Hi guys,
After a break of about 20 years I'm getting back into astronomy again, and I have to say notice a few things have changed! ...mainly goto scopes and CCD cameras!
With my old manual scope (home made 8" f6 newt on a samson eq mount) I used to polar align by setting the declination of a star close to the horizon and adjust the mount in azimuth to align. It was simple, quick and acurate enough for casual observing.
These days I have new (fandangled) scope and I'm starting to play about with piggy back photography (with a view to progressing to other methods as I develop).
My question is, what methods do other people use to polar align accurately enough for photography on a portable scope? Do you simply find and align on sigma octantis, or do you get more sophisticated than that (I know you would for prime focus deep sky stuff)?
Primarily I'm just interested in eliminating field rotation in piggy back wide field shots, but eventually I'll need to get more accurate.
Thanks in advance,
Al.