Description
PoleMaster for CGEM / EQ5 / EQ3
Includes Adapter & WorldWide Delivery!
Instruction Manual by Steve Richards
Review by Phil Shepherd for The UK Astro Imaging Forum
Images are visible when you join the Forum.
Tony Doubtfire –
Tried it out in anger last night (17/12/15) – yes I actually got a clear night!
After installing the drivers and running the software it found the camera first time and pulled up an image. Quite faint at first but fiddling with the exposure and gain soon got enough stars.
The software takes you through a sequential series of steps leading you to very accurate polar alignment. Basically it works by presenting you with a template of some of the brighter stars near Polaris. You overlay this on top of the camera image until they line up. You are then invited to rotate the scope a little a couple of times and from this the software calculates the true centre of rotation of your mount. A few more simple steps and you’re presented with two dots showing where your mount is pointing and where the true celestial pole is. All you have to do now is physically move your mount so the two dots line up. It doesn’t matter if the mount isn’t level and I managed to get away with using the adjustable feet on the tripod rather than loosening the azimuth and altitude bolts. The software is very clever!
Paul Scammell –
WOW….
Got polar aligned in about 4 mins on my second try more accurately than I have ever managed before and I didn’t get on my knees once.
English Translation need’s a little TLC which I have requested on the QHY Forum but the procedure is so simple, as Tony has pointed out in his review.
Get Polaris in the centre of view using ALT/AZ bolts, double click Polaris on screen, Template comes up for surrounding stars, move using a slider on screen to line the template dots with surrounding stars around Polaris which is smack on. Rotate RA a bit (I rotated about 30-40deg), Click Confirm, Rotate RA one more time and confirm again. Software then calculates NCP position and shows it on screen, A few simple steps later brings you close to polar alignment and lastly, a final step to get a precise alignment simply by adjusting your Altitude and Azimuth bolts to bring a green and red circle together in a magnified window and your done. Using PHD2’s Guiding Assistant reported a Polar alignment error of 0.3 arc/min.
Very Impressed and worth every penny…..Get One Now !