PoleAlignMax

[StuTodd]

I know FocusMax is a good piece of software but the same authors had made PoleAlignMax.

What happened to it and did they ever get round to finishing the software? I know users had problems getting the 3rd plate solve to "solve". Also, they were going to work on the maths, using the J "now" epoch for positioning rather than J2000.0.

As a concept, polar alignment using plate solving sounds fantastic and quick!

Stu

[RickS]

PoleAlignMax hasn't been updated for some time. Despite forum talk from Steve Brady about updating it to use Jnow I don't believe that has happened. I've not had any problems with getting the 3rd plate solve to work unless the alignment or scope position is way out to start with (I've found it a useful practice to do a blind solve with AstroTortilla and resync before each PoleAlignMax run the first few times.)

Cheers,
Rick.

[StuTodd]

Hey Rick,
Thanks for the tip about AstroTortilla. I hadn't heard of that until now.
I have a software programmer friend who would love to improve MaxIm DL and finish AlignPro!

Fantastic work you do BTW Rick.

Cheers
Stu

[RickS]

Thanks, Stu. Very kind of you!