polar alignment

I see that polaris is moving clockwise around my polar finder circle. Does
that mean it is aligned?

MThomas wrote:
I see that polaris is moving clockwise around my polar finder circle. Does
that mean it is aligned?

I am sure that very distant star moves clockwise for you and all the
others here but there once was a time when men took notice of what
actually was moving and how to resolve observed motion by using an
orbitally moving Earth.

You are mere photographers who spend your time negating the forground
motions of the planets and especially the one you are standing on and
look out at a celestial sphere peep show based on a cycle of 3 years
of 365 days and 1 year of 366 days.

The once great astronomical tradition that stretches back to remote
antiquity is gone from the planet,my God,the methods and insights of so
many civilisations including the great Western tradition is lost to
airheads who complain of cloud cover and light pollution as something
contrary to astronomy.The great intuitive faculties of humanity which
once dominated astronomical methods and insights no longer shine
,replaced by aperature size and gizmos.

You know no better and that is fine but that not one single person here
has a feel for the basic astronomical motions of the Earth can only
translate into a very difficult period ahead for humanity and future
generations.The loss of genius to an empirical imposter which makes
things linguitically complicated without adding anything productive in
astronomical matters is perhaps the greatest loss our race has known.

oriel36 wrote:
MThomas wrote:
I see that polaris is moving clockwise around my polar finder circle. Does
that mean it is aligned?

I am sure that very distant star moves clockwise for you and all the
others here but [rest of self important claptrap snipped]

Give it a rest you tedious little man.

On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:41:14 GMT, "MThomas"
wrote:

I see that polaris is moving clockwise around my polar finder circle. Does
that mean it is aligned?

I guess it depends on how your scope inverts the image. Like all stars,
Polaris rotates counterclockwise around the pole. Does your polar scope
show this small circle?

_________________________________________________

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

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:41:14 GMT, "MThomas"
wrote:

I see that polaris is moving clockwise around my polar finder circle.
Does
that mean it is aligned?

I guess it depends on how your scope inverts the image. Like all stars,
Polaris rotates counterclockwise around the pole. Does your polar scope
show this small circle?


Yes. The circa 1998 style CG-5.

On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 14:52:42 GMT, "MThomas"
wrote:

I guess it depends on how your scope inverts the image. Like all stars,
Polaris rotates counterclockwise around the pole. Does your polar scope
show this small circle?


Yes. The circa 1998 style CG-5.

If you are watching long enough to see Polaris rotate significantly, and
it is staying on the circle, it should mean you have a good alignment.
Where you could go wrong would be if you were misaligned by the full
diameter of the circle. In that case, over a short time Polaris might
appear to be tracking correctly, but in the other direction. But an
offset this large would show up clearly in the other reference points on
the reticle, so I doubt you are seeing that.

_________________________________________________

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

On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:15:22 GMT, "MThomas"
wrote:

I didn't do it long enought to see if it is really is traversing the circle.
Tonight
I'll make sure because I left the tripod standing. Within how many seconds
of arc
is considered a pretty good alignment? I believe the NCP is offset about
15". Is that right?

When it comes to polar alignment, "good" is relative. What is your
intent? For visual use, a few degrees is fine. For imaging, it depends
on how long your individual exposures will be. An alignment to within a
few arcminutes of the refracted pole is fine for nearly all guided
imaging. Getting that close with a polar alignment scope is pretty
difficult, though.

_________________________________________________

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

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:15:22 GMT, "MThomas"
wrote:

I didn't do it long enought to see if it is really is traversing the
circle.
Tonight
I'll make sure because I left the tripod standing. Within how many
seconds
of arc
is considered a pretty good alignment? I believe the NCP is offset about
15". Is that right?

When it comes to polar alignment, "good" is relative. What is your
intent? For visual use, a few degrees is fine. For imaging, it depends
on how long your individual exposures will be. An alignment to within a
few arcminutes of the refracted pole is fine for nearly all guided
imaging. Getting that close with a polar alignment scope is pretty
difficult, though.


NCP is 45 arcminutes from polaris.(3/4 of a degree) Larger than the angular
diameter of the moon!

If however polaris is tracking faily well around the circle then I have to
conclude that my alignment is quite accurate.

MThomas wrote:


NCP is 45 arcminutes from polaris.(3/4 of a degree) Larger than the
angular diameter of the moon!

If however polaris is tracking faily well around the circle then I have to
conclude that my alignment is quite accurate.

You could try a small program called PolarFinder by Jason Dale. Google will
find it for you.

"Iordani" wrote in message
...
MThomas wrote:


NCP is 45 arcminutes from polaris.(3/4 of a degree) Larger than the
angular diameter of the moon!

If however polaris is tracking faily well around the circle then I have
to
conclude that my alignment is quite accurate.

You could try a small program called PolarFinder by Jason Dale. Google
will
find it for you.

Totally useless comment.