Focusmax is free and produces amazingly sharp focused images once the software wizard is completed. Please note that the only inapp purchases available are tips. The great list of astrophotography software reddit. Achieving a high precision polar alignment is not an easy feat. You can test your polar alignment accuracy without a sharpcap pro license to learn how the feature works, but you will need to buy a sharpcap pro license to use the polar alignment adjustment stage that guides you in to correct alignment. For a fast and precise polar alignment of equatorial mounts. Ccdops for dos supports the st4x, st5, st5c, st6 and parallel port based st7, st8, st9, st10, pixcel 255 and pixcel 237. The method used is that of julius scheiner 185819 german mathematic, physic, astronomer and pioneer in astrophotography. After calculating sideral local time polarfinder calculate the polaris position. Youre in luck, because there is a way to get rough polar alignment that takes about 30 seconds. Ten things you never knew you could do with ccdops this document shows you ten amazing things you can do with sbigs ccdops software that we bet you didnt even know about. Eqalign born as a software that assists to align a german equatorial mount gem exactly to the earth polar axis. Each iteration you do should get you closer to the celestial pole.
Ive had mine in a cem40 since may 2019 and the software is now excellent on both windows and macos. However, qppa and polemaster will both still work even though the ota is not perfectly aligned with the ra axis during the polar alignment process. You may spend tens of minutes, if not hours, to have a good polar alignment. The ipolar software is downloaded from the ioptron website and runs on windows vista 7 8 8. Features include one touch night vision touch the heading of any page to toggle night vision on and off. A new platesolving engine is common to both in win 2. I still need to bring my laptop for polar alignment but it would be really nice if asiair could take care of this too so i can go truly laptop free. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and usb frame grabbers. All of the optical polar alignment scopes, like the losmandy one, or the orion atlas one, have a small diameter fragile, round glass plate, having the markings etched on photo lithographed out of a chrome metal layer, like used in the semiconductor industry for litho mask layers. For current products, all downloads are now included on the individual product pages navigate to your product and click the downloads tab.
Ive run it on a macbook pro under parallels until the mac version appeared in early 2020. With the aid of your astro imager, your can accurately detect, record, and correct this drift in. Polar alignment free polar alignment software download. Support for new cameras and camera control programs including. Youll need to enter in your latlong coordinates of your location, which you can easily find online or using the gps on your phone. If youre polar alignment numbers are a little higher than youd like, you can repeat the alignment, then redo the polar alignment. Periodic error polar alignment backlash video starfinder. As a general rule, polar alignment software calculates polar alignment error by one of two methods.
I intend to include more detailed comparisons, but in the short term, i hope that the following is useful. If i have to bring a computer to the observation, then let it compute. Parot polar align rot is inspired by a popular program for polar alignment pam polar align max. Personally, i find polar alignment with a polar alignment scope faster and more convenient than a mounts polar alignment software, and sufficiently accurate for most purposes, so i rarely use the software feature on mounts that have a polar alignment scope. I can also define polar alignment a slightly different way and it will still mean the same thing. At the heart of this search lies bisque and its family of precision crafted telescope mounts and suite of software solutions. I would also like to know how accurate is the polar alignment feature on the synscan handsets for the eq6 or heq5. Once your numbers are below 10 arc minutes in each axis, you will be close enough for longer exposures.
Apr 02, 2018 download parot polar aligner for free. Paul boltwood has pioneered a very simple and effective technique for polar alignment. Polar alignment is an essential first step towards a night of visual observation or astrophotography. A new polar alignment technique using byeos otelescope. Due to their fast download times and relatively small pixels, these cameras are ideally suited for taking high resolution images of the planets.
The time and latitude for calculating sideral local time are read directly from the system and the gps present in the mobile device. Sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and deep sky imaging. The red reticule pattern describe the polaris position like a polar scope. Allstar polar alignment celestron telescopes, telescope. For instructions on polar alignment using drift align in the southern hemisphere, visit how to polar align easily in phd2 drift align. The drift align method can be used in either hemisphere by using a free software called phd2 guiding.
