Mastering NINA's 3 Point Polar Alignment: The Ultimate Guide

[@Paul_AstroEsthetics_]

NINA's TPPA is great. I use it every time. I usually recheck it 2-3 times and it's good to go. Keep the videos coming, you put out some different info than others out there and it's great.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

I love NINA’s TPPA. It is extremely easy to use, accurate and no restrictions! Thank you, I appreciate that!

[@Dazzyt66]

Great, clearly explained vid! Have just moved from Ekos to NINA so just need a clear night now to try this out! Thanks

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you and I’m glad you enjoyed it! Please let me know if you need any help. I love this NINA plug in and it is very reliable.

[@MarkManner]

Helpful, thanks. I'll try this tonight.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you and you are very welcome! Let me know if you need any help.

[@IslandSkyPhotography]

Great video!!! I’m a total beginner and was having trouble grasping the basic concepts around the coordinates (which was super embarrassing). I literally went “ohhhh” while watching your explanation. Thank you!

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you! Hey, we’ve all started somewhere and we’ve all been in that situation, if not similar! Want to know why I have that part in my video? I was in the same situation and when I figured it out, I had the same reaction lol. Glad this helped! Have you been able to get the scope out and try it yet?

[@acejoe5996]

Great tutorial ! Thanks for the help !

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you, I’m glad this helped :) Are you just getting into NINA 3 Point Polar Alignment?

[@acejoe5996]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography Yep, I am newbie, skipped the asiair PC and going straight to Nina. Btw, I didn't find an option to make planetary vids inside Nina, is it possible via an add-on?

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Welcome to an amazing hobby! What setup are you using? At this point, and hopefully very soon, there is not a feature or plug in for an AVI or SER video within NINA. There is a workaround for it though by utilizing SharpCap. SharpCap is another free program, however, I find NINA to be more user friendly and powerful. I use SharpCap for planetary as well as exposure recommendations (which I find to be much better than NINA’s exposure recommendations). I will be doing a video on this exact subject as well, but want to get through a few more tutorials leading up to it. Here’s how it would work though: Get the RA and DEC coordinates for your chosen planet from Stellarium mobile app if you do not have Stellarium integrated into NINA. Go to the equipment tab on far left and go to telescope/mount tab Enter the coordinates in the top right section where you see RA and DEC and click slew Go back to your imaging tab and plate solve the coordinates you just slewed to. The plate solving button will be located in the icons at the top of the screen if you don’t have it already set as part of your workspace. Hover over the icons to reveal the name and when you find plate solving, click and it will add to your imaging workspace. From there you can set it to your desired location on the workspace. Just click the start platesolve and NINA will automatically center the planet for you Disconnect your camera from NINA and open SharpCap (make sure to download it if you don’t already have it. Connect your camera in SharpCap and click live view. On the section to the right of the window you’ll see a section where you can choose the output format. From there you’ll choose either SER or AVI. Dial in your focus and click start capture and take a video of between 1 and 2 minutes. Open the file in a program such as AutoStakkert and reveal what you captured :) I know this is a lot of info just starting out, but I am more than happy to walk you through it. If you choose to do so, email me at [e-mail] once you have everything downloaded and we’ll work together to get you going.

[@victortapia-montano8114]

Great video! The difference between geographical and magnetic poles is called the Magnetic Declination and you can find it by doing a quick search or getting some cartography charts for the location you are in. For instance, for Phoenix, Arizona, the magnetic deviation is -12 degrees and 20 minutes, so I need to setup my mount at 0 degrees minus 12 degrees and 20 minutes = 367 degrees 40 Minutes.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you! Thank for that amazing fact! I never knew that and will take a look. That’s what this is all about; learning something new every day!

[@rjialceky]

NOAA Mobile Magnetic Declination Calculator www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/calculators/mobileDeclination.shtml

[@larry5488]

Good video. I've used tppa for some time and I found some good tidbits here. One note. Be careful with the compass resting on the mount for initial alignment. The mount is probably going to affect the compass. I usually stand some distance behind the mount to do the initial compass based alignment.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you and I’m glad this helped! If you don’t mind me asking, which tidbits did you discover? Yes, I have found some inconsistencies with my compass as well, but that’s also why I mention to see where you are in a good position when set up. Once you find your sweet spot you’ll have a few degrees to play with :)

[@larry5488]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography The biggest one for me was increasing the distance between shots. I had been using the default 10. 20 does seem to help me reach alignment faster.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Very good! Yes, measure point distance of 20 gets the most accurate results as well. Covering more degrees in the sky gives NINA a much better idea of the “drift” due to polar alignments errors.

