My brother-in-law said my telescope mount was a waste of money

He insisted I'd never need the precision for basic astrophotography. I finally got a clean 30-second exposure of the Orion Nebula last night, and the stars are perfectly round. Anyone have a good method for polar alignment without a clear view of Polaris?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_williams10d ago

Honestly, that's the best feeling when you prove someone wrong with a clean shot. Tbh I was reading a forum thread last week about drift alignment for exactly this problem. You basically pick a star near the celestial equator and watch how it drifts in your eyepiece, then adjust the mount. It's a bit slow but it really works when you can't see Polaris at all.

averym829d ago

Tried drift alignment last month, saved my whole imaging session.