Polaris? Dude move the scope to the south sky. Do not attempt to do this in the northern pole. The results will be poor.

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From: ap-gto@... <ap-gto@...> on behalf of Bruce Donzanti donza2735@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2017 8:32 PM
To: ap-gto@...
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Need advice with new Mach1GTO: Polar Alignment and drifting

 

 

well, I am obviously not doing something right

For AZ adjustment, I have a star near the meridian and just above the celestial equator and have it sitting on the crosshairs of the CCD camera software so that it moves E/W on the horizontal lines and N/S on the vertical lines.  When the star drifts up (N) I use the AZ knobs to move it right and then re-center to see if the drift is less.  At best, I can only get 3 minutes regardless as to how many times I adjust it and to the point where Polaris almost goes off of the RAPAS screen.

So, no idea what I a doing wrong and not even sure what to try next.  So, I hope someone can tell me what to try next.  I do not see software helping if the star keeps drifting anyway. 

Bruce

On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 12:38 PM, chris1011@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...> wrote:

 

horizontal crosshairs are parallel to east-west motion and the vertical crosshairs are parallel to north-south motion- correct?

Yes, that would simplify your task when doing drift alignment.

Always do azimuth drift align for zero Dec motion first.

Rolando

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Donzanti donza2735@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...>
To: ap-gto <ap-gto@...>
Sent: Thu, Dec 14, 2017 11:33 am
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Need advice with new Mach1GTO: Polar Alignment and drifting

Roland

Got it - Leveling and balance just the usual setup routine

I need to be careful to confirm my N/S/E/W directions (understand up and down means nothing) so that horizontal crosshairs are parallel to east-west motion and the vertical crosshairs are parallel to north-south motion- correct?

Bruce

  

On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 9:12 AM, chris1011@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...> wrote:

 

Level and balance does not affect drift. need to know direction of drift, RA or Dec. Up/down/left/right has no meaning.

Rolando

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Donzanti donza2735@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...>
To: ap-gto <ap-gto@...>
Sent: Thu, Dec 14, 2017 11:10 am
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Need advice with new Mach1GTO: Polar Alignment and drifting

yes and well balanced

On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 9:03 AM, Dale Ghent daleg@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...> wrote:

 

Are you certain that your entire mount is level?

> On Dec 14, 2017, at 11:31 AM, Bruce Donzanti donza2735@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...> wrote:
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> Thanks Roland
>
> I tried last night but could never get Capella, near Zenith, to stop drifting upward regardless as to how far I adjusted with the altitude adjustment knob. I'll try again tonight but it is not obvious at this point what I am doing wrong. I was able to first adjust azimuth from drifting.
>
> On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 8:35 AM, chris1011@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...> wrote:
>
>
> I did an initial rough PA and then used the RAPAS and the app to complete the fine alignment. Using my UltraStar camera at f/5, I did a drift test on Sirius as it was low in the southeastern sky and it remained centered for 5 mins before I noticed any drift. Then I did the same with Menkar just off the meridian and near the celestial equator and it only stayed centered for about 1 and a half minutes.
> Start by adjusting the azimuth axis until a star at the meridian near the celestial equator does not drift in Dec. Once that is done, you have half of your alignment finished and won't need to adjust the azimuth any further.
>
> Now all you need to do is adjust the altitude axis. Choose a star near the zenith and raise or lower your altitude axis until that star does not drift in RA. Your mount is now polar aligned and drift is zeroed out over a large portion of the sky.
>
> Now you can adjust the RAPAS alignment so that it puts Polaris at the right point on the scale. From then on you won't have to do the drift align procedure, just use the RAPAs and you should be very close to the pole each time.
>
> Rolando
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: donza2735@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...>
> To: ap-gto <ap-gto@...>
> Sent: Wed, Dec 13, 2017 7:58 am
> Subject: [ap-gto] Need advice with new Mach1GTO: Polar Alignment and drifting
>
>
>
> I just bought a Mach1GTO for my de-forked C11" and am still feeling out how the mount works. I also bought the RAPAS for PA. The scope is balanced and it is leveled in the E/W direction.
>
> I did an initial rough PA and then used the RAPAS and the app to complete the fine alignment. Using my UltraStar camera at f/5, I did a drift test on Sirius as it was low in the southeastern sky and it remained centered for 5 mins before I noticed any drift. Then I did the same with Menkar just off the meridian and near the celestial equator and it only stayed centered for about 1 and a half minutes. I then looked once again on the RAPAS and Polaris seemed spot on compared to the app. So, I am concluding from this that the RAPAS needs to be realigned as AP suggests could be the case. My question: What is the simplest and best way to do the drift alignment which I have never done?
> I am a Mac user and I am aware that AP highly recommends PemPro which is a Windows program vs. doing the drift alignment manually. I also realize that the simplest and best ways may not be the same. I do have an Intel compute stick with Windows 10 if folks think PemPro is the way to go.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Bruce
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