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Introduction

ekos astrometry

Ekos Alignment Module enables highly accurate GOTOs to within sub-arcseconds accuracy and can measure and correct polar alignment errors. This is possible thanks to the StellarSolver library. Ekos begins by capturing an image of a starfield, feeding that image to the solver, and getting the central coordinates (RA, DEC) of the image. The solver essentially performs a pattern recognition against a catalog of millions of stars. Once the coordinates are determined, the true pointing of the telescope is known.

Often, there is a discrepancy between where the telescope thinks it is looking at and where it is truly pointing. The magnitude of this discrepancy can range from a few arcminutes to a couple of degrees. Ekos can then correct the discrepancy by either syncing to the new coordinates, or by slewing the mount to the desired target originally requested.

Furthermore, Ekos provides the Polar Alignment Assitant Tool: An easy to use tool for measuring and correcting polar errors. It takes three images any where in the sky (prefreably close to the celestial poles but not required) and then calculates the offset between the mount axis and polar axis.

At a minimum, you need a camera and a mount that supports Slew & Sync commands. Most popular commercial mounts nowadays support such commands.

For the Ekos Alignment Module to work, you have an option of either utilizing the built-in StellarSolver, or remote solver

  • StellarSolver: The default solver in Ekos. StellarSolver supports native plate-solving based on astrometry.net. Furthermore, it supports online (internet-based) astrometry.net solving, ASTAP, and local offline astrometry.net solver (Available for macOS & Linux). The built-in solver is fast and supported across all platforms.
  • Remote Solver: The remote solver is an offline solver the resides on a different machine (for example, you can use Astrometry solver on StellarMate). Captured images are solved on the remote machine.

Alignment vs Polar Alignment

It is important to understand the differences between Alignment (or more accurately GOTO Alignment) and Polar Alignment. They are two very different procedures that are designed for different purposes. The following is a summary on what each method is used for.

Goto Alignment
 Polar Alignment
  •  Used to improve the Mount GOTO accuracy by plate-solving images to determine the mount actual pointing position in the sky and then correcting the mount position until it is the target is centered in the camera's Field of View (FOV).
  • Each time an image is plate-solved successfully, a Sync point is appended to the Mount Model. With more points added, the mount GOTO accuracy would improve especially if there are sync points close to the GOTO target.
  • Used to align the mount's Right-Ascension axis with the celestial pole. This is done to improve Tracking Accuracy for long exposure astrophtograohy where the mount is required to compensate for the Earth's rotation by moving the mount at a specific speed in order to the keep the target in the center of the frame at all times. 
  • The offset between the mount's RA axis and polar axis is calculated by taking three separate images while rotating the mount by a fixed degree after each image. After the polar error is measured, the error can be reduced by adjusting the mount's Alt and Azimuth knobs until the Mount Axis coincides with the Polar Axis.

StellarSolver Integrationekos astrometry

StellarSolver is an astrometric plate-solving library that has been integrated into Ekos in order to provide accurate and efficient offline plate solving.

For plate-solving there are several parts in StellarSolver that are important:

Source Extraction

To find the stars in your image in order to solve. In StellarSolver, there are options for 3 different methods:

  • Internal SEP: this requires no external programs, it is the same SEP star extraction algorithm that has existed in KStars for Focus and Guiding for awhile now. It is essentially a library version of the method below (though there are some differences which is why they give slightly different results). It is entirely internal to the program, so there are no files saved to disk for the extraction which is great for Raspberry Pis etc.
  • External Sextractor: this does require an external program, SExtractor, or the Source Extractor. This is their official standalone program. The drawback is you would need to have sextractor installed and it does save a bunch of files to disk in order to do its operations.
  • BuiltIn Sextractor: This uses whatever method of source extraction the solver uses by default. StellarSolver uses SEP, just like the Internal SEP setting. Local astrometry.net uses its own source extraction method which uses a bunch of external resources including python, netpbm and other packages. And finally, ASTAP has its own internal source extractor which is pretty good.

