Fantastic video! You stuck to what I needed to know rather than showing off an ability to use technical terms, and waffling on with excessive ‘barely relevant’ information as many TH-camrs do. EXACTLY the content I needed to see without getting bogged down and confused by info overload, or bored to death with a self importance display. VERY well presented and much appreciated! I’ll be watching more of your videos for sure.
Excellent, Max. I have an eq5 totally manual mount on a Sky Watcher Evostar 120/1000. Just bit the bullet and ordered an HEQ5 from Bintel. All thanks to you. After all these years, I didn't know that polar alignment was as simple as what you just so beautifully described! A trip from Newcastle to Sydney tomorrow to pick up the new mount!
I upgraded from PS Align to PS Align PRO yesterday before my imaging session. It's SO worth it!!! Especially the targeting reticle tool to give a rough alignment of Polaris so you don't have to spend so much time looking through the eyepiece. I wouldn't have known about the nice features had I not watched this vid. Thanks for the helpful video!
I used this technique for the first time the other day (my actual first time really using my HEQ5) and it worked perfectly. I was able to image M42 and there was absolutely no star trails. Thanks again!
@@maxguerryastro3076 I've "leveled-up" big time today. Hooked up my mount. It kept wanting to point to stars out of sight. I messed with it for an hour and realized I had the wrong time. Well, got it going. Started imaging M42. It went behind trees 1/3 of the way in. Moved scope. Did it all again. Same thing happened lol. Now in my back yard where I will be safe lol. I'm loving this new hobby.
@@MarvelousLXVII Haha! Happens to the best of us. I completely wasted the first clear night in weeks a few days ago trying to figure out new gear. Took me 2.5 hours to finally get it working, took one exposure before the clouds just engulfed everything 😞
Thank you! I have just upgraded from an alt-az set up to a 8" on an HEQ5 Pro. I was not looking forward to polar aligning in Western Australia but your video is a great help. Clear skies...
Excellent video with clear step by step methods. Did not know I can do a polar alignment on my HEQ5 Pro without bending and breaking my back looking thru the polar scope. You just saved my back and a big THANK YOU for the tutorial.
This video has made me realise how spoilt I have been in my astrophography adventure. I have used the Asiair since day 1 and never even used my hand controller. I just watched this out of curiosity. Very easy to understand, thank you.
@@maxguerryastro3076 Thanks for the vid. I have a brand new HEQ-5 and I bought an ASI Air mini to use with my Canon R3, super-bummed today when I found out that the mini would not detect my R3, so I'll have to return the mini and do things the old-fashioned way as per your vid. At least this way I won't have to use the polar scope.
I’m building up a C8 rig with the HEQ5. My other setup has a ASIAir Pro, Losmandy G11 and all the trick zwo hardware. Wow what a difference an Astro computer makes. I can barely see any stars in my light polluted sky so polar aligning becomes quite a challenge with the hand controller. Thanks for the clear instructions.
Great job Max. Thank you for sharing. I recently bought a modded neq6 on IIS and it is a bit beyond my capabilities. The previous owner is super experienced but was very computer oriented. I just want to observe and use the synscan. Simple stuff.😊
Thanks Max for the great video. Last week I finally bought an HEQ 5. Like you I'm in the southern hemisphere and this method worked very well for me. Subbed!
Great video. Nice clear instructions. You should have mentioned that it's best to finish each alignment with the handset by using the up and right direction buttons. I always use the synscan PA now when I'm not using my full AP set up with guiding and plate solving etc. For instance when I'm imaging the moon and planets.
merci pour cette vidéo car moi aussi j'ai un problème de visée polaire, je ne la vois pas de ma terrasse. C'est la seule vidéo explicative que je vois pour ce problème. Un GRAND merci pour cette information.
Not being able to visually see the polestar has been my major issue and I've just purchased an eq5 pro so I'm looking forward to using synscan! I love TH-cam and I'm now a new subscriber to your channel 🙌🌟🌌
To improve accuracy you could use a reticule eyepiece instead of the camera display. My Canon dslr has a grid display which also improves accuracy. If using a reticule eyepiece but intend to take long exposures with the camera which is much heavier than the eyepiece, I would still balance the rig with the camera. Operating the rig out of balance for star and polar alignment should not significantly affect accuracy. I am in Northern hemisphere and use this to supplement polar alignment with the polarscope. Good video!
