开云体育

Hello!
I continue to hit Align and then Alignment even beyond the usual 3-star alignment following my initial setup. I do this in hopes that it will continue to refine my centering process. However, I've noticed that whenever I slew to an object, it is still slightly off center - in fact it is only just inside the field of view of my 32mm eyepiece. I think that I haven't mastered the polar scope yet (which I just received) although Polaris is damn close! Is there anything else I should be doing? FYI, the mount (a G8-11) is level and the ota is well balanced.

Thanks,
Erik

Have you tried for your Polar Alignment routine?
I'm just beginning to get it to work for me. I had trouble getting it to work with my Atik Infinicky camera.
But Brian suggested upping the exposure time and that got it working. Then Sharpcap suggested upping my camera's gain, and things finally?really began working.
I finally found some tutorials and see how to make more progress with it, through the Sharpcap Forums.

This showed me what I should do with the 90° thang. So tonight I hope to try the 90° and get my mount polar aligned.

I was starting out with Polaris as centered as possible, then doing 3 West, 3 East, 3 West, ad nausium, (12 to 15 times) until the objects were landing as close to center as possible.
It worked, but it was a PITA. One night, everything was landing dead centered, or very near. I was bopping all over the universe.
But that has been the exception, not the rule for me. One thing about this sport is there is always variables. Because the entire experience is variable, and the weather throws wrenches in the works on the best of nights.
Still, just keep pecking at it and you'll get it.

I went ahead and went pro with Sharpcap to throw Robin Glover a bone. 10 pounds sterling is $12.92 today in USD. Pretty reasonable, I think.

Sharpcap has finally shown me a way my dumb camera will finally Plate Solve with ASTAP. So I'm on a victory lap.
Often, a program can favor a certain camera brand, and those of us outside the sandbox have to find work arounds.
And then, it's hard to explain how we got around a stumbling block.
--
SonnyE


(I suggest viewed in full screen)

Thank you, Sonny. I can always count on you for a thoughtful response!

I'm going to follow Brian's help regarding the Losmandy Polar Scope. It's new, and it's expensive. There's a lot to learn with this thing but I'm already just starting to get the hang of it, having made every stupid mistake one can make. Two nights ago the mount was firing on all cylinders. But prior to that it would slew across the sky with a mind of its own. "No, M57 is not in Ursa Major..." It's possible that my marginally improved proficiency may account for it's recent good behavior.
-Erik