Note: Either Internal SEP or External Sextractor should be superior to the built-in version of the programs. SExtractor is very good at extracting stars, and that greatly speeds up solving, but it requires tuning up the options to perfect it for your optical train.

The Solver

The program that will be used to do the solving of the sources that were found. In StellarSolver, there are 4 options for that

  • StellarSolver: This option uses an internal library build of astrometry.net. It uses no external files like configuration files etc, and saves no files to disk (except 0KB solved and cancel files) which is great forsolving method Raspberry Pis. Since this library is entirely internal, no programs have to be installed beyond KStars itself, so if you are going to use this option, you don't need the astrometry.net package at all. This is going to make a world of difference for Windows users who cannot install astrometry.net unless they do it in a compatibility layer.
  • Local Astrometry.net: This option uses the good old fashioned local astrometry.net installation many users have used with KStars for years. The only differences in Stellarsolver are that we no longer need the configuration files, we can do parallelization to make it MUCH faster, and we can use Internal SEP or External Sextractor to give it the sources to solve.
  • Local ASTAP: ASTAP was available in KStars previously, but more options have been implemented for using it in StellarSolver as well as giving you the option to use Internal SEP or SExtractor with it. The options for ASTAP are now shared with astrometry so you can just set your options in the profile and it will work fine. ASTAP does NOT support parallelization.
  • Online Astrometry.net: This option was previously available in KStars as well, but a bunch of work has been done on it to make it work better, to use Internal SEP or Sextractor if you like, to use the options in the profiles, and to provide clearer feedback to the user about what is going on. Technically, online Astrometry.net is already using parallelization on their server, so there was no need to implement parallelization for it.

The Options Profiles

Here are the profiles that have been developed:

Profiles mainly for Solving:
1-FastSolving: solve images fast, but it does not do parallel solves.
2-ParallelSolving: It can be faster than FastSolving, but does not work nearly as well as the next 2.
3-ParalleLargeScale: This profile is meant to solve DSLR scale images very fast. It assumes larger image scales to solve faster than the above.
4-ParallelSmallScale: The DEFAULT for solving. This profile is meant to solve telescopic images quickly. Most users should probably use this one.

Profiles mainly for Source Extraction in Focus and Guide
5-AllStars: This profile is meant to detect all the stars in an image.
6-SmallSizedStars: detects smaller stars and ignores bigger stars
7-MidSizedStars: detects medium-sized stars
8-BigSizedStars: detects bigger stars and ignores smaller stars

ANSVR Solver

Users on Windows OS can install ANSVR Local Astrometry.net solver and use it as a pseudo online solver that happens to be running a server on their machine. It is not recommended given that StellarSolver is built-in and faster. It is left in the documentation for users who want to try it out.

ANSVR mimics the astrometry.net online server services on your local computer; thus the internet not required for any astrometry queries. From the point of view of Ekos, it is still communicating with an online astrometry.net server.

After installing the ANSVR server and downloading the appropriate index files for your setup, make sure ANSVR server is up and running and then go to Ekos Alignment options where you can simply change the API URL to use the ANSVR server as illustrated below:

astrometry windows ansvr

Do not forget to include the full URL including the HTTP part. In Ekos Align module, you must set the solver type to Online so that it uses the local ANSVR server for all astrometry queries. Then you can use the align module as you would normally do. 

Remember as indicated above that StellarMate already includes astrometry.net. Therefore, if you would like to use StellarMate remotely to solve your images, simply change the solver type to Remote and ensure that your equipment profile includes Astrometry driver which can be selected under the Auxiliary dropdown. This is applicable to all operating systems and not just Windows.

Download Index Files

For offline (and remote) solvers, index files are necessary for the solver to work. The complete collection of index files is huge (over 30 GB), but you only need to download what is necessary for your equipment setup. Index files are sorted by the Field-Of-View (FOV) range they cover. There are two methods to fetch the necessary index files: The new download support in Align module, and the old manual way.

