The method used is that of julius scheiner 185819 german mathematic, physic, astronomer and pioneer in astrophotography. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and usb frame grabbers. Please note that the only inapp purchases available are tips. Polar alignment help software on linux phd2ekos posted in beginning and intermediate imaging. Polar alignment information southern hemisphere roger. All cameras supported by maximdl pro v4, v5, and v6. For a fast and precise polar alignment of equatorial mounts.
Once your numbers are below 10 arc minutes in each axis, you will be close enough for longer exposures. As a general rule, polar alignment software calculates polar alignment error by one of two methods. All of the optical polar alignment scopes, like the losmandy one, or the orion atlas one, have a small diameter fragile, round glass plate, having the markings etched on photo lithographed out of a chrome metal layer, like used in the semiconductor industry for litho mask layers. Using goto for polar alignment without software feature. You can race down the road with a few minutes to spare, but accurately following the sun without polar aligning your mount in broad daylight is next to impossible. With pempro version 3 you can now correct your mounts periodic error, polar alignment and backlash using your ccd camera or webcam to dramatically improve tracking and guiding. A new platesolving engine is common to both in win 2. Setup and align your telescope normally, with ccd or dslr installed and ready. Find a 5th or 6th magnitude star a dimmer star can be used 3. For current products, all downloads are now included on the individual product pages navigate to your product and click the downloads tab.
Simply attach the p1 to your mount with the included adapter, load up the software on your computer, and follow the easy step by step directions to align your mount faster and easier than ever before. In addition, this new software includes the ability to combine rgb color images and essentially replaces ccdcolor. Once focused, move the star to the west side of the image field. Sbig discontinued products manuals and software the following are manuals and software for older legacy products, which are no longer maintained or updated.
The details written up by mike malik can be found on the here. Alignmaster is a program designed for a quick and precise alignment of goto mounts to the polar axis. Paul boltwood has pioneered a very simple and effective technique for polar alignment. You may spend tens of minutes, if not hours, to have a good polar alignment.
Newcomers to astronomy are quite often easily put off from equatorial mounts by being told they are complex to set up and use. Where astronomers unravel the mysteries and reveal the beauty of space. If i have to bring a computer to the observation, then let it compute. Parot polar align rot is inspired by a popular program for polar alignment pam polar align max. Obviously there could be others that i am not aware of. Follow following simple steps to quickly polar align your mount with ccdops, drift align no more. If youre polar alignment numbers are a little higher than youd like, you can repeat the alignment, then redo the polar alignment. Polar alignment information southern hemisphere having trouble working out how to polar align your telescope in the southern hemisphere. Today, in adition to polar align feature, eqalign is a full featured astronomical software.
Skywatcher polar scope for eq8r series mounts s30615. So, if the skyguider pro is your main deep sky imaging rig, the ipolar is a nobrainer, especially if youve had trouble with polar alignment in the past. With the aid of your astro imager, your can accurately detect, record, and correct this drift in. Polar alignment is an essential first step towards a night of visual observation or astrophotography. The following method of polar alignment is independent of these factors and should only be undertaken if longexposure, guided photography is your ultimate goal. It would be extremely helpful if it also utilized the phd2 polar alignment feature. The drift align method can be used in either hemisphere by using a free software called phd2 guiding. Tutorial on how to use ekos polar align assistant tool paa. I use ccdops on my sbig camera and autoguide with only ra corrections. Ccdops for windows 95 is an entirely new windows 95 package. The equipment used in this example a skywatcher heq5 german equatorial mount.
I still need to bring my laptop for polar alignment but it would be really nice if asiair could take care of this too so i can go truly laptop free. Ccdops for dos supports the st4x, st5, st5c, st6 and parallel port based st7, st8, st9, st10, pixcel 255 and pixcel 237. However, qppa and polemaster will both still work even though the ota is not perfectly aligned with the ra axis during the polar alignment process. If you find the polar reticule appears too bright, on later mounts check your sw handcontroller settings it is possible to dim the illumination by down loading and running. Using a planetarium program, create a chart of the area around the pole north or south. Sharpcap is an easytouse and powerful astronomy camera capture tool. At the heart of this search lies bisque and its family of precision crafted telescope mounts and suite of software solutions. Octantis in your polar scope reticle for your location using your phones gps or entering a location, allowing a quick and accurate polar alignment.
Periodic error polar alignment backlash video starfinder. This special feature now incorporated in ccdops is designed to enhance the planetary imaging capabilities of sbig cameras. After calculating sideral local time polarfinder calculate the polaris position. Simple polar alignment introduction a simple equatorial mount labelled. 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. Survey of polar alignment methods celestial wonders. 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.
