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All Sky Alignment Tips and Tricks

ZWO ASIAIR Plus William Optics Redcat 51 Equatorial Mount Polar Alignment
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IrishAstro4484 avatar
IrishAstro4484 avatar
Anybody got any tips/tricks for the All Sky Alignment Polar Alignment workflow in ASIAIR? 

I don't have a clear view of the south celestial pole so I need to use the All Sky alignment.

I can get the initial alignment to within 2-3 degrees with an inclinometer and compass but I struggle to get a good polar alignment after that.

If people are getting polar aligned in a matter of minutes what is this black magic they are using? 🧐

Equipment:

ASIAIR Plus, AM5 mount, Redcat 51, 120mm guide camera and ZWO 30f4 guide scope.

P.s when making adjustments to the mount the RA and DEC axis are correlated. Is this because the mount isn't quite level? I was relying on the mount bubble level.
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Paul Lloyd avatar
Paul Lloyd avatar
I've tried the All Sky alignment in ASiair Plus, and found that it reverted to the standard PA routine dialogue, not the dialogue shown by YouTube videos on this topic. I tried ignoring this, but it errors out - too far from the SCP, but see below.

However, if you are able to point your scope to a position within 30-deg of the SCP that is clear of obstacles (or can easily be plate solved), such that a 60-deg westward RA rotation also lands you at a point that can also be plate solved, the standard PA routine will work. See this thread: https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/16130-all-sky-polar-alignment-kept-switching-off it might be of some help. Using this method, I get quite reasonable PA and guiding has no problem achieving 0.4-0.7 arcsec RMS errors. I have found 1 issue, though: if you have Autorefresh turned on during PA, then the readings shown by successive exposures exhibit fluctuating RMS errors with no change in the Alt-Az adjustments. I have decided to ignore this and gone for an adjustment that has most/all RMS errors < 4 arcmin. It works OK for me.

I hope this helps,
Paul.
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