Minor Problem Fine Tuning Alignment

Using SharpCap's Polar Alignment feature
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raylinds
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Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:43 pm

Minor Problem Fine Tuning Alignment

#1

Post by raylinds »

The other night I tried to do a Polar Alignment and had partial success. Using ZWO ASI294MC Pro I set exposure to around 1.5 seconds and gain a little over halfway to max. I had no problem getting enough stars and solving for the first two steps. When I got to where I was adjusting the Alt and Azimuth knobs of the mount it would solve for about 5 frames and then could not solve. I would tweak exposure time a little and it would solve for a few more frames and them could not solve. It became very difficult to tweak like that I I was only able to get a Fair alignment.

The sky was perfectly clear and no obstructions. The image seemed to have a lot of stars with boxes and the pointing arrow, but I could not get it to solve fo any length of time. Is this my exposure settings?
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admin
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Re: Minor Problem Fine Tuning Alignment

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

the first thing to do would be to have a look at the troubleshooting page :

https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap/fea ... leshooting

See if any of the suggestions there help - in particular I wonder if you may have unluckily hit a rather poor starfield after rotating, in which case it can sometimes be a good idea to start in the rotated position and move back.

If all else fails, grab a few snapshot images of the starfield that is giving problems and share them here for further inspection.

thanks,

Robin
raylinds
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:43 pm

Re: Minor Problem Fine Tuning Alignment

#3

Post by raylinds »

After reading the troubleshooting guide I was able to get an excellent Polar Alignment last night. It turns out my focus was off and doing an accurate focus made it easier to get solves.


Thanks for your help, Robin.
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admin
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Re: Minor Problem Fine Tuning Alignment

#4

Post by admin »

Hi,

Glad to hear that it helped – maybe I should put a link to that guide into the actual software?

Cheers, Robin
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