mount so the star appeared to move to the right..not much though, about double the width of the crosshair lines...see what happens. time is 01:46

[Keithp]

no movement. time is 01:50..

I'll leave it for another 15 mins and get a coffee. If it's still on target then another siting in the east to double check...if that checks out then a picture test:hello2:

lovely night tonight...he he

[Keithp]

got the coffee and it's still there. moved slightly to the right/west but no N/S movement

Time is 02:06. And would you believe it... my torch suddenly started getting hot...flipping rechargable batteries gone west.

Not sure if they are going to explode or something...but they're in the middle of the lawn...

[Keithp]

swinging back over to Capella

02:10

[Keithp]

it appeared to move north..just a fraction, we're talking about the same distance as the width of the crosshairs again. I've moved the mount so the star appeared to move down a fraction. No more than the width of the crosshairs again.

02:27

[Tim]

I hope you have your kit on a pier Keith

It took me several nights to tune my pier to be 'perfect', but at Kelling I drift aligned for half an hour or so on a portable rig and the darnest thing, the alignment was so good the mount tracked the sun with a high mag EP perfectly for over 3 hours...

This guide is my constant companion, its easy style suits a cold brain in the early hours

Classic Astrophotography - Photographing the Cosmos with ordinary film

[Keithp]

Capella, 4 mins, no guiding..more later

Seeing what I can do with what I got so far

[Keithp]

I hope you have your kit on a pier Keith

just a little one

http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-observatories/109863-been-bit-busy.html

[Keithp]

and 5 mins, no guiding.

The biggy next time...10 mins while I get a coffee

[Keithp]

okay a bit impatient..8 mins unguided. I put it into paint.net just to adjust the exposure and resize it

[ollypenrice]

To come back to the question about the scale of correction movements against the scale of drift, when aligning on the southern star I always find I need a much larger correction than the the amount of drift.

Olly

[Keithp]

Cheers for that Olly, I managed a reasonable alignment, not quite as tight as I want yet but close enough to continue with guided tracking. I think this will be a continuing experiment over the next few nights, weather allowing.

Nice 2 weeks off work to sort it out. Even on a pier though I noticed how sensitive the mount/train is to any sort of movement. I reckon it's all pretty much well balanced but having to slaken off the main bolt to allow adjustment to take place the very act of tightening it again to lock everything up rock solid makes a difference.

Was going out tonight..looks a cracker again but sleep patterns need to re-adjust alittle.

Regards

Keithp