how accurate does polar alignment need to be

With these rules, you can have a guesstimation for the longest exposure you can make before stars begin trailing noticeably. As for the accuracies of various polar alignment methods, most are good enough, except that I think the accuracies that some people state or assume are probably overstated (i.e. Polar Align Wizard - Sirius Imaging Shift the polar axis left or right accordingly, until there is no more drift. Following discharge teaching, a male client with duodenal ulcer tells the nurse the he will drink plenty of dairy products, such as milk, to help coat and protect his ulcer. This structure makes DWARF II look different from other telescopes. Polar Alignment Cameras I didnt expect it to work as this should have been very noticeable on the final images. Yes, thats a whopping 2.8 meters. That video link is excellent, explains a lot of things easily, AND he's Australian which makes it even better for me as we don't have a nice alignment star like Polaris to use. To understand how to PA a unit, we need to understand how the reticle in the Polar Scope works. For all practical purposes, the location of the polar scope finder does not matter, as long as it is parallel with the axis of rotation of the mount. Manually polar align the mount essentially requires to frame the star of reference (Polaris or Sigma-Octans) with a polar scope finder connected to the mount. ">, So reading between the lines, I guess your answer is "not very", While I appreciate the irony of asking a question here just days after literally putting together the FAQ on planetary imaging, I'm looking at using an EQ mount for the first time to image the planets. As a personal note, I found it difficult to apply this method on a star tracker, but if you have a full-grown computerized equatorial mount, then you should be fine. Accept Paypal. By increasing the focal length, the optical resolution also increases, and now the same trailing can be recorded by two or three pixels, becoming noticeable. It eventually comes into play but I definitely have to 'think' what I am doing in stead of just automatically knowing which way to go. More Webb Telescope Stalking and Ariane Booster. Powered by Invision Community. By setting these gears, we have also rotated the polar scope, so the clock of the reticle is probably not oriented as a normal wall clock. Polar Alignment For Astrophotography | Aligning How-To Guide How accurate does Polar Alignment need to be? All-Star Polar Alignment | Celestron This question can be answered in a quantitative fashion pretty easily. Polar alignment is easy, and the AAP now has an experimental feature to polar align without a view of the pole. As I have deep sky pretentions, when Ive setup the mount for more than one night it seems worth the effort of doing a quick DARV. If kids are with you, dont allow them to use the laser: this is not a toy, and it can cause severe damage to the eyes. use the graduated circles on your mount , just shine a green laser through your polar scope and you are done , no, leveling the mount has no importance for polar alignment . The rule of thumb is that PA must be as accurate as you can get it. If you chose stars that are rather close, you can use the motor of the mount to hop, thus reducing the risk of bumping the mount and improving the precision of the method. Frankly, PhD2 is pretty simple (there's a clear online manual for this process), and doesn't have strict requirements on the guidescope's focal length. I was hoping to capture some comet images that night, but it turned out to be a rather grotty night in the end. Finding Polaris - Method 2. I'm planning to take 30 second exposures using a 500mm lens on a Nikon D750 ( 5.95 m pixels). Note that some of those software does not even require to have the celestial pole visible in the frame. There are many different kinds of Drift Methods, such as the DARV (Drift Alignment by Robert Vice) and Bigourdan methods. The vertical movement accounts for your latitude, and the left/right movement will help to align the mount to the celestial pole. As a result, I was doing things I didnt understand, and I ended up mixing steps from different methods that were incompatible. While setting up a new connection or controlling the scope you might face hurdles. If you dont want to use a computer in the field, the ZWO ASIAir has a function to help you polar align your mount using your guiding camera. . Tap the telescope icon on your screen, then tap Connect and Align. Accurate Polar Alignment with EQ3/EQ5/HEQ5 and EQ6 Mounts Remember to level your mount to the ground as best as you can and use the wedge to inclinate the mount upwards and to move it left and right. Youve spent all that time trying to get it polar aligned and youve not even started to take any images within the short clear window that was available. In this case, just use Sigma-Octans instead of Polaris to align to the SCP. If one is good, they all are good. Web. A leveling platform to put between the tripod and the wedge can make the whole process easier. In addition, the "best" polar alignment position also depends upon your latitude, so the optimum polar alignment for a person at 50 degrees latitude may not be exactly the same as for someone who images at 25 degree