Drift alignment for dummies

[Gary]

Thanks for reading Gary. i goto Chaah once a while, which is near to Bekok, heard u have some friends / relative overthere ?

Yes! Come join me the next session! As this is OT for this topic, feel free to PM me or better still email me to carry on this conversation.

[Gary]

This is a nice movie on how to do drift alignment.

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

[mymoon]

Peter Loo

Terima kasih. If going by the number of Singastro viewers of your pictures, you are the "sifu"

To try one has to wait for the stars; currently here as it has been for the last few days a 100% cloud cover.

I gather one shall start with item c. RA axis (X axis) adjustment followed by a. Dec axis (Y axis) then b. Azimuth axis( Z axis).

Maybe impetuous, but what happens if "Capella" cannot be centered using both azimuth knobs

cheers

[mymoon]

After all you do have a guide scope mounted and PHD install in your laptop. So use PHD for polar alignment.

click here

which is a listing of polar alignment methods.

Go to the the last method; Drift Alignment Using PHD Guiding Software:

Useful too for ASTROTRAC users.

cheers

[PETER LOO]

Hello Mymoon,

Thanks, i'm only 2 yrs+ active into this hobby & just up-graded to Digital Cam few months back, so no where near sifu, just trying to struggle out of beginner stage towards lower intermediate. Due to very cramped space & fast forming cloud in SG, i came out with this idea because it can set up the mount very fast although not as accurate as a proper dirft method. If the known star eg. Capella is not exactly centre, i will try to shim the lens mounting bracket / dovetail until the lens is very close to parallel to counter weight shaft & also check levelling etc, this will help. Slighty out never mind lah, lol. Following your sequence, you will see that although the lens is 0 deg (paralle) to shaft, it has out by 3 deg (you set 3 deg lattitude for KL) if viewed form North / South. This is normal. If you dont see this, you should adjust it to 3 deg South & test it (by lowering the lattitude lever to 0, the 3 deg off-set will dissappear, becomes 0). Whole thing is a bit troublesome to set up at 1st. But very fast when you done it one time. Lastly, following the link given by you, i tried doing the "ccd drift method" by Robert Vice" just for the Azimuth (Z) axis align alone, hoorah ! The stars are lagi round now, (see Eta Carina - kitchen view), thanks for sharing the link, kawan.
n.b. i find it not necessary to guide stars in SG for wide field as the accumulation of sub-frame is limited to less than 5 mins due to light pollution, the above polar align method (tested 2.5 mins w/o software touch up) plus MaximDL5 Remove Bloom function is good enough to make the stars round.

[cataclysm]

Hi Peter, looks very comfy and convenient to image from the kitchen, at least ice-cold-beer is within an arm's reach! Lol....

[PETER LOO]

Ha ha my sifu, i was inspired by your M8 & Remus's Horse Head, not forgeting to mention Shirox's running man, three of you, now doing all these...., cheers.