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Hi Adam,
Thanks for replying
20 mins included swapping cameras , re cooling the 2600MC and taking a test image of a Star
The 2 iterations with Synscan took about 6 to 8 mins as my 2 alignment stars were fairly close.
I assume the NINA 3 star alignment requires slewing around between all three star plus centering etc , that would take more than 5 minutes, no ??
Also folk who achieve these incredible polar alignment figures of 0.20 to 0.50 arc sec on the “lower to mid cost” mounts ( like my EQ6-R pro) and scopes with mid length focal lengths of around 1000mm seems to good to be true. The AZ and Alt bolts on these EQ6-R mounts are quite robust with heavy gauged wide pitch threads , not exactly Swiss watch precision. I get my alignment down around an arc minute and even with just slight grip pressure on the adjusting bolts black knob can’t get much lower in error. ( I lubricate all my bolts )
Maybe my resultant PA error is in fact lower say around 0.50 to 1.00 as the Synscan doesn’t have the most sophisticated algorithms plus the optics using a DSLR vs Dedicated Astrocam would be play a major part too.
The proof in the pudding is taking a 60 to 80 sec unguided exposure on a test Star with a scopes focal length of a 1000mm to 1280mm which is what I image at. At around 1 arc min error using Synscan I can usually take an unguided 75 sec test shot on a Star ( viewed in APT using zoom box ) and Star is still round with diffraction spikes still sharp. The Star compared to a guided 75sec is just slightly more bloated.
Obviously with every PA procedure, resultant error is totally in the hands of atmospheric conditions at the time.
Your thoughts
Cheers
Martin
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