seeing Polaris

How long after sunset can you pick out Polaris with the unaided eye for
polar aligning?
The best I seem to do is almost an hour or 50 minutes after sunset.

"Moon River" wrote in message
newswM_c.67610$S55.10721@clgrps12...
How long after sunset can you pick out Polaris with the unaided eye for
polar aligning?
The best I seem to do is almost an hour or 50 minutes after sunset.


Polaris never moves as seen from Earth, it remains in the same location 24
hours a day.

"The Ancient One" wrote in message
...

"Moon River" wrote in message
newswM_c.67610$S55.10721@clgrps12...
How long after sunset can you pick out Polaris with the unaided eye for
polar aligning?
The best I seem to do is almost an hour or 50 minutes after sunset.


Polaris never moves as seen from Earth, it remains in the same location 24
hours a day.


Your comment has NOTHING to do with my question.

It seems like that is about right, here (Sonoran Desert of Arizona), too
(about an hour, maybe ten minutes less, after sunset)...

But there ARE other ways...

Are you observing from your back yard? Or from a deck or patio?

If so, what you might want to do, and what I have done at my last two
houses, is set your scope up on the patio or deck, level it, polar align
it, and mark the spot where each of the feet of your tripod or portable
pier were sitting (circle them with a magic marker, or some such).

Then, next time, all you have to do is take the scope out, put the
corresponding foot down centered on the respective circle, and VOILA! You
ARE polar aligned (not for photographic purposes, of course, but plenty
good enough for visual observing)!

If you observe from your YARD, try this:

I put stepping stones in my yard, leveled, and marked just like the patio
deal above.

So I just take the scope out, put the feet (or in my actual case, screw
down the leveling screws on the JMI big wheel wheeley bars onto the marks
on the stepping stones, level the tripod, and VOILA! Good enough for
visual observing... And I mean, if I go in the house for half an hour,
and come back out, the object will STILL be in the field... Again, not
good enough for photography, of course, but plenty good enough for visual
observing.
--
Jan Owen

To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.662
Longitude: -112.3272

"The Ancient One" wrote in message
...

"Moon River" wrote in message
newswM_c.67610$S55.10721@clgrps12...
How long after sunset can you pick out Polaris with the unaided eye
for
polar aligning?
The best I seem to do is almost an hour or 50 minutes after sunset.


Polaris never moves as seen from Earth, it remains in the same location
24
hours a day.

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 22:35:01 GMT, Moon River wrote:

How long after sunset can you pick out Polaris with the unaided eye for
polar aligning?
The best I seem to do is almost an hour or 50 minutes after sunset.

Hi,

Your times estimate seems about right. . .that would place the sun around
15 degrees below the horizon which makes it nautical twilight. Somewhat
shy of another hour going by from that point will make it astronomical
twilight which means it is as dark as it is going to get for the night and
all stars that will be visible at your location are now showing.


--
Martin
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://home.earthlink.net/~martinhowell

Ok. Thanks. It is always so tranquil when the sky is between dark and
twilight and the first stars
begin their nightly chore.

"Moon River" wrote in message
news:IZM_c.67611$S55.25211@clgrps12...

"The Ancient One" wrote in message
...

"Moon River" wrote in message
newswM_c.67610$S55.10721@clgrps12...
How long after sunset can you pick out Polaris with the unaided eye
for
polar aligning?
The best I seem to do is almost an hour or 50 minutes after sunset.


Polaris never moves as seen from Earth, it remains in the same location
24
hours a day.


Your comment has NOTHING to do with my question.



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.

Moon River wrote:
How long after sunset can you pick out Polaris with the unaided eye for
polar aligning?
The best I seem to do is almost an hour or 50 minutes after sunset.

This doesn't answer your question but might be useful for your next
question....

I dont since I can't see polaris from my yard. I polar align with a
magnetic compass (just point to magnetic north), and just set my
lattitude on the mount. With my goto scope most objects fall in the
field or just on the edge and are found quickly.

I dont since I can't see polaris from my yard. I polar align with a
magnetic compass (just point to magnetic north), and just set my
lattitude on the mount. With my goto scope most objects fall in the
field or just on the edge and are found quickly.

Magnetic north is offset from polaris significant degrees depending on your
location so you have to compensate.
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/jsp/Declination.jsp

I dont since I can't see polaris from my yard. I polar align with a
magnetic compass (just point to magnetic north), and just set my
lattitude on the mount. With my goto scope most objects fall in the
field or just on the edge and are found quickly.


http://www.geolab.nrcan.gc.ca/geomag/northpole_e.shtml