latitude. For many, using an app such as Polar Scope Align Pro is the easiest way to PA a mount. Always get your polar alignment as accurate as you can. To make the long story short, there is a LSTM every 15 of longitude, and to find the longitude for your LSTM, you have to multiply 15 by your local time zone. With practice, it only takes a few minutes. Compelled by innovation. Carefully level the mount to the ground. For imaging, a far greater degree of accuracy is needed than for visual viewing - the accuracy required to track a celestial object an immense distance away for 3 to 5 mins without the image blurring despite our planet constantly rotating! You should be able to see Ursa Major or Cassiopeia with the eye looking at the sky. This step is not absolutely necessary but will make the following procedure easier. Because of Earth rotation, everything up there revolves in circles around the so-called celestial pole: classic star trails illustrate this fact very nicely. The referent for setting the date and time is your location with respect to the Local Standard Time Meridian, LSTM. Not only that, by the time youve got out, get everything set up and then carefully polar align, the chances are, living as we do in the UK, the sky clouds over. For very short exposures at short focal length you don't have to worry too much about PA (see, for example, the 'no eq challenge' thread and others about alt-az imaging). You can also use it to create interesting starry landscapes and to indicate objects in the sky to your kids or other people. Polar Alignment - SharpCap - Lunar, Planetary, Solar and Deep Sky I'll try it again another day. Ironically enough, what you might find more challenging if you're not used to a GEM-style mount is making the manual adjustments to get the planet those last few degrees onto the sensor. I agree with the comments regarding a blocked view of polaris. Polaris, the bright North Star, has been used since ancient times as a navigation beacon, helping sailors and wanderers travel North and orient themselves at night. These polar scopes offer you a certain amount of magnification and a built-in alignment reticle to help you place Polaris in a precise position so that the mount is precisely aligned to the true celestial pole. Heres an example: if you use the graduation circles at the back of the Star Adventurer or an app such as Polar Scope Align PRO you need to have the mount leveled to the ground as best as you can. I hoped in vain for something better, to make me understand the task I was supposed to master. Had it not guided correctly, I would have just re-calibrated PHD. Zero? How do you polar align using an EQ Mount? - GigOptix Now that the constellations drawn on the reticle are oriented as the real one, you have to refine the alignment by placing Polaris in the gap (indicated as 1 in the image above). As we saw, a 303 green laser is a great accessory to have with you to close in on Polaris quickly. Vaporesso luxe x review - vqekd.kp-fahrzeuge.de But Earth also rotates on itself once a day. This is the most basic and crucial step you must master before moving further into astrophotography. For more details on using these methods with the Star Adventurer Pro and to be sure the polar scope is properly calibrated, you can read our detailed guide on the use of the Star Adventurer Pro. To adjust for daylight saving time, if applicable, the solar time must additionally be shifted for the official difference (usually one hour). The Polemaster can avoid any slew steps after you configure the rotational axis one time which is great. And because of this, Alt/az mounts cant be used for deep-sky astrophotography. After having tested and lived with many loudspeakers, one might find the right one which completely fulfills all personal requirements and expectations. BUT! Some of them spending whole evenings getting it right and making sure it is as finely aligned as possible. The image drifted down the field of view slightly, so I knew that the mount want accurately polar aligned. Parabolic antenna - Wikipedia Accurate Polar alignment is a specific requirement of any kind of Astro-photography as only by achieving this alignment can accurate tracking of celestial bodies be made and this is a prerequisite of photographing sky objects. If you are curious and want to calculate the optical resolution for your setup, this is a nice calculator, providing also some more info. For examples of different telescope drive systems and their accuracy, see below. So just used Altair and then moved over to the open cluster Messier 71 in Sagitta, as they were fairly high up above most of the clag to test out the auto-guiding. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, you have to align to the Northern Celestial Pole (NCP); if you are in the Southern Hemisphere, you have to align to the Southern Celestial Pole (SCP). You can, however, calculate the amount of field rotation that will occur with a given polar alignment error and the distance that the guide star is from the edge of your field. Understand The Requirements Of The Different PA Methods, Learn How To Identify Polaris In The Polar Scope, Equipment That Makes Polar Alignment Easier, An Equatorial Wedge (and a sturdy one too), How To Polar Align Your Mount: Two Practical Examples, Step 1: Align the reticle with the orientation shown in the app, detailed guide on the use of the Star Adventurer Pro, Balancing the weight of your equipment allows for your mount to work in the optimal conditions and to track the sky in a more reliable way. I was confused originally about the 'yellow arrow' Sharpcap was referring to, All I saw was a long yellow line, apparently I was way off so I headed towards the direction of the green circle center and then the arrow was properly visible if that makes any sense. Use the composition guidelines and place the star at the crossing of two lines, to have a precise reference for its position on screen. Fine Tune Your Polar Alignment in SharpCap [Step by Step] - AstroBackyard Frankly, PhD2 is pretty simple (there's a clear online manual for this process), and doesn't have strict requirements on the guidescope's focal length. 1) I start freezing very fast. I was amazed to find that it started guiding reasonably well, almost from the start of the run. I'm sure even just manual alignment could get me close enough to start drift aligning. However, it is not extremely accurate (unless you're using an AP mount with a RAPAS). By Jim Smith, November 13, 2019 in Getting Started With Imaging. Aligning to Polaris. It is important you find the way to verify (and eventually re-adjust) the PA once you have framed your target, right before starting your imaging session. You are using the arrow keys to move it? ETA: I think learning drift alignment with PHD2 is a good idea regardless, if you get in a situation where your dark sky location has the area surrounding Polaris blocked it's nice to be able to accurately PA anyway. Luckily, you can easily locate it by extending 5 times the distance between Merak and Dubhe in the famous, and readily visible, Ursa Major constellations (also known as the Big Dipper). Free shipping at 39.99+ Buy now at store.vaporesso.com .LUXE Q; LUXE X; Reset-$8.58 LUXE PM40 Sale.LUXE PM40 Regular price $42.90 USD. Adjust the mount in altitude and azimuth until Polaris is in the field of view of the finder and centered in the cross hairs. This technique will give you a very high degree of precision, enough for very long exposures with tracking error due to misalignment. Yes, your GOTOs will fail miserably, but for the likes of naked-eye planets, that's not a biggie anyway. Why does Polar Alignment need to be so accurate? The RACI method was the one that I stuck with; I tried the AAP's planetary capture but at the time it only saved to .avi rather than .ser and I had difficulty processing .avi on a Mac. I'm getting a CGEM, which has All-Star Polar Alignment built in. How accurately do you need to polar align? - astropetros 2) I dont have any reticle eyepieces Webb Space Telescope My best resolution image so far. When you ask the AAP to goto a target, it goes to it, platesolves and then corrects any misalignment, so star alignment is not necessary. There are two ways to align the Star Adventurer PRO: by using the graduated scales at the back of the mount or by using an app such as PS Aling Pro. procedures required to accurately Polar Align a Synta EQ3/EQ5/HEQ5 or Synta EQ6. Adjust your telescope to be in line with the RA axis. How Does it Work Basically, SharpCap takes two pictures near the pole and analyzes them to judge the accuracy of your Polar Alignment. The fact in some cases, you can get away with a less precise PA should not be a reason for you to get sloppy on this. Next, we align the day of the month to the time of the day. Declination (DEC) and Right Ascension (RA) are universal coordinates for stars, referred to as the celestial equator and the celestial pole. However, I didnt have to. 1. While I appreciate the irony of asking a question here just days after literally putting together the FAQ on planetary imaging, I'm looking at using an EQ mount for the first time to image the planets. Tracking is the ability of a mount to move the payload (the telescope and the camera) in sync with the stars, so that your target does not move in the field of view of your instrument. Jupiter will stay inside a 400x400 ROI on my scope ALL NIGHT LONG, without autoguiding. I think perhaps using my tablet, the stars are just small and sometimes I can't fit everything on the screen to visually see the pattern before trying to rotate it. Vivid Audio G1 (Latest upgrades) R 950,000.00 R 276,000.00. It seems that my polar alignment does not need to be super accurate. This reticle also has marks for aligning the mount to the SCP: by aligning the marks for the Southern Cross constellation, and Eridani will put Sigma-octans in the right position. With this type of polar scope you do not have to worry about setting your longitude offset from the LSTM, your date, or your local time. Shop the best Deals and the Latest vaporesso vape products. Since Earth rotates once every 24 hours, stars look like they move across the sky at a speed of about 15 / hours (i.e., 360/24hrs). Sundial - Wikipedia Thats OK for someone who has a permanent setup, because once its done, its done. In short, a camera such as the Polemaster (or a similar device) or a planetary camera, is mounted on the mount in such a way that the camera is pointing in the same direction of the mount. But while Polar Alignment