@@maxguerryastro3076 no prob. New subscriber here for sure!!! Newbie into astrophotography and was getting frustrated, now excited again. Ill try not to ask too many questions from you. Lol
Hey Bro, this is a really great video and really helpful for me as someone getting into the hobby - Just a suggestion, but you might want to black out the Lat/Long coordinates that display on the compass app just for your safety.
Yeah, the Celestron version is very similar too. The AVX roughly equivalent to HEQ5. The main difference being the alt and az are done together. Issues - the mount not pointed in the direction of true north (I'm north). Having to move the tripod and repeat everything. The compass can be upset by metal and magnets, and electric fields, in the mount. Levelling near enough is good enough, it does not have to be precise.
Ooook🤦🏼♀️ As I Watch Further,Im Understanding Why Your Pointing It South😂I Was Worried🤣 And This Is Great,I Have The Eqm35Pro,And The 72ed,But I Do Have An Evoguide As Well,But This Is What Im After,To Make The Lightest Set Up As Possible😂😂😂Battery In Red Dot Dead,I Do That Often With My 6se😂,Im Not A Total Novice,But This Is My Next Step While I Have No Skies,Kinda Basic Like Celestron Thru The Alignment,But After A 2 Star,Im Ready To Go With The 6”,But This Is What Ive Been Wanting To Learn,and Just Got My Evostar Yesterday,Thank You So Much,Merry Christmas and Clear Skies
Elevation is the one I'm struggling with. The one on the side of the mount should be the same as my latitude???? Here in Spain 38 ° Elevation/ altitude reads 200 metres plus here in my village. Longitude and latitude are no problem. Bit confused. Many thanks
Love this channel, this is such a well explained video! I’ve just bought myself a HEQ5 and it’s looking like I might get a clear sky tonight. Im planning on getting the asiairplus but I will attempt this tonight with the hand controller. Is there a method you used to choose the 3 stars? Im in the Southern Hemisphere (Illawarra) and the 2 stars you mentioned in this vid won’t be up at this time of year.
Just pick 3 stars that are fairly well separated in the sky. This time of year I'd probably try: Sirius, Regulus and Alpha Centauri as an example. Good luck!
Why did polar alignment error in el get worse after adjusting the az bolts? Should you have repeated the el adjustment? Otherwise a good clear explanation.
Hi there. I bought a Meade EQ-5 stand today and I can't adjust it. What is important is that I only tried the telescope in the room. I almost stood on the pole to try out the telescope. If I set to 1 star, then the telescope is roughly where I set the star. But as soon as I want to "look" at another object, the telescope turns completely different after the adjustment. What could be the problem? Thank you in advance for the answers. :)
Hey Max, first of all amazing video :) I just have a question, i just got myself an EQ3 Pro Synscan mount, and i was wondering if i can also use the screen of my DSLM to allign the stars in the middle of the screen instead of using the laser scope?
Hi thanks for the amazing video, on my balcony i'm not able to see Polaris so its nice to know there are different ways to get polar aligned. But i do have a quick questeion, I was wondering what the maximum deviation may be in arc minutes, do you know?
One question. Once you have successfully 3 star aligned, then you would expect to be able to slew accurately back and forward to your alignment stars, because the software now knows where they are. If, lets say, your polar alignment is out by 2.5 degrees in azimuth and half a degree in altitude, and you use the alt-az mechanical controls to centre your chosen polar align star, then what happens to the alignment of the alignment stars? If the polar alignment is purely mechanical, how does the software know you have corrected the polar alignment? You can press enter after polar alignment and the software assumes you have corrected? If you haven't corrected but press enter anyway, then the alignment stars will be out by varying amounts in alt and az.
Hey,, since the last part correction is manual move, how can it come up with the New best polar error, it must be a guess, perhaps it would be better If one do it 2~3 time
Thanks for the video Max. I am about to buy a mount and was wondering if it is possible to polar align without polaris as I have a wall towards north. That's just a relief. I have a question for you if you don't mind. Why did you need to use the azmith adjustment knobs and not slewing using the remote?
Thanks! At that stage it's about physically pointing the mount (not the scope) at the pole. If you use the hand controller it won't physically move the mount so won't correct the error and you'll just be right where you started. Hope that makes sense. Let me know if you need any help and good luck!
i came acros that video on accident but damn why didnt i know about that earlier, from ma backard polaris is barely visible due to trees and my bortle 7 sky but now i don't have to worry no more
Thank you, this is very helpful! One question: how does the mount know that the error has been reduced after you move the mount with the bolts? After all polar alignment is external to the encoders in the mount…did you have to reslew or something in between?
