1. To make the alignment, is it necessary that the mount is in tracking mode, that is, connected in sidereal tracking?
2. To make the alignment to the Polar, is it necessary that the guide tube and main telescope are perfectly aligned, that is, that the two tubes have the same object in their optical center? I ask you this because we always move the guide tube looking for the ideal stars, so whenever we assemble the equipment it would be necessary to re-align the two telescopes.
Thanks for your help
a greeting
polar alignment
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admin
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Re: polar alignment
Hi,
The mount can either be in tracking mode not in tracking mode – it doesn't matter. Because you are looking at stars that are very close to the celestial pole, they will hardly move at all over the few minutes needed to perform polar alignment.
You also do not need to worry about perfect alignment between the guide scope and the main telescope/mount axis. The calculations that SharpCap does to work out your polar alignment are not affected by small misalignments (up to a few degrees).
Cheers, Robin
The mount can either be in tracking mode not in tracking mode – it doesn't matter. Because you are looking at stars that are very close to the celestial pole, they will hardly move at all over the few minutes needed to perform polar alignment.
You also do not need to worry about perfect alignment between the guide scope and the main telescope/mount axis. The calculations that SharpCap does to work out your polar alignment are not affected by small misalignments (up to a few degrees).
Cheers, Robin
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beltraneja
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Re: polar alignment
Can the camera be placed on the main telescope to align the polar?
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admin
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Re: polar alignment
Hi,
Yes as long as you can get the required field-of-view – ideally about 1° by 0.75° or more, although you may get away with fields of view down to about half that. Since your main scope will typically have a longer focal length that would mean that you would need a larger sensor camera to get the correct field-of-view.
Cheers, Robin
Yes as long as you can get the required field-of-view – ideally about 1° by 0.75° or more, although you may get away with fields of view down to about half that. Since your main scope will typically have a longer focal length that would mean that you would need a larger sensor camera to get the correct field-of-view.
Cheers, Robin