ADDENDUM: According to the documentation, it should not be necessary to change your parking position to your reference star. However, in my testing, this did help me to get the Polar-Align Assistant to respond the way I expected it. Therefore I added it as instructions. I should have mentioned that in the video. Sorry.
Great video. I have i exos 100 pmc 8 n have installed latest astroberry version on rp pi 4. Mount connects well with indi. For polar alignmen on star map on one of the stars t if i right click, i don't see optiom goto n make it home position. I see rest of the other options
Wow I have been looking for this all over the internet. My northern sky is completely blocked by houses. I have been unable to align my mount (CEM40) since I got it a week ago.
Another very helpful video on kstar polar alignment, thank you Remco Hekker👍 - Weer een zeer nuttig video over kstar polar uitlijning, dank u Remco Hekker. 👍
Thanks once more for this type of videos, Remco. A few weeks ago I tried this polar alignment procedure, since here at Bogotá (4.8 degrees north) isn´t always easy to catch Polaris. It´s quick and reliable. Very easy to do. Regards
Thank you for the kind words Alfredo. Yeah its a great addition to EKOS I would hate for your to drag your gear all the way up Monserrate in the Teleferico ;-) Clear Skies!
Great video, thank you so much Remco, for putting these together. Really hope you can continue to do so. I've been trying the polar alignment module 2 days ago and was struggling with it. If I would have seen this video first, would have saved me a lot of troubles.
This video resulted considerably useful to me. I have a C8 reduced at f/6.3 (about 1280 mm of focal length). I though that this procedure could be performed only looking at the celestial pole with instruments having a large enough FOV. You demonstrated it is not the only possibility. I will test this method soon! Thank you! :D
@@52NightSky I saw that you use a pegasus stepper focuser. It would be useful a tutorial to have a well shaped V-curve too. I am going to reward you with a good pizza when you will visit Italy 😜
@Remco Thank you for these tutorials! One question though: I have a non-Goto mount (Star Adventurer), can you explain the process of Polar Alignment for it or how do we adjust the position (azimuth and declination) manually on that one? Or if you could point me to a document or another video that talks about it. Thank you and clear skies :)
Hello Remco. I just discovered your channel and watched all your videos today. I'm very impressed with the quality of your work. I hope you will find time to show us more in the future (maybe how to get a good V shaped focus curve). In this polar alignment video, you used Castor as the starting point. Was this a random choice or was it driven by a specific set of conditions. In the wizard, they recommend using a point near the meridian. Is that why? How far from the celestial pole (or how close to the equator) can the starting point be?
Hi Tech59, Thank you so much for the kind words. I'm sorry that I haven't produced any videos in the last few months. You know, life. You probably have found all your answers by now, but for future reference. I chose Castor because I had a clear view of Castor and a big area west of it that specific night. The more you move away from the pole, the greater the distance that the PAA needs to travel. The third image was just above my horizon. I haven't found the furthest point you can use this feature since I'm lucky enough to see Polaris. But I wouldn't go much further south than Castor (from my 52º location that is 😉 ). Hope to show you that V-curve soon. Clear Skies
Hi Remco, thank your for your great videos. I appreciate your ability to explain thinks very clearly. As an idea or one of my optimization opportunities I’m very interested in focusing parameters. Maybe you should consider a lesson about the right settings in kstars/EKOS. It’s just an idea. Thanks again Gunter
Hi Gunter, thanks for the encouragement! There will be at least one video on focusing in my next batch of videos. I don't think I can explain everything in one video since there are a lot of things to talk about and I'm battling some hardware issues. If there is anything specific you want me to address, just let me know. Clear Skies.
Thankyou so much! I'm a long-suffering EKOS user, it's an amazing package but very far from being easy or intuitive. This is the best explanation I've seen of PA on EKOS, worked a treat for me last night. Now quick question - what do you do to set the park position back to the pole? I tried to do the reverse of what you did (ie selected an object at the pole and commanded GoTo and reset as parking postion) but - no joy! Still beligerently goes back the the star I used for PA.
My Pleasure, Captain. Did you ever find out the answer? I normally zoom into the sky map and right-click on the pole. Then I click set as parking position. But it sounds as if you've tried that already.
Hi Juan, I don't see wht not. In fact, I came across a post on cloudy nights where the poster used a Star Adventurer with the EKOS PAA. And there will some real world limitations to where you can point the telescope. For instance, the further you point your telescope away from polaris, the larger the distance it will travel in between calculations, that means there is a bigger chance of running into obstacles. But I'd give it a chance anyway. Good luck!