[@KJRitch]

Thanks for an expanded version of NINA TPPA. My AVX mount has a polar scope in it and I have found it is easier to set up the tripod in the evening once Polaris is visible. I can set the AVX on the tripod and set to the index marks then move the tripod and head and sit along the saddle to Polaris. If you don't have a polar scope you can rotate the DEC and remove the two caps for the polar scope and peak through the hole. Polaris will be in the FOV of the mount hole if your Altitude is close to your latitude. Then I level the mount. I then use the polar scope and an iPhone app PS Align Pro to show me the position of Polaris in relation to the NCP. Then when I use NINA TPPA I never see that error message that recommends performing the procedure twice. I still do it twice and try to get below 10 arc second. However when I perform a PHD2 calibration it never gives me a good calibration result. My graph isn't at all near 90°. When I run a PHD2 Guiding Assistance tool it always recommends to recalibrate and do polar align again. I had one session a couple of nights ago where despite those calibration results I was able to keep the guiding RA and DEC RMS error under 1 arc second. Good and consistent guiding is going to make or break me in this hobby. My rig is a C8 with AVX, Celestron OAG with ASI174mm, 6.3 focal reducer, ASI071MC Pro, NINA.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

I never used to get that message either until the last several months, however, I would always run it twice like you are. I love the AVX, but it is temperamental and takes some time and patience to tame it. I still run mine as it is a good mount. What program are you using to run the AVX (ie CPWI)? You mentioned you are running a focal reducer and you mentioned plate solving failures in your comment on the guiding video. Do you have the new focal length calculated correctly and set up in NINA settings as well as the correct camera parameters (primary imaging camera). I would physically check rather than go off memory. Usually issues like this are a settings issue and having your camera (primary imaging camera) information incorrect and/or focal length incorrect can and will cause issues and inaccuracies if the processes do happen to work. Let’s start here on this chat and we will go from there. I will address more with your specific questions in your guiding video comment.

[@zdzichudwr8174]

great tutorial

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you! Have you used this before seeing the video?

[@rickslan362]

Great video! I'm using NINA and can't find the config for Settle time after slew. Where is that configured? Thanks!

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you! I’m going off of memory here and will confirm when I get back to my computer, but it should be in the options tab on the far left of the screen and then mount/telescope. Let me know if you find it otherwise I will confirm as soon as I’m home from work :)

[@92mrkite]

Impressive accuracy, I have to check my own setup on peer. I guess to recalibrate PHD2 should be useful as well to stick to this well defined PA.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you! Yes, PHD2 recalibration would definitely be a good idea if you adjust PA. What do you have mounted on the peer?

[@92mrkite]

Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P on Losmandy G11, ZWO ASI183MM Pro with EFW 8 slots and EAF. Pegasus Falcon2 to be delivered within a few weeks. Piggyback guiding with SW 80/400 and QHY5L-II-M

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Very impressive! How do you like the 250p? I was looking at that scope, but it was a little big for my EQ6R Pro. I ended up with the 200p instead. Let me know how you like the Falcon2. My Falcon v1 has been doing excellent so I haven’t seen a need to upgrade from there, but that Falcon2 looks sleek and I like the idea of being powered via USB.

[@92mrkite]

I had the same setup as yours and got the G11 to switch to the 250P. Very nice tube, indeed!

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Very nice! The G11 handles it pretty well? How’s the guiding?

[@B_mata]

Excellent video! I'm a beginner with NINA so this is axactly what I need. I have one question: You set the start altitude and Azimuth both to 40° and the distance to 10°. You said the scope would thus move to an altitude of 60 then 80 for the 3rd star but when the telescope slews during the polar alignment it shows a final altitude of about 62°. Why is this?

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

That is very observant and an excellent question! The measure point distance is how far the scope will move between exposures. 20 degrees will give you the best accuracy, however, this is a movement command of the RA axis (Azimuth). RA moves East to West and Declination (altitude) is North/South. Meridian is defined at 90 degrees directly overhead, so starting Azimuth (east west) at 40 and moving 20 each exposure will prevent us from hitting 90 which is Meridian. The 62 degrees altitude that you’re seeing is where altitude (Declination) is pointed after RA moves to its final position with the settings I demonstrate in the video. I hope this helps and if you want or need me to reword this or demonstrate, please let me know and I’m more than happy to :)

[@B_mata]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography Thanks very much. That answer is perfectly clear (as are ypur videos). The worry is always setting bad values and causing the scop to crash into the tripod! Especially if controlling it remotely.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you! Yes, that is always something at the back of minds haha. That’s why it’s very important to know how much RA movement you have available when figuring out where to set your starting point.

