From: "Mel Bartels" 
To: , 
Reply-To: "Mel Bartels" 


>>>
     Mel: You gotta teach that friend of yours how to align his mount.
Either that, or convert him into a 3-axis alt-az kind of guy.  :)  hee hee
<<<

'My friend' is a 40 year veteran of astrophotography, having been published
in the major magazines and on the cover of college astronomy textbooks.
Please don't say that within a few arcminutes of the pole is satisfactory
polar alignment in his presense without a hefty dose of vallium present
.  He's rather particular and I suspect his standard is closer to a
dozen arcseconds alignment.  To him, an hour exposure is just getting started.

My point wasn't to get into details, and although my example was extreme,
it did illustrate how you make a commitment to polar alignment when you use
an equatorial mount.  For visual use, the commitment is minimal, true
enough.

Mel Bartels

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