Solar eclipse presets for the exposure calculator mostly based on fred espenaks exposure tables. Polar alignment sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and. A precise telescope mount polar alignment using alignmaster software. Celestron allstar polar alignment price match financing.
Allstar is celestrons exclusive, innovative polar alignment procedure available on select celestron computerized telescopes that allows users to choose any bright star not just one near the ncp while the software calculates and assists with polar alignment. The need for drift alignment it is well known that a good polar alignment is the staple of a good basis for longexposure astrophotography. Jun 02, 2017 but despite these benefits, people tend to be deterred from getting an equatorial mount because of how daunting polar alignments appear. Telescope control functionality astrometric instruments. Quick and accurate polar alignment using your ccd imager. Atcs is designed to provide control for all types of equatorial or altaz telescopes.
Oct 17, 2011 a precise telescope mount polar alignment using alignmaster software. However, for accurate polar alignment, the polar axis of the telescopes mount needs to be aligned to the true ncp. The polar axis of german equatorial mounts can be eyeballed toward polaris, as shown at left and on the previous page. Using goto for polar alignment without software feature. Polar alignment sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and deep. For ordinary visual observing, the telescopes polar axis must be aligned to the earths pole. The polar axis does not move when you move the telescope. Mar 21, 2019 the dedicated polar alignment software was easy to use, and the camera produced a crystal clear image of the starfield surrounding the north celestial pole.
Polar cat is a board game based on tic tac toe classic game using polar coordinates. Polar alignment german equatorial mounts need to be polar aligned. Drift alignment getting the longest exposure possible with precise polar alignment duration. No matter which camera tracker or equatorial telescope mount youre using, when it comes to astrophotography, accurate polar alignment is critical if you have ever struggled to polar align your telescope mount with the north or south celestial pole, the qhy polemaster may. Qhy polemaster polar alignment camera free shipping opt.
I always used this to align on my cg5, it is of course only as good as you can copy it. Precise polar alignment declination drift technique for long exposure imaging, the alignment using polaris will not be perfect and stars will slowly drift across the image. This list of sequence alignment software is a compilation of software tools and web portals used in pairwise sequence alignment and multiple sequence alignment. See structural alignment software for structural alignment of proteins. Atcs performs the necessary coordinate translations between the mounts arbitrarily oriented axes and the celestial sphere. Precise leveling is a waste of time for casual pointandlook viewing. We need to know the exact location of polaris in relation to the ncp at a given viewing time so that we can ascertain the true position of the ncp and the eq3eq5heq5eq6 mounts have the necessary calibration tools in the form of a polar scope and circular slide rule already built in to allow us to do this. Daytime no polar scope polar alignment tool implemented sun icon. Make sure that the proper pole location is labeled on the chart. Polar alignment of your equatorial mount the blog formerly.
With the aid of your astro imager, your can accurately detect, record, and correct this drift in just minutes. You take one picture, let sharpcap analyze it, rotate your mount by about 90 degrees about the ra axis and take the second picture. Eqalign is a project that assists to align a german equatorial mount gem exactly to the earth polar axis. Then, you are asked to rotate the ra axis of your telescope mount to determine the rotation of the mechanical axis. By rotating your mounts right ascension axis by 15 degrees or more, the software can confirm this value. Allstar is our exclusive, innovative polar alignment procedureavailable on select celestron computerized telescopesthat allows users to choose any bright star not just one near the ncp while the software calculates and assists with polar alignment. Polar alignment is the act of aligning the rotational axis of a telescope s equatorial mount or a sundial s gnomon with a celestial pole to parallel earths axis. Although all of these methods work with varying results, i am not really happy with most of them for one reason or another. I have used several methods of polar alignment over the years. If you have the option, use alignment stars that are far from polaris.
The meaning of the hour angle method lies in rotation and exact positioning of a small bubble of the polar finder according to the actual hour angle location of polaris in the sky for current time and date. There are two common methods for improving the polar alignment. Polar connection is a simple fourinarow game played on a polar circular grid instead of the traditional rectangle. Being in southern hemisphere i do not have readily visible pole star, so i have been trying different software options. By recognizing the stars in each of the pictures, sharpcap can work out two things. German equatorial mounts gem have long since been recognized as the mount of choice for astrophotography. Accurate polar alignment with eq3eq5heq5 and eq6 mounts. Jul 21, 2015 ive been googling all evening and lost for a possible solution for tweeking the polar alignment for an observatory based heq5 mounti use the alignment tool in eqmod, which rotates the mount to the ha for polaris, but there are two factors which allow for a near enough rather than a spot on adjust. You can test your polar alignment accuracy without a sharpcap pro license to learn how the feature works, but you will need to buy a sharpcap pro license to use the polar alignment adjustment stage that guides you in to correct alignment. Set up and align the goto system in whatever way the mount requires. Using the current hour angle of polaris, which you obtain from software. The method how we achieve it is called polar alignment and it starts with a rough alignment of the ra axis.
Apr 02, 2018 download parot polar aligner for free. Allstar polar alignment celestron telescopes, telescope. While an azimuth mount is the easier option for first time telescope owners, an equatorial mount offers a plethora of benefits that will ultimately be more beneficial in the long run. Simply put, you need to make sure that your telescope mount is rotating on the exact same angle the sky turns on. Paul boltwood has pioneered a very simple and effective technique for polar alignment. Quick and accurate polar alignment using your ccd imager the best way to assure you have an accurate polar alignment is to measure and correct the actual drift caused by any misalignment. The qhy polemaster electronic polar scope was designed to make your polar alignment routine easier, and more precise. Free polar alignment software download polar finderscope by dr. The declination drift method allows a much more accurate alignment by monitoring the drift of selected stars. Ive been googling all evening and lost for a possible solution for tweeking the polar alignment for an observatory based heq5 mounti use the alignment tool in eqmod, which rotates the mount to the ha for polaris, but there are two factors which allow for a near enough rather than a. Polar alignment free polar alignment software download. The process takes a little bit of practice, but after doing it a few times, you should be able to obtain an accurate polar alignment in minutes. Preparation make sure your mount is reasonably level.