[@teb76]

Tony, really helpful video, especially for me tat I'm still questioning if to take an EQ mount as I do not have a view on the celestial pole from home. Just a question: after the polar alignment with this method is done, do I still need to align the mount? Also, as I normally use sharpcap, once I finish the polar alignment with NINA, may I switch to sharpcap to shoot or I will need to align before using Sharpcap? Thanks a lot for your valuable advice.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you! Awesome question! This process aligns the mount so once you are done with NINA’s 3 Point Polar Alignment, you are polar aligned and there’s no more adjustment necessary for the mount. The only time you’ll need to readjust is if you if disassemble and reassemble. Yes, you can switch to SharpCap once done and you’ll still be polar aligned. I actually align in NINA and then switch to SharpCap to do planetary with no issues :)

[@teb76]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography ok clear, however I was referring to the mount alignment which is actually another thing with respect to the polar alignment. Nevertheless I think that using the plate solving I'll get the alignment togheter with the polar alignment , right?

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

I apologize, I was going through comments and thought I responded to this. The way I’ve always referred to mount alignment was a general alignment and leveling of the tripod and mount to get it ready for polar alignment and then polar alignment is fine tuning and perfecting the alignment (similar to what I explain with the compass towards the beginning. I just want to make sure I am understanding you correctly. Is this what you were referring to or is there a different version of mount alignment that you’re referring to?

[@tutting]

How close to a perfect polar alignment would you consider acceptable (i appreciate it probably depends on the mount) but sometime I spend ages and never quite reach the 0.0 total error. Thanks for the video...

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Great question! I wouldn’t aim for 0.00 total error :) I’m happy as long as I am under 0.10 total error. This comes in especially with auto guiding, having too close to perfect can actually hurt.

[@billt9591]

Thanks for a very thorough explanation of the NINA process. I have my Iphone compass set to display in true north instead of magnetic. I have not used the three point alignment yet as I don't have a compatible camera yet. Were you using your main imaging camera?

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

You are very welcome! Which camera are you using? Yes, I use my main imaging camera to do this procedure and that is why I recommend this procedure as I have not found a restriction yet that has prevented it from working. I have used my ASI585MC, ASI2600MC and ASI533MC with no issues at all. As long as you are in focus and ASTAP plate solving are working, you can perform this.

[@billt9591]

Using a Nikon D3300 DLSR, It seems Nikon didn't make SDK for it. The only software I can use to control it is Digicam Control, which seems to control it directly without going thru the normal Windows com ports. I have been thinking of getting the ASI585MC.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Are you planning primarily deep sky or planetary?

[@SmeeUncleJoe]

Thanks again for another great video but I must confess that I got lost around minute 15. I'm surrounded by trees and houses. I only have a very limited number of windows to the sky. Once the leaves fall in another couple of months, I will be in a better position. I do not currently have a view of Polaris. I tried using the Synscan on my EQ6R Pro but the list of stars seemed quite limited and the first star I was directed to was Vega... behind a tree of course. 'd love to have an app where I pick the stars, center them in my scope and get the app to figure it out after a few stars. I thought I ran across that on another mount.

[@SmeeUncleJoe]

i forgot to mention that I did try Nina Plate Solving but constantly got the error Not Enough Stars. I'm in a 400,000 pop city in Canada. Lots of light pollution but tonight was a special combination of great weather and new (no) moon. I was hoping for better,

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Very understandable. This part is a bit tricky to make sense. Let’s think of it like this and take one step at a time: you mention trees in the way. Where are the trees located in the sense of north, south, east or west?

[@SmeeUncleJoe]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography All of the above. I have a very limited view but there are always both stars and a planet or 3. i have a decent view of the Meridian and about 25 to 70 degrees latitude and other small windows to the north.. This is one of those problems that will go away on its own. The leaves are falling and I should be able to see Polaris sometime in the next month or less and the sky will open up for me. When i try and plate solve with NINA , I keep getting the error Not Enough Stars. I'm wondering if it's a setting that limits amount or all my light polution ?

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

If you have visibility at 25 latitude and above then I would set your altitude to maybe 30 and then set your measure point distance to 20. What that will do is point your scope to 30 latitude and then take its first exposure and then move to 50 (20 degrees up) and then take an exposure and then move to 70 (another 20 degrees up) and then take its final exposure. For the azimuth setting, this will depend which direction you want to face. 45 would be northeast, 90 would be east, 135 would be southeast so on and so forth as well as everything in between. To address the not enough stars error, if you go into options and then imaging, there’s a setting you can check to annotate the image. Select that to be on and then take an exposure with your set exposure time in the three point polar alignment. Make sure Nina is seeing an adequate number of stars. There are two main factors that will affect this: exposure time and focus. Make sure you are in focus and if you are then move on to adjusting exposure time.

