Polar aligning using the polar scope

Using SharpCap's Polar Alignment feature
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lonniegriggs
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Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2020 7:52 pm

Polar aligning using the polar scope

#1

Post by lonniegriggs »

Hi all. I'm very excited to begin using my Pro version of SharpCap. I have been reading all day and watching videos. I have a question. Has anyone used a camera attached to their polar scope to do the polar align? will it work since there are images in the polar scope? Also since the polar scope doesn't move the FOV with the rotation during the process will it still work? I have purchased this with the adapter that allows it to connect to my ZEQ25GT polar scope in the same way I would look through it.

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admin
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Re: Polar aligning using the polar scope

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

in theory, it should work – it just like any other telescope that is pointing along the RA axis - like a guide scope does when you're in the home position.

In practice, there are some questions that need to be considered – firstly what will the field-of-view be? SharpCap works best with fields of view between about half a degree and about 5 degrees . The FOV will depend on the focal length of the polar scope and the size of the sensor on the camera. The second question is are you going to see enough stars? I see you have an SPC 900 camera – if that's unmodified then the maximum exposure is probably quite short and you may not pick up enough stars for the polar alignment to work.

It's certainly worth a try though and I'd be interested to hear what the results are.

Cheers, Robin
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