Once polar aligned accurately and with a few synced alignment points, your mount gotos will work better, targets wont drift out of frame, youll be able to take short exposures without guiding, and very long exposures with guiding. The qhy polemaster is installed on the front of the ra axis with the proper mount adapter sold separately and is designed to detect the rotation center of the right ascension axis. Eqalign is a project that assists to align a german equatorial mount gem exactly to the earth polar axis. 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. The polemaster is an innovative product pioneered by qhyccd to relieve the pain of polar alignment. Set up and align the goto system in whatever way the mount requires. The polemaster electronic polar axis alignment device is a patented product of qhyccd and is protected by chinese patents. Obviously there could be others that i am not aware of. Allstar polar alignment celestron telescopes, telescope. The list includes polealignmax, align master, eq align, wcs, pempro, polar finder, star targ 2.
You need to know how to use a ccd imager and your telescope. An easytouse wizard guides you through the process step by step to ensure the best alignment possible. The p1 performs a precise polar alignment in just a few minutes time, with an accuracy of up to 30 arc seconds. Pointing accuracy is critical with a ccd camera since the field of view is usually fairly small. This is a major issue for the long exposure times required for deepsky objects on 35mm film, but is still an issue for dim objects with a ccd camera. There are quite a few polar alignment softs out there now, including wcs, polealignmax, and eq align. Using polemaster and following a few simple, easytofollow, steps you can achieve perfect polar alignment in 23 minutes, with an accuracy of up to 30 arc seconds. Definitely something to keep in your bag of tricks. The polar alignment works by analyzing two pictures taken of the area near the pole.
Meade align method resyncing a polar aligned wedgemounted scope polar drift alignment described. Although the telescopes tracking may be very good, pointing accuracy may need to be improved, especially if. 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 method used is that of julius scheiner 185819 german mathematic, physic, astronomer and pioneer in astrophotography. Because the ccd field is so small, the star trail arcs look like straight lines. Qhy polemaster electronic polar scope high point scientific. Polar alignment wizard quickly, accurately, and easily helps you dial in polar alignment. Star finder helpful if you have a small ccd field of view to locate a star or other object when your mounts alignment is not perfect.
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. The polar alignment procedure works on one simple principle. By aligning the axis of your telescope mount with the motion of the sky, you can accurately track objects in space. One of the coolest polar alignment methods to come along is the freeware polealignmax by larry weber and steve brady. When this is accomplished, the skys motion can be canceled out simply by turning the axis either by hand or with a motor drive at the same rate as the. The mount will retain its alignment, but some amount of accuracy may be compromised depending on how much the mount was moved during polar alignment. Quick and accurate polar alignment using your ccd imager.
Ccdsoft works in concert with thesky for full camera and telescope control. Support for new cameras and camera control programs including. Using goto for polar alignment without software feature. Make sure that the proper pole location is labeled on the chart. Survey of polar alignment methods celestial wonders. The method has some hefty prerequisites in that it works with a ccd camera, either ccdsoft or maxim dl, and either thesky or pinpoint for plate solving some versions of maxim provide pinpoint. A wide range of features makes sharpcap suitable for many types of astroimaging including planetary, lunar, solar, deep sky and eaa electronically assisted astronomy. We will share the use of the polemaster software to dail in a rough to near perfect aligment as we mere mortals can get. Qhyccd supply the high quality astronomical ccd and cmos camera for. Aug 04, 2018 these instructions assume that you know how your ccd is aligned on the scope which way is n, e, s, w on the images. This will be the longest list as there are many of these types of programs available. Your images should also be free of field rotation distortion in the corners.
Altazimuth mounting is sufficient since your eye will not notice the slight deviations in tracking of an object. If polar alignment is lost, it is now a simple matter to bring it back without having to start from scratch. Octantis in your polar scope reticle for your location using your. Polar alignment is an essential first step towards a night of visual observation or astrophotography. Although the telescopes tracking may be very good, pointing accuracy may need to be improved, especially if you are trying to locate small objects on a ccd chip. Some polar aligned telescopes only require one alignment star to synchronize the computer to the sky. The first step is to roughly polar align your mount. But there is also software expressly designed for polar alignment.
With the aid of your astro imager, your can accurately detect, record, and correct this drift in just minutes. I tried the drift alignment tool in phd2 and found it to be very easy to use and resulted in very good polar alignment with little difficulty. The great list of astrophotography software reddit. Astronomy software ccd control and imaging software. Next, do a rough polar alignment, and then take a 60second ccd image of the pole. Very popular software for web cam imaging, which i believe can also be used for polar alignment. The next step in polar alignment is to move the ccd camera until the two calibration stars are in the field of view and will stay in the field. There are two common methods for improving the polar alignment. At present, qhyccd also provided the polemaster as an oem product for ioptron and licenses ioptron to use the ioptron logo logo on the polemaster product. Sep 12, 2016 when it comes to adjusting your telescope mount for polar alignment, the qhyccd polemaster is the single greatest invention i have seen. You can manage your imaging sessions with ccd autopilot while letting phd2 handle guiding and dithering in a. Sharpcap is an easytouse and powerful astronomy camera capture tool. Guide to polar alignment of a meade lx200gps telescope page 4 of 11 viewing you really dont need to polar align your scope. Please note that the only inapp purchases available are tips.
