New alignment page on A.S.I.G.N.

[bloodhound31]

After years of getting around to it, I finally tackled the issue over many hours in the observatory. I practiced and perfected the alignment to the point that I now have perfect alignment for photography.

Man, its so simple once you grasp the concept! I guess many of you already know this, but I thought I would write a step-by-step to help others like myself, who are frustrated with their setup.

All that is left to do now is get my motor tracking rates honed.

Here's the page....

http://www.aussiepeople.com.au/asignobservatory/driftalignment.aspx

Any tips or criticisms are welcome! I want to make this page a nice simple one for smart dummies like myself.

Baz.

P.S. Thanks to Ron (Tailwag) at http://www.aussiepeople.com.au for publishing and presenting the page so nicely for me.

[bloodhound31]

Any feedback anyone? Was the page helpful?

It would be nice to know if it helped anyone.

Cheers,

Baz.

[AutoClub]

Hi Barry - I checked out your page, and printed out the text to help me. I haven't had the chance to spend some time practicing polar alignment with my Losmandy G-11 yet. I've been doing only short-exposure photography (30 seconds up to about 2 minute subs), so what I have ended up with just by using the Losmandy polar alignment scope (built into the mount, and lined up directly through the center of the R.A. axis) seems to be pretty close. I'm also in the Northern Hemisphere (near Los Angeles), so I presume all I need to do is reverse the "north" and "south" references to achieve proper alignment using your guide.

I do have a question about alignment, though. If I set up the polar alignment scope so that Polaris is exactly where it should be, should Polaris be exactly in the center of my main scope under high power magnification? Since the dec plate holding the scope (5" refractor) is actually quite a bit actually above the axis itself, my scope actually is sitting higher than the centerline from the R.A. axis to Polaris, and Polaris is seen low in the field of view, even using a low-power eyepiece. Should I make some adjustments so that Polaris is visually dead center in the field of view when Polaris is set up properly in the polar alignment scope? Or should I expect it to be off, since the scope is actually parallel to the alignment scope, but above it (by close to a foot, I guess)? I don't know if this makes any sense. :(

Sorry if this is a stupid question. But, I don't think anyone has ever made that clear to me. I've seen web pages that just say Polaris should be "in the field of view of a low-power eyepiece". I want to get my polar alignment as accurate as possible, so when I am able to do some longer exposure imaging in the future, I won't end up with field rotation, etc.

Thanks! You have a great web page! :)

Clear skies!

Paul

[bloodhound31]

Hi Paul,

Im glad you enjoyed the alignment page and I hope it helped. The parralell distance from your polar alignment scope to your main scope will make no difference over the few hundred thousand kilometers to the moon and further. You should realise though, that although Polaris is a great target for northern hemisphere alignment, It is actually not exactly on the North celestial pole. A drift alignment is still a good habit to get into to get your alignment more accurate. Yes, drift alignment can be a little tedious and time consuming, but theres no real getting around it. It needs to be done. And it works!

Thanks for your kind words mate! I hope I can help you.

Baz.