Drift alignment - question

[otykarol]

Hi, 

BYE is amazing software! I'm considering buying it after my trial ends. 

However, I first need to know more about the drift alignment method it suggests to use. 

Does it require user to point a star first on the South, and then on the West or East? 

It's crucial question for me, because I want to shoot stars from my balcony and I can see only S, SE and SW. Is it possible to drift align with BYE in those conditions? 

My second idea is to use PHD polar align for that, however I do not own a guiding camera - I have only DSLR, Nikon D5100. PHD doesn't support DSLR. Would it be possible somehow that BYE would send a liveview signal from DSLR to PHD, to let it do its thing? 

All the best, 

Karol 

[admin]

PHD does not support a DSLR, you need a guide camera for PHD.

BYE does not suggest any method for drift alignment, it only provides you with a few tools to assist in your chosen method.

Now a days, I would really recommend an PoleMaster for aligning your mount. Once you get use to it you'll achieve perfect alignment in minutes.

[s3igell]

32 minutes ago, admin said:

Now a days, I would really recommend an PoleMaster for aligning your mount. Once you get use to it you'll achieve perfect alignment in minutes.

PoleMaster (and its clones) only work if you have a view of either the Northern or Southern Polar Region.

Drift Alignment requires only views near the Celestial Equator - neither Pole Region.

[otykarol]

Okay, but let's suppose I can't use PoleMaster (I can't see North Pole).

Why do you suggest to rotate the cross in the drift alignment in BYE? I can't see that as part of the method.

Since I use Netwtonian telescope, my usual thinking in the drift alignment is that:

When pointing South, if the star moves DOWN, I turn the scope WEST.

When pointing EAST, if the star moves UP, I turn the scope DOWN.

Why should I rotate the cross?

[astroman133]

Rotating the crosshairs so that East/West motion is parallel to the horizontal crosshair line makes it easier to see the North/South drift.

If you have a partially blocked view then you should get as close as you can to meridian, east horizon or west horizon along the celestial equator. This is where the motion is most sensitive to polar misalignment.

[s3igell]

You didn't indicate which Mount you have, but...

If you have a Celestron or Sky-Watcher Goto Mount (AVX, CGEM, EQ-5, EQ-6, etc), then you have the All-Star Polar Alignment system built into the Hand Controller.

ASPA can use any portion of the Sky, with any of 200+ "Bright Stars" named in the HC Software.

The results are along the order of 10's of arc-sec - about as good as any Drift Alignment - and can be completed in under 5 minutes.  I've used it to produce 10-15arcsec Alignments (as verified by PHD2).

Just another option...