First Night

[Kevin17]

Hey,

 

So our equipment has now arrived (WO 91 FLT EQ5 pro and Baader Hyperon Eyepieces giving us about 170 x magnification) and we are getting to grips with it, polar aligning the mount (actually sighting Polaris in the mount scope) is proving more taxing than i thought. Even after i manage it and do a 3 star alignment the mount can be well off, often by the width of the eyepiece or 2 x that.

 

It hardly seems going through the pain of aligning with Polaris for that much inaccuracy, so have a work around for that now, i just aim the mount roughly north and do a 3 star alignment and that seems to be just as accurate as if the mount isnt aligned with Polaris as it is if it is aligned?! Does it actually need aligning?

 

We have been enjoying lovely clear views of Jupiter and its moons and Saturn with very clear, even a very small Mars and have manage to see a handful of faint galaxies.

 

Any pointers for us (especially technical) or recommended targets for us to look at would be greatly appreciated!  

 

We have managed to connect the hand controller to out Laptop and control the mount through Stellarium which is great to assist with navigation and searching for targets.

 

Cheers

 

Kev & Izzy

[TerryMcK]

I think roughly aligning and then doing a three star or even two star alignment is probably ok for visual. You may find the object drifting though.

Polaris isn't exactly on the axis of the earth. It orbits a small circle about the apparent diameter of the moon as seen from earth around that actual axis. That is probably why you are off.

There are apps for mobile phones that tell you where Polaris is supposed to be in the polar scope at any particular time/date - have a look for PolarAlign by George Varros. This is available for the iPhone not sure about Android.

Also to make it easier to view in the polar scope without putting your back out is this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FZ2FTZ3 designed for Skywatcher polar scopes. Sadly Amazon do not seem to have it in stock at the moment but I'm sure it will be available elsewhere.

 

You can't have polar alignment rough when you are imaging though - it has to be pretty well spot on. That's where astronomy computer programs with polar align routines built in come in.

[Nightspore]

 

One of these helps a lot!

[Kevin17]

Hey Terry & nighspore,

 

Thank you for the advise, i have an alignment app - the one you mention, i just struggle getting Polaris in the damn scope in the first place, once its in im fine tweaking it to exactly where it needs to be - as per App, but actually getting it in there is a pain in the A**.

 

I will look at the eyepiece you have suggested, thank you, handy to know they exist! I have also seen someone put a camera on it to help, so no back ache at all there! 🙂 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Kevin17

[Kevin17]

Found one!

 

[Kevin17]

7 hours ago, TerryMcK said:

I think roughly aligning and then doing a three star or even two star alignment is probably ok for visual. You may find the object drifting though.

Polaris isn't exactly on the axis of the earth. It orbits a small circle about the apparent diameter of the moon as seen from earth around that actual axis. That is probably why you are off.

There are apps for mobile phones that tell you where Polaris is supposed to be in the polar scope at any particular time/date - have a look for PolarAlign by George Varros. This is available for the iPhone not sure about Android.

Also to make it easier to view in the polar scope without putting your back out is this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FZ2FTZ3 designed for Skywatcher polar scopes. Sadly Amazon do not seem to have it in stock at the moment but I'm sure it will be available elsewhere.

 

You can't have polar alignment rough when you are imaging though - it has to be pretty well spot on. That's where astronomy computer programs with polar align routines built in come in.

 

I have downloaded PHD2 and have managed to connect mount and 120 mini guide camera this evening but no stars to actually try that out.

 

Does that need a polar alignment to track or will it track without? 

 

 

[Nightspore]

53 minutes ago, Kevin17 said:

Found one!

 

 

That looks about right. Regardless of what name's on it, I reckon they're all from the same factory. I've got to move my EQ5 fairly soon and re-align it with Polaris. You're right, it's a pain in the derriere lol. I'm not looking forward to it ...

[TerryMcK]

2 hours ago, Kevin17 said:

Does that need a polar alignment to track or will it track without?

Yes it does still need accurate polar alignment when imaging otherwise you will end up with peculiar shaped stars. The guider software works better with tiny movements and being properly polar aligned is the way to go.

You don’t use a guide scope or guiding software when using the scope visually BTW.

[Kevin17]

On 10/4/2022 at 10:39 PM, TerryMcK said:

Yes it does still need accurate polar alignment when imaging otherwise you will end up with peculiar shaped stars. The guider software works better with tiny movements and being properly polar aligned is the way to go.

You don’t use a guide scope or guiding software when using the scope visually BTW.

 

Hi,

 

I am on a journey eventually landing at astrophotography, so i am building a kit towards that.

 

There is a lot to learn, so i am also trying to get my head around everything thats involved in imaging before i buy the remainder of the kit and whilst we enjoy visual, so am trying to get to grips with achieving a good polar alignment at the moment, but have a guide scope and camera ready for imaging, so once i have mastered alignment, i will start using that to get to grips with it and get confident - who said there was anything wrong with accurately tracked visual astronomy 🙂 

 

Of course they are all bits are made in the same factory, they're all available on Alibaba, for £100 you can put your own logo on some and start selling them lol.

 

Speaking of my new addition, it has arrived today, so fingers crossed for clear sky soon t try it out!

 

 

[Kevin17]

On 10/4/2022 at 8:42 PM, Nightspore said:

 

That looks about right. Regardless of what name's on it, I reckon they're all from the same factory. I've got to move my EQ5 fairly soon and re-align it with Polaris. You're right, it's a pain in the derriere lol. I'm not looking forward to it ...

true that.

[Nightspore]

2 hours ago, Kevin17 said:

true that.

 

Well ... it is a ...

 

 

... Mars year!

[Kevin17]

On 10/4/2022 at 4:54 PM, Nightspore said:

 

One of these helps a lot!

My polar scope adaptor arrived friday, had a couple of goes with it this weekend, is MUCH easier, thank you very much for the heads up on that one, its made the whole affair easier.

[Nightspore]

14 minutes ago, Kevin17 said:

My polar scope adaptor arrived friday, had a couple of goes with it this weekend, is MUCH easier, thank you very much for the heads up on that one, its made the whole affair easier.

 

You're welcome. I basically have to use one as I'm disabled. With my older EQ's I just used to aim the RA roughly at Polaris and hope for the best lol. 

[Nightspore]

Roughly aimed at Polaris!

 

 

ROTFLMAO

[Kevin17]

i managed to get this image of the moon, i was messing about with my guide camera, all 1.2 mega pixles of it 🙂 ha, but it came out nicely after processing.

[Kevin17]

22 hours ago, Nightspore said:

Roughly aimed at Polaris!

 

 

ROTFLMAO

i think 'roughly' is my default setting... Ha

 

[Nightspore]

19 minutes ago, Kevin17 said:

i think 'roughly' is my default setting... Ha

 

 

'Roughly' often works lol.