Thanks Max. When you have completed the process are you able to pick as many different targets as you like over your session without having to realign?
Very good question and I’m not 100% sure on the answer. The mount will either track or not in its own. I believe it is tracking during the “polar alignment” phase as this is necessary for it to measure the stars drifting. During the 3 star alignment I doubt it matters either way given how short of a time you need to point at each star. But as I said, the mount will do whatever it needs to on it’s own. Hope that helps.
Fantastic video and really hoping to get this going. Was hopefully going to give this a go tonight but just after sunset the weather turned terrible and when I thought Ahhh I'll have a crack at the moon then turns out my battery pack isn't good enough. Quick question though I have an Android phone and honestly tonight the apps I was using as compass were all over the place once I got to the location I definitely selected "True North" but seemed to have some serious issues. Any chance I can get a list of Android compatible apps that you may use for either this process or any others that might be worth a shoutout? Got the EQ5 Pro Goto Mount with Synscan
Thanks Matthew. I have an android and iPhone, unfortunately I find the iPhone compass is generally more accurate. I regularly need to recalibrate the android compass (do that in Google maps). I use an app called "Compass (Altimeter, Sunrise, Sunset)" from Pixel Prose on Android. It's free with no adds and its a compass. Good luck!
@@maxguerryastro3076 Many Thanks Max for getting back to me, I've downloaded the compass app you suggested and it seems much more accurate than the one I was using only jumping around a tiny bit within +- 2-3 degrees so hopefully will be enough margin for error for this technique... If not my wife has a spare Iphone so options are on the table and the elevation seems much more realistic than the apps I've been using on the device and I can get multiple apps to corroborate. Let me know if you have a patrion account or something similar I may wish a bit more advice as I'm a complete amateur, LOL.
@@matthewstone1920 Good to hear that app works better. Works well for me. No Patreon etc at this stage. More than happy to help, feel free to reach out whenever!
Very useful man. Even for me in the northern hemisphere! Just one question: How did your altitude setting then go out from 5 seconds to over 2 minutes? Oh and another question (from below): "How does the mount know that the error has been reduced after you move the mount with the bolts? After all polar alignment is external to the encoders in the mount…did you have to re-slew or something in between?" Thanks.
Thanks. Good questions. 1. That means the mount wasn’t perfectly level, so moving left/right caused the mount to move slightly in altitude as well. Being exactly level is not needed for tracking purposes. In theory I should have gone back and done PA again to get it more dialled in. But to me that’s good enough. 2. The mount must be able to sense that you’ve moved it using the bolts. In that step it slews away and asks you to recentre the star using only the bolts. If you do nothing at all it tells you your error is zero. If you move the bolts then you do get some error (based on how far you moved them). So it must know. Hope that helps…
Hi!Nice video and thank you for sharing it . I own a heq5 synscan ( black edition not pro ) but my controller does not give me the option of polar align..It has only one , two , or three star alignment ..Do you know why ? Maybe a update can solve this ?
@@maxguerryastro3076 Thanx for the answer . Yeah , i knew that but still polar align option not there ..I updated my synscan controller to the latest version and it's all ok now..Your video is very helpful though ..I hope that I will be able to achieve greater accuracy now.
Hello. A problem occurred in my mount. This was my second sessions where my mount does not start slewing after I hit enter (9:15) even though it shows a few arc minutes of error on both alt az. I turned it off/on but nothing. I tried to google it but found nothing about it. If anyone have any clue why my mount is still after I hit enter, please. It worked fine until now :/
After 3 star align. Than you can do a polar align. After to pick a star and center it, than you need to center it again with T-bolts. But can you also use the 5* nobs? to really center the star?
When you say “the 5* nobs” are you talking about the azimuth screws? When you centre again you do it twice, once with only the altitude t-bolts. Then again only with the azimuth screws. If you use both at the same time it will mess things up, must be done as separate processes. Hope that answers your question.
Good question. I find it's more accurate than the polar scope. Anything computer based (drift alignment in this case) should be more accurate anyway. There are some small errors in the reading and installation of a polar scope that are tough to overcome. Thanks 👍
@@maxguerryastro3076 thank you for the swift answer I appreciate it a lot and will be sure to try that on my heq5 next time. How have you been going with imaging in the last few weeks? Here in Armidale there have been clear nights with some cloud but it has been very windy.