I would also like to know how accurate is the polar alignment feature on the synscan handsets for the eq6 or heq5. Get your guide camera and mount connected usb from laptop to the guide camera, st4 from guide. Polar alignment help software on linux phd2ekos beginning. Ive just run across another method that uses the ccdops available from sbig.
Ccd imaging calculators for calculating all things related to ccd imaging fovpixel sizeetc ccd stack stacking software for ccd images. A precise telescope mount polar alignment using alignmaster software. Simple if the procedure is too complex it will be prone to error. Ccdops is constantly evolving to add new features and support new hardware and even we find it hard to keep up. You can easily achieve alignment accuracy better than 1 arcmin in 5 minutes of time. You also need to set the rotation center of the mount, which can be calibrated after clicking the clear rotation center button onscreen. Parot is a program for ultra fast and precise polar alignment of equatorial mounts. The position of polaris depends by the latitude and the sideral local time. Autoguiding a telescope for deep sky astrophotography basic. If your mount is equipped with a polar alignment scope pas it can be. Get your guide camera and mount connected usb from laptop to the guide camera, st4 from guide camera to the mount and point your guide. Features include one touch night vision touch the heading of any page to toggle night vision on and off.
Using an eq mount simple polar alignment for beginners. If thats not available you can find programs on the web that will allow. Sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and deep sky imaging. The list includes polealignmax, align master, eq align, wcs, pempro, polar finder.
Set your telescope to point south and at 0 degrees dec. Feb 11, 2017 tutorial on how to use ekos polar align assistant tool paa. Polar alignment is the act of setting up your telescope in such a way that the north end of its polar axis points toward the north celestial pole and its south polar axis points toward the south celestial pole. Jan 24, 2011 polarfinder calculate, just in time, the sideral local medium time and the position of the polaris.
For me, the ideal polar alignment procedure should be. How do you polar align using an altaz mount with a wedge. Infact polarfinder using the gps location calculate the sideral local time. It is much more easier than the manual scheinermethod or the usage of guidemaster. 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. By aligning the axis of your telescope mount with the motion of the sky, you can accurately track objects in space. You may spend hours under precious dark sky trying to get that perfect polar alignment, but in the end you may not know whether good alignment has in fact been achieved. A new polar alignment technique using byeos otelescope. The time and latitude for calculating sideral local time are read directly from the system and the gps present in the mobile device. Imcap for windows supports the st4 imaging functions.
This would improve the accuracy to whatever degree you want. Next, do a rough polar alignment, and then take a 60second ccd image of the pole. The eqmod project eqascom polarscope alignment tool note. 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. Programs your mounts periodic error correction firmware. Set up and align the goto system in whatever way the mount requires. For me the advantage of this method over the standard drift method is a visual presentation which lets you know quickly whether you have good alignment, and if you dont, it helps you achieve one by facilitating accurate tweaking of the polar axis by a known amount. Due to their fast download times and relatively small pixels, these cameras are ideally suited for taking high resolution images of the planets. I intend to include more detailed comparisons, but in the short term, i hope that the following is useful. Polar align with polar finder scopes electronic polar. It works in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and comes with a selection of popular polar scope reticles. For instructions on polar alignment using drift align in the southern hemisphere, visit how to polar align easily in phd2 drift align. 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.
Eqalign born as a software that assists to align a german equatorial mount gem exactly to the earth polar axis. Ccdsharp for windows is specialized lucyrichardson image processing software for all cameras except the st4. Recently discontinued models the original product pages for recently. Software bisque polar alignment scope for paramount me or. Lastly, i am using focusmax in conjunction with robofocus, an electronic focuser to focus all my images. Just follow the steps in the video and polar align your mount in few. A camera is not needed, but an ocular with illuminated crosshairs is helpful and will give a more precise alignment. Personally, i find polar alignment with a polar alignment scope faster and more convenient than a mounts polar alignment software, and sufficiently accurate for most purposes, so i rarely use the software feature on mounts that have a polar alignment scope. Focusmax is free and produces amazingly sharp focused images once the software wizard is completed. Ten things you never knew you could do with ccdops this document shows you ten amazing things you can do with sbigs ccdops software that we bet you didnt even know about. Eqalign is a project that assists to align a german equatorial mount gem exactly to the earth polar axis. The polar alignment instructions can be found in appendix p. Page 1 of 2 polar align with ccdops drift align no more. Youll need to enter in your latlong coordinates of your location, which you can easily find online or using the gps on your phone.
I have used several methods of polar alignment over the years. Definitely something to keep in your bag of tricks. May 04, 2015 the above method of polar alignment is limited by the accuracy of your telescopes setting circles and how well the telescope is aligned with the mount. Youre in luck, because there is a way to get rough polar alignment that takes about 30 seconds. Now when i perform very first goto of the star alignment, the handset software assumes that we start from perfectly polar aligned position and also from home position of the mount, so the first goto should be somehow precise.
