Drift Aligment ??

[swat_pup6433]

Hi!
Those those of us who are interested in longer exposure or composite exposure astrophotography from ccds or Dslr without the hateful effects of field rotation would have known by now how important is the alignment of the GEM to earth's rotation. since Polar alignment using Polaris is not possible here, many of us would have came across the method DRIFT ALIGNMENT. now.. how do you do it? now, I believe many have tried to learn or have asked about it. It sounds pretty complicated when u first begin, and instructions online in written text just makes it even harder to understand~

For those of you who are interested in the process, I came across this interesting website earlier on when i was trying to get some revision on drift alignment myself it shows a "video" on how you could perform the drift alignment which i think is easier to understand compared to the written form. Oh ignore the 5mm Orion eyepiece part.. it dosnt need to be 5mm and the polaris part since we cant see it. usually I'll begin by pointing the mount north, !!!make sure your mount is properly leveled!!! and set the elevation according to the location you are in, and follow the drift observation process from there and make the appropriate compensation for the DEC drift. oh.. and for the red torch trick.. I usually just press the N,S button on the controller to determine the N and S orientation.

hmm sorry for the lengthy writeup! here's the URL link

http://www.andysshotglass.com/DriftAlignment.html

hope this help those who are interested in stepping into the endless pit of astrophotography! still, there is no better way to learn this than to get into the field and actually practicing it !
cheers and clear skieS!

zongye

[mymoon]

and the "classic" drift alignment simulator by clown fish

click here


and a bit of background and understanding will not hurt

click here

have fun

cheers

[swat_pup6433]

hea! the drift aligment simulator is fun!!!! cant believe i just spent the past 20 mins playing with that!