Using 3rd party plate solvers for polar alignment in low latitude locations

[Cmahesh]

Hi, I am Mahesh from Srilanka. I am interested in SharpCap polar alignment routine. However, as I am living in a low latitude location (6.04N), I don't have a good view of the north celestial pole and buildings are further blocking the view of the northern sky. As I know, in the SharpCap polar alignment routine, the built-in plate solver can only solve within 5 degrees from the NCP. What about using 3rd party plate solvers like Astrometry? Will they allow me to use it for much larger offsets from the NCP (lets say about 40 degrees away from the NCP or DEC 50 degrees)?

(I am currently using PEMPro 3 for polar alignment but it takes a long time around 1 1/2 hours. I want to shorten that time and make more time available for imaging)

Thank you

[admin]

Hi Mahesh,

I would suggest trying to use the tool described in this thread : https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/2299 ... t-utility/

This uses the same concept for polar alignment as SharpCap, but does use an external plate solving tool so may be able to work further away from the celestial pole. On the downside, it's rather more complicated to install and it doesn't provide the same sort of guidance on adjusting that SharpCap does. It least it would let you try out the idea.

Cheers, Robin

[fly_n]

Hello Mahesh,
you might want to try out a script I have written for Sharpcap.
I use it to polar align, as I cannot see Polaris (or that region of the sky) due to a house wall.

Basically it shoots pictures at different RA positions with a constant DEC.
I typically go with DEC = 0° or up to 15°, which should work well for your location.

I hope it is not overly complicated to get it working.
If you are interested you can hop over to the SharpCap Scripts discussion here:
viewtopic.php?p=18673#p18673

Kind regards, Norman