I turn the mount on and feed the handset with all the current data and proceed to star alignment procedure. The great list of astrophotography software reddit. Its a bit more time consuming but should also yield excellent polar alignment. Found that all the websites explaining the process are either written for the northern hemisphere or incorrectly converted to. With paa, you can easily polar align your gem quite accurately. With the aid of your astro imager, your can accurately detect, record, and correct this drift in just minutes. Polarscope is a polar scope alignment app that runs on your windows desktop, tablet and phone. Support for new cameras and camera control programs including. Ive run it on a macbook pro under parallels until the mac version appeared in early 2020. Ive had mine in a cem40 since may 2019 and the software is now excellent on both windows and macos. Accurately aligning the center line of the ota to the ra axis the zero position is normally accomplished with a 1star alignment after the polar alignment is complete. Each iteration you do should get you closer to the celestial pole.
Polar alignment free polar alignment software download. The red reticule pattern describe the polaris position like a polar scope. Using ccdops form sbig a star moves, comparing one image with the next, form the bottom of the screen. Polar aligning, page 1, aligning polar concernspage 1. Please keep in mind that in the following discussion, what is said was specifically aimed at a permanently mounted lx200, being used with an st7st8st9, with ccdops software. Polemaster a highprecision, easy to use electronic polar scope as any seasoned astroimager would agree, achieving good polar alignment is not an easy task.
Software for drift scan imaging, st7, st8, ccd, tdi, astronomy, discription. Polar alignment sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and. Quick and accurate polar alignment using your ccd imager. Oct 09, 2016 accurately aligning the center line of the ota to the ra axis the zero position is normally accomplished with a 1star alignment after the polar alignment is complete. In early 2017, i upgraded my autoguiding system to include a more sensitive camera, and an improved guide scope. It seems to work the same way as alignmaster by poiting towards a star, then align to the star and then the mount will slew a little and then align with the alt first then dec. Once installed, connect up the camera which is plug and play and it was quickly detected and installed with no fuss. Achieving a high precision polar alignment is not an easy feat. Polar alignment of your equatorial mount the blog formerly.
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. Mar 28, 2011 anyone using the following and can tell me if its any good free polar alignment software download polar finderscope by dr. If only there were a quick way to align your scope. Although all of these methods work with varying results, i am not really happy with most of them for one reason or another. After you get everything ready and begin taking exposure, you bumped the mount, and you have to restart from the beginning.
Your images should also be free of field rotation distortion in the corners. In fact, you dont really need software polar alignment features in your scope. The p1 performs a precise polar alignment in just a few minutes time, with an accuracy of up to 30 arc seconds. Adjust equatorial mount pointing direction set the counterweight shaft at the lowest point. Polar scope align will calculate the position of polaris or. I can also define polar alignment a slightly different way and it will still mean the same thing. Polemaster tm a high precision, easy to use electric polar scope. It also offers other handy image processing functions not found in the ccd software.
A wide range of features makes sharpcap suitable for many types of astroimaging including planetary, lunar, solar, deep sky and eaa electronically assisted astronomy. 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. This software can also do other useful astrophotography tasks such as drift alignment, which is helpful for those who cannot use polaris for polar alignment. The new windows 95 version has all of the functions of ccdops for dos including auto grab, color grab and support for the ao7 adaptive optics unit. Make sure that the proper pole location is labeled on the chart. Astroimaging class materials rose city astronomers rca.
Software bisque polar alignment scope for paramount me or mx mounts scopemeiimx. The ipolar software is downloaded from the ioptron website and runs on windows vista 7 8 8. Allstar polar alignment celestron telescopes, telescope. I am using ccdops to further fine tune my mounts polar alignment and will post the results later. Gremlins in early versions have gone and i rarely have problems now. 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. My own personal experience is that they are no more difficult to manage than a standard altazimuth and have the advantage that when polar. Here is a link to the astro imaging channel that has an extensive discussion of pempro with the author. Polar alignment wizard quickly, accurately, and easily helps you dial in polar. Polarfinder calculate, just in time, the sideral local medium time and the position of the polaris.
The polar alignment description in the lx200 manual is pretty good, but try this description from chucks astrophotography page and scott tuckers guide to astrophotography site. Easy polar alignment for astrophotography step by step. The following is a list of all the polar alignment software that i am aware of. Starshoot p1 polar alignment camera w atlasprosvp adapter. But if its your travelquick setup rig remember that you have given up your ability to polar align the mount without software. Polar drift alignment pda and static polar alignment spa they can be viewed here.
Apr 02, 2018 download parot polar aligner for free. 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. Ccdsoft version 5 will be included for free with all sbig cameras beginning in april, 2001, but anyone who purchased an sbig camera since january 1. It can be calibrated semiautomatically or manually, you do not need to take care about camera orientation or pixel scale.