Sky-Watcher EQM-35 PRO - Polar Alignment Tutorial
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- #PolarAlignment #SkywatcherEqm35pro #Astrophotography Polar Alignment Tutorial for Sky-Watcher EQM-35 PRO GOTO Mount. Learn how to polar align your Sky-Watcher mount or star tracker.- in the Northern Hemisphere. You should check also that the azimuth knobs and altitude knobs are tight enough and verify the position of Polaris, also after you mounted all the equipment, to be sure is in the same position, and if it moved a little, then you should adjust the position using the knobs.( and leave the equipment on). Be sure you mount the equipment gentle and you do not hit or move the tripod so the position of Polaris will not change ! This tutorial can be useful even if you use other mount. I am showing how to align an equatorial mount using a phone application, and all the steps that you need to take for a good polar alignment. You can see also my astrophotography on the links I have shared on my UA-cam Channel, with my website, facebook page, and Instagram.
Affiliate programs disclosure:
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I am a member of the Astroshop, OPT, Dwarflab, FairpointAstro and Amazon affiliate programs.
Product links in my video descriptions are typically affiliate links, which means, at no extra cost to you, I will make a commission if you click them and buy something.
Equipment
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Skywatcher Apochromatic refractor AP 80/600 EvoStar ED OTA
www.astroshop.eu/telescopes/s...
Skywatcher Eqm35-Pro from Astroshop :
www.astroshop.eu/equatorial-w...
Skywatcher Apochromatic refractor AP 80/600 EvoStar ED OTA
www.astroshop.eu/telescopes/s...
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Skywatcher polar illuminator:
www.astroshop.eu/accessories/...
Skywatcher Eqm35-Pro from OPT :
(Affiliate Link) optcorp.com/products/sky-watc...
You can use my affiliate link when shopping for astrophotography gear:
Astroshop: www.astroshop.eu?affiliate_id=NemesIoan
OPT: optcorp.com/?rfsn=4173721.918...
You can find also my astrophotography equipment here:
kit.co/IoanNemes/astrophotogr...
============================= - Наука та технологія
Excellent tips. Cutting down on setup time is a big help to people also. You are a great asset to the world of astronomy. Clear skies friend.
Much appreciated! Thank you. Clear sky would be a bless. Has been raining and is cloudy for a while. Clear sky friend!
thank you so much! many tutorials neglect some details which, however, put the beginners in crisis
Thank you! You Are welcome. I am glad if my video helped. I just finished a new video with Astrophotography, I will upload it today.
Excellent job dear Ioan Nemes! Thanks for sharing your experience and advices!
Many thanks! Let me know how polar alignment will go when you buy a star tracker.
Thanks for the primer on polar alignment! My EQM-35 just arrived and I am in process of setting up, so timing of your video was perfect!
Great to hear! I am glad that i could help. I wish it was a video for the polar alignment with the eqm35 pro last year when I bought mine.
Great video mate. Really appreciate you taking the time to do this. Thank you
With pleasure Jim! I am glad that I could help, and I hope this video will help also others that are starting astrophotography, and are new to polar alignment.
This video was very helpful and informing. Thank you very much!
Glad it was helpful! Happy Holidays and clear sky !
Thanks a lot, very useful!
With pleasure. I am glad it helped you!
A friend of mine, Jim Owen asked me if I can make a polar alignment tutorial for the Skywatcher Eqm35 Pro. Jim, I hope this video was useful and will help also other people, that are starting astrophotography, and they are new to polar alignment.
Thank you for the very helpfull video's ! I own the same gear (purchased the EQM35 pro recently and mostly because of your video's !). I am an older lady and this mount is still just right to handle... I assembled the mount, now I am in the process getting to know the synscan. I would love to get a GOOD video on that (I am trying to puzzle with different youtube video's but I am struggling a bit). Keep going doing the good youtube stuff !!! Thanks
Hello, i am glad i could help, i have in two videos some short presentations of the synscan hand controller, i will try and make in the future a dedicated video on that, first i have to finish some videos that i started and did not had time to finish them. I suggest meanwhile to read also the manual, it should explain good how to sue the synscan hand controller.
Nice tutorial, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Very nice video. Explains great for us beginning astrophotographers thanks.
Thanks. I am glad it was usefull.
i got my eq3 synscan e and i will try to apply all the concepts you explained.
Thanks Ioan.
Ciao. With pleasure! Wish you a good polar alignment and clear sky !
@@GalaxyArtMedia i Will let you know! In what part of the Planet are you located Ioan?
