Paul Turton Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Hi all, just joined, have been dabbling a little with astrophotography, starting with just a dslr on a tripod, then added a star tracker, then a evostar72ed, then a heq5 pro mount, then a asiair pro(it gets expensive very quickly doesnt it). Just waiting for a couple of dew straps then i'll be able to figure out the asiair, all the gear and no idea comes to mind so i'll probably be asking a few questions on here, my knees gave up on me just after i'd got the star tracker so polar alignment has been a bit of a struggle for me which is why i got the goto mount, even after that ive struggled with the 2/3 star alignment as the field of view is small so i was never sure what i was looking at, im hoping the asiair will solve all my problems with plate solving, save my knees and let me finally start enjoying taking some photos of the night sky. +seven_legs, +Glafnazur and Bottletopburly 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Hi Paul, a warm welcome to the group. I don't know about photon bothering, but there's a good few here that do and would be happy to help out. I can see the wallet's already been abused and might take a bit more yet, but good luck on your journey and I am sure you'll get the hang of it all soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Dobber Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Welcome OP, if you can get hold of a Polemaster, that's a very easy way to PA. Seems to have worked for me ok for the last couple of years anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Welcome to the group. One of those 90° polarscope attachments can save the knees but I just use a gardening kneeling mat - much cheaper! As I have markers on the ground where the tripod legs always go, polar alignment only takes a minute or so. As for 2/3 star alignment I always choose bright alignment stars (< mag 2 if possible) so they are obvious from any nearby stars when viewed through the eyepiece (or on the camera screen in my case). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Derbyshire Dave Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Hi Paul, Welcome to the group. Sounds like you have got your head around a lot of the concepts already. You'll find plenty of advice on here. Regarding polar alignment, I agree with Rob. A polemaster or an iPolar is worth every penny. In essence they fit into the top end of your mounts polarscope. You can get an adaptor for all of the commom mounts. Then instead of grovelling in the mud, the camera in the polemaster/iPolar presents a picture on your laptop screen. You run through a few simple steps and hey presto you are polar aligned.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 PS... Star alignment doesn't exclude the requirement for decent initial polar alignment. It will help but poor initial polar alignment will certainly make the star alignment more difficult in terms of actually seeing the target stars in the field of view first time and will drasticly limit the exposure time if not actively guiding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Glafnazur Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Hi and welcome Paul. I too struggled with polar alignment due to a bad back so i got a polemaster and it's a doddle now 😃 worth every penny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stu Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Hi, welcome. Lots of helpful people on here, they've got me up and running 😁 I use my finderscope with a nice wide view if I'm struggling with star alignment in APT as sometimes it's just out of view on the screen on the first go. Once the first star is synced it's easy if you stick with bright stars as mentioned above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TasKiNG Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Welcome to EMS Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 Welcome , personally I’d not bother with the expense of an ipolar or polemaster, if you have a guidescope use sharpcap pro it has a polar alignment feature and works same as an polemaster , if your going for Asair just be aware your kit needs to be zwo cameras other than dslrs which will work, I believe that can platesolve too no need to do star alignment,and yes gets very expensive which is why I do buy most stuff not all secondhand. dave +Ibbo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 Welcome Paul, i have knack,d knees as well so I feel your pain. 2 pain saving things Ive used, a bean bag for kneeling on to do PA, then I got a right angle viewer for the polar scope, much more knee friendly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 Welcome Paul, I have used an iPolar polar scope for 2 years now and it's the best investment I have made. Easy to use and accurate. Look forward to the questions! Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Turton Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 I can do an initial polar alignment on the polarscope on the mount then the asiair will take pics and tell me how much i need to adjust the mount to get good alignment at least thats the theory...will find out when my dew straps come through and i get some clear skies... i have got a kneeling pad to help with the initial setup.....just need to put some markings on the patio that the missus will never know about so i can put i same spot every time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+seven_legs Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 Hi paul. Welcome to EMS. 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Bino-viewer Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 Welcome from me too 🙂🔭 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 On 11/12/2022 at 21:02, Stu said: if I'm struggling with star alignment in APT Did you not get platesolving configured stu in Apt ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stu Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 2 hours ago, Bottletopburly said: Did you not get platesolving configured stu in Apt ? I did. I've used it a couple of times but until recently my sessions haven't gone very smoothly so just stuck with what I knew rather than add another process into the mix. Seems to work though, I just need to remember to use it 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Welcome aboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 8 hours ago, Stu said: I did. I've used it a couple of times but until recently my sessions haven't gone very smoothly so just stuck with what I knew rather than add another process into the mix. Seems to work though, I just need to remember to use it 😄 Once you get it sorted Goto++ is very accurate, tip though slew to celestial equator then blind solve this makes Goto more accurate then use Goto++ , never platesolve near Polaris there’s a shortcut in apt to send mount to celestial equator I will screen shot it for you . +Stu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Turton Posted December 13, 2022 Author Share Posted December 13, 2022 thanks for all the welcomes....still waiting for my dew heater straps, coming from a place called w&w astro, not sure how I got to them I was googling some others but they look the business so I went with them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 I have several w and w dew bands. Had them for a few years no problems 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Turton Posted December 18, 2022 Author Share Posted December 18, 2022 Yay my dew straps have turned up just in time for a week of rain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Turton Posted May 30, 2023 Author Share Posted May 30, 2023 Finally figured how to post a pic lol +seven_legs, +Streetbob, philjay and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Glafnazur Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 Nice image Paul 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Turton Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 From December but could I figure out Flickr..... The answer was no... Had another go last night at posting last night and voila!!! +Glafnazur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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