QHYCCD PoleMaster (Daniel.P)

QHYCCD PoleMaster

This summer, I have installed and used the PoleMaster from QHYCCD for polar alignement.

You can see on the attached photos how the device look like and how it is attached to the mount, here an AZEQ6. It is basically a webcam, approximately aligned on the polar axis of the mount, using the polar scope opening for attachement.

The use of the sofware and polemaster is quick, straightforward and accurate.

The first time, you are asked to identify Polaris in the field of view (which is easy because the webcam has a large field of view) and a second star. You rotate twice the mount so the software can locate where the polar axis of the mount is pointing using star movements. This step is to be done once, if you leave the polemaster installed on the mount. Then you are asked to move Polaris into a "green" circle, using mount azimuth and elevation adjustments to move the polar axis of the mount to the north pole. That is all ... and it takes less than 6 min. You have then the option to monitor continuously the accuracy of the alignment during your imaging session, which I did not use. Every day, I checked and fine tuned before imaging session the alignment ... in less than 3 min.

The accuracy is much better than what I was doing before with the polar scope. I estimate it to within 5 arcmin, but I will measure it later looking at field rotation (apparently few 1/100th of a degree over a night). The main source of misalignment seems to be the mount installation on "natural ground : grass" which allow for some movement over the night with weight shift of the telescope. On a fixed mount, I am sure you can approach the claimed 30 arcsec accuracy.

I am VERY satisfied with this device. After only one month of use, I totally forgot how to align my mount as I use to do it before !

Original
B
Final
C

	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	n/a
Started	n/a
Astrometry.net job	n/a
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):