Automatic Download

astrometry indexes settings

Automatic download is only available for Ekos users on Linux & macOS. For Windows users, please download ANSVR solver.

To access the download page, click the Options button in the Align module and then select Astrometry Index Files tab. The page displays the current FOV of your current setup and below it a list of available and installed index files. Three icons are used to designate the importance of index files given your current setup as following:

  • Required Required
  • Recommended Recommended
  • Optional Optional 

You must download all the required files, and if you have plenty of hard drive space left, you can also download the recommended indexes. If an index file is installed, the checkmark shall be checked, otherwise check it to download the relevant index file. By default, StellarMate comes pre-installed with index files 4206 to 4219. Due to size restrictions, indexes 4204 and 4205 are not included in the official StellarMate OS image. It is recommended to download them. From Astrometry Index Files tab, click on Index File Location combo and select the first entry below All Sources. Once selected, you should be able to download the necessary index files as illustrated below.

Astrometry Settings

Please only download one file at a time, especially for larger files. Once you installed all the required files, you can begin using the offline astrometry.net solver immediately.

Manual Download

You need to download and install the necessary index files suitable for your telescope+CCD field of view (FOV). You need to install index files covering 100% to 10% of your FOV. For example, if your FOV is 60 arcminutes, you need to install index files covering skymarks from 6 arcminutes (10%) to 60 arcminutes (100%). There are many online tools to calculate FOVs, such as the Astronomy tool.

Index Filename FOV (arcminutes) Debian Package
index-4219.fits 1400 - 2000 astrometry-data-4208-4219
index-4218.fits 1000 - 1400
index-4217.fits 680 - 1000
index-4216.fits 480 - 680
index-4215.fits 340 - 480
index-4214.fits 240 - 340
index-4213.fits 170 - 240
index-4212.fits 120 - 170
index-4211.fits 85 - 120
index-4210.fits 60 - 85
index-4209.fits 42 - 60
index-4208.fits 30 - 42
index-4207-*.fits 22 - 30 astrometry-data-4207
index-4206-*.fits 16 - 22 astrometry-data-4206
index-4205-*.fits 11 - 16 astrometry-data-4205
index-4204-*.fits 8 - 11 astrometry-data-4204
index-4203-*.fits 5.6 - 8.0 astrometry-data-4203
index-4202-*.fits 4.0 - 5.6 astrometry-data-4202
index-4201-*.fits 2.8 - 4.0 astrometry-data-4201-1
astrometry-data-4201-2
astrometry-data-4201-3
astrometry-data-4201-4
index-4200-*.fits 2.0 - 2.8 astrometry-data-4200-1
astrometry-data-4200-2
astrometry-data-4200-3
astrometry-data-4200-4

The Debian packages are suitable for any Debian-based distribution (Ubuntu, Mint...etc). If you downloaded the Debian Packages above for your FOV range, you can install them from your favorite package manager, or via the following command:

sudo dpkg -i astrometry-data-*.deb

On the other hand, if you downloaded the FITS index files directly, copy them to /usr/share/astrometry directory.

It is recommended to use a download manager as such DownThemAll! for Firefox to download the Debian packages as browsers' built-in download manager may have problems with download large packages.

How to Use?

Ekos Align Module offers multiple functions to aid you in achieving accurate GOTOs. Start with your mount in home position with the telescope tube looking directly at the celestial pole. For users in Northern Hemisphere, point the telescope as close as possible to Polaris. Initial 2-3 star alignment might be required depending on your mount make:

  • EQMod, Celestron Aux (e.g. Evolution), AstroTrac: No need to perform initial alignment, Ekos alignment module can work with the mount right away after power up given the mount is in its home position.
  • All other Mount drivers: Must intially perform 2-3 star alignment using the handset before you can use the Ekos alignment module.

