Drift polar align - east test?

"AM" wrote :

BTW, the polar scope option is viable, and used
properly will get you a pretty good alignment.


I always liked the Vixen PS that came with my Celestron GP-C102-ED mount.
Once I figured it out, it was really quite amazing how accurate it was.

When I first started imaging with a DSLR and an F4 800mm focal length, I
could get away without a drift alignment for the unguided 30 second
subframes I was grabbing of M42 in winter and M8 in summer.

The trick was to follow the instructions in the book, not only for the polar
alignment, but the bit about aiming the PS at an object in the distance and
rotating the RA axis to get it properly aligned to the bore in the first
place.

-Steve P.

"Steve Paul" writes:

"AM" wrote :

BTW, the polar scope option is viable, and used
properly will get you a pretty good alignment.


I always liked the Vixen PS that came with my Celestron GP-C102-ED
mount. Once I figured it out, it was really quite amazing how accurate
it was.


Agreed. I do mostly CCD imaging now and always rely on the polar scope
on my vixen GP-DX. Drift aligning would take too much time every time
I set up. With PEC enabled, I regularly shoot 4 minute exposures with
my F/1800 mm Mak. During a typical 1.5 hour session there will be
accumulated maybe 30 arcsecond drift in Dec.

pej
--
Per Erik Jorde