Thanks this was excellent
With pleasure ☺️
Thanks for the simple and GREAT video. There are SO many videos out there talking about PA but they never answer the basic questions I had about the EQM-35. Like the fact that the number don't have to be with number 12 on top in the scope. That seems very simple but frustrating if no one tells you. Can you tell I'm new at this? ;). Keep up the good work and I'll be watching for more videos in the future using the EQM-35.
Thank you very much Dave. I am glad you found the tutorial helpful. I am working now on a full tutorial on Deep Sky Stacker. Soon will be finish and i will upload. should not miss this video will be one of the best tutorials for dss stacking on youtube. This will help you stack the right way your astrophotography images and get fantastic results!
Thank you.
Just a small thing but the similar Celestron-AVX mount is not supplied with the polar telescope and reticule, it is an extra.
It also comes pre-installed with two legs north, the further north we go the more we need one leg north. (Northern hemisphere)
And then trying to use the thing at 51°N is a neck breaker needing a right-angle viewer. But once latitude (the single altitude knob) has been set we probably never need to alter it and that knob can be locked off. The two azimuth knobs are needed to swivel it every time it is moved and set up. Do lock the alt-az knobs off with a squeeze. Yes, an EQ mount uses RA-Dec for pointing but it still has Alt-Az adjustment knobs. The alignment does need to be quite precise or despite calibration it will not goto and track correctly.
A new mount is quite likely to have had the clutch knobs put on in the wrong positions. The clutches do need to lock or the motors are not going to move the telescope. They're on splines, refit them. For reason I cannot fathom out, the factory loaded the clutch brakes with grease so they would never grip, had to disassemble and use car brake cleaner.
Hello Jake. Unfortunately i did not use a mount like yours so i cant say much about it. With my Skywatcher eqm35 pro goto and star Adventurer is simple to make the polar alignment
@@GalaxyArtMedia the equivalent Skywatcher to the AVX is probably the HEQ5. Skywatcher, Celestron, and Orion are all made by Synta in China, so they're all rather similar. Certainly in setting up the mount.
Yes polar alignment is quite easy especially with an app to show you where to plonk Polaris in the rings. But the further north we go the more it becomes almost physically impossible to look up the polar scope without a right-angle viewer, and these often have a handy x2 magnifier. I say north because there's nowhere really far enough south for this to be a problem. And they have their own problems polar aligning on the underside.
And the further north so the assembly acquires a tendency to topple without one leg north. The further down you are so it may topple without one leg south. But both Celestron and Skywatcher have calibration routines to polar align on any star, it's a bit convoluted requiring rough alignment, calibration, polar alignment and then calibration again.
Polar alignment is pretty simple but important. The more precisely it can be set, the better the goto and tracking will be.
The knobs need to be nipped up, if I do them up tight I'm likely to break something, hence "squeeze". Once the altitude have been set you probably never need to change it again.
These entry level mounts often have little factory assembly issues that are not covered in the booklet. Such as levers facing the wrong way and everything coated with thick packing grease.
I do also have a Sky-Adventurer.
From my observing location i make the polar alignment fast once i peave the mount outside in the same position. Usually i check it every night and i make small adjustment if it needs. You can try nina 3 point alignment plugin if is hard to observe through the polar finder. Or use other software that does the calculations and you just need to make adjustments to the mount.
Hi, thanks for the video. I've got the same mount and I find that with my Maksutov 127 (1500mm ) and Aps-C reflex camera the limit for a good star following i 30 second. Maybe 1 pic every 30 is not bad also at 60 seconds.. My telescope has medium-long focal lenght but I'm not sure that the mount works properly. Have you got any suggestion?
Hello. I recently tested the mount with a 6 inch RC telescope managed to get up to 60 sec with round stars on the Orion Nebula. having close to 8 kg weight on the mount, but this will depend also of the position in the sky of the nebula, polar alignment and on how good the mount is balanced, usually is recommended to balance a little east heavy, i will upload soon a video review with my new telescope and the Eqm35pro. There is also a function called PEC that can help increase exposure times, watch also when you use the remote controller to use last the right or up arrow when you using the arrows so you will not have extra backlash. Shorter focal length will help get also longer exposures, here there are reducers/correctors and an autoguider, used with a guide scope or off axis guider. Usually 127 mak are used for planetary, you will get better performance with a more faster telescope for astrophotography, f/11 it is a bit dark, and using at 1500mm it makes also harder to take long exposures. You could test also the mount with lighter telescopes les heavy and shorter focal length and see how it will perform, ot with a camera and lens, and maybe this can help to see if the mount is working good.