Ekos Alignment module features the following functions:

  • Optical Train: Select which optical train to use for alignment. Usally, it is the Primary optical train used in Camera module as well. Edit the optical train to ensure that the correct camera and telescope are selected. If using a focal reducer or balow, please specify it in the train configuration.
  • Capture & Solve: Capture an image and determine what region in the sky the telescope is exactly looking at. The astrometry results include the equatorial coordinates (RA & DEC) of the center of the captured image in addition to pixel scale and field rotation. Depending on the Solver Action settings, the results can be used to Sync the mount or Sync and then Slew to the target location. For example, suppose you slewed the mount to Vega then used Capture & Solve. If the actual telescope location is different from Vega, it will be first synced to the solved coordinate and then Ekos shall command the mount to slew to Vega. After slew is complete, the Alignment module will repeat Capture & Solve process again until the error between reported and actual position falls below the accuracy thresholds (30 arcseconds by default).
  • Load & Slew: Load a FITS or JPEG file, solve it, and then slew to it.
  • Polar Alignment Assistant: A simple tool to aid in polar alignment of German Equatorial Mounts.

Warning! Never solve an image at or near the celestial pole (unless Ekos Polar Alignment Assistant Tool is used). Slew at least 20 degrees away from the celetial pole before solving the first image. Solving very close to the poles will make your mount pointing worse so avoid it.

Plate Solve Capture Settingsastrometry settings

Configure plate solving capture settings:

  • Exposure: Exposure duration in seconds
  • Bining: Camera binning (2x2 is by default). Use 2x2 or 4x4 to speed up the process.
  • Gain: For cameras supporting gain, set the desired gain.
  • ISO: For cameras supporting ISO (e.g. DSLRs), set the desired ISO.
  • Dark: Perform dark subtraction if a suitable dark frame is found in the Dark Library.
  • Filter: If a filter wheel is used, then use this filter when capturing align images regardless of filter used in other modules.
  • Solver Mode: Select solver mode (StellarSolver or Remote). Remote solver is only available when connecting to a remote device.

By default, the solver will search all over the sky to determine the coordinates of the captured image. This can take a lot of time; therefore, in order to speed up the solver, you can restrict it to only search within a specified area in the sky designated by the RA, DEC, and Radius options above.

Astrometry.net Settings

Options for offline and online solvers.

stellarsolver options

Most of the options are sufficient by default. If you have astrometry.net installed in a non-standard location, you can change the paths as necessary.

  • Rotator: Rotator threshold in arc-minutes when using Load & Slew. If the difference between measured position angle and FITS position angle is below this value, the Load & Slew operation is considered successful.
  • Time out: Timeout in seconds to wait for astrometry solver to complete.
  • WCS: World-Coordinate-System is a system for embedding equatorial coordinate information within the image. Therefore, when you view the image, you can hover it and view the coordinate for each pixel. You can also click anywhere in the image and command to the telescope to slew there. It is highly recommeneded to keep this option on.
  • Overlay: Overlay captured images unto the sky map of KStars.
  • Upload JPG: When using online astrometry.net, upload all images are JPEGs to save bandwidth as FITS images can be large.
  • Auto Park: Automatically park the mount after completing Polar Alignment Assistant Tools.

Warning: Turning Auto Park off might lead to inaccurate results.

Solver Options

Ekos selects and updates the optimal options by default to accelerate the performance of the solver. You may opt to change the options that are passed to the solver in case the default options are not sufficient.

Imaging Options

  • Use Scale: Set image scale to speed up solver as it does not have to search index files of different image scales.
    • Low: The lower end of the imager scale, calculated as a little smaller than the shorter dimension of the image.
    • High: The high end of the imager scale, calculated as a little bigger than the longer dimension of the image.imaging options
    • Units: The units of the imager scale bounds above.
      • dw: degree width
      • aw: arcminute width
      • app: arcsecs per pixel
    • : Update Image Scale Bounds from the currently active camera and telescope combination.
  • Auto Update: Automatically update image scale values when CCD and/or Mount parameters are updated.
  • Down Sample: Downsample the image to shrink its size and speed up the solver.
    • Auto: Automatically determine downsample value based on image size

