Feature request - Polar Alignment via Guide scope

Foobaria

(Asiair) Please make it easier to Polar Align via Guide scope/camera without having to switch the camera/focal length back and forth. Can we have a simple button to push to swap Main/Guide once we get to Polar Alignment, and have it remember how it was done the prior time. I always PA with Guide scope/ camera, but i have to flip back and forth every single time I use the telescope.

SteveD

Foobaria

What's the advantage polar aligning with the guide camera?

franco

It's always seemed odd to me that the AA was designed to sit on something that moves, in my mind the most logical place to put the box is on the mount, but I guess this is because I couldn't understand the need for more than 1 AA which wouldn't be a great marketing strategy for ZWO.

Having equipment profiles seems like something really useful but it implies you might want to swap just the telescope, or am I just jaded and cynical?

Foobaria

SteveD a) works better for different focal lengths (the guide FL is often much easier to align at say 120 or 150mm). B) if main scope has darker filter on it, make it hard to align. C) the wider field of view of Guide scope makes aligned quicker and a pleasure compared to main scope.

Astrop

If your main optics are long focal length it can be easier to PA and even plate solve via the guidescope, but in order to work best the guidescope needs to be aligned with the main optics, otherwise it's kind of pointless to do due to introducing inaccuracies.

Foobaria

Astrop No the guide scope doesn’t need to be inline with the main scope for PA to work.

Astrop

Foobaria I didn't say it won't work I said it will introduce inaccuracies (because the PA calculation is then not conducted via your imaging scope, at the focal length of your main scope).

franco

Astrop I used to do it that way for planetary but it was very hit and miss, now I use a camera with a big censor for PA and goto then switch to a planetary camera and hope nothing moved too much.

Astrop

franco used to do it that way

For rough PA it's fine, for more accurate especially if you're imaging long FL it isn't, there's a reason people use OAGs in this long FL usage scenario.