Great tutorial! Would also add to use small cement gardening bricks to prevent the tripod from shifting. Saw this alot, before the bricks on soft ground of course.. Clear Skies!
Thank you. Lately i leave the mount on the terrace closer to house. I do polar alignment only a few times a year. It remains in the same position. Using bricks seems like a good idea. I use some now but more as protection against heavy wind so it will not blown it away like it happened to me last year
Good tips. I have one question, you need to have that checkbox checked in PolarFinder app? it is called ' show view through Polar Telescope'?
Hello thanks. I do not remember checkbox but is best to have selected in the polar finder app you are using the polar finder scope of your mount. For my mounts is the star adventurer polar scope
Thank you this has helped me alot! Trouble is though i have no polar scope illuminator ! Thought it come with one!
Glad I could help! You need to buy it separately. you can use also a faint light source to illuminate the reticle but best to be careful and do not use a very bright light. One time my battery of the illuminator failed, and i just used the faint light emitted by my smartphone screen to illuminate the polar scope reticle, holding the phone in an angle, other time I used my Led Lenser Mh6 headlamp with the red light on, but I do recommend you to find a polar illuminator.
@@GalaxyArtMedia thank you! Some good tips for me to follow in the meantime!
@@GalaxyArtMedia do you have a link for the polar illuminator?
@@evwill9 Yes, is in the description of the video, at equipment links
Thanks for this great video. Where can I get the polar illuminator from?
Thank you very much Kimball, I bought it from a local store but I will search for the polar illuminator I have and try to find a link to share, and i will get back to you with a comment
@@GalaxyArtMedia I purchased one and it still didn't light it up enough. I wish one would have been included.
Thank you. Did the tripod come with the mount or did you buy the tripod separately. What is the tripod mode
Hello. The steel tripod came with the mount. The mount has a photography mode without the declination axis and you can use it similar with a star tracker
Great thank you. Does anyone know where to get a polar illuminator for this particular mount?
Hello, the polar illuminator is the same one used with as the star adventurer. i might have a link ind description , so i remember
Awesome! Thanks!
What is the reasoning to remove the weight prior to polar aligning?
I always weight down the mount so it doesn't shift when adding the equipment back on.
(Note I'm on Dirt so Ground Shift is Possible).
I told the reason in the intro. Is harder to work with the knobs with the weight on. If you are carefull when you place the weight polaris shoud remain in the same spot. I tested with the eqm35 pro on ground and concrate. Your mount maybe has not so good stability if it shifts position and the weights are to heavy. The tutorial is good for other mounts also but is focused on the Skywatcher Eqm35pro
Hi just a quick question related to the camera and the telescope i use an canon 600d with an zenithstar 61...however when i connect them with the Tmount i can't set the apeture on manual mode as it states it does not identify the camera lens......this is a nightmare and i can't take any pictures. Do you know how i resolve this?
Hello. It is normal not so see any aperture because you removed the lens, and the telescope has a fix aperture that you can not change and it can not be detected by the camera. It does show F.0 on my camera, but this should not affect the camera ability to take photos. Use manual mode, enter your exposure time and iso and you can start imaging. it helps also to use a laptop and a software for astrophotography, I use Astrophotography Tool, APT.
Super
Thank you Ioana!
Have you a link to where you got the polar scope illuminator from?
I bought the polar illuminator together with my astrophotography kit from a local shop here in Romania, do not know if they sell internationally, but you can find it here this is an international shop. www.astroshop.eu/accessories/skywatcher-polar-illuminator-for-eq-3-2-and-eq-5-mounts/p,46423
Ok,What Is The Piece You Have That Illuminated The Polar Scope..I Need That
Hello! i will share a link with the polar illuminator: www.astroshop.eu/accessories/skywatcher-polar-illuminator-for-eq-3-2-and-eq-5-mounts/p,46423?affiliate_id=NemesIoan
@Galaxy_Art_Media Hey there, what are you using for a power supply/battery?
Hello. I am using a solar power generator 40.000 Mah, is hard to find now the same model but you could find some similar ones.
What is the name of the reticle illuminator you are using and where did you get it from??
Is the skywatcher polar iluminator or star adventurer polar iluminator
are you having problem with the home position thing? When I lock the green ring the mount won't move. So I can't set the home position with mine EQM-35 pro mount. The whole green ring with the "clock" feels lose and very bad quality. Maybe mine is broken.
Hello. I have not have this problem, I checked my mount now and that knob on my mount was not so tight, when i tightened more seems it can affect the Ra axis movement so i suggest to loosen that knob and it should work ok.