@@52NightSky I noticed you are in the Netherlands. My brother in law was staying at my home near Miami FL. He just went back, lives pretty close to you, he lives in Jaarsveld.
@@52NightSky Our skies are light polluted. That is why your video was so wonderful I have to polar align on what ever part of the sky is visible and not as washed out. Worked well btw.
This procedure will save the day (well actually, save the night) in circumstances where Polaris is not visible, making a site considered unusable usable. BTW, there is a typo in your thanks for watching overlay you might consider correcting when you have a chance :-).
Thanks again for another great tutorial. Since I don't have a view at Polaris from my backyard I found the new kstars polaralignment a fantastic tool. I only have a problem with my guide camera. I have a Omegon 2000M, which is actually a Touptek camera. Although there are INDI-drivers for the Omegon camera's this usb 2.0 camera has not been reliable for me with Ekos. I often loose my connection with the camera. I noticed you use the ZWO 120mm-mini. This is also a usb 2.0 camera. What is your experience with it? Has it been reliable for you. Keep these great tutorials coming, I'm eager to see what's next
Hé Maarten, I'm sorry to hear about your problems with the Omegon. I bought the ZWO 120mm-mini about a year ago. Only once did I have a problem with it in EKOS. This was when I bought the ZWO ASI533 as a primary camera. I was having trouble using 2 ZWO camera's at the same time. If I remember it right that was a bug in a nightly build I was using at the time. A week later it worked and it has never stopped since. You have probably checked this a hundred times, but are you sure the connection problems are not a hardware problem. Like with the usb cable? I've broken a couple of USB cables during the cold winter months last year.
@@52NightSky Thanks for your reply. Yes I checked everything, cables, different powered usb-hubs, different computers and OS... The camera is very stable with Windows and the ascom-drivers but not with ekos. The Omegon camera's are supposed to be compatible with INDI but as a guide camera it's not working for me. Shame because I really love Kstars/Ekos. Maybe I'll look out for a ZWO camera since they are better supported.
I'm sorry to hear that. I just checked to INDI forums and indeed it seems more people are having trouble. That's a tough situation. I wouldn't know what to choose. Since the problem is with INDI this shouldn't matter, but did you confirm the same problems when using PHD2 vs the Internal guider?
@@52NightSky Yes I have the same problem with phd2 which has build in support for Omegon camera's. It's more pronounced on the Raspberry Pi then on my Mac which is a bit more stable, but not reliable. For now I use my Windows laptop with phd2 and ascom untill I find a solution. Thanks a lot for looking into this for me and good luck with your channel!
ADDENDUM: According to the documentation, it should not be necessary to change your parking position to your reference star. However, in my testing, this did help me to get the Polar-Align Assistant to respond the way I expected it. Therefore I added it as instructions. I should have mentioned that in the video. Sorry.
This is good because I don't see the option to set my parking position as you did. ES iEXOS PMC-Eight mount
Very Good! Hungry of seeing more video in this series! Like your way of speaking very much!
Great video. I have i exos 100 pmc 8 n have installed latest astroberry version on rp pi 4. Mount connects well with indi. For polar alignmen on star map on one of the stars t if i right click, i don't see optiom goto n make it home position. I see rest of the other options
Wow I have been looking for this all over the internet. My northern sky is completely blocked by houses. I have been unable to align my mount (CEM40) since I got it a week ago.
One of the best tutorials on TH-cam. Fast efficient and enjoyable. A little lacking in interludes as you turn the dials on the tripod mount.
Great!!! This is what I have been looking for!
Thank you for the kind words, Planetoid W67.
This is super useful for a beginner like me. I think I'm finally starting to understand
Very nice explanation! Thanks!👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you Frans! Nice to get to known more dutch users.
Great Video, really helpful , Thanks !!
Another very helpful video on kstar polar alignment, thank you Remco Hekker👍 - Weer een zeer nuttig video over kstar polar uitlijning, dank u Remco Hekker. 👍
Hartelijk bedankt, Jantje. Ben jij dezelfde Jan aan wie ik de FB shares te danken heb? Bedankt voor de steun! Die stel ik zeer op prijs.
I think this is really helpful! Thanks to you for demostration and Thanks to guys behind Ekos project
Absolutely, Andrea! The development team is doing great work with all those new features.
I can't wait to give this a try this weekend.
your videos are great and KStars is great too. well done. Dave
I am just starting in astrophotography, and I am as newbie as you can get. Your videos are helping me so much!
Great video; thanks for doing these!
A clear step by step procedure. Congratulation!
Thanks, Mario!
