Drift alignment ,star for checking west or east

[Andre27]

Hi all

Me again.

When choosing the star to check if the mount is to far east or west , do you choose one that is facing south at about the elevation = to your latitude (33deg in my case ) or one directly right above your head +- 90 deg to the horizontal ?

I apologize if this is a stupid question , but I have retrieved conflicting information concerning this.
I have spend the last three evenings trying to sort out my polar alignment , as i can not see the south celestial pole and my view is extremely constricted by buildings and trees on all sides.

Thank you

Andre

[pluto]

I use a star to the north and fairly high, like around 70-80 degrees or something.

The information here is correct (scroll down to drift align): http://www.ozscopes.com.au/how-to-polar-align-equatorial-mount-southern-hemisphere

[naskies]

For azimuth alignment, you'll want to choose a star near where the meridian crosses the celestial equator - it's basically the highest point in the sky that the Orion or Aquila constellations will reach during the year.

The angle will be (90 deg + your_latitude) while facing North, so here in Brisbane (latitude -27 deg) that point will be at an altitude of 90 + -27 = 63 degrees.

In your case, that should be at an altitude of 57 degrees above due North.

NB: if your mount is connected to a computer, you may want to consider trying polar alignment software (such as AlignMaster or PoleAlignMax). You just need to be able to find certain star pairs in the sky, rather than at the meridian/equator and east/west horizons.

[Andre27]

Thanks for the reponse , bought Alignmaster , I shall try the software as soon as the cloudcover allows.