Polar Alignment and TPoint model

Clear tonight, but not dark until quite late. (Duh. That’s what I get for re-starting the observatory only a few days after Solstice.)

I did new polar alignment tonight:

• The “rough polar alignment” feature in TheSky, which slews to a computed star position which you then correct by adjusting the mount alt and az controls;
• Then a TPoint model, about 40 observation points around the sky (semi-automated with camera and TheSky “Image Link” feature);
• Then, with the TPoint model calculated, it makes an “accurate polar alignment” feature available, which uses another star and continuous imaging to fine-tune the alt/az positions.

After that I did a few test slews. Slewing to M27 from far away, it landed dead-on, precisely centred.

Just for fun I did a quick 60-second exposure while I was there. This is where the slew landed with no further aiming correction.