thanks other Paul, that's a great link. Sounds like i should at least be able to drift align my RA from here. nice one
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zuts
Hi,
That sounds like my backyard.
(1) To polar align the ra axis you dont point straightup, you point at the interesection of the meridian and the celestial equator. Basically from the home position rotate the EQ head 90 degrees left so it is horizonal. Then rotate the scope so it is a right angles to the eq head and pointing north.
A few degrees either way to find a star is fine. Your backyard should allow this.
(2) Usually you would do the dec axis by finding an east or west star about 20 degrees above the horizon. 60 degrees may be too much, but if you get the ra axis right then you should still see some drift due to dec error and can correct for this.
(3) Basically you have my problem. Even after polar aligning i can rarely do a 2 or 3 star align as all the stars a obscured by trees. Even if i could there are so many trees there is nothing interesting to take a photo of. Of course if you dont want to take a photo you really dont need a good polar alignment. A rough one will do followed by a two star align.
(4) Anyway, I just use my backyard to pactice things like drift alignment, guiding, new software etc. Then when it all made sense I went out to the local park where at least i could see things.
The diagrams here really helped me get started http://www.asignobservatory.com/driftalignment.aspx
Cheers
Paul |