"easiest" way to drift align?

[PhoenixRising]

Hi all,

I find Im spending AGES drift aligning using an illuminated reticule.

I have a celestron webcam however and was wondering whether I could use this possibly with an eqmod?

Anyway, what are your thoughts on the best/quickest way to drift align for astrophotography?

What do you do and why?

Here's to 10 minutes subs ;-)

[barkis]

I am a big fan of drift alignment using an illuminated reticle.

If you have a permanent pier mount, then it is worth persevering.

There are other means of course, some using software assist, but star drift alignment is my choice. It can be tedious, but once achieved it is permanent, unless there's an earthquake of course.

Ron.

[roundycat]

really the whole point about drift aligning is that it takes a long time to see star drift. You cannot speed up nature! Once done it is doone.

Dennis

[martin_h]

I use EQAlign - EQAlign Project

It makes it all very easy

[Helen]

This program works for me....

Helen

[PhoenixRising]

I looked at eqalign but it looked a bit too technical, is it easy to use? also, do you think it would work with a celestron webcam? I could use eqalign to to my rough alignment then use an illuminated reticule for fine tuning. I think that would speed things up massively as im taking about an hour at the moment as Im not very accurate at adjusting.

[Helen]

This program works for me....

Helen

Sorry, forgot to add the link

Alignmaster von Matthias Garzarolli

I find this easy to use

Helen

[themos]

I've used EQAlign but it does take time as each drift measurement takes about 10 minutes and I end up doing at least 4 of those. I think most people go for some kind of permanent setup after a couple of years of doing this.

[kookoo_gr]

Polar Alignment - WCS - Fast and accurate polaralignment for astronomical mounts, using a CCD / webcam and drift alignment

Polar Alignment

Google ?????????

[Shibby]

really the whole point about drift aligning is that it takes a long time to see star drift. You cannot speed up nature! Once done it is doone.

However, a barlow does has a similar effect

[adamsp123]

if you have the kit I found this the easiest method

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-discussion/120593-phd-drift-polar-alignment.html

[martin_h]

I looked at eqalign but it looked a bit too technical, is it easy to use? also, do you think it would work with a celestron webcam? I could use eqalign to to my rough alignment then use an illuminated reticule for fine tuning. I think that would speed things up massively as im taking about an hour at the moment as Im not very accurate at adjusting.

Its very easy to use....and it shows you exactly how much to move the mount each time.

[themos]

Its very easy to use....and it shows you exactly how much to move the mount each time.

Yes, but then you have to do another run to confirm and sometimes you find that you need another correction, and you're getting cold and tired...

[martin_h]

Yes, but then you have to do another run to confirm and sometimes you find that you need another correction, and you're getting cold and tired...

But shouldn't you do that for any method? Any correction on any axis will alter the other axis a small amount.

[themos]

There is an alternative to drift aligning that has a quicker turnaround but I've only tried it for image fields of about 2 degrees or more. I describe it in this thread:

http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-astronomer/108643-help-me-test-my-polar-alignment-procedure.html

[Tim]

I usually drift align on part cloudy nights, but I guess you have a portable setup?

If you have a GOTO mount you can use that to get polar aligned. Assuming all other things are equal, like time and date etc, then the first slew you do to star will show you how great/small the error in your alignment. You just need to correct for it.

The method is described here:

Info - Polar Alignment with a GoTo Telescope Mount

HTH

Tim

[JCJC]

If you have a computerised set-up and camera I would also recommend EQAlign as Martin said above.

I've found it works well and is easy and quick.

Jordan

[RobH]

I've tried many of the software based methods, and find them far more confusing than plain drift aligning.

With a webcam, and the free PHD guiding program, you can easily drift align (assuming that you are set up for autoguiding).

Connect the webcam and mount to PHD, and then let PHD run it's calibration routine.

Make sure beforehand that you know which direction is north and south on your computer screen.

Then go to the settings (brain icon) in PHD and disable the guide commands.

Select a star in the correct part of the sky as you normally would during manual drift alignment and then hit the 'guide' command.

The crosshair will stay positioned on the original place the star was when you selected it, but the star will drift as guide commands have been disabled. This makes it really easy to see which way the drift is.

Just set it running and then go and have a cuppa, come back and then make your adjustments, then repeat the procedure.

Cheers

Rob

[adamsp123]

Rob, if you guide in RA but disable DEC after calibration, turn on the graph and set to dx, dy you can instantly see the DEC drift in the graph, tweak mount and you again instantly see what the correction has done to the plot, especially if like me you go the wrong way with the adjustment, I could see in less than 5 secs my error.

[RobH]

That's pretty well what I do Pete, as with all the other methods I find you can end up chasing your tail.

Watching the effect of your adjustments in real-time is just dead simple.

[Psychobilly]

I have a really easy method for drift alignment... I have never bothered doing it...

My "cheap" diy pier and wedge for the obs means fine adjustments aren't easy so I just make do with the all star wedge align functionality in the CPC800 and the EQ mounts are just used for wide-field...

Guiding has pretty much taken care of any issues and that's with subs up to 30mins imaging through the CPC800...

The Scopes went back into the obs between Christmas and New Year so I have a few hours of messing around again to get it close again...

Billy...

[ollypenrice]

Being a computer numpty I spend longer not getting the software to work than I do using a crosshair EP...

Better still I like to set the CCD reticule up orthogonally and use that as a crosshair.

Olly

[swag72]

I've tried many of the software based methods, and find them far more confusing than plain drift aligning.

With a webcam, and the free PHD guiding program, you can easily drift align (assuming that you are set up for autoguiding).

Connect the webcam and mount to PHD, and then let PHD run it's calibration routine.

Make sure beforehand that you know which direction is north and south on your computer screen.

Then go to the settings (brain icon) in PHD and disable the guide commands.

Select a star in the correct part of the sky as you normally would during manual drift alignment and then hit the 'guide' command.

The crosshair will stay positioned on the original place the star was when you selected it, but the star will drift as guide commands have been disabled. This makes it really easy to see which way the drift is.

Just set it running and then go and have a cuppa, come back and then make your adjustments, then repeat the procedure.

Cheers

Rob

Rob,

I am thinking about having a bash at drift alignment using PHD, now that I have the PA checking sorted out.

So, 1st question - How do I know which is north and south on my computer screen? This is North and south on the PHD capture screen, yes?

Can you point to a bit more of a numptys guide for this? I do like things simple! Also, what stars do you pick? Is it the same principle as the PA checking?

[adamsp123]

I simply picked any star PHD could use and then made a guess at which knob to adjust looking through my polar scope to watch how much I had moved the mount, if I had guessed wrong I simply adjusted in the other direction

[RobH]

Rob,

So, 1st question - How do I know which is north and south on my computer screen? This is North and south on the PHD capture screen, yes?

Can you point to a bit more of a numptys guide for this? I do like things simple! Also, what stars do you pick? Is it the same principle as the PA checking?

Finding north or south on the screen is dead easy.

Centre a star, and then, using your hand controller, slew the scope slightly north or south.

If you slew north, this means that the star will move south in the FOV. On the screen, a star always moves opposite to the direction of the slew.

Yes, the stars you pick are the same as PA checking, as this is what you're doing.

No idea where a numpyt's guide is....sorry.

Are you coming to SGL6?

It's dead easy once you've seen it demonstrated.

Cheers

Rob