First drift alignment

[Moon (James)]

I'm back in Aus after a few years in Europe. I took up the hobby while I was over there, so I've never really used a scope in the south before. All my gear seems to have arrived safely, and with the good weather recently, I just had to see if it survived the trip.

Did my first southern hemisphere drift alignment last night. It took a while, but I got there in the end. I'm sure I'll get faster with practice.

I'm using a 8 inch SCT, diagonal and an illuminated reticle eyepiece on a EQ6 mount. Does anyone have a good rule of thumb / mnemonic to help remember which way to move things for this type of setup??

Anyhow it's good to be home, but I miss Polaris!

James

[toryglen-boy (Duncan)]

Originally Posted by Moon

I'm back in Aus after a few years in Europe. I took up the hobby while I was over there, so I've never really used a scope in the south before. All my gear seems to have arrived safely, and with the good weather recently, I just had to see if it survived the trip.

Did my first southern hemisphere drift alignment last night. It took a while, but I got there in the end. I'm sure I'll get faster with practice.

I'm using a 8 inch SCT, diagonal and an illuminated reticle eyepiece on a EQ6 mount. Does anyone have a good rule of thumb / mnemonic to help remember which way to move things for this type of setup??

Anyhow it's good to be home, but I miss Polaris!

James

Hi James

I am from the Northern Hemisphere, and i miss some of the good stuff up there, mainly the summer triangle overhead, and the Pegasus area etc.

Although the south more than makes up for it

[sheeny (Al)]

G'Day James,

You have a similar setup to me (for the purposes of drift aligning). Th simple rules I use are:

For altitude:

If the star is in the East, adjust opposite the drift.
If the star is in the West, adjust With the drift.

For azimuth:
Use the right hand rule (looking at palm of RH with thumb at right angles to fingers):
If the star drifts in the direction of your thumb, adjust star in the direction of your fingers.



This will work in any SCT or reflector with an odd number of reflections. e.g. a refractor with a diagonal, or an SCT with a diagonal.

Al.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Use the right hand rule (looking at palm of RH with thumb at right angles to fingers):
If the star drifts in the direction of your thumb, adjust star in the direction of your fingers.

Wow thanks for that Al. I've not seen that one before....being a K3 addict.

[Moon (James)]

Thanks Al, that's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.

I'll give it a try and hopefully I can throw away my little cheat sheet!

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Wow thanks for that Al. I've not seen that one before....being a K3 addict.

Yeah I use this for quick alignments especially when I'm not planning on setting up the lappy. The only problem I find with K3 is coordinating everything to measure the angle of the camera in K3... I'd really love to get one of those Starmate's like you have. It would be nice to be able to start and stop the RA drive quickly without having to negotiate menus. I often try to enlist a helper for this task if I want to use K3 - just to keep the star in the FOV!.

Al.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

I don't worry about the camera angle Al. As long as the star goes parallel to the dec axis (using the reticle and pushing up button moves star up and down button moves star down) I've never had a problem and no longer measure the angle. I just rotate the camera until its right and away I go.

Sorry for highjacking your thread James.

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

I don't worry about the camera angle Al. As long as the star goes parallel to the dec axis (using the reticle and pushing up button moves star up and down button moves star down) I've never had a problem and no longer measure the angle. I just rotate the camera until its right and away I go.

You're a handy guy to talk to, Paul!

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Sorry for highjacking your thread James.

I plead guilty - accessory after the fact... apologies.



Al.