Position Options

  • Use differential slewing instead of syncing: Do not use Sync when Slew to Target is selected. Use differential slewing to correct for discrepancies. This is useful on some mounts (e.g. Paramount).
  • Use position: Set estimated position to speed up astrometry solver as it does not have to search in other areas of the sky.
    • RA: The RA of the Estimated Telescope/Image Field Position in hh:mm:ss notationposition options
    • DEC: The DEC of the Estimated Telescope/Image Field Position in dd:mm:ss notation
    • Radius: The Search Radius for the Estimated Telescope/Image Field Position in degrees.
    • : Update coordinates to the current telescope position.
  • Auto Update: Automatically update position coordinates when mount completes slewing.
  • Custom: Additional optional astrometry.net options.

If solving always fail even though the image contains lots of focused stars, then it is likely that either the frame field of view (FOV) and/or mount position is wrong. Turn off Use Scale or Use Position then try solving again. If the solving succeeds then that confirms that either the FOV scale or position are indeed incorrect.

Capture & Solve

Using Ekos Alignment Module, aligning your mount using the controller's 1, 2, or 3 star alignment is not strictly necessary, though for some mounts it is recommended to perform a rough 1 or 2 star alignment before using Ekos alignment module. If you are using EQMod, you can start using Ekos alignment module right away. A typical workflow for GOTO alignment involves the following steps:

  1. Set your mount to its home position (usually the NCP for equatorial mounts)
  2. Select Slew to Target in the Solver Action.
  3. Slew to a nearby bright star.
  4. After slew is complete, click Capture & Solve

If the solver is successful, Ekos will sync and then slew to the star. The results are displayed in the Solution Results tab along with a bullseye diagram that shows the offset the reported telescope coordinates (i.e. where the telescope thinks it is looking at) vs. its actual position in the sky as determined by the solver.

Each time the solver is executed and returns successful results, Ekos can run on the following actions:

  • Sync: Syncs the telescope coordinates to the solution coordinates.
  • Slew to Target: Syncs the telescope coordinates to the solution coordinates and then slew to the target.
  • Nothing: Just solve the image and display the solution coordinates.

Troubleshooting

Sometimes, the solver would fail to solve an image for various reasons. Here are some tips to get you started in the right direction:

Cause Action Ekos App
Insufficient stars. Astrometry requires a few clearly visible and defined stars.
  1. Increase Exposure Time.
  2. Increase Gain and/or ISO settings.
  3. Change binning to 2x2 or 4x4
  4. Enable Dark frame subtraction. This helps in reducing the noise in the image.
Change Camera Settings in Ekos Alignment module.  Edit Align presets and change camera settings. 
Unfocused image. Focused star field is necessary for astrometry to work. Focus the camera until you get pin-point stars. Focus camera automatically or manually via Focus module. Focus camera automatically or manually via Focus module. 
Wrong Field of View value. Ekos displays the FOV in arcminutes.
  1. Verify your equipment FOV using online FOV calculator (Imaging Mode).
  2. Ensure the telescope focal length is correct.
  3. If using a reducer/corrector, then you must specify this value in the Optical Train.
  4. FOV depends on camera pixel size in micrometers. While it is very rare for this value to be incorrect, double check the camera pixel size is reported correctly in INDI Control Paneli> → Image Info tab.
   
