I finished watching your full playlist on sharpcap and planetary. I would like to report I was able to follow your examples and I was up and tracking jupiter in minutes. I wosh I knew about this sooner, it's incredible! Thank you.
Wow, very thoroughly explained. Probably the best video on the topic I‘ve watched so far :) How do you achieve the initial rough alignment? Do you use a compass or align the mount by eye?
Both. I have set up enough times that I know roughly where north is located between my palm tree on the left and some distant trees on the right. So I can set down the tripod in roughly the right spot. I then double check with my phone compass and adjust as necessary. I also have a couple of physical compasses lying around, but they cannot be compensated for the local magnetic declination (except mentally), so I stick with the phone. And thank you for the feedback!
@@michaelpowen I got my mount 'set' and then took some spray paint and spritzed the concrete where the bottom of the feet were. Then the next day I took a large drill bit (1/2") and drilled some small indents into the sidewalk which I then set the pointy foot pads in and I find that as long as I am gentle handling the mount when I move it around it will be very close for visual observing not requiring me to align it again. When I want to take pics I will check it with Sharpcap but find I am usually spot on. (close enuff!)
Presuming you mean polar alignment error, it depends. If you are not guiding, as small as possible. If you are guiding and have excellent mechanics on the DEC axis, as small as possible. If you are guiding, but only in RA, as small as possible. If you are guiding in DEC but have poor mechanics on that axis, unavoidably large backlash and/or stiction for example, you may want to offset your polar alignment left or right by as much as 10 arc-minutes and guide only in one direction (north or south; you'll need to check the direction of drift and guide opposite of that).
Hey there... So, I have a guide scope on my rig (60mm refractor) and a main scope I image from (14 inch SCT). Which scope would give me more accurate polar alignment?
You will not be able to polar align with the SCT. The field of view will be too narrow. And the 60mm guide scope will be entirely adequate. Watch out fo what the guide scope and camera can do to your main scope's balance, though.
When you tell the mount to "park" it returns to the park position, which is usually the initial position when you power up the mount, i.e. pointed at the north star for an EQ mount, with both axes zeroed out on their zero marks. It also turns off the tracking. To slew and track, you have to unpark the mount.
I finished watching your full playlist on sharpcap and planetary. I would like to report I was able to follow your examples and I was up and tracking jupiter in minutes. I wosh I knew about this sooner, it's incredible! Thank you.
You're very welcome!
Excellent video, thanks!
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Fantastic video👍👍
Thank you very much!
Wow, very thoroughly explained. Probably the best video on the topic I‘ve watched so far :)
How do you achieve the initial rough alignment? Do you use a compass or align the mount by eye?
Both. I have set up enough times that I know roughly where north is located between my palm tree on the left and some distant trees on the right. So I can set down the tripod in roughly the right spot. I then double check with my phone compass and adjust as necessary. I also have a couple of physical compasses lying around, but they cannot be compensated for the local magnetic declination (except mentally), so I stick with the phone. And thank you for the feedback!
@@michaelpowen I got my mount 'set' and then took some spray paint and spritzed the concrete where the bottom of the feet were. Then the next day I took a large drill bit (1/2") and drilled some small indents into the sidewalk which I then set the pointy foot pads in and I find that as long as I am gentle handling the mount when I move it around it will be very close for visual observing not requiring me to align it again. When I want to take pics I will check it with Sharpcap but find I am usually spot on. (close enuff!)
Neat! I'll give it a try. Just subscribed.
Thanks!
Very useful! Thank you! What value total are you looking for at the end?
Presuming you mean polar alignment error, it depends. If you are not guiding, as small as possible. If you are guiding and have excellent mechanics on the DEC axis, as small as possible. If you are guiding, but only in RA, as small as possible. If you are guiding in DEC but have poor mechanics on that axis, unavoidably large backlash and/or stiction for example, you may want to offset your polar alignment left or right by as much as 10 arc-minutes and guide only in one direction (north or south; you'll need to check the direction of drift and guide opposite of that).
Great tips! Thanks.
Out of interest is it worth measuring the polar alignment on both sides of the pier or just stick to one side? Thanks again.
You can out of curiosity; however, since your polar alignment does not need to be dead on, doing it on one side is usually adequate.
Hey there... So, I have a guide scope on my rig (60mm refractor) and a main scope I image from (14 inch SCT). Which scope would give me more accurate polar alignment?
You will not be able to polar align with the SCT. The field of view will be too narrow. And the 60mm guide scope will be entirely adequate. Watch out fo what the guide scope and camera can do to your main scope's balance, though.
that was awesome- Thanks!
You're very welcome!
What is happening with the ´parking position’ ?
When you tell the mount to "park" it returns to the park position, which is usually the initial position when you power up the mount, i.e. pointed at the north star for an EQ mount, with both axes zeroed out on their zero marks. It also turns off the tracking. To slew and track, you have to unpark the mount.