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Old 04-09-2024, 02:15 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
Highest Observatory in Oz

strongmanmike is offline
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Canberra
Posts: 17,694
Quote:
Originally Posted by OzEclipse View Post

If the device can have a small optical polar finder attached, there are two stars, mag 6.8 and 7.8 that straddle the SCP by just a few minutes. Shown in the attached chart. These can just be seen in a 10mm diameter polar finder in a small tracker and are an easy reference for accurate optical alignment. I've been using these for many years with great success.

cheers

Joe
Me too

About two years ago, I aligned my AP1600 with it's right angle polar finder scope, on the SCP location on your chart, this took just a few minutes and it meant subsequent gotos placed my targets on my chip or occasionally just off (FOV=38'X30') at FL=1120mm, so mostly within about 10 arc min all over the sky and more than accurate enough for good tracking and superb autoguiding.

Joe makes some good points and I would say that for camera lens work Leon, your PA looks good enough for exposures of at least several minutes, depending on the FL of the lens.

Mike
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