PHD2 Calibration Position Made Easy

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JayTee United States of America
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PHD2 Calibration Position Made Easy

#1

Post by JayTee »


Below is a direct quote from a post by Andy Glasso of Open PHD Guiding Google Group fame.

An easy way get the scope pointed in the correct region of the sky for calibration is to slew RA until your counterweight bar is close to horizontal, then slew Dec until your scope tube is somewhat perpendicular to the mount's polar axis, like this picture:
PHD2 Calibration Position.png


It needn't be exact, anywhere in the vicinity of that orientation is fine.

So, instead of looking for a star that is near to both the Meridian and the Celestrial Equator, just slew your scope till it looks like this then calibrate away!

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
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bobharmony
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Re: PHD2 Calibration Position Made Easy

#2

Post by bobharmony »


The PHD2 drift alignment tool will take you very close to the meridian and celestial equator as a first step in the alignment process if your scope is in the home position. Select drift alignment from the tools menu, click the slew button and away you go. It is the first place I go every session after doing a quick align from the HC menu.

Bob
Hardware: Celestron C6-N w/ Advanced GTmount, Baader MK iii CC, Orion ST-80, Canon 60D (unmodded), Nikon D5300 (modded), Orion SSAG
Software: BYE, APT, PHD2, DSS, PhotoShop CC 2020, StarTools, Cartes du Ciel, AstroTortilla

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Larry 1969 United States of America
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Re: PHD2 Calibration Position Made Easy

#3

Post by Larry 1969 »


Thanks!
For visual:
10" Skywatcher collapsible goto dob, various EP's and a Celestron StarSense auto align.

For imaging:
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Eq6-R Pro controlled by APT via EQmod with an OTA mounted mini PC
Tele Vue Paracorr Type 2 coma corrector
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UkDave Great Britain
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Re: PHD2 Calibration Position Made Easy

#4

Post by UkDave »


If using Apt press Shift and click Goto that brings up pop up menu , choose bottom option that will slew mount to celestial equator.
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chartram United States of America
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Re: PHD2 Calibration Position Made Easy

#5

Post by chartram »


I recall reading somewhere that in addition to doing a good PA, choosing a calibration star that is close to 0°Declination is best. Choosing stars between 0-10° DEC, my average total RMS is normally between 0.2 & 0.3. Maybe a coincidence, but my scope/mount are ‘usually’ somewhere near the orientation pictured when calibrating. I will definitely try this, maybe save some searching. thank you JT!

Mike
Mike Chartrand
Scopes: WO Star 71 Gen-II (F/4.9), Astro-Tech AT115EDT (F/7), Celestron 8" Edge HD (F/10)
Cameras: ZWO ASI1600MM w/ Baader 1.25" LRGB & Narrowband Filters, ZWO ASI174MM mini, Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2
Mount: Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro
Guiding: Orion ST-80 (f/5) w/ADM MiniMax (side-by-side), ZWO OAG
Software: PHD2, Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight
Dark Site Transportation System: 2020 Telluride SX
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