Polar align with polar finder scopes electronic polar. Once focused, move the star to the west side of the image field. Sbig discontinued products manuals and software the following are manuals and software for older legacy products, which are no longer maintained or updated. Eqalign is a project that assists to align a german equatorial mount gem exactly to the earth polar axis. It works in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and comes with a selection of popular polar scope reticles. The great list of astrophotography software software howdy folksrecently ive thought itd be a good idea to compile a giant list of ap related software all contained in one place so it would be easy to find, ive started with the programs below along with short descriptions, but need help from you all to see if ive missed any. This special feature now incorporated in ccdops is designed to enhance the planetary imaging capabilities of sbig cameras. So, if the skyguider pro is your main deep sky imaging rig, the ipolar is a nobrainer, especially if youve had trouble with polar alignment in the past. Its a bit more time consuming but should also yield excellent polar alignment. A new polar alignment technique using byeos backyardeos o.
Polar alignment wizard quickly, accurately, and easily helps you dial in polar. Polar alignment information southern hemisphere roger. If you find the polar reticule appears too bright, on later mounts check your sw handcontroller settings it is possible to dim the illumination by down loading and running. Accurately aligning the center line of the ota to the ra axis the zero position is normally accomplished with a 1star alignment after the polar alignment is complete. The position of polaris depends by the latitude and the sideral local time.
Imcap for windows supports the st4 imaging functions. Polar alignment help software on linux phd2ekos beginning. I turn the mount on and feed the handset with all the current data and proceed to star alignment procedure. Polar scope align will calculate the position of polaris or. The polar alignment instructions can be found in appendix p. Parot is a program for ultra fast and precise polar alignment of equatorial mounts. Get your guide camera and mount connected usb from laptop to the guide camera, st4 from guide. Simply attach the p1 to your mount with the included adapter, load up the software on your computer, and follow the easy step by step directions to align your mount faster and easier than ever before. Quick and accurate polar alignment using your ccd imager. Software bisque polar alignment scope for paramount me or. It can be calibrated semiautomatically or manually, you do not need to take care about camera orientation or pixel scale. Ccdsharp for windows is specialized lucyrichardson image processing software for all cameras except the st4.
Polar alignment of your equatorial mount the blog formerly. Polar alignment is the act of setting up your telescope in such a way that the north end of its polar axis points toward the north celestial pole and its south polar axis points toward the south celestial pole. Simple polar alignment introduction a simple equatorial mount labelled. Octantis in your polar scope reticle for your location using your phones gps or entering a location, allowing a quick and accurate polar alignment. It also offers other handy image processing functions not found in the ccd software. For me the advantage of this method over the standard drift method is a visual presentation which lets you know quickly whether you have good alignment, and if you dont, it helps you achieve one by facilitating accurate tweaking of the polar axis by a known amount.
Ccdops the software that comes with sbig ccd cameras also. Simple if the procedure is too complex it will be prone to error. Software for drift scan imaging, st7, st8, ccd, tdi, astronomy, discription. Get your guide camera and mount connected usb from laptop to the guide camera, st4 from guide camera to the mount and point your guide. Tutorial on how to use ekos polar align assistant tool paa. You may spend hours under precious dark sky trying to get that perfect polar alignment, but in the end you may not know whether good alignment has in fact been achieved. Skywatcher polar scope for eq8r series mounts s30615. If thats not available you can find programs on the web that will allow. Recently discontinued models the original product pages for recently.
Autoguiding a telescope for deep sky astrophotography basic. Astroimaging class materials rose city astronomers rca. Polar alignment sharpcap lunar, planetary, solar and. It seems to work the same way as alignmaster by poiting towards a star, then align to the star and then the mount will slew a little and then align with the alt first then dec. Polar alignment information southern hemisphere having trouble working out how to polar align your telescope in the southern hemisphere. A camera is not needed, but an ocular with illuminated crosshairs is helpful and will give a more precise alignment. A precise telescope mount polar alignment using alignmaster software. In addition, this new software includes the ability to combine rgb color images and essentially replaces ccdcolor. May 04, 2015 the above method of polar alignment is limited by the accuracy of your telescopes setting circles and how well the telescope is aligned with the mount. Polar aligning, page 1, aligning polar concernspage 1. I use ccdops on my sbig camera and autoguide with only ra corrections.