Another great video. Your presentation style is outstanding. Really clear, easy to follow, just the right speed. 👍👍👍 Keep up the good work.
Thank you for the kind words, svaldeb!
Thank you for your awesome Elkos Kstar tutorial and your Elkos videos. nice to us the polar-alignment without North pole maybe shows now works with 😉
😁 who knows Rainer, who knows. Thanks for the support.
Another great video!! Thanks as always!! Keep them coming!
Hi Valter, great to hear from you! Thank you for the kind words.
Thank you for your splendid video. It's especially useful and help me a lot to improve PA.
Thats great to hear Tonge. Hearing how my video's help people create better images, it the greatest compliment.
Very helpful. Thanks!
Thanks, Mark!
Really nice work -- concise, accurate, and informative without drowning the viewer in detail. Keep it up mon!
Thank you Rick. I make it a goal to not waste peoples time. I'm happy the format works for you.
Fantastic video, perfectly clear and useful! Thank you very much!!
Thank you, Massimiliano. Glad you found it useful.
Nice one too. Keep going Remco !
Thank you, Jean-Claude!
Thanks for the detailed step by step. I’ve been learning ekos. I like your style of tutorial.
Thank you Astro Screwups! Welcome to the EKOS club!
Great video, thanks!
Thank you for the kind words Jamie.
Thanks for all your efforts, your videos are very instructive and have helped me get the best out of EKOS.
Keep up the good work *****
Thanks for you support, Ross!
Excellent ! Thank you again ./SRK
Thanks once more for this type of videos, Remco.
A few weeks ago I tried this polar alignment procedure, since here at Bogotá (4.8 degrees north) isn´t always easy to catch Polaris. It´s quick and reliable. Very easy to do.
Regards
Thank you for the kind words Alfredo. Yeah its a great addition to EKOS I would hate for your to drag your gear all the way up Monserrate in the Teleferico ;-) Clear Skies!
Good to hear you know about one of the tourists sites here! 👍
Yeah sorry for the silly joke 😅. I love Colombia, one of the most beautiful countries I've ever visited. And the people are so friendly!
Great video, thank you so much Remco, for putting these together. Really hope you can continue to do so. I've been trying the polar alignment module 2 days ago and was struggling with it. If I would have seen this video first, would have saved me a lot of troubles.
Thank you for the support AstroWorld, Sorry that I didn't really "continue to do so" these past months. Let's see how this year goes.
Fantástico!!
This video resulted considerably useful to me.
I have a C8 reduced at f/6.3 (about 1280 mm of focal length). I though that this procedure could be performed only looking at the celestial pole with instruments having a large enough FOV. You demonstrated it is not the only possibility. I will test this method soon!
Thank you! :D
Ooh dat sounds like a nice setup. I didn't realize that use case. Great that it helps.
@@52NightSky I saw that you use a pegasus stepper focuser.
It would be useful a tutorial to have a well shaped V-curve too. I am going to reward you with a good pizza when you will visit Italy 😜
Wow, I can't let that one go. Unfourtunately, it will have to wait until my Pegasus Pocket Powerbox Advanced is back from repair :-(
coming video can you teach how setup framing view (FOV simulation) in sky-map? also the FOV rotation.
@Remco Thank you for these tutorials! One question though: I have a non-Goto mount (Star Adventurer), can you explain the process of Polar Alignment for it or how do we adjust the position (azimuth and declination) manually on that one? Or if you could point me to a document or another video that talks about it. Thank you and clear skies :)
Hello Remco. I just discovered your channel and watched all your videos today. I'm very impressed with the quality of your work. I hope you will find time to show us more in the future (maybe how to get a good V shaped focus curve). In this polar alignment video, you used Castor as the starting point. Was this a random choice or was it driven by a specific set of conditions. In the wizard, they recommend using a point near the meridian. Is that why? How far from the celestial pole (or how close to the equator) can the starting point be?
Hi Tech59, Thank you so much for the kind words. I'm sorry that I haven't produced any videos in the last few months. You know, life. You probably have found all your answers by now, but for future reference. I chose Castor because I had a clear view of Castor and a big area west of it that specific night. The more you move away from the pole, the greater the distance that the PAA needs to travel. The third image was just above my horizon. I haven't found the furthest point you can use this feature since I'm lucky enough to see Polaris. But I wouldn't go much further south than Castor (from my 52º location that is 😉 ). Hope to show you that V-curve soon. Clear Skies
This is a good video.
Thank you, dannafe. I'm glad you liked it!
you saved me with drift aligment . For me phd2 didn't work but ekos was working and i didn't know hot to polar alighnt withaut polaris .
That's great to hear Ondrag!
