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Old 06-03-2021, 12:23 PM
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NorthernLight (Max)
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NorthernLight is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auckland, NZ
Posts: 343
Yes, that’s the one. It comes with adapters to mount in the opening where the pole scope inside the mount head has its aperture. The adapter I got works in both my CG4 and the NEQ6 as it’s the same bore diameter. The EQ35 PRO looks like a rebadged Celestron CG4 with added motors and encoders for GOTO. So I hazard a guess and say it would work with the same mount adapter. They are all Synta mounts after all. But it’s worth double checking. You have to chose the adapter for your mount at time of purchase. Mine also came with a free adapter that mounts for the majority of star trackers, like the iOptron Skyguider.
I used to kneel behind my NEQ6 mount in the cold damp grass peeping through the pole scope trying to locate Octans, which had to be done after nightfall but prior to mounting the scope and counterweights etc. Now I just need to wait until it’s dark enough for the polemaster to “see” the constellation and sensitivity/gain on the camera is easily pushed up whereas eyes need dark adaption and a reasonably dark sky with enough contrast to spot octans. Since it’s all on the laptop, the job can be done sitting on chair next to the mount. The first time I used it, it took me a little while to recognise Octans on screen. But once I had found it, I found it every time in a very short time. Granted, the better your initial altitude and true south orientation, the quicker it shows up on screen. But the field of view angle provided by the polemaster is reasonably wide, so scanning with the mount head from left to right (azimuth) will bring it up quickly. Plus, once you aligned your mount with polemaster in your backyard, the altitude will be spot on for next time (in your backyard), so you really only have to point the thing broadly in the direction of the SCP, which every phone app will show with enough accuracy to ensure the centre pin on the mount’s tripod faces the pole close enough that when you swivel the mount head left and right, the pole will show up on your laptop screen (i.e. not outside the azimuth rotation limit).
NOTE: if you have no clear view of the SCP, the polemaster will be no good to you as it relies on a visual confirmation procedure where you need to identify sigma octans and centre it with an overlay displayed on screen.
I like astrophotography and guiding is a big deal. I can honestly say that my guide graph shows subarcsecond guiding on many nights when aligned with the polemaster and i spend some time setting up the tripod properly. I mainly image at 600mm with an APS-C Sensor, unguided, I can go up to 2min. exposures and get images without unpleasant star shapes (sure, if you pixel peep, then you’ll see some but not when printed on a postcard).
In combination with the software mentioned, and leaving most of the equipment pre-assembled, I am setup in 30min. and that means mount aligned, target centred (even if it’s not visible in the viewfinder), guiding procedure complete and guiding stable, exposures dialed in for auto capture with dithering and remote controlling the whole shebang from my iPad via TeamViewer.

Last edited by NorthernLight; 06-03-2021 at 06:14 PM.
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