@@v_arko I had two clear nights last week. But other than that it's been terrible since early November. Rain Rain and more rain in Sydney. Spent those two nights testing the new ACL200 on the star adventurer though. Video on that coming soon 😉
Thank you very much ! I have a question though, when you align for azimuth or altitude, you only center the star on the vertical and then on the horizontal plane ? I suppose that it's doesn't matter that the star is on the right or the left on the screen if you are tuning with the altitudes bolts, you just want it centered verticaly ? Thank you !
Have you tried increasing the rate to about 7 like I mention in the video? The default slew rate is extremely slow and feels like the mount doesn't move at all.
Stop stop stop this is completely wrong. This has not worked at all. You need to polar align first by using the polar scope. It is impossible to be polar aligned by centering the star you are doing it backwards and confusing people especially when it comes to astrophotography. The reason you are 18 arc seconds out is literally because you haven't polar aligned first before doing the 3 star alignment. Polaris should not be centered it has a small orbit that's why we use polar finder apps to tell us where the current polar position is that very hour. You are just confusing people and teaching them the incorrect way to set up the mount. You are not being clever. You are NOT polar aligned via this weird method. Hopefully everyone in this comment section sees this and does it properly.
Yes you are polar aligned with this method. It's a different method and it's actually very precise. I suggest you do another 3 star align after doing this polar aligning routine. Also the polar align option is available only AFTER you do a star align. Why is that? I'm sure you know better than Skywatcher😂.
This is going to be so much easier than getting on my knees and using the pole scope. Thank you.
Fantastic video!
You stuck to what I needed to know rather than showing off an ability to use technical terms, and waffling on with excessive ‘barely relevant’ information as many TH-camrs do.
EXACTLY the content I needed to see without getting bogged down and confused by info overload, or bored to death with a self importance display.
VERY well presented and much appreciated!
I’ll be watching more of your videos for sure.
Wow! Thank you so much for your feedback, much appreciated 😃👍
Couldn't have said it better myself I'm going to try this TONIGHT lol seems very simple
Excellent, Max. I have an eq5 totally manual mount on a Sky Watcher Evostar 120/1000. Just bit the bullet and ordered an HEQ5 from Bintel. All thanks to you. After all these years, I didn't know that polar alignment was as simple as what you just so beautifully described! A trip from Newcastle to Sydney tomorrow to pick up the new mount!
Thanks Wayne! That's great to hear. It's a fantastic mount and a better store! Always love going in there and checking out the eye candy 🤤
Good luck!
Exactly
I upgraded from PS Align to PS Align PRO yesterday before my imaging session. It's SO worth it!!! Especially the targeting reticle tool to give a rough alignment of Polaris so you don't have to spend so much time looking through the eyepiece. I wouldn't have known about the nice features had I not watched this vid. Thanks for the helpful video!
You’re very welcome. Glad to hear it 👍
I used this technique for the first time the other day (my actual first time really using my HEQ5) and it worked perfectly. I was able to image M42 and there was absolutely no star trails. Thanks again!
Awesome! Very glad to hear it helped you out 👍
@@maxguerryastro3076 I've "leveled-up" big time today. Hooked up my mount. It kept wanting to point to stars out of sight. I messed with it for an hour and realized I had the wrong time. Well, got it going. Started imaging M42. It went behind trees 1/3 of the way in. Moved scope. Did it all again. Same thing happened lol. Now in my back yard where I will be safe lol. I'm loving this new hobby.
@@MarvelousLXVII Haha! Happens to the best of us. I completely wasted the first clear night in weeks a few days ago trying to figure out new gear. Took me 2.5 hours to finally get it working, took one exposure before the clouds just engulfed everything 😞
Thank you! I have just upgraded from an alt-az set up to a 8" on an HEQ5 Pro. I was not looking forward to polar aligning in Western Australia but your video is a great help. Clear skies...
Excellent video with clear step by step methods.
Did not know I can do a polar alignment on my HEQ5 Pro without bending and breaking my back looking thru the polar scope.
You just saved my back and a big THANK YOU for the tutorial.
Thanks George! Great to hear I'm saving backs 😉
This video has made me realise how spoilt I have been in my astrophography adventure.
I have used the Asiair since day 1 and never even used my hand controller.
I just watched this out of curiosity.
Very easy to understand, thank you.
😂 Recently got the ASIAIR Plus and yeah... it kind of feels like cheating. But I'm not complaining! Glad you liked the vid 👍
@@maxguerryastro3076 Thanks for the vid. I have a brand new HEQ-5 and I bought an ASI Air mini to use with my Canon R3, super-bummed today when I found out that the mini would not detect my R3, so I'll have to return the mini and do things the old-fashioned way as per your vid. At least this way I won't have to use the polar scope.