Keep it up thank you.
Thank you for the kind words Abdulmohsen.
Hi Remco,
thank your for your great videos. I appreciate your ability to explain thinks very clearly.
As an idea or one of my optimization opportunities I’m very interested in focusing parameters. Maybe you should consider a lesson about the right settings in kstars/EKOS. It’s just an idea.
Thanks again Gunter
Hi Gunter, thanks for the encouragement! There will be at least one video on focusing in my next batch of videos. I don't think I can explain everything in one video since there are a lot of things to talk about and I'm battling some hardware issues. If there is anything specific you want me to address, just let me know. Clear Skies.
Thankyou so much! I'm a long-suffering EKOS user, it's an amazing package but very far from being easy or intuitive. This is the best explanation I've seen of PA on EKOS, worked a treat for me last night. Now quick question - what do you do to set the park position back to the pole? I tried to do the reverse of what you did (ie selected an object at the pole and commanded GoTo and reset as parking postion) but - no joy! Still beligerently goes back the the star I used for PA.
My Pleasure, Captain. Did you ever find out the answer? I normally zoom into the sky map and right-click on the pole. Then I click set as parking position. But it sounds as if you've tried that already.
Thanks for the info. This can be used for the star adventurer? can you choose any starting point?
Hi Juan, I don't see wht not. In fact, I came across a post on cloudy nights where the poster used a Star Adventurer with the EKOS PAA. And there will some real world limitations to where you can point the telescope. For instance, the further you point your telescope away from polaris, the larger the distance it will travel in between calculations, that means there is a bigger chance of running into obstacles. But I'd give it a chance anyway. Good luck!
Another excellent video. Greatly appreciated. What City in the Netherlands are you located?
Thanks Neal, sorry for the late response. I'm located in Dieren, north of Arnhem. Where are you from? Do you have a decent sky?
@@52NightSky I noticed you are in the Netherlands. My brother in law was staying at my home near Miami FL. He just went back, lives pretty close to you, he lives in Jaarsveld.
@@52NightSky Our skies are light polluted. That is why your video was so wonderful I have to polar align on what ever part of the sky is visible and not as washed out. Worked well btw.
This procedure will save the day (well actually, save the night) in circumstances where Polaris is not visible, making a site considered unusable usable. BTW, there is a typo in your thanks for watching overlay you might consider correcting when you have a chance :-).
Thanks Michael, I agree it makes a big difference! Thanks for pointing out the typo. This'll be the last video its in.
Thanks again for another great tutorial. Since I don't have a view at Polaris from my backyard I found the new kstars polaralignment a fantastic tool. I only have a problem with my guide camera. I have a Omegon 2000M, which is actually a Touptek camera. Although there are INDI-drivers for the Omegon camera's this usb 2.0 camera has not been reliable for me with Ekos. I often loose my connection with the camera. I noticed you use the ZWO 120mm-mini. This is also a usb 2.0 camera. What is your experience with it? Has it been reliable for you. Keep these great tutorials coming, I'm eager to see what's next
Hé Maarten, I'm sorry to hear about your problems with the Omegon. I bought the ZWO 120mm-mini about a year ago. Only once did I have a problem with it in EKOS. This was when I bought the ZWO ASI533 as a primary camera. I was having trouble using 2 ZWO camera's at the same time. If I remember it right that was a bug in a nightly build I was using at the time. A week later it worked and it has never stopped since.
You have probably checked this a hundred times, but are you sure the connection problems are not a hardware problem. Like with the usb cable? I've broken a couple of USB cables during the cold winter months last year.
@@52NightSky Thanks for your reply. Yes I checked everything, cables, different powered usb-hubs, different computers and OS... The camera is very stable with Windows and the ascom-drivers but not with ekos. The Omegon camera's are supposed to be compatible with INDI but as a guide camera it's not working for me. Shame because I really love Kstars/Ekos. Maybe I'll look out for a ZWO camera since they are better supported.
I'm sorry to hear that. I just checked to INDI forums and indeed it seems more people are having trouble. That's a tough situation. I wouldn't know what to choose. Since the problem is with INDI this shouldn't matter, but did you confirm the same problems when using PHD2 vs the Internal guider?
@@52NightSky Yes I have the same problem with phd2 which has build in support for Omegon camera's. It's more pronounced on the Raspberry Pi then on my Mac which is a bit more stable, but not reliable. For now I use my Windows laptop with phd2 and ascom untill I find a solution. Thanks a lot for looking into this for me and good luck with your channel!
EKOS is for children!
😁 The more time we leave to watch the stars. Clear skies!