×

INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Ekos polar align help please

  • Posts: 4
  • Thank you received: 0
Hi crew,
Total newbie here trying to polar align.
Ekos plate solves and rotates the scope then tell me where to align a star, but I can’t see the target area.
Please see screen shot.
Does anyone know which settings I messed up?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
3 years 2 months ago #66556
Attachments:

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 269
  • Thank you received: 53
Like the instructions are telling you on the screen: Select a bright star to reposition the correction vector
3 years 2 months ago #66557

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 4
  • Thank you received: 0

Replied by River on topic Ekos polar align help please

Many thanks kengs,

I selected several other stars on this and during a few different PA attempts. The correction vector always went way off screen.
My main imaging camera was turned off (as I am just trying to polar align at this stage)
I did get a message from ekos saying that my guide camera is the same as my main imaging camera, and did I want to proceed.
Do you think this could cause complications?
3 years 2 months ago #66559

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 152
  • Thank you received: 20

Replied by hades on topic Ekos polar align help please

For me it seems that you are too away from NCP, that's why the vector is out of the screen. Try to fix the polar alignment first with polar scope in the mount and then rerun the ekos polar align tool. If it will be still so terrible, that could mean that your polar scope is not perfectly aligned with the RA axis and need to align.
The following user(s) said Thank You: River
3 years 2 months ago #66561

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 1957
  • Thank you received: 420
As you can see, the total PA error is about 2º. So simply click that very bright star and move the mount such that the very bright star ends up at the left side of the screen near or on the green line. Then repeat the PA process and you should see that the PA error has gone down. With a bit of luck you now can see the target position so move another star there. If still not, you'll need to repeat the process until the PA error is small enough for you to be happy with it.

Regarding the imaging being the same as the guide cam: that is not good and you should check your equipment profile to make sure that you set it all up correctly.
The following user(s) said Thank You: River
3 years 2 months ago #66565

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 211
  • Thank you received: 31
There is nothing wrong with the imaging cam being the same as the guide cam - so long as you know why (in your case, you know it is because you have not turned on or connected your main camera yet). Just make sure that when you start taking pictures you have both connected, the right camera associated with the right scope, and each is doing the job intended.

As for starting with the NCP out of your guide cam's field of view, as the previous replies said you move the mount so that stars move in the direction being pointed at by the colored lines. You can see that your elevation is not too far off, so this iteration you could mostly make sure to move the azimuth in the right direction. You don't even need to select a star at this point, just get closer to the pole (though you need to tell it that you selected a star before you can start looping images). Hopefully on the second iteration the pole will be in the field of view and the whole process will make more sense.
The following user(s) said Thank You: River
Last edit: 3 years 1 month ago by Ron DeBry.
3 years 2 months ago #66583

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 26
  • Thank you received: 4

I'm late to the party on this one, but yes, I agree. I have an AstroTech AT6RC mounted on a Celestron CGX-L and have this problem routinel if I try to use the main scope for polar alignment; the FOV is just too narrow. The CGX-L doesn't have an integrated polar scope.

But... unless the focal length of your guidescope is rather long or your guide camera is really tiny, you should be able to get close enough to keep the NCP on screen. If not, follow the instructions the others gave you; pick a star and move it closer, then repeat. I often do this repeat even if I didn't have to move offscreen, just as a check of whether or not I did a good job vs maybe having bumped the scope while aligning....
The following user(s) said Thank You: River
3 years 1 month ago #66717

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.797 seconds