QHYCCD PoleMaster and Adapters As any seasoned astroimager would agree, achieving good polar alignment is not an easy task. You may spend hours under precious dark sky trying to get that perfect polar alignment, but in the end you may not know whether good alignment has in fact been achieved. Even after you have obtained good alignment, a gentle knock on the mount may send the polar alignment off and you may have no other choice but to start from scratch again. With an hour here and an hour there trying to get polar aligned, it soon will be dawn and time to pack up the gear.The QHYCCD PoleMaster is a great solution to this problem. The QHYCCD PoleMaster is an innovative product pioneered by QHYCCD to relieve the pain of polar alignment. Using PoleMaster and following a few simple, easy-to-follow, steps you can achieve perfect polar alignment in 2-3 minutes, with an accuracy of up to 30 arc seconds. Background How does PoleMaster work? The idea is actually fairly simple. You find out where the pole is, then determine the mechanical axis of rotation of your mount, and make the two coincide. While the idea is simple, it has never been implemented in a commercial product – until now. PoleMaster makes use of a super sensitive wide field imaging camera along the axis of RA to monitor the polar region in real time (it not only detects Polaris but also the dimmer stars surrounding Polaris). From the positions of these stars PoleMaster can determine the position of the true pole and compare that to the mechanical axis of RA rotation. Polar alignment is now a simple matter of moving the two centers of rotation so they overlap. Piece of cake! High Precision & Wide Field of View High Precision: The QHYCCD PoleMaster pixel resolution is approximately 30 arc seconds. The camera’s pixel matrix itself is a good ruler, so the accuracy it measures is much higher than the accuracy of the macroscopic lens. In the best case it can achieve an alignment accuracy of 30 arc seconds. Wide Field of View: The electronic polar mirror has a large field of view of 11 degrees x 8 degrees, so it is easy to find the Polaris. Easy to Install & Things You Can Ignore! You don’t need to rotate the telescope to some uncomfortable position to keep the optical polar axis of the equatorial mount unobstructed. Also, you don’t need to squat down to look through the polar axis scope. You don’t need to turn off all the light sources to allow the naked eye to adapt to the darkness and look for the Polaris in the field of view. You also don’t need to enter the date and time and then rotate the equatorial mount to a strange angle, finally you don’t need to adjust the equatorial level. One Star Calibration & Tracking Accuracy Once you have calibrated with a PoleMaster, you only need to perform a single-star sync (one-star calibration). This greatly facilitates the setup of an equatorial mount. Polar Tracking & Polar Axis Adjustment With the PoleMaster you can observe the alignment of the polar axis at any time, as well as continuously monitor the polar axis. When the equatorial mount moves inadvertently, you can also tune it back without having to redo everything. Compatibility: Various Equatorial Instruments Can be mounted to any equatorial mount: With a suitable adapter ring, the PoleMaster can be mounted to any equatorial mount, even an equatorial mount without a polar axis scope because the PoleMaster itself replaces all the functions of an optical polar alignment scope. Even single-axis equatorial mounts that have no ability to correct in declination will benefit because with the PoleMaster, after the polar axis is aligned, the amount of drift in the declination direction will be very small, which can further improve the performance of such an equatorial mount. Patented Product The PoleMaster electronic polar axis alignment device is a patented product of QHYCCD and is protected by Chinese patents. At present, QHYCCD also provided the PoleMaster as an OEM product for iOptron and licenses iOptron to use the iOptron LOGO logo on the PoleMaster product. This is only for use on iOptron Equatorial Mounts. For other brands of equatorial instruments, please look for the QHYCCD trademark. Highly Popular Tool The PoleMaster is an easy, convenient and fast way to achieve excellent polar alignment. It has been recognized by astronomy enthusiasts around the world and has become a must-have for anyone using an equatorial mount for visual use or for imaging. Technical Background The PoleMaster achieves polar axis alignment following this simple idea: Find the position of the pole and then make it coincide with the center of rotation of the equatorial mount’s RA axis, so that the right ascension axis of the equatorial mount is aligned with the axis of the Earth’s rotation. The PoleMaster can be mounted in front of the Equatorial Mount’s RA axis. It contains a highly sensitive camera that dynamically captures star images near the North celestial pole in real time. Its sensitivity is higher than the naked eye, so not only can you see the North Star, but you can also see a few dim stars near Polaris. Based on the location of these stars, the software calculates the true north pole position. At the same time, the PoleMaster detects the position of the center of rotation of the right ascension axis and then marks the position of the two points on the screen. All you have to do is adjust the equatorial mount so that the two points overlap and the polar axis is aligned. PoleMaster Adapter Install you PoleMaster on your mount with the QHYCCD PoleMaster Mount Adapter. Adapter Model Mount Compatibility NEQ6 Sky-Watcher NEQ6 / AZ-EQ6 / Celestron CGEM TKH Takahashi EM11 / EM200 HEQ5 Sky-Watcher HEQ5 AZEQ5 Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ5 AVX Celestron AVX CEM60 iOptron CEM60 ZEQ25/CEM25 iOptron CEQ25 / CEM25 IEQ30/45 iOptron IEQ30 / IEQ45 SX-4 SXD / SXW / SXD2 MESU MESU SXP SXP UNC4/1 Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Astrotrac Scissors Foot Equatorial EQ8 Sky-Watcher EQ8 / Orion HDX110 Smart EQ Smart EQ AP900 Astro-Physics AP900 G11 Losmandy G11 Technical Specifications Model PoleMaster Field of View 11 degrees x 8 degrees Sensitivity 9th Magnitude Coarse Adjustment 5 arc minutes Fine Adjustment Up to 30 arc seconds Computer Interface Mini USB2.0 Port Software QHYCCD PoleMaster Calibration Software Weight 106g Polemaster Adapter Compatibility Adapter Model Mount Compatibility NEQ6 Sky-Watcher NEQ6 / AZ-EQ6 / Celestron CGEM TKH Takahashi EM11 / EM200 HEQ5 Sky-Watcher HEQ5 AZEQ5 Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ5 AVX Celestron AVX CEM60 iOptron CEM60 ZEQ25/CEM25 iOptron CEQ25 / CEM25 IEQ30/45 iOptron IEQ30 / IEQ45 SX-4 SXD / SXW / SXD2 MESU MESU SXP SXP UNC4/1 Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Astrotrac Scissors Foot Equatorial EQ8 Sky-Watcher EQ8 / Orion HDX110 Smart EQ Smart EQ AP900 Astro-Physics AP900 G11 Losmandy G11 In the Box PoleMaster Cap USB Cable Case Adapter (Optional) Manual & Warranty QHYCCD 2-Years Warranty QHYCCD PoleMaster User Manual