Wrong Mount position. Astrometry works when the mount is relatively close to the GOTO target. If it is too far away (more than a couple of degrees) then astrometry may fail.
  1. For handset-controlled mounts, ensure a successful completion of 2-star or 3-star alignment routines before connecting the mount to StellarMate. It's recommended to turn off DST (Daylight Time Savings) as this might interfer with time handling in StellarMate.
  2. For direct-controlled mounts (EQMod, Celestron WiFi..etc), ensure that the mount is powered in its correct home position.
  3. Ensure that the date and time are correct. Incorrect time may lead the mount to a totally different location in the sky.
  4. Ensure geographic location is correct.
  5. While polar alignment is not strictly necessary for accurate GOTO (it mostly affects tracking accuracy). It's recomended to have equatorial mounts polar aligned.
  6. Do the RA/DE coordinates of the telescope make sense? By default, the solver searches within 30 degrees of the current mount location. If the mount is way off in the sky, the solver would fail. If this happens, go back to your parking home position and then slew to a nearby star. If the star is off by more than 30 degrees, then there is something wrong with the mount, time, and location settings so check each of those.
  SM App syncs the device time and location from the phone/tablet GPS automatically upon connection.
Missing astrometry index files By default StellarMate come preinstalled with index files 4206 to 4219, but if your FOV is on the narrower scale, you might need to install more index files.    
Automatic Downsampling
  • Automatic downsampling is turned on by default. It essentially reduces the size of your image before it is fed to the solver. For most users, this option improves solver efficiency. However, it can create issues for others. Go to Astrometry options and turn off automatic downsampling and if that doesn't work, try turning off downsampling completely.
   

 

Polar Alignment

Polar Alignment Assitant

When setting up a German Equatorial Mount (GEM) for imaging, a critical aspect of capturing long-exposure images is to ensure a proper polar alignment. A GEM mount has two axis: Right Ascension (RA) axis and Declination (DE) axis. Ideally, the RA axis should be aligned with the celestial sphere polar axis. A mount's job is to track the stars motion around the sky, from the moment they rise at the eastern horizon, all the way up across the median, and westward until they set.

In long exposure imaging, a camera is attached to the telescope where the image sensor captures incoming photons from a particular area in the sky. The incident photons have to strike the same photo-site over and over again if we are to gather clear and crisp image. Of course, actual photons do not behave in this way: optics, atmosphere, seeing quality all scatter and refract photons in one way or another. Furthermore, photons do not arrive uniformly but follow a Poisson distribution. For point-like sources like stars, a point spread function describes how photons are spatially distributed across the pixels. Nevertheless, the overall idea we want to keep the source photons hitting the same pixels. Otherwise, we might end up with an image plagued with various trail artifacts.

 

Since mounts are not perfect, they cannot perfectly keep track of object as it transits across the sky. This can stem from many factors, one of which is the misalignment of the mount's Right Ascension axis with respect to the celestial pole axis. Polar alignment removes one of the biggest sources of tracking errors in the mount, but other sources of error still play a factor. If properly aligned, some mounts can track an object for a few minutes with only deviation of 1-2 arcsec RMS.

However, unless you have a top of the line mount, then you'd probably want to use an autoguider to keep the same star locked in the same position over time. Despite all of this, if the axis of the mount is not properly aligned with the celestial pole, then even a mechanically-perfect mount would lose tracking with time. Tracking errors are proportional to the magnitude of the misalignment. It is therefore very important for long exposure imaging to get the mount polar aligned to reduce any residual errors as it spans across the sky.

Before starting the process, point the mount as close as possible to the celestial pole. If you are living in the Northern Hemisphere, point it as close as possible to Polaris.

The tool works by capturing and solving three images. After capturing each, the mount rotates by a fixed amount, and another image is captured and solved.

polar align start

After the first capture, you can rotate the mount by a specific amount (default 30 degrees) either West or East. After selecting the magnitude and direction, click Next to continue and the mount will be rotated. Once the rotation is complete you shall be asked to take another capture, unless you have checked Auto Mode. In Automated mode, the rest of the process will continue with the same settings and direction until a total of three images are captured.

Since the mount's true RA/DE are resolved by astrometry, we can construct a unique circle from the three centers found in the astrometry solutions. The circle's center is where the mount rotates about (RA Axis) and ideally, this point should coincide with the celestial pole. However, if there is a misalignment, then Ekos draws a correction vector. This correction vector can be placed anywhere in the image. Next, refresh the camera feed and make corrections to the mount's Altitude and Azimuth knobs until the star is located in the designated cross-hair. To make it easy to make corrections, expand the view by clicking on the Fullscreen button.

polar align manual rotate

If you are away from StellarMate or PC, you can use your Tablet to monitor the camera feed while making corrections. Use the StellarMate's web-based VNC viewer or use any VNC Client on your tablet to access StellarMate. If Ekos is running on your PC, you can use applications like TeamViewer to achieve the same results. The following is a video demonstrating how to utilize the Polar Alignment Assistant tool.