I’m building up a C8 rig with the HEQ5. My other setup has a ASIAir Pro, Losmandy G11 and all the trick zwo hardware. Wow what a difference an Astro computer makes. I can barely see any stars in my light polluted sky so polar aligning becomes quite a challenge with the hand controller. Thanks for the clear instructions.
Wonderful job Max! Well organized, concise, well shot, extraordinarily clear, really appreciate your hard work!
Thanks Robin, just happy to hear these tutorials help people out!
Amazing tutorial! This should help me with my AZ-GTI which I just put in EQ mode
Very nice. Thank you. I had mixed up longitude and latitude last time so the alignment was awful. Thank you
Great job Max. Thank you for sharing. I recently bought a modded neq6 on IIS and it is a bit beyond my capabilities. The previous owner is super experienced but was very computer oriented. I just want to observe and use the synscan. Simple stuff.😊
Thanks Max for the great video. Last week I finally bought an HEQ 5. Like you I'm in the southern hemisphere and this method worked very well for me. Subbed!
Great to hear! Thanks Jon and good luck 👍
thank you, Max for the tutorials. clear skies!
You're very welcome 👍🔭
Wow very helpful video
I never understood on my hand controller why I-was getting errors
I thought was something wrong with my mount
Great video. Nice clear instructions. You should have mentioned that it's best to finish each alignment with the handset by using the up and right direction buttons. I always use the synscan PA now when I'm not using my full AP set up with guiding and plate solving etc. For instance when I'm imaging the moon and planets.
merci pour cette vidéo car moi aussi j'ai un problème de visée polaire, je ne la vois pas de ma terrasse. C'est la seule vidéo explicative que je vois pour ce problème. Un GRAND merci pour cette information.
De Rien! Glad I could help you out. This is a great solution for aligning from a balcony or terrace. Bonne Chance 👍
Not being able to visually see the polestar has been my major issue and I've just purchased an eq5 pro so I'm looking forward to using synscan! I love TH-cam and I'm now a new subscriber to your channel 🙌🌟🌌
Simple, clear, well explained. Bravo! Gonna try this on my eq5 goto
Maybe an good tip. If youre using dslr you can enable raster with an cross in the middle of the screen. So you can align stars perfect
That would be way better yes! Didn’t know you could do that!
To improve accuracy you could use a reticule eyepiece instead of the camera display. My Canon dslr has a grid display which also improves accuracy. If using a reticule eyepiece but intend to take long exposures with the camera which is much heavier than the eyepiece, I would still balance the rig with the camera. Operating the rig out of balance for star and polar alignment should not significantly affect accuracy.
I am in Northern hemisphere and use this to supplement polar alignment with the polarscope. Good video!
Very good and to the point - very clearly explained - thanks very much !!
Thanks. I've watched a few videos, but this was the most helpful.
Wow!!! Best explanation of star alignment and polar alignment i have found! Thank you
You're welcome. Thanks for the support 👍
@@maxguerryastro3076 no prob. New subscriber here for sure!!! Newbie into astrophotography and was getting frustrated, now excited again. Ill try not to ask too many questions from you. Lol
Thanks for helping people it’s educational and comical at the same time the red dot finder bit had me laughing 😂
Hey Bro, this is a really great video and really helpful for me as someone getting into the hobby - Just a suggestion, but you might want to black out the Lat/Long coordinates that display on the compass app just for your safety.
Yeah, the Celestron version is very similar too. The AVX roughly equivalent to HEQ5. The main difference being the alt and az are done together.
Issues - the mount not pointed in the direction of true north (I'm north). Having to move the tripod and repeat everything. The compass can be upset by metal and magnets, and electric fields, in the mount. Levelling near enough is good enough, it does not have to be precise.
Excellent video mate. Very clear and good infol. Subbed.
Thanks! Glad it helped 👍
Excellent video mate, much appreciated!
Thank you, glad it helped 👍
Thank you. Excellent tutorial.
Real helpful. Thank you
Hi can you advise how you successfully attached your camera to the evostar 72? Did you use a flattener and a t ring? Thanks.