When it comes to adjusting your telescope mount for polar alignment, the qhyccd polemaster is the single greatest invention i have seen. Polar alignment wcs fast and accurate polaralignment. It supports any cam which can be installed as a windows device meade lpi, toucam, neximage, etc. Precise polar alignment declination drift technique. Aligning a computerized telescope for imaging starizona. Polar alignment is done with the ccd camera or web cam in realtime allowing you adjust your mount to arcsecond accuracy. The qhy polemaster electronic polar scope was designed to make your polar alignment routine easier, and more precise. Sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and deep sky imaging. Theres also a version available for the meade dsi cameras.
Qhy ccd polemaster high precision, easy to use electric polar scope. The declination drift method allows a much more accurate alignment by monitoring the drift of selected stars. 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. Polar alignment wcs fast and accurate polaralignment for. Polar scope align will calculate the position of polaris or. No matter what you are imaging with canon eos, nikon, ccd or cmos astro camera, apt has the right tool for planning, collimating, aligning. For ccd imaging i consider that accuracy to 3 arc minutes is probably the minimum.
You take one picture, let sharpcap analyze it, rotate your mount by about 90 degrees about the ra axis and take the second picture. In fact, you dont really need software polar alignment features in your scope. This is an alternative to using the traditional reticle eye piece or one of the many software packages designed for this purpose. I intend to include more detailed comparisons, but in the short term, i hope that the following is useful. The method has some hefty prerequisites in that it works with a ccd camera, either ccdsoft or maxim dl, and either thesky or pinpoint for plate solving some versions of. Polar alignment of your equatorial mount the blog formerly. Unfortunately an accurate polar alignment isnt very easy to do. 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. This program helps you to polar align your mount using the drift alignment method with ccd or webcam support. Basically the idea was to run an exposure with the drive stopped to get a star trail with its center at the true. But film, ccd or digital photography at longer exposure times will show these. Dialing in polar alignment with polemaster and phd2ryan. Based on the location of these stars, the software calculates the true north pole position.
So in astrophotography an accurate polar alignment, like accurate focus, is critical. New software bisque quick polar alignment proceedure ccd. Easy polar alignment for astrophotography step by step. Some polaraligned telescopes only require one alignment star to synchronize the computer to the sky. Polar alignment free polar alignment software download. For long exposure imaging, the alignment using polaris will not be perfect and stars will slowly drift across the image. In all cases, you will be monitoring northsouth changes in a stars position on your ccd images. The next step in polar alignment is to move the ccd camera until the two calibration stars are in the field of view and will stay in the field of view after a polar axis rotation of about 20 degrees. Darv stands for drift alignment by robert vice method. This is a demonstration of how quickly you can complete all. The polar axis of the telescope must be made parallel to the earths axis of rotation, called the north celestial pole ncp. By recognizing the stars in each of the pictures, sharpcap can work out two things. Some mounts come with polar alignment scope in the polar axis shaft.
Here is an excellent youtube video on how to use the phd2 polar alignment process. Good polar alignment can be performed relatively quickly using special finder scopes with polar reference reticles, but to get the precise polar alignment that will make your mount perform at its best for high quality astrophotography and science measurements, often requires timeconsuming drift alignment. This star will assist the software in correctly aligning your telescopes mount. When used with a single raonly axis mount, good polar. Ra tracking issues dec blocking autoguiding device. However, some telescopes still benefit from a twostar alignment to increase pointing accuracy.
All you need is a stardard webcam, your scope and a pc. These instructions assume that you know how your ccd is aligned on the scope which way is n, e, s, w on the images. The following is a list of all the polar alignment software that i am aware of. 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. Using a tripod best polar alignment routine, polar goto adjustment polaris is visible 2nd alignment star isnt. Then they point to the sun and use the standard image drift method to make fine adjustments to align the polar axis as follows. By owning an equatorial mount, youll find yourself in the situation to perform a polar alignment to your mount each time you assemble your equipment prior an observation. There are programs available that will do this for you, but its so easy to do that all you really need is your ccd or dslr imager and your telescope. 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. Macroberts article outlines the drift method for polar alignment as it is universally quoted, where the drifts of stars in two equatorial fields are used to determine the direction towards which to move the polar axis to better align the it with the celestial pole. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and usb frame grabbers. Many computerized equatorial mounts including forkmounted telescopes on wedges have a polar alignment routine built in to their software to provide a more accurate alignment. Using a planetarium program, create a chart of the area around the pole north or south. Drift alignment software for german equatorial mounts.
Backlash exerciser checks the backlash of your mount. Tpoint by software bisque, used in conjunction with thesky tpoint will provide polar alignment data which can be used to polar align the mount. The purpose of this document is to describe a polar alignment method using your imaging camera that is already set up on your telescope ready for a imaging session. The great list of astrophotography software software howdy folksrecently ive thought itd be a good idea to compile a giant list of ap related software all contained in one place so it would be easy to find, ive started with the programs below along with short descriptions, but need help from you all to see if ive missed any. 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. Paul boltwood has pioneered a very simple and effective technique for polar alignment. The great list of astrophotography software software howdy folksrecently ive thought itd be a good idea to compile a giant list of ap related software all contained in one place so it would be easy to find, ive started with the programs below along with short descriptions, but need help from you all. The polemaster uses this image to calculate the ncp, and that is the first step in achieving a precise polar alignment. 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. Orion starshoot p1 polar alignment camera lowest prices. Also provides the necessary image reduction, processing and stacking. Qhy polemaster polar alignment camera free shipping opt.
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