ConeSharp - Declination of Star

Using SharpCap's Polar Alignment feature
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dilipsharan
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Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:00 pm

ConeSharp - Declination of Star

#1

Post by dilipsharan »

Hi,

In the instructions for ConeSharp it mentions that "find a nice bright star just east of the meridian with a declination near zero". I just wondered what the range of "JUST ZERO" was?

Will +/- 10 degrees work? Or are we talking about a range +/- 1 degree? I ask as there not necessarily all those many stars of reasonable magnitude near 0 degrees declination. Also there are obstructions (trees) from my viewing location close to the meridian and at the zero declination.
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Re: ConeSharp - Declination of Star

#2

Post by admin »

Hi Dilip,

actually +/- 20 degrees declination should be pretty good. If you can find stars that are very close to zero then you should get an excellent result just running through the procedure once. If you are further away or using different declinations then you might find that you only manage to correct a % of your cone error (maybe 70-90%) each time you run through. Even then, a couple of times through and you should be down to a level that isn't worth worrying about.

cheers,

Robin
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