@@GalaxyArtMedia Thank you for your answer :) I would love to see a video on how you set the home position on your mount. A future video perhaps?
@@DuchessOlivia Hi Olivia. I will keep this ideea for a future video. I curently behingd i syatrded more than 25 videos and i need to edit them. But i could sent you some images and talk with you about it on Facebook. You can sent me a message and friend request on Ioan Nemes on facebook if you can not find the profile you can find me on the facebook group GAM Astrophotography Club
Have you tried the pole master?
I haven't
What if the 0 isn't at the top and the 6 not at the bottom? Is it important to set these vertically? If so how?
Hello! I explained in the video, from min 6.50 to 820 and from 7.50 sec i talk about the numbers until 8.20 sec, does not matter the numbers just to place polaris like in the phone app, i show in the video with images of the reticle.
I don't fully understand why one would level or change the height of the tripod after you polar align it. Wouldn't changing the leveling or height of the tripod break the polar alignment? Why wouldn't you do the polar alignment after leveling and adjusting the leg height?
Hello, i did not say to level after polar alignment, leveling and adjusting the tripod is done before, i said that is better to find polaris first and then adjust the tripod, because if you are not on a flat ground, and if polaris in in other place then you need to move the tripod and then you have to level again, so after you have done all the steps i mentioned in the video then you polar align, you can do this with or without the counterweight on, if you will align and put after the counterweight you should also check that polaris is in the same spot and did not move, usually on my mount does not change position but is best to check. Clear sky and Happy Holidays!
@@GalaxyArtMedia Ah, got it, sorry for misunderstanding. Thanks for the great videos by the way!
@@patrickkirchner2416 No problem. I am glad you like them. Polar alignment can be confusing at first but after you do it more times it will be much easyer.
Where are you from, your accent is very familiar to me.
Hello. I am from România. What about you?
I knew you are somewhere from the Balkans. I am from Macedonia. I got the BRESSER MESSIER MCX-102 GOTO and I don't have Polar Scope, I am placing the mount plate at my latitude level and pointing the tube at 90° than I'm trying approximately to determine where the Celestrial Pole should be. Is that okay?
@@gjorgjiefremov8607 Hello. I do not know this mount, and if you can make a a good alignment with it or not, but you should read the manual , I found this at page 19 Alignment of the MCX to the celestial pole. www.bresser.de/out/media/6659725e37bcd4694bed41dfa63f9dc2.pdf
Very good video friend! I have a query, what is the best method to connect the EQM35 to my PC to be able to use nina, ascom and eqmod? Thank you very much from Argentina!!
Hello. I was planing to make tutorials on this but i had to delay them because some back problems i started to have this summer. My best method so far is to use a mini pc, much more reliable than a laptop, i leave it on the mount and i control the mini pc with windows 10 remote control desktop from my home pc. The mount is connected to the Mini pc with an eqmod cable. and i use Nina, Eqmod, and Stellarium. Stellarium si conected to the mount also using Eqmod. you can check my live streams to see how i work with this setup, here is my last one when i captured Andromeda Mosaic at 1500 mm ua-cam.com/video/vEa8oOqc2o4/v-deo.html
@@GalaxyArtMedia perfect!! Thank you very mucho!
How do you find Polaris during the day? Phone app? Any advice would be great. Please, keep it in very non technical terms
Phone app like polar aligner pro can get you close. After you see polaris you can make the alignment better but you should be able to tack the moon at the planets but with more visible drift
@Galaxy Art Media
How??? Do I hold phone in front ofpolar align scope on mount?
As stated, very new. How can u see Polaris during the day? Very confused
@@juliano191 I started a video about this and did not manage to finish it yet, hope i will this year. you can place the phone on the mounts head where you normal place the telescope or even holding it in hand near the mount and it can tell you where is north and help you know how to move the mount to get a rough alignment. i suggest experiment in evening when you see Polaris and experiment with the phone so this way you can learn better how to align the mount or tripod. you can check my video also about home position it can help you get the default home position for your mount so the mount and telescope axe will point to polaris if aligned
@@juliano191 you can place the phone on the head of the mount where you place the dovetail and telescope or even hold it in your hand should show you roughly where is north, then make corrections with tripod or mount, polar aligner pro has also some tips there that can help. best learn to locate Polaris with naked eye and test in an evening with the phone and see how is best to position the phone so you get good alignment by comparing visualy where is polaris. after you do this you can try in daytime
@@GalaxyArtMedia thank you. I'll give it a shot. This is all very daunting