Hi
I have been using Polar Alignment in SharpCap for a few years now and it has always been very straight forward and easy to use. However for some reason, in the last couple of sessions, the up movement now shows as down and left as right. I'm not sure if this problem coincides with the last update or not. Polar alignment is still achievable ( by reading up as down etc) but also now seems 'over sensitive' to adjustment in any direction.
I am using an Altair 269c tec camera, just in case this is relevant.
Kind regards
Jack
if you are able to get proper alignment by the 'put the star in the target' approach but the up/down/left/right indications are incorrect then the most likely cause is your latitude/longitude co-ordinates that polar alignment is using are wrong, or (less likely) that the computer time is way out.
SharpCap can get your latitude/longitude from an ASCOM mount, or from the settings in the polar alignment settings tab, or (if all else fails) by guessing based on your time zone, so it's worth checking all of those.
It's also worth remembering that when SharpCap says up/down/left/right, it means (roughly) 'standing on the equatorward side of the mount/scope, looking towards the celestial pole, adjust the mount so that the end of the telescope pointing at the sky moves in the direction indicated'.
I'm not quite sure about the sensitivity - have you changed any camera settings (like binning?) or started using a different telescope for alignment with a longer focal length?
Hi Robin
Thank you for such a quick response.
I think you have nailed the problem and I'm feeling a bit foolish for not noticing it before hand.
I run my rig using a mini pc at the mount and recently upgraded to a faster model and it turns out that the cmos battery is not working and so my time and dates have been way out. I didn't notice straight away because previously I had connected to wi-fi and gone online to get updates and presumably that is when it synced to get correct time settings. Last few sessions have been completely offline so therefor no time sync.
As for sensitivity - all optics are as before - maybe I'm just out of practice with making adjustments! (?)
Thanks for your help in this matter Robin
Kind regards
Jack
Hello Everyone,
Here comes another "stupid" question but that is what keeps the forum going right? Last night I was running my Celestron CPC800 with a Hyperstar on a wedge and a ZWO 533 camera. I followed the Celestron two star alignment without doing the Polar alignment and all the targets were spot on and tracked well. Was this just dumb luck or is this a thing? I will take a shot at SharpCap Polar Alignment tonight and it looks like even I can do this procedure but my results begged the question as to whether or not the way I did it last night is good enough for imaging or if I will see my lack of steps come back to bite me with the data I collect? Any feedback would be appreciated!
If your polar alignment isn't terrible, then a normal two-star alignment will generally get you pretty good results, especially on initial goto targets. Where things may not work so well is on long-term tracking after you acquire the target.
Thanks for the advice, I’m not really clear on long term imaging times. With the Hyperstar I doubt that I will have to be on one target for much more than an hour (2 min frames) but I’m just getting into this so could be way off on my time thing.
With 2-minute exposures and an hour total, your PA doesn't need to be spot on; if you are happy with the tracking during your exposures, then you're good to go.
Do you keep your scope set up all the time, or do you have to set it up each night, and therefore do a new alignment every time? If you can leave it set up, then you can just tweak the PA once in a while until it's good enough.
Hey Archer,
I leave my scope set up for a couple of reasons, first, it is a beast to move with the scope on the wedge, on the tripod and with enough wiring to run a mission to Mars. The other thing is exactly as you pointed out, I don't have to redo the alignment every time I want to do some work with the scope. I must have been incredibly lucky on my first go around with my alignment because I only did a two star alignment using Sirius and Capella and both stars came out in the middle of my screen when I sent the scope there without a polar alignment. I was shocked because I have done visual astronomy for years and there was always some playing around to get alignment nailed down and secondly, with the camera in the Hyperstar I knew my FOV would be quite a bit reduced from my favorite eyepiece. To have them center up all on their own, first time was astounding. I'm fairly certain Galileo tweaked my scope when I wasn't looking! Now I have to learn the right capture times and duration to get enough data of DSO to work with later on. I am doing this work in Tucson right now but in another month I will be in the woods, just 7 miles South of Lake Superior in Michigan so no good view of the sky, high humidity and mosquitoes the size of small airplanes. A perfect time to massage the data to get some decent images. Thanks for your input!
Reid
Hi All,
Thanks for the great information, I really appreciate you all for the help! Unfortunately right after I asked the question, my cloud filter stopped working and I haven't seen a star here in Tucson for a week now! I'm thinking about asking for my money back or sending the filter in for recalibration since it doesn't seem to be able to filter out the clouds so I can see stars! As soon as I can, I will get back at it and do a proper polar alignment and then pick a target and see if I can get any data. I wonder if I can see M42 from here?
Reid
for some reason, in the last couple of sessions, the up movement now shows as down and left as right. I'm not sure if this problem coincides with the last update or not. Polar alignment is still achievable ( by reading up as down etc) but also now seems 'over sensitive' to adjustment in any direction.
Last night I was running my Celestron CPC800 with a Hyperstar on a wedge and a ZWO 533 camera. I followed the Celestron two star alignment without doing the Polar alignment and all the targets were spot on and tracked well. Was this just dumb luck or is this a thing? I will take a shot at SharpCap Polar Alignment tonight and it looks like even I can do this procedure but my results begged the question as to whether or not the way I did it last night is good enough for imaging or if I will see my lack of steps come back to bite me with the data I collect? Any feedback would be appreciated!
Now I have to learn the right capture times and duration to get enough data of DSO to work with later on. I am doing this work in Tucson right now but in another month I will be in the woods, just 7 miles South of Lake Superior in Michigan so no good view of the sky, high humidity and mosquitoes the size of small airplanes. A perfect time to massage the data to get some decent images. Thanks for your input!
As soon as I can, I will get back at it and do a proper polar alignment and then pick a target and see if I can get any data. I wonder if I can see M42 from here?