Yes I did. This is the flattener/reducer I use, but you could also use a regular flattener that doesn't also reduce the focal length. bit.ly/3xs92Nw
Ooook🤦🏼♀️ As I Watch Further,Im Understanding Why Your Pointing It South😂I Was Worried🤣 And This Is Great,I Have The Eqm35Pro,And The 72ed,But I Do Have An Evoguide As Well,But This Is What Im After,To Make The Lightest Set Up As Possible😂😂😂Battery In Red Dot Dead,I Do That Often With My 6se😂,Im Not A Total Novice,But This Is My Next Step While I Have No Skies,Kinda Basic Like Celestron Thru The Alignment,But After A 2 Star,Im Ready To Go With The 6”,But This Is What Ive Been Wanting To Learn,and Just Got My Evostar Yesterday,Thank You So Much,Merry Christmas and Clear Skies
Good luck and thanks for the feedback 👍
Perfect
Lovely videó Max!
Great video, from a fellow aussie stargazer
Very useful. Thanks!
Elevation is the one I'm struggling with. The one on the side of the mount should be the same as my latitude???? Here in Spain 38 ° Elevation/ altitude reads 200 metres plus here in my village. Longitude and latitude are no problem. Bit confused. Many thanks
Nice video. What is your full setup? Why are you cropping the image in camera?
Thank you Max. Great video
Glad it helped 👍
Love this channel, this is such a well explained video! I’ve just bought myself a HEQ5 and it’s looking like I might get a clear sky tonight. Im planning on getting the asiairplus but I will attempt this tonight with the hand controller.
Is there a method you used to choose the 3 stars? Im in the Southern Hemisphere (Illawarra) and the 2 stars you mentioned in this vid won’t be up at this time of year.
Just pick 3 stars that are fairly well separated in the sky. This time of year I'd probably try: Sirius, Regulus and Alpha Centauri as an example. Good luck!
@@maxguerryastro3076 thanks so much mate! You’re a legend
Why did polar alignment error in el get worse after adjusting the az bolts? Should you have repeated the el adjustment? Otherwise a good clear explanation.
Really well done, thank you!
You're welcome 👍
Great tutorial, actually understood it, will this also work on the EQ3 Pro Synscan?
Yes 👍.
Hi thanks .can you pls tell me whether the ra and dec needs to be tightened or loose after polar alignment for 3 star alignment?
Tightened
@@maxguerryastro3076 thanks 🙏
Hi there. I bought a Meade EQ-5 stand today and I can't adjust it. What is important is that I only tried the telescope in the room. I almost stood on the pole to try out the telescope. If I set to 1 star, then the telescope is roughly where I set the star. But as soon as I want to "look" at another object, the telescope turns completely different after the adjustment. What could be the problem? Thank you in advance for the answers. :)
Are the time, date and location all set correctly? That’s usually the issue when it’s way off. What do you mean by “almost stood on the pole”?
Hey Max, first of all amazing video :) I just have a question, i just got myself an EQ3 Pro Synscan mount, and i was wondering if i can also use the screen of my DSLM to allign the stars in the middle of the screen instead of using the laser scope?
Nevermind i should have watched the video to the end first, but again thanks for the video ^^
@@schwifty2652 Haha, no worries 😉
Glad to help out
Absolutely top notch video!
Thank you
Hi thanks for the amazing video, on my balcony i'm not able to see Polaris so its nice to know there are different ways to get polar aligned. But i do have a quick questeion, I was wondering what the maximum deviation may be in arc minutes, do you know?
Not sure on that one sorry.
@@maxguerryastro3076 Nevermind, i got lucky! tested my new EQ5 and i was able to see polaris like 1inch above my rooftop. thanks for the reply!
One question. Once you have successfully 3 star aligned, then you would expect to be able to slew accurately back and forward to your alignment stars, because the software now knows where they are. If, lets say, your polar alignment is out by 2.5 degrees in azimuth and half a degree in altitude, and you use the alt-az mechanical controls to centre your chosen polar align star, then what happens to the alignment of the alignment stars? If the polar alignment is purely mechanical, how does the software know you have corrected the polar alignment? You can press enter after polar alignment and the software assumes you have corrected? If you haven't corrected but press enter anyway, then the alignment stars will be out by varying amounts in alt and az.
Hey,, since the last part correction is manual move, how can it come up with the New best polar error, it must be a guess, perhaps it would be better If one do it 2~3 time
Thank you! 😊
Thanks for the video Max. I am about to buy a mount and was wondering if it is possible to polar align without polaris as I have a wall towards north. That's just a relief. I have a question for you if you don't mind. Why did you need to use the azmith adjustment knobs and not slewing using the remote?
