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asaint
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/25/03
Posts: 2022
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How to Drift Align
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Bob R.
super member
Reged: 07/27/04
Posts: 118
Loc: Connecticut
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I think a couple of figures would have gone a long way in explaining this topic. As it is, without figures, the brevity of text and the ambiguity of the terminology (i.e. "pushing the star") does not do the subject (let alone the author) justice.
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Meade LX200, 25.4cm, f10, UHTC, GPS
SAC7b Camera
Adaptive optic, 7mm, f3, bino-viewer
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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I have read this document several times, but I cannot understand it!
I am interested because, here in Iowa, a tree my hide the pole.
Here is what I got:
Adjust the RA axis to the declination to the place and point it as good as you know where North is.
Point to close to the zenith and let the stars drift.
Rotate the eyepiece until one of the lines of the reticle is parallel to the motion of the stars.
Note where West is in your eyepiece.
Move the telescope slightly North and note where North is in your eyepiece.
Lock the declination axis.
Move the telescope slowly West and note how the stars move:
If they move parallel to the reticle, you are at the pole;
If they drift North, rotate the North side of your telescope East. Go slow in small steps and try again.
If they drift South of the reticle, rotate the North side of the telescope West and try again.
I have not been able to come up with something for Alt/Az, but I am trying.
Mike
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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This one always works for me:
http://www.darkskyimages.com/gpolar.html
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apollosmith
sage
Reged: 08/31/04
Posts: 392
Loc: Utah
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This article makes absolutely no sense. 
The table with "drift rules" is so confusing. I see no rules whatsoever, just a list of things about palms, pushing stars, and some telescope types.
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MikeS
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/06/04
Posts: 918
Loc: Quakertown Pennsylvania
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Andy's Shot Glass has a great drift alignment movie at: http://www.andysshotglass.com/DriftAlignment.html
Mike
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Mike Snisky
8" F5 Newtonian/Moonlite CR2
Orion Sirius EQ-G Mount
Orion 100mm F6 Achro on SVP w Intelliscope
Orion 100mm ED on LXD55 Mount
Denkmeier Standards
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Quote:
Andy's Shot Glass has a great drift alignment movie
Very slick, Mike; that video helps clear a couple things for me. Despite the video, drift alignment still strikes me as one of those things that you gotta do a couple of times to *really* understand it-- unless you're really, really adept at spacial relations 
Cheers,
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wiruna
member
Reged: 08/11/06
Posts: 34
Loc: Sydney, Australia
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I have no difficulty with this article at all. The method is really simple and great to use in practice. And I understand drift alignment well enough to have dispensed with rules long ago and just work it out from scratch each time, but this method is such a no brainer that I now use it all the time. Maybe you have to be from Oz* to get it.
Geoff
*aka Australia
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Geoff
12" Dob
ZS110 on Losmandy GM-8
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5608
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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HERE is a simulator to help you practice, and a tutorial with good animations that not only show "how" to drift align, but also "WHY" the method works.
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Learn all about POLAR ALIGNMENT with my Drift Method Tutorial and simulator!! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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