Software bisque polar alignment scope for paramount me or mx mounts scopemeiimx. Obviously there could be others that i am not aware of. Ive just run across another method that uses the ccdops available from sbig. The following is a list of all the polar alignment software that i am aware of. The equipment used in this example a skywatcher heq5 german equatorial mount. Jul 21, 2015 ive been googling all evening and lost for a possible solution for tweeking the polar alignment for an observatory based heq5 mounti use the alignment tool in eqmod, which rotates the mount to the ha for polaris, but there are two factors which allow for a near enough rather than a spot on adjust. Using an eq mount simple polar alignment for beginners. The details written up by mike malik can be found on the here. You can race down the road with a few minutes to spare, but accurately following the sun without polar aligning your mount in broad daylight is next to impossible. Found that all the websites explaining the process are either written for the northern hemisphere or incorrectly converted to. If your mount is equipped with a polar alignment scope pas it can be. I have used several methods of polar alignment over the years.
A wide range of features makes sharpcap suitable for many types of astroimaging including planetary, lunar, solar, deep sky and eaa electronically assisted astronomy. Infact polarfinder using the gps location calculate the sideral local time. Ccdops is constantly evolving to add new features and support new hardware and even we find it hard to keep up. This software can also do other useful astrophotography tasks such as drift alignment, which is helpful for those who cannot use polaris for polar alignment. Setup and align your telescope normally, with ccd or dslr installed and ready. Page 1 of 2 polar align with ccdops drift align no more. Feb 11, 2017 tutorial on how to use ekos polar align assistant tool paa. Definitely something to keep in your bag of tricks. The following method of polar alignment is independent of these factors and should only be undertaken if longexposure, guided photography is your ultimate goal. My own personal experience is that they are no more difficult to manage than a standard altazimuth and have the advantage that when polar. The polar alignment description in the lx200 manual is pretty good, but try this description from chucks astrophotography page and scott tuckers guide to astrophotography site. Polar alignment help software on linux phd2ekos posted in beginning and intermediate imaging. Make sure that the proper pole location is labeled on the chart. All cameras supported by maximdl pro v4, v5, and v6.
Starshoot p1 polar alignment camera w atlasprosvp adapter. The eqmod project eqascom polarscope alignment tool note. The list includes polealignmax, align master, eq align, wcs, pempro, polar finder. With the aid of your astro imager, your can accurately detect, record, and correct this drift in just minutes. Set up and align the goto system in whatever way the mount requires. Polarscope is a polar scope alignment app that runs on your windows desktop, tablet and phone. Set your telescope to point south and at 0 degrees dec. Alignmaster is a program designed for a quick and precise alignment of goto mounts to the polar axis.
Either by recording the drift of a star, similar to conventional drift alignment, or by comparing the position of stars within an image or through the eyepiece to a known database, as is the case with polealignmax and align master. You can easily achieve alignment accuracy better than 1 arcmin in 5 minutes of time. Mar 28, 2011 anyone using the following and can tell me if its any good free polar alignment software download polar finderscope by dr. Polemaster a highprecision, easy to use electronic polar scope as any seasoned astroimager would agree, achieving good polar alignment is not an easy task.
Polar drift alignment pda and static polar alignment spa they can be viewed here. Now when i perform very first goto of the star alignment, the handset software assumes that we start from perfectly polar aligned position and also from home position of the mount, so the first goto should be somehow precise. Your images should also be free of field rotation distortion in the corners. Here is a link to the astro imaging channel that has an extensive discussion of pempro with the author. By aligning the axis of your telescope mount with the motion of the sky, you can accurately track objects in space. Once installed, connect up the camera which is plug and play and it was quickly detected and installed with no fuss. How do you polar align using an altaz mount with a wedge. Newcomers to astronomy are quite often easily put off from equatorial mounts by being told they are complex to set up and use. Quick and accurate polar alignment using your ccd imager the best way to assure you have an accurate polar alignment is to measure and correct the actual drift caused by any misalignment.