As a general rule, polar alignment software calculates polar alignment error by one of two methods. All you need is a stardard webcam, your scope and a pc. When you adjust the mounts altitude and azimuth controls to recenter the star in the eyepiece, you are actually moving the mounts polar axis to the exact position of the south celestial pole. I intend to include more detailed comparisons, but in the short term, i hope that the following is useful. But there is also software expressly designed for polar alignment.
Rclements exact compensation for the earths rotation is only possible if both, the polar axis of the mount and the polar axis of the earth are in perfect alignment. Fine tuning my the polar alignment accuracy of my telescope mount using the qhy polemaster. Through this guide, we hope to illustrate how to polar align your telescope in the southern hemisphere so you can do it with ease. The polar alignment works by analyzing two pictures taken of the area near the pole. Atcs implements a sophisticated pointing model which accepts celestial or horizontal coordinate targets, translates to telescope position, and positions the telescope accurately. The list includes polealignmax, align master, eq align, wcs, pempro, polar finder, star targ 2. For long exposure imaging, the alignment using polaris will not be perfect and stars will slowly drift across the image. Phd2 drift alignment the drift align tool in phd2 can be used to quickly obtain a precise polar alignment of your equatorial mount.
Mar 28, 2011 free polar alignment software download polar finderscope by dr. By matching the latitude angle of the telescope mount with the latitude of your observing site, you can easily approximate the position of the north celestial pole ncp. For me, the ideal polar alignment procedure should be. Move the mount in dec so the polar scope can be used and in ra so the pole star marker corresponds to the same position as shown in the polarscope view window. The best aid for this is to use a polar finder scope with a reticle. When astronomical observations or imaging is done using an equatorial telescope mount, the rightascension ra axis should be parallel with the rotation axis of the earth to avoid startrails and errors in guiding. Use the altitude and azimuth adjusters to placec polaris into the small circle in the polar scope reticule. Next we need to make another calculation, which is the amount of adjustment we need to do, in units of this radius. Obviously there could be others that i am not aware of. The method used is that of julius scheiner 185819 german mathematic, physic, astronomer and pioneer in astrophotography.
It is best performed with the telescope and counterweights removed from the mount. Using a planetarium program, create a chart of the area around the pole north or south. Tutorials section this section is only for the posting of actual tutorials, either single post or multiple, to ask questions or comment on a tutorial, please use the tutorial discussions section where you will find a topic titled for each topic posted here, it just helps stop the topics becoming convoluted and lets the tutorials flow properly. Polar alignment freeware for free downloads at winsite. Featuring the collins method of precise polar alignment. Lets go through a quick and easy kochab clock polar alignment for the night of june 15. Polar scope align pro for ios free download and software. Precise polar alignment declination drift technique.
Survey of polar alignment methods celestial wonders. Ultimately, all polar alignment really boils down to is that when your scope is in the parked home position, it should be pointing exactly at the celestial pole. You can easily achieve alignment accuracy better than 1 arcmin in 5 minutes of time. Then adjust our mounts altitude and azimuth to bring the polaris into the small bubble. There are methods for using ccd imaging programs to aid in drift polar alignment, or, hell, even using phd guiding to get you on the pole. We need to know the exact location of polaris in relation to the ncp at a given viewing time so that we can ascertain the true position of the ncp and the eq3eq5heq5eq6 mounts have the necessary calibration tools in the form of a polar scope and circular slide rule already built. Next, do a rough polar alignment, and then take a 60second ccd image of the pole. The following is a list of all the polar alignment software that i am aware of. Either by recording the drift of a star, similar to conventional drift alignment, or by comparing the position of stars within an image or through the eyepiece to a known database, as is the case with polealignmax and align master.
This page describes the quickest, most accurate method of polar alignment. Have you managed to try out the polar alignment using sparkocam and sharpcap. Deep space objects more than usually require what we deem as long exposures, typically of several minutes up to about 20 minutes per exposure. The celestial pole is a very exact and virtually invisible point in space. Simple if the procedure is too complex it will be prone to error. In fact, you dont really need software polar alignment features in your scope. Once centered, the mount will point the telescope to the exact position that the star should be if the mount were precisely polar. Polar finder for android free download and software. Adjust the mount using the alt and az bolts so that the pole star is in the little circle. If polar alignment is lost, it is now a simple matter to bring it back without having to start from scratch.
There are quite a few polar alignment softs out there now, including wcs, polealignmax, and eq align. Polar alignment is the process of accurately aligning the polar axis of your mount with the north or south celestial pole. It is targeted for those without a permanent setup, where polar alignment must be done at the beginning of each observing session. Once centered, the mount will point the telescope to the exact position that the star should be if the mount was precisely polaraligned. Here are two procedures for doing the polar scope alignment. When you adjust the mounts altitude and azimuth controls to recenter the star in the eyepiece, you are actually moving the mounts polar axis to the exact position of the north celestial pole. Once you are polar aligned, you will only need to perform a onestar alignment a real time saver. Astromate x64 is a project for automating repeating astrophotography tasks, such as equatorial mount polar alignment and target centering, by integrating existing tools and especially plate solving to the ascom telescope control interface. The nightly polar alignment is what you do at the beginning of each observing session. Like to get your opinion of best polar alignment software. Easy polar alignment for astrophotography step by step. I experienced that cliche moment i expect all backyard astrophotographers had with this device their first night where i thought, i should have been using one of these a long time ago.
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