Dual Axis Drive

[Starchild615]

Hi Everyone

I bought the Dual axis drive for my Mak Cas 6", I installed it and put the batteries in, it kinda is a drag that it takes 4 big ol' D batteries, makes the scope even heavier. Has anyone used a drive like this? Is it supposed to be so slow? I use the controller with it and it hardly moves, I think I may be getting this confused with a "Go To".
I am trying to learn all I can so I have not taken any photos lately, I want to know what I am doing first

Thanks

[RickJ]

This isn't go-to. Dual axis drive gives you the ability to guide on both axes. This is done at very slow speed since the corrections are small. You still put the object in the field of view manually then use the slow motions to center it and to guide a long exposure.

Rick

[Starchild615]

Hi Rick
Thanks
I see the manual says I should align with polaris, sometimes when I go out at night Polaris is already gone, can I align this with anything I want as well?

Thanks for the info, now I know why it is so slow

[Kaptain K]

Polaris is never "gone", unless it's hidden by clouds. From NYC, it is approximately 40o above the horizon at all times!

[Starchild615]

Hi Kap

It is gone when there are buildings in the way :cry:

[RickJ]

For planetary photography you don't need to be all that close to the pole. I just eyeball it for that. Stand back and look to see if it is pointed to what I consider to be north. Set the elevation with a protractor and you're done.

The main use of the slow motions is to center the planet or moon on the field of view which is difficult to do manually at anything but low power.

For deep sky work, when I was portable, I used the drift alignment (Google it) method. It is far more accurate than using Polaris. You need that added accuracy or you can get rotation of the field of view while guiding perfectly. I can't see polaris from my current observatory nor within 20 degrees of it except on the east side where I can get within 15 degrees of it. Those in the southern hemisphere have no "South Star" unless you go down to below 5th magnitude and that's farther off than Polaris.

Rick

[Kaptain K]

Hi Kap

It is gone when there are buildings in the way :cry:

If it is ever behind a building, it is always behind a building.

Polaris is never more than 3/4o from the pole! It's called Polaris because it is the nearest bright star to the pole! The sky essentialy revolves around it

[Starchild615]

Ok Kap K
So what you are trying to say is, even If I can not see it with my eye, the scope will still slew to it? If that is the case, that is cool by me.
I say that because I watched it on purpose tonight and it did go behind the building across the street

[Kaptain K]

If the star you were watching went behind a building, it wasn't Polaris! Polaris moves, at most, 1.5o and that takes 12 hours!

[Starchild615]

Ok then maybe I was watching the wrong one, possibly it was sirius

I will look again tonight

[Siguy]

Remember that Polaris is not the brightest star in the night sky! It is, in fact, fairly inconspicuous. The bowl of the big dipper points to it, and it is the end of the handle of the little dipper.

[Starchild615]

Thanks Siguy
Shame on me, because I actually went to a class at the Hayden Planetarium here in NYC and they did teach us exactly what you just said and I got the 2 stars mixed up. So I have been tracking the wrong star all along. Time for me to get my books out of the attic :o

The skies here are terrible, there is so much light pollution coming from the city lights, when I look up with the naked eye, I can only see a handful of stars, lately for some reason, its been worse then ever. I have NYC on one side and Jersey City on the other, so I am surrounded by these blinding lights. The street light outside does not help, I feel like B B Gunning the bulb to oblivion :shifty:

Thanks for the help