SharpCap Forums

Hi guys
I think I know the answer to this is currently 'no' but I thought I'd ask anyway I'm in the UK and I was wondering whether it's possible to do polar alignment via platesolving using Sharpcap 4.1. I know this is possible to do, in principle, via other apps. I can't see the Pole and have a limited view of the sky. So I can't currently do the normal Sharpcap method via the Pole region, and standard drift alignment is also problematic for the same reason. Some years ago I used to use Astrotortilla and that did a good job for me - I'm not sure if AT is still a useable tool? I believe some other imaging apps also do it but I wanted to keep things simple and stick with just Sharpcap, if possible.
Any suggestions gratefully received!
Thanks
Lou

PHD2 does both static and Drift PA (static of course requires a view of the CNP) but does offer drift.
Also NINA has a three Point Polar Alignment Plugin that does not require polar viewing.

I really feel for you all that cannot view the Pole region...

Lou

What mount do you have?

My mount is a Celestron AVX which has a facility called All Star Polar Align (ASPA) which uses stars other than the Pole Star to perform polar alignment. This is also useful to as a check after carrying out mount alignment.

Perhaps your mount has a similar facility?

Dave

I just have a Sky-watcher eq3 pro, I'm afraid. I used to have an AVX but gave it away. I wanted to keep everything as simple as possible. I can really only see South East at the moment. I don't need super accurate PA as I'm only using a 300mm lens for imaging at the moment plus a QHY mini guide scope.

Looking at the old Astrotortilla site it looks like they recommend using ansvr:
https://adgsoftware.com/ansvr/
So I might try that.

Hi,

sorry, but there isn't a function for this in SharpCap, but as pointed out above there are some useful free tools that do support this including NINA (with a plugin)

cheers,

Robin

Hello Lou,

You have an EQ3 mount from SkyWatcher ... then you can use the SynScan Pro software for the polar alignment.
With the version 2.5.2, you have 3 different methods for the polar alignment.

1) First a 2 or 3 stars alignment followed by the Polar Alignment
2) SynMatrix AutoAlign (automatic Plate solve) followed by the Polar Alignment
3) Sync Samples followed by the Polar Alignment

The 3 methods are in the "Alignment" menu.
The Polar Alignment is in the "Utility" - "Advanced" menu.

The method 2) is not working properly ... still in beta version (my personal view).
The 1) and 3) methods are working good.

The method with 2 or 3 stars alignment is similar to the method with the hand controller.

The Sync Samples method is very simple ... from the Home position after switch on the mount, you can move the mount with the 2 motors somewhere in the sky. It is not necessary to centre a star. In SharpCap, set the action after Plate Solve to "Sync mount only".
Perform a Plate Solve from the "Scope Controls" button (near the mount movement arrows).
Move the mount somewhere else (around 60°from the preceding position) with the motors and perform a new Plate Solve in SharpCap.
You can repeat 1 or 2 times more. Verify that you have several sync samples in the "Alignment" - "Sync Samples" menu of the SynScan software.
If yes, then you can start the Polar Alignment. Select a star and centre it with the mount control arrows and continue the polar alignment procedure.

For the Plate Solve ... I recommend the SharpCap plate solve. Download the 0.25° field index from the "SharpCap Settings".
It works very good and quick. You do not need other extern software.

Regards,
Jean-Francois

Hi Jean-Francois

It's an oldish eq3 from 2017 and the handset isn't upgradeable as far as I know. Plus I only use it via a laptop, plus as mentioned, I have a very limited view of the sky. So most normal methods aren't open to me. I've had Sharpcap's plate solve and resync working ok - pity it can't also do the polar align based on that! There was once a little prog called Polefocus, I think, which did it but is no longer available.
@kayman I don't know anything about NINA but I'll look into it.

Thanks / merci anyway

Lu

Here is the home page for NINA:

https://nighttime-imaging.eu/

The videos you would want to watch on NINA are here Astro Patriot is absolutely the best:

https://www.youtube.com/@PatriotAstro/videos

Oh and NINA is free but acts like a million bucks. Alot of people use NINA for Polar Alignment and Hocus Focus (focusing) and then fire up SharpCap. For myself personally, I use SharpCap for almost everything including Deep Sky Photography as SC will save frames for me to postprocess. I am trying to convince Dr Glover to utilize port 8090 so I can use the planetarium software of my choice for GoTo but no luck so far... If that were to happen I would b happier than... well you name it.

Hi again

I've installed NINA and got it set up but I can't see any way to link Sharpcap plate solve to do the plate solve for the three star polar align? Am I wasting my time looking/trying?

Thanks

Lu