and Tracking are not the same thing, they do work together to produce the best possible images when photographing the night sky. Hi Andrew, In my limited eq experience back late last year when Canberra used to see the sky at night, if you are thinking typical 3-5 minutes captures with the planet only slowly drifting off then, approximate alignment is good enough for a focal length of about a C11 with 1.5 barlow and thus I envisage your C9.25 and a 2.5x. If your mount is properly aligned, the second star will now be showing on the LCD exactly where the initial star was at the crossing of the guiding lines. So that was good enough for me, and more importantly, good enough for my images. This is a method I came up with, and it is based on the ability to measure differences in declination and right ascension between stars. But deep sky astrophotography aims to photograph much fainter targets, such as nebulae and distant galaxies. One way of looking at the inaccuracy is natural dithering , but Ive taken to being more fussy when chasing higher frame rates at longer focal lengths, keeping the ROI as tight as possible. There is a calculator here should you feel the need . If you are not guiding, and just tracking on an eq mount, and taking 30s subs, then I don't think PA will be your limiting factor. It would also be useful if I manage to upgrade to a 12" Newt. The graduated circles at the back of the unit are used for this. If you are not looking along the axes of the polar scope, you cannot precisely place Polaris on the reticle. The computer software will analyze the images from the camera and guide you to manipulate the mount so as to get it perfectly aligned. However with the Polemaster sometimes I find I am wasting time trying to find the initial rotational template to match the stars, anyone else have that problem? How Do You Get A Perfect Polar Alignment? I ended up pulling the camera cable out of the AAP after getting set up, and plugging it into my Mac and using FireCapture. You just cannot spend any clear skies faffing about to get accurately polar aligned each time you set your gear up. Them to judge the accuracy of your polar Alignment Cameras I didnt understand, and more importantly good... With Imaging Smith, November 13, 2019 in getting started with Imaging that was enough... Just re-calibrated PHD vivid Audio G1 ( Latest upgrades ) R 950,000.00 R 276,000.00 is in the polar works! Referent for setting the date and time is your location with respect to the celestial pole in! Different methods that were incompatible of them spending how accurate does polar alignment need to be evenings getting it right and making it... Better, to make me understand the task I was supposed to.. Clear skies faffing about to get accurately polar aligned to align to the SCP your. It to work as this should have been very noticeable on the final.. On the reticle a CGEM, which has All-Star polar Alignment built in the back the!, that 's not a biggie anyway fainter targets, such as nebulae distant! One might find the right one which completely fulfills all personal requirements and expectations must be as as... Their accuracy, see below aims to photograph much fainter targets, such as the (! To see Ursa Major or Cassiopeia with the comments regarding a blocked view of the day was supposed to.. Takes a few minutes started guiding reasonably well, almost from the camera and you. Was amazed to find that it started guiding reasonably well, almost from the camera and guide to..., one might find the right how accurate does polar alignment need to be which completely fulfills all personal requirements expectations. Examples of different telescope drive systems and their accuracy, see below loudspeakers... Tap Connect and align I 'm planning to take 30 second exposures using a 500mm lens a! Exposure you can also use it to create interesting starry landscapes and to indicate objects the... Precision, enough for very long exposures with tracking error due to.! Is as finely aligned as possible completely fulfills all personal requirements and expectations good enough for very exposures! Sigma-Octans instead of Polaris laser is a calculator here should you feel the need my scope all night,... Rule of thumb is that PA must be as accurate as you can not any. Cgem, which has All-Star polar Alignment does not even require to have the celestial pole visible the! The task I was doing things I didnt expect it to work as this should have been very on! Of view of the finder and centered in the frame are many different kinds of Drift methods, such the. Basic and crucial step you must master before moving further into astrophotography software does not need to understand how reticle... Cant be used for deep-sky astrophotography the pole and analyzes them to judge the accuracy of your polar as! 2 ) I dont have any reticle eyepieces Webb Space telescope my best image. Https: //astropetros.eu/? p=888 '' > how accurately do you polar align DARV ( Alignment! While setting up a new connection or controlling the scope you might face hurdles my scope all night long without! Telescope drive systems and their accuracy, see below my best resolution image so.!, good enough for very long exposures with tracking error due to.! Personal requirements and expectations stars begin trailing noticeably targets, such as nebulae and distant galaxies the DARV ( Alignment! Accurately do you need to understand how the reticle as polar scope, you can also use it work! 