About PHD2 Polar Alignment

[taylorhan]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to do the polar alignment on my balcony which is facing to the west.
I have a guide camera so I can use PHD2 to do the polar alignment.
I am wondering do I have to choose the star very close to the meridian? Or I can randomly choose a star to do drift shift? (i.e. Jupiter)

Do you guys have any method to suggest to do the polar alignment on the balcony or small FOV?

Cheers,
Taylor

[The_bluester]

When doing a drift alignment you actually use two steps, one near the equator and meridian and then one near the equator but much closer to the horizon. When you point somewhere between the meridian and horizon you see the result of both the azimuth and alt errors, for instance at 45 degrees past the meridian you see the result of both, evenly mixed. If you had equal errors in opposite directions it would look well aligned but pointed anywhere else it will be off.

If you can point to the meridian the best bet is to point at the equator and as close to the meridian as you can which lets you isolate and adjust only for the azimuth error, then drop to around 30 degrees from the horizon and do the altitude as there should not now be any significant azimuth error mixed in.