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Precise Polar Alignment by Roland #Polar_Alignment
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John Thompson <jbtgolfer@...>
On November 1st 2019 Roland provided some instructions on Precise polar alignment of the azimuth axis. The guidance was straight forward and rarely simple but I have used it to great benefit on three mounts. At the end of the post Roland said his next post would be on Precise Alignment of the Altitude Axis. I have been looking for that next post but can not find it. Has anyone seen it or is it to come? If you read this Roland please let us know.
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Roland Christen
Altitude is really quite simple. Go to a star near the meridian (within an hour), center the star N-S on a crosshair and Recal. Ignore E-W offset. Then via meridian Delay, enter the same star, press GoTo which will flip the scope to the other side. Now simply bring the star 1/2 way to the crosshair via the altitude adjuster and the rest of the way via the N-S buttons (again ignore E-W offset). Press Rcal and you are basically done.
You can of course repeat this by going back and forth a few times repeating the process, but it should be quite accurate the first time. If you have floppy optics it may not converge.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: John Thompson via Groups.Io <jbtgolfer@...> To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Sent: Thu, Nov 21, 2019 9:30 am Subject: [ap-gto] Precise Polar Alignment by Roland On November 1st 2019 Roland provided some instructions on Precise polar alignment of the azimuth axis. The guidance was straight forward and rarely simple but I have used it to great benefit on three mounts. At the end of the post Roland said his next post would be on Precise Alignment of the Altitude Axis. I have been looking for that next post but can not find it. Has anyone seen it or is it to come? If you read this Roland please let us know.
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I do the same thing but in a different order and seldom need a second iteration.
First I move star half way back to crosshair with the N-S buttons and
if on laptop I use a mm ruler to find half way.
If I go exactly half way the second iteration is not needed.
Then I goto mount and 50-50 chance of going the correct way.
If I go the wrong way no problem the crosshair is my destination not some subjective half way point.
The subjective half way point is seldom half way (for me) and causes me to do multiple iterations.
Jimmy |
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Roland Christen
First I move star half way back to crosshair with the N-S buttons But you should center and recal, otherwise the alignment to the star is off by 1/2 the distance. Moving 1/2 way with the altitude does indeed get you the proper polar alignment.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: jimmyjujames <jimmy_an@...> To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Sent: Thu, Nov 21, 2019 11:16 am Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Precise Polar Alignment by Roland I do the same thing but in a different order and seldom need a second iteration.
First I move star half way back to crosshair with the N-S buttons and
if on laptop I use a mm ruler to find half way.
If I go exactly half way the second iteration is not needed.
Then I goto mount and 50-50 chance of going the correct way.
If I go the wrong way no problem the crosshair is my destination not some subjective half way point.
The subjective half way point is seldom half way (for me) and causes me to do multiple iterations.
Jimmy
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drgert1
Hello,
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On Thu, Nov 21, 2019 at 08:35 AM, uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> wrote: Ignore E-W offset. Then via meridian Delay, enter the same star, press GoToI am not able to follow this brief instruction. Can someone elaborate a bit more on the indiv. steps (with screen copies or video?). Thanks, Gert |
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Polar aligning involves aligning Altitude and Azimuth
This procedure is for the Altitude part only.
Try to find 2 stars close to meridian and on the same side of meridian,
one close to zenith
one further south close to dec=0 would be ideal.
The star further south will be used for your polar alignment of azimuth axis which
was explained in an earlier post with a link at bottom of this message.
With Keypad Goto a star close to Meridian and zenith
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Center star on reticle
At Main Menu
Press RA/DEC/Rev button at bottom right
Press 9-Re-Calibrate
You should hear a beep telling you that
you have Re-calibrated on the last Goto star
Setup a Goto meridian flip back to same star
Set meridian Delay
1E or 2E will cause a goto to flip to East side
1W or 2W will cause a goto to flip to West side
Watch out for a pier crash during flip if you pick a star too far to the North.
With Keypad Goto the same star.
Scope should have flipped to the other side and back to same star.
Don't worry about a E-W offset. ( that's probably an orthogonality error)
Don't worry about a E-W offset. We're aligning Altitude to polar align axis to the proper altitude.
Press NS keys and move star half way back to crosshair.
Adjust the altitude adjustment on mount to bring the star the remaining half way back and onto crosshair.
Always do this adjustment moving mount up.
If you have to go down. Go down too far and make final adjustment moving mount up.
Repeat above procedure starting at Center Star.
Repeat until you are happy with your polar altitude adjustment.
Don't forget to do your polar alignment azimuth alignment.
Jimmy
As always I may be wrong again.
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