PHD2 Drift Align Help

[Manav]

Hi - When I use the Drift Align function in PHD2 it first asks me to slew to Meridian Offset = 0 and Dec = 0. Which my G11 connected by Ascom Gemini Telescope happily does.

Once the RA alignment is done next step is the altitude adjustment and this is where Im hitting a brick wall. PHD2 asks me to slew to Meridian Offset 37 and Dec = 0 and when I click the slew button it points west (i.e my house fence).

How/what coordinates do I put into the box to change to equivalent east values?

Thanks

[traveller]

Use + and - values to change pointing to east or west.

[Manav]

That was easy! I'll test it tonight :)

[Manav]

I finally got some time to test out PHD 2 drift alignment function again and I'm a bit confused!

Basically, the Altitude adjustment slew angles according to PHD2 drift align tool don't make sense. I'll let the photos explain what I'm trying to say:

Pic 1. Mount pointing roughly south (Good)

Pic 2. PHD2 drift align tool connected via ASCOM Gemini Telescope tells mount to slew to meridian and the equator i.e. meridian offset 0 and DEC 0. This looks good too and I can make the necessary Azimuth adjustments

Pic 3 This is where I'm confused! When the mount asks to slew to meridian offset 37 and DEC 18 for the Altitude adjustment. The mount slews to high angle ~60 Degrees and is facing towards north east?? Bad

My understanding was that the altitude adjustment is made with scope facing east and 30 degrees above horizon as shown in Pic 4. Am I wrong? or is there an issue with PHD2?

Please Help.

[jenchris]

I'm pretty sure that the angles are arbitrary. Zenith and east or west horizon are sufficient.
Works for me anyway. I can do 3 min subs with no drift.

[kens]

The celestial equator s actually declination 0, not 90

I suspect it is slewing to Dec 18 North. You probably want Dec 18 South which would be represented as Dec -18

Stay as low to the horizon as you can. 20 degrees is the usual rule of thumb but 30 is ok. Its unlikely you'll ever image that low anyway. Just be aware that some of the drift will include an azimuth error component whcih could either add or subract overall.

[Manav]

Ken you are correct about the initial Azimuth values; I must have taken them when the mount was a CWD. I have corrected these in the post above.

I ended up installing the most recent version of PHD2 and now when using the tool for the ALTITUDE adjustment it shows -65 for Meridian offset and 0 for DEC.

I'll retry tomorrow night.