Adjust equatorial mount pointing direction set the counterweight shaft at the lowest point. Please keep in mind that in the following discussion, what is said was specifically aimed at a permanently mounted lx200, being used with an st7st8st9, with ccdops software. Jan 24, 2011 polarfinder calculate, just in time, the sideral local medium time and the position of the polaris. Just follow the steps in the video and polar align your mount in few.
I am using ccdops to further fine tune my mounts polar alignment and will post the results later. With pempro version 3 you can now correct your mounts periodic error, polar alignment and backlash using your ccd camera or webcam to dramatically improve tracking and guiding. Astromate x64 is a project for automating repeating astrophotography tasks, such as equatorial mount polar alignment and target centering, by integrating existing tools and especially plate solving to the ascom telescope control interface. Gremlins in early versions have gone and i rarely have problems now. After you get everything ready and begin taking exposure, you bumped the mount, and you have to restart from the beginning. Polemaster tm a high precision, easy to use electric polar scope. Ccd imaging calculators for calculating all things related to ccd imaging fovpixel sizeetc ccd stack stacking software for ccd images. In fact, you dont really need software polar alignment features in your scope. Using ccdops form sbig a star moves, comparing one image with the next, form the bottom of the screen. Ccdops for windows 95 is an entirely new windows 95 package.
Ccdsoft version 5 will be included for free with all sbig cameras beginning in april, 2001, but anyone who purchased an sbig camera since january 1. Lastly, i am using focusmax in conjunction with robofocus, an electronic focuser to focus all my images. Polar alignment tool video tutorials ken has put together some video tutorials on the new phd2 polar alignment tools. You also need to set the rotation center of the mount, which can be calibrated after clicking the clear rotation center button onscreen. In early 2017, i upgraded my autoguiding system to include a more sensitive camera, and an improved guide scope. I tried the drift alignment tool in phd2 and found it to be very easy to use and resulted in very good polar alignment with little difficulty. This would improve the accuracy to whatever degree you want. Where astronomers unravel the mysteries and reveal the beauty of space.
Today, in adition to polar align feature, eqalign is a full featured astronomical software. Once polar aligned accurately and with a few synced alignment points, your mount gotos will work better, targets wont drift out of frame, youll be able to take short exposures without guiding, and very long exposures with guiding. Allstar is our exclusive, innovative polar alignment procedureavailable on select celestron computerized telescopesthat allows users to choose any bright star not just one near the ncp while the software calculates and assists with polar alignment. The p1 performs a precise polar alignment in just a few minutes time, with an accuracy of up to 30 arc seconds. Easy polar alignment for astrophotography step by step. The ccdops software package supports all sbig cameras. Next, do a rough polar alignment, and then take a 60second ccd image of the pole. For me, the ideal polar alignment procedure should be. Using a planetarium program, create a chart of the area around the pole north or south. Polarfinder calculate, just in time, the sideral local medium time and the position of the polaris. The new windows 95 version has all of the functions of ccdops for dos including auto grab, color grab and support for the ao7 adaptive optics unit. It is much more easier than the manual scheinermethod or the usage of guidemaster. Survey of polar alignment methods celestial wonders. Follow following simple steps to quickly polar align your mount with ccdops, drift align no more.
If only there were a quick way to align your scope. Programs your mounts periodic error correction firmware. Find a 5th or 6th magnitude star a dimmer star can be used 3. Sharpcap is an easytouse and powerful astronomy camera capture tool. But if its your travelquick setup rig remember that you have given up your ability to polar align the mount without software. It would be extremely helpful if it also utilized the phd2 polar alignment feature. Using goto for polar alignment without software feature. Oct 09, 2016 accurately aligning the center line of the ota to the ra axis the zero position is normally accomplished with a 1star alignment after the polar alignment is complete. With paa, you can easily polar align your gem quite accurately.
1248 271 1060 1064 50 1070 907 613 801 604 466 45 14 236 396 878 351 1235 6 248 907 1305 867 642 651 1015 59 676 1279 1350