seeing Polaris

Moon River wrote:

Do you have a polar alignment scope?

In any event, to align on Polaris, one must be either using the scope

itself or

a polar alignment scope. All that is necessary is to get close so if one

has a

sense of where north is, then that is probably good enough to being

alignment.

jon


I can't believe all the people who are always saying getting in the vacinity
of polaris is "good enough" for polar aligning. That is so lame.

Many of us are pragmatists. I'd rather spend another 20 min viewing
than striving for perfection. And my experience is the "Close enough"
is "good enough" -- particularly when Polaris is not precisely "North"
anyway.

But it is a hobby: We all do what we enjoy.

Phil

When you use a map to find a place on the earth you use LAT and LONG. The
same has to be true for the sky.

Do you polar align your map too, or just turn it until it's facing
north. To most people simply turning the map so that the top is facing
north is "good enough".

All that is necessary is to get close so if one
has a
sense of where north is, then that is probably good enough to being
alignment.

jon

I can't believe all the people who are always saying getting in the vacinity
of polaris is "good enough" for polar aligning.

Actually your rant is the result of misunderstanding my typo...

"probably good enough to being alignment." makes no sense.

What I meant to write was "probably good enough to BEGIN alignment."

In otherwords, one does not have to see Polaris visually in order to BEGIN the
polar alignment process.

One just has to get close enough to see it in the alignment scope or in the
scope itself.

I find that by setting the polar axis to the proper value and just making sure
the base is reasonably level that I can find Polaris without seeing it even
from a site I have never seen before.

jon

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 5 Sep 2004 19:05:25 -0500, "The Ancient One"
wrote:

In other words, you phrased your question poorly. What you were asking
was
how SOON after sunset is it visible, not how long. It is visible all
night
long, once it first becomes visible.

Well, if you are going to be pedantic to the point of being obnoxious (and
not
even attempt to answer the rather obvious, if poorly phrased question)

I did answer his question as it was asked. Polaris is always in the same
position, therefore it is visible all night long. Clouds or lighting may
obscure it, which is why I refrained from the blanket statement that it IS
visible all night long.
I answered the question as it was asked, and did so politely, in an attempt
to help. All I've received for my efforts has been insults and grief. I was
told this was a good group for amatuers, I was told wrong.

On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 13:11:58 -0500, "The Ancient One"
wrote:

I did answer his question as it was asked...

Then I apologize for calling you obnoxious. I should have said dense. g

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

"vic20owner" wrote in message
...
When you use a map to find a place on the earth you use LAT and LONG.
The
same has to be true for the sky.

Do you polar align your map too, or just turn it until it's facing
north. To most people simply turning the map so that the top is facing
north is "good enough".


Do you mean turn or orientate? Do you use lat and long on a map when you
really don't know
where a place is on the earth..if you don't then either you have a very good
index or
your comment ranks right up there with the 3 dumbest posts next to "the
ancient one".

Sketcher wrote:

Some *have* seen Polaris in the daytime (with the aid of a telescope).
I know of one person who has even polar-aligned a mount in the daytime
by observing Polaris.

It helps to have a clean, transparent sky; patience; a wide-field
eyepiece (pre-focused at infinity) and a fairly accurate idea of where
to look.


Here's another gimmick for finding Polaris during the day: Use a
"Polaris-ing" filter -- more commonly known as a polarizer.

Polaris is 90 degrees (+/- 23 degrees) angularly distant from the Sun.
So it always lies in a patch of sky where Rayleigh-scattered blue light
exhibits maximum polarization. A single, well-oriented polarizing
filter thus squelches the background sky significantly more than it
squelches Polaris.

--
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Mark Gingrich San Leandro, California

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 13:11:58 -0500, "The Ancient One"
wrote:

I did answer his question as it was asked...

Then I apologize for calling you obnoxious. I should have said dense. g

That's better ;-)


_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

" Here's another gimmick for finding Polaris during the day: Use a
"Polaris-ing" filter -- more commonly known as a polarizer.

Polaris is 90 degrees (+/- 23 degrees) angularly distant from the Sun.
So it always lies in a patch of sky where Rayleigh-scattered blue light
exhibits maximum polarization. A single, well-oriented polarizing
filter thus squelches the background sky significantly more than it
squelches Polaris.



I will look into this. Sounds interesting

Do you mean turn or orientate? Do you use lat and long on a map when you
really don't know
where a place is on the earth..if you don't then either you have a very good
index or
your comment ranks right up there with the 3 dumbest posts next to "the
ancient one".

Honestly, I'd have to say "How long after sunset can you pick out
Polaris with the unaided eye?" beats it hands down.