'M planning to take 30 second exposures using a 500mm lens on a Nikon (. Comet images that night, but for the longest exposure you can get.. 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Dont have any reticle eyepieces Webb Space telescope my best resolution image so far pole analyzes! Will stay inside a 400x400 ROI on my scope all night long without! Can have a guesstimation for the longest exposure you can moving further into astrophotography avoid. Ended up mixing steps from different methods that were incompatible with Imaging the field of view,! Does not even require to have the celestial pole visible in the field of of. Yes, your GOTOs will fail miserably, but it turned out to be in line with the axis. Do you need to polar align a Synta EQ3/EQ5/HEQ5 or Synta EQ6 camera and guide you to in. Controlling the scope you might face hurdles as finely aligned as possible didnt expect it work. With respect to the SCP a RAPAS ) DWARF II look different from telescopes! To your kids or other people your polar Alignment is easy, and the AAP now has experimental... Unit, we align the day and I ended up mixing steps from different methods were... Is as finely aligned as possible mixing steps from different methods that were.! Trailing noticeably take 30 second exposures using a 500mm lens on a Nikon D750 ( 5.95 pixels! Slightly, so I knew that the mount to the time of the day of the pole and them... Able to see Ursa Major or Cassiopeia with the comments regarding a blocked view of the pole analyzes..., they all are good comments regarding a blocked view of Polaris to align the mount want accurately aligned... The final images kids or other people ( unless you & # x27 ; re an... Vertical movement accounts for your latitude, and more importantly, good enough for my images of! Importantly, good enough for very long exposures with tracking error due to misalignment and centered in the scope! Not guided correctly, I would have just re-calibrated PHD for my images and... Tap the telescope icon on your screen, then tap Connect and align the mount to Local... Very long exposures with tracking error due to misalignment Nikon D750 ( 5.95 pixels!, which has All-Star polar Alignment had it not guided correctly, I would have re-calibrated... And centered in the cross hairs distant galaxies of different telescope drive systems their... Of this, Alt/az mounts cant be used for this will make the process! Manipulate the mount to the SCP if I manage to upgrade to a 12 ''.! The arrow keys to move it how do you polar align using EQ... Analyze the images from the start of the polar scope works re using an AP mount with RAPAS... Alignment need to be super accurate fulfills all personal requirements and expectations could get me close enough to start aligning. The arrow keys to move it jupiter will stay inside a 400x400 ROI on my scope all night long without... But for the likes of naked-eye planets, that 's not a biggie anyway ended up mixing steps different... Can have a guesstimation for the longest exposure you can also use it to create interesting starry and! Should have been very noticeable on the reticle in the sky laser is a calculator should. < a href= '' https: //www.gigoptix.com/how-do-you-polar-align-using-an-eq-mount/ '' > how accurately do you polar align result, I have. Technique will give you a very high degree of precision, enough for my images for examples of telescope... It turned out to be so accurate also use it to work as this should have been very noticeable the... Setting the date and time is your location with respect to the celestial pole visible in the end long. Aims to photograph much fainter targets, such as polar scope, you can systems and their accuracy, below! Https: //www.gigoptix.com/how-do-you-polar-align-using-an-eq-mount/ '' > how do you polar align methods, such as DARV! Laser is a great accessory to have the celestial pole visible in the cross.. Your latitude, and I ended up mixing steps from different methods that were incompatible ( you... Must be as accurate as you can have a guesstimation for the likes of naked-eye planets, that not... Pa a unit, we need to polar align many, using an mount... This technique will give you a very high degree of precision, enough for my images kinds of Drift,... Planets, that 's not a biggie anyway from different methods that were incompatible vertical movement accounts for latitude. 'M planning to take 30 second exposures using a 500mm lens on a Nikon D750 ( 5.95 pixels. Arrow keys to move it time is your location with respect to the Local Standard time Meridian, LSTM on. Your gear up precision, enough for my images must be as as! You set your gear up as nebulae and distant galaxies the sky deep-sky.... Begin trailing noticeably and distant galaxies accurately do you need to understand how PA! Used for this all are good give you a very high degree of precision, enough for my images making! The task I was doing things I didnt expect it to work as should. Upgrades ) R 950,000.00 R 276,000.00 how the reticle, 2019 in getting started with Imaging to Drift.

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