How often do you align your telescopes?

[jrkirkham]

Before I had an observatory I didn't think much about alignment, except to grumble because I had to stand on my head to align my refractor. I didn't align the dob, and only aligned the refractor once per night, during setup. The refractor was my imaging scope and the dob was my visual scope. When I put the SCT into an observatory I assumed my alignments would soon become a thing of the past. However, I am clumsy, weigh over 200 lbs, and wear hoodies in cold weather. Also since I mainly use the SCT now I am doing a lot of meridian flips. I also have a friend who has a key to the scope and uses it from time to time. I find that I can go for quite some time without aligning, but I tend not to. That got me wondering about everyone else. How often do you all align your telescopes?

[turboscrew]

Let's see, if I finally get to observe without major equipment problems next autumn.

[helicon]

Since I have alt-azimuth scopes I generally don't align. But I do remember the equatorial days and aligning on Polaris!

[SkyHiker]

Since I do AP and have no observatory I polar align each time. I have the tripod feet position marked so it's never far off to begin with. I use Ekos' alignment routine that is similar to Sharpcap.

[Lady Fraktor]

Do you have the mount on a tripod or permanent pier?
It seems strange to me that your alignment is losing if on a permanent position.

[jrkirkham]

Do you have the mount on a tripod or permanent pier?
It seems strange to me that your alignment is losing if on a permanent position.

No I still use a tripod, which I bang into a lot in the dark, lol. I don't have to align as often as I do. I should probably consider adding a pier one of these days. That might take care of it.

[Lady Fraktor]

A pier stand would probably help as it would not take up as much room as a tripod

[KathyNS]

I did a polar alignment when I installed the mount on the pier six years ago. I think I have checked it once or twice since then. I have never done a goto alignment with this mount. I discovered plate-solving shortly before I got it. Between a stable polar alignment, a seekable zero position, and plate-solving, there has been no need to.

[Gordon]

When I had a permanent pier I only did it twice. Once in the very beginning and once when I changed mount heads.

Now that I don't have a permanent pier, I use 3 paver stones with a small notch for locating the tripod leg. Those stay in place in my back yard. I can set the tripod up in the exact same spot every time and don't have to do alignments. I do check it from time to time but it's always really close if not spot on.

Plate solving is the only way to go for finding objects.

[Juno16]

When I had a permanent pier I only did it twice. Once in the very beginning and once when I changed mount heads.

Now that I don't have a permanent pier, I use 3 paver stones with a small notch for locating the tripod leg. Those stay in place in my back yard. I can set the tripod up in the exact same spot every time and don't have to do alignments. I do check it from time to time but it's always really close if not spot on.

Plate solving is the only way to go for finding objects.

I do basically the same thing. Three paver bricks with black circles for the tripod legs. I do have to PA in NINA each setup (actually varies quite a bit from setup to setup), but that just takes a couple of minutes.

Don't know what I would do without plate solving. Spot on, takes less than a minute, and works every time (ASTAP).

[John Baars]

Twice a year.
One for the alignment on a tripod on my holiday site.
And one back home again on a pier in the backyard. The mount stays outside the whole year under a tarp.

[chris_g]

Like most others, I have paver stones for the EQ6. I rely on my phone's compass when I place my EQ5. I check every time using APT's PAPS, Polar Alignment Via Platesolving, since I set up and tear down every session. I haven't had to make any adjustments the last couple of months as I've been within an arc minute on both axis

[Richard]

I dont really do AP so when home never bother I know where to point it to and have marks so works for me when using an EQ mount , its normally ok for under 1hr of observing , which is normally in Winter (now) as in Summer its always cloudy and rain
When I was a partner of a game farm there were 8 of us I thought of a permanent place so concreted a pier that one just attach the mount to , mounted in concrete , all in the open and when not used just cover it and tie down , I thought it was a good idea when we went there , all other members thought It was a good idea , obviously we would remove the mount when not there.
The first evening went well , its a Borte 2 area so lovely everyone was amazed , we normally stay for 3-4 days
The second day was just as good but we noticed some tears in the cover , well the 3rd day was horrific , cover gone , and the counter weights gone and every removable part also gone we found one of the weights 2 months later , we did not set up a video cam but lots of baboons around
Oh forgot to add was an EQ3-2 mount , so like a CG4 one , both slow motion cabled gone , retaining bolts for scope gone , I was lucky to take my C5 off before we went to bed

[TCampbell]

My personal scopes don't have an observatory. I do an alignment every time I use them. I only bother to do a precise alignment (e.g. using my PoleMaster) if I plan to image. I don't do a precise PA if only doing visual astronomy.

HOWEVER... I *also* maintain a telescope for a school observatory. While that mount is on a permanent pier, we still have issues with ground shifting due to freeze/thaw cycles in the spring. There may be ground-swell issues as well. In the springtime, I always have to re-align that mount ... and sometimes more than once. Once I make it through spring and have it polar aligned, it is usually good through to the following winter.

It doesn't take long to align with the PoleMaster ... so it's not a big deal.