[@SmeeUncleJoe]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography I seem to be in a catch 22 all the time. My skyline is fastastically irregular.... a tree here, then the peak of a roof... nothing... my neighbours tree ...I got the general idea but don't think NINA could handle the very complex irregularities of where i have a view and don't, nor would I know how to program that complexity into software that is wanting a 2 D map with straight lines. I have a decent window into Aries and Andromeda to the east and that will likely be my playground.. My Southern sky is interupted by a pitched roof. Small windows to the west and north cluttered heavily with trees that turn into skeletons in the cold months. As far as exposure time, I would think I would just end up with dashes, instead of dots. And since I don't have alignment yet, I can't think of a remedy. We had a very cool summer and the evenings here are now jacket required. The leaves are starting to fall. I can hardly wait to use Polaris. I don't think it will be long. I don't think my neighbour will mind if i have to trim a branch off, if I have to. Again i recall using a friends Celestron scope years ago and we got to choose from a long list of stars for 2 or 3 star alignment. Now when i try to do this on iOptron Synscan. It tells me what stars i have to use and it's a short list of mostly obstructed stars. I would think there must be a way to use a far more friendly list. They aren't kidding when they say one must be patient to be in this hobby.

[@genshinstars89]

Hi great video i recently got my first goto mount(exos 100) i think i made a huge mistake. while it was slewing i went ahead and lossesned the clutches and moved it manually. now my goto is so off 😭😭 is there any way to fix that or is my mount is gone for good??

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

No, don’t worry :) what mount and what driver software are you using?

[@genshinstars89]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography am using the iexos 100 2 pmc eight with NINA

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Which mount driver are you using? Most mount drivers you would just completely turn the mount and all programs off, restart the computer, set your mount back in the home position and then start everything back from scratch. Have you tried that yet?

[@genshinstars89]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography hey thanks a lot Worked like a charm I am forever indebeted to you😭

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Lol no worries at all, I’m glad you’re back out imaging :)

[@Jhuka_]

hello! After alignment, can I disconnect the camera and it will continue guiding? I need the USB for the intervelometer. thanks!

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Very good question! I just want to confirm you mean tracking instead of guiding for this particular question. You can disconnect the camera and your mount will continue to track. With that said, as soon as you close out of 3 point polar alignment, your mount may stop tracking depending on how your driver is set up. To resume tracking, simply slew to another target. Some drivers such as GSS and EQMOD have an option to turn tracking on and off at will. I hope this helps :)

[@Jhuka_]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography (yes, tracking, sorry) i have an iexos 100, can't confirm yet, but i think it may be still tracking, i will use cartes du ciel with ASCOM, (don't know if is relevant, I'm a complete noob). Yes, you helped, i will try as soon as possible. Thank you very much for the explanation!

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

No worries at all with being new and no need to apologize for anything :) In NINA’s imaging tab (please forgive me I’m going off of memory here) you should see an icon at the top that looks like a telescope. Either click on it or or drag it to the workspace and it’ll give you your telescope information. You’ll see either parked, stopped or sidereal. Sidereal means you’re tracking. As a side note, always ask questions. I’m here to help.

[@Jhuka_]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography I'm very excited to try it! Thank you very much for your help! You just got a fan! ✨

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

You are very welcome and thank you for the support!!

[@יהבחאקשוריאן]

Hi, it works but I can't get Eqmod to do star tracking, so when I use it the plate solving doesn't work because in the picture the stars are moving I would appreciate help from those who have succeeded

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

What is your tracking rate set at in EQMOD? What mount are you using? Also, which of the three steps is it failing at or is it failing on the first stop? One item to try is if you use manual slew in EQMOD does the mount move? This will test if EQMOD is communicating with the mount properly. Have a look at this setup video for EQMOD and make sure everything is set up correctly. EQMOD can be a bit quirky. If everything is set up correctly according to the video, I would uninstall and reinstall EQMOD. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4WQhp6BeqqJb5Isi=dp2rBg36neaEvy9w

[@SmeeUncleJoe]

12:26 ... sorry, most of us are newbies here. Can you slow down and maybe even zoom in for this 'quick 3 second exposure " ? I don't know how to do that. My screen also does not look like yours but I am in NINA.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

I apologize about that. I am going to type everything here so others who might be wondering the same thing can see as well. I know this can be a lot and sometimes overwhelming, but I’d like to work with you directly if you