 
 

Legacy Polar Alignment Workflow

Using the Polar Alignment mode, Ekos can measure and correct for polar alignment errors. To measure Azimuth error, point your mount to a star close to the meridian. If you live in the northerm hemisphere, you will point the mount toward the southern meridian. Click on Measure Az Error to begin the process. Ekos will try to measure the drift between two images and calculates the error accordingly. You can ask Ekos to correct Azimuth error by clicking on Correct Az Error button. Ekos will slew to a new location and asks you to adjust the mount's azimuth knobs until the star is in the center of the Field of View. You can use the Focus Module's Framing feature to take a look at the image as you make your adjustments.

Similarly, to measure Altitude error, click on the Measure Alt Error button. You need to point your mount either east or west, and set the Altitude Direction combo box accordingly. Ekos will take two images and calculates the error. You can ask Ekos to correct Altitude error by clicking on the Correct Alt Error button. As with Azimuth correction, Ekos will slew to a new location and asks you to adjust the mount's altitude knobs until the star is in the center of the FOV.

After making a correction, it is recommended to measure the Azimuth and Altitude errors again and gauge the difference. You may need to perform the correction more than once to obtain optimal results.

Before starting the Polar Alignment tool, you must complete the GOTO Workflow above for at least one point in the sky. Once your mount is aligned, proceed with the following (assuming you live in the northern hemisphere):

  1. Slew to a bright star (4th magnitude or below) near the southern meridian (Azimuth 180). Make sure Slew to Target is selected. Capture and solve. The star should be exactly centered in your CCD field of view.
  2. Switch mode to Polar Alignment. Click Measure Az Error. It will ask you to slew to a star at the southern meridian which we already done, click continue. Ekos will now perform the error calculation.
  3. If all goes well, the error is displayed in the output boxes. To correct for the error, click Correct Az Error. Ekos will now slew to a different point in the sky, and you will be required to ONLY adjust the mount's azimuth knobs to center the star in the field of view. The most convenient way of monitoring the star field is by going to the Focus module and clicking Start Framing. If the azimuth error is great, the star might not be visible in the CCD field of view, and therefore you have to make blind adjustments (or simply look through the finderscope) until the star enters the CCD FOV.
  4. Begin your azimuth adjustments until the bright star you slewed to initially is as close to center as you can get it
  5. Stop Framing in the Focus module.
  6. Repeat the Measure Az Error to ensure we indeed corrected the error. You might have to run it more than once to ensure the results are valid.
  7. Switch mode to GOTO.
  8. Now slew to a bright star either on the eastern or western horizon, preferably above 20 degrees altitude. It has to be as close as possible to the eastern (90 azimuth) or western (270) cardinal points.
  9. After slew is complete, capture and solve. The star should be dead center in the CCD FOV now.
  10. Switch mode to Polar Alignment
  11. Click Measure Alt Error. It will ask you to slew to a star at either the eastern (Azimuth 90) or western (Azimuth 270) which we already done, click continue. Ekos will now perform the error calculation.
  12. To correct for the error, click Correct Alt Error. Ekos will now slew to a different point in the sky, and you will be required to ONLY adjust the mount's altitude knobs to center the star in the field of view. Start framing as done before in the focus module to help you with the centering.
  13. After centering is complete, stop framing.
  14. Repeat the Measure Alt Error to ensure we indeed corrected the error. You might have to run it more than once to ensure the results are valid.
  15. Polar alignment is now complete!

The mount may slew to a dangerous position and you might risk hitting the tripod and/or other equipment. Carefully monitor the mount's motion. Use at your own risk.