Thanks!
At that stage it's about physically pointing the mount (not the scope) at the pole. If you use the hand controller it won't physically move the mount so won't correct the error and you'll just be right where you started. Hope that makes sense. Let me know if you need any help and good luck!
i came acros that video on accident but damn why didnt i know about that earlier, from ma backard polaris is barely visible due to trees and my bortle 7 sky but now i don't have to worry no more
Thank you, this is very helpful!
One question: how does the mount know that the error has been reduced after you move the mount with the bolts? After all polar alignment is external to the encoders in the mount…did you have to reslew or something in between?
This mount doesn't have any encoders. The mount calculates the error in the polar alignment by the error it found while doing the 3 star alignment.
That's awesome
Thanks Max. When you have completed the process are you able to pick as many different targets as you like over your session without having to realign?
Yes you can!
Great video, very concise and helpful. Newbie question - do you have your mount's tracking switched on when doing the alignment steps or not?
Very good question and I’m not 100% sure on the answer. The mount will either track or not in its own. I believe it is tracking during the “polar alignment” phase as this is necessary for it to measure the stars drifting. During the 3 star alignment I doubt it matters either way given how short of a time you need to point at each star. But as I said, the mount will do whatever it needs to on it’s own. Hope that helps.
Fantastic video and really hoping to get this going.
Was hopefully going to give this a go tonight but just after sunset the weather turned terrible and when I thought Ahhh I'll have a crack at the moon then turns out my battery pack isn't good enough.
Quick question though I have an Android phone and honestly tonight the apps I was using as compass were all over the place once I got to the location I definitely selected "True North" but seemed to have some serious issues. Any chance I can get a list of Android compatible apps that you may use for either this process or any others that might be worth a shoutout?
Got the EQ5 Pro Goto Mount with Synscan
Thanks Matthew. I have an android and iPhone, unfortunately I find the iPhone compass is generally more accurate. I regularly need to recalibrate the android compass (do that in Google maps). I use an app called "Compass (Altimeter, Sunrise, Sunset)" from Pixel Prose on Android. It's free with no adds and its a compass. Good luck!
@@maxguerryastro3076 Many Thanks Max for getting back to me, I've downloaded the compass app you suggested and it seems much more accurate than the one I was using only jumping around a tiny bit within +- 2-3 degrees so hopefully will be enough margin for error for this technique... If not my wife has a spare Iphone so options are on the table and the elevation seems much more realistic than the apps I've been using on the device and I can get multiple apps to corroborate.
Let me know if you have a patrion account or something similar I may wish a bit more advice as I'm a complete amateur, LOL.
@@matthewstone1920 Good to hear that app works better. Works well for me.
No Patreon etc at this stage. More than happy to help, feel free to reach out whenever!
I will try it, thanks
Good luck!
Good job, high five.
Can polar alignment be done on a laptop if I have no handheld?
Yes you can, but you’ll need software like sharpcap, NINA or similar that can access your camera and control the mount.
Much easier to use the syncscan app pro. As you can polar aligh with that also
Very useful man. Even for me in the northern hemisphere! Just one question: How did your altitude setting then go out from 5 seconds to over 2 minutes? Oh and another question (from below): "How does the mount know that the error has been reduced after you move the mount with the bolts? After all polar alignment is external to the encoders in the mount…did you have to re-slew or something in between?" Thanks.
Thanks. Good questions.
1. That means the mount wasn’t perfectly level, so moving left/right caused the mount to move slightly in altitude as well. Being exactly level is not needed for tracking purposes. In theory I should have gone back and done PA again to get it more dialled in. But to me that’s good enough.
2. The mount must be able to sense that you’ve moved it using the bolts. In that step it slews away and asks you to recentre the star using only the bolts. If you do nothing at all it tells you your error is zero. If you move the bolts then you do get some error (based on how far you moved them). So it must know.
Hope that helps…
@@maxguerryastro3076 Yes, Cheers. Hope all's well down there.
I wish I knew this sooner
👍🔭
Ok so do I do the same thing if I’m in the northern hemisphere and I point it to polaris
Hi!Nice video and thank you for sharing it . I own a heq5 synscan ( black edition not pro ) but my controller does not give me the option of polar align..It has only one , two , or three star alignment ..Do you know why ? Maybe a update can solve this ?
Hi, you need to perform a 2 or 3 star align FIRST. Once you’ve done that then the polar align option will appear. Good luck!
