QHY Polemaster - Come on Southern Hemisphere

[glend]

This new QHY polar alignment camera and software looks to be very simple - if it only worked in the southern hemisphere.

http://www.qhyccd.com/PoleMaster.html

Sure you could plate solve off your imaging camera etc but I like the simplicity of this idea, and it's not too expensive.

[codemonkey]

I believe someone on this forum is beta testing it for use in the southern hemisphere, so I doubt it's too far away.

[C8er]

According to this link below from QHY, it will very soon work in the southern hemisphere. They are also announcing southern hemisphere support for the polemaster on the main QHY home page.

http://qhyccd.com/bbs/index.php?topic=5184.0

Cheers,
Chris M

[dmm2208]

Just tried mine out tonight in NZ and works perfectly. All aligned in under 10 munites

[C8er]

Works brilliantly for me in NZ too. Simple, fast, easy, accurate.

Cheers,
Chris M

[glend]

I gave up on it.

[C8er]

For any particular reason(s)?

Cheers
Chris M

[Mosc_007]

Had a chance to test out my Polemaster last Sat Night. It took some time to locate Sigma Octans but once I found it the rest of the process was very straight forward and I ended up with a very good Polar alignment. The problem was the clouds came over and I wasn't able to do any imaging. I will certainly be using it in the future for my Polar Alignment.

[DavidLJ]

Quality check after using PoleMaster.


First image : Screenshot of PHD2 showing a pretty flat (red) line for the Dec. track – almost certainly the only guiding adjustments needed were caused by air turbulance. Compare the sinuous (blue) line for the R.A. track probably due to periodic error in the mount.


Second image : Unguided 20 minute exposure of a random part of the sky at -52deg declination. Image scale 1deg:18' x 59'.


Third image : The same second image with a superimposed 10 second exposure of same star field during which the mount was slewed in R.A. The star trails thus show the R.A. orientation of the second image. This reveals no obvious drift in Dec. and a small drift in R.A. probably due to the periodic error evident in the PHD2 screenshot.


It's pretty clear that these results indicate excellent polar alignment.

[lazjen]

That's a pretty good result. What's your setup? What focal length are you at?

[AstroApprentice]

How's this for a late night TV add:
'I struggled with polar aligning my EQ5 until I purchased Polemaster, now it's so easy. I'm so happy with it I even bought an adapter for my Star Adventurer!' :rofl:
Sounds corny, but it's true!

[DavidLJ]

8 inch f/4 Newt on AZ-EQ6.