@@maxguerryastro3076 Thanx for the answer . Yeah , i knew that but still polar align option not there ..I updated my synscan controller to the latest version and it's all ok now..Your video is very helpful though ..I hope that I will be able to achieve greater accuracy now.
Hello. A problem occurred in my mount. This was my second sessions where my mount does not start slewing after I hit enter (9:15) even though it shows a few arc minutes of error on both alt az. I turned it off/on but nothing. I tried to google it but found nothing about it. If anyone have any clue why my mount is still after I hit enter, please. It worked fine until now :/
After 3 star align. Than you can do a polar align. After to pick a star and center it, than you need to center it again with T-bolts. But can you also use the 5* nobs?
to really center the star?
When you say “the 5* nobs” are you talking about the azimuth screws?
When you centre again you do it twice, once with only the altitude t-bolts. Then again only with the azimuth screws. If you use both at the same time it will mess things up, must be done as separate processes. Hope that answers your question.
why is the star alignment done before polar?
Hello sir, alignment must be redone each time you want to look at the sky?
I agree you do need to repeat 3 star alignment AFTER adjusting the alt and az screws.
I’m just curious how that compares in accuracy to using the in built polar scope? As always fantastic content.
Good question. I find it's more accurate than the polar scope. Anything computer based (drift alignment in this case) should be more accurate anyway. There are some small errors in the reading and installation of a polar scope that are tough to overcome.
Thanks 👍
@@maxguerryastro3076 thank you for the swift answer I appreciate it a lot and will be sure to try that on my heq5 next time. How have you been going with imaging in the last few weeks? Here in Armidale there have been clear nights with some cloud but it has been very windy.
@@v_arko I had two clear nights last week. But other than that it's been terrible since early November. Rain Rain and more rain in Sydney. Spent those two nights testing the new ACL200 on the star adventurer though. Video on that coming soon 😉
That's completely wrong. You are giving out the wrong information. @@maxguerryastro3076
Thank you very much ! I have a question though, when you align for azimuth or altitude, you only center the star on the vertical and then on the horizontal plane ? I suppose that it's doesn't matter that the star is on the right or the left on the screen if you are tuning with the altitudes bolts, you just want it centered verticaly ? Thank you !
Yes that's correct. Usually it won't go exactly to the centre. It well be slightly off. You just have to get it as close as possible for each axis.
@@maxguerryastro3076 Great, thanks
I have the same mount as you. But if I start to align the first star of the 3, I can't press the arrow buttons for movement. They just don't move.
Have you tried increasing the rate to about 7 like I mention in the video? The default slew rate is extremely slow and feels like the mount doesn't move at all.
Excellent, thank you! Compensates for a very poor physical design. At least they could have included the 90 degree polar eye piece
this mount work on any telescope right ? i just need to place the telescope on top right ?
Correct. As long as the mount can handle the weight of the scope and accessories 👍
@@maxguerryastro3076 oh i see thank you for quick response . i need to save up for the mount haha
How long does the process take
About 10 minutes once you've done it a few times. A bit longer at first.
@@maxguerryastro3076 thanks 👍
Dude, thanks for the instructions. But that background music is way too loud and distracting.
Will this work in the northern hemisphere
@@bennythebutcher3435 Yep!
@@maxguerryastro3076 ok great
2090 Reichel Grove
Hate that way, to cumbersome and slow, have used this method, but slow and time consuming, I use ipolar can set up in less than 2 mins
Lynch Ford
A RDF is not a laser
Yes. Good call. I always mess that up 👍
Latitude bolts, * lol
Stop stop stop this is completely wrong. This has not worked at all. You need to polar align first by using the polar scope. It is impossible to be polar aligned by centering the star you are doing it backwards and confusing people especially when it comes to astrophotography.
The reason you are 18 arc seconds out is literally because you haven't polar aligned first before doing the 3 star alignment. Polaris should not be centered it has a small orbit that's why we use polar finder apps to tell us where the current polar position is that very hour.
You are just confusing people and teaching them the incorrect way to set up the mount. You are not being clever.
You are NOT polar aligned via this weird method. Hopefully everyone in this comment section sees this and does it properly.
Yes you are polar aligned with this method. It's a different method and it's actually very precise. I suggest you do another 3 star align after doing this polar aligning routine. Also the polar align option is available only AFTER you do a star align. Why is that? I'm sure you know better than Skywatcher😂.
Thank you Max! Great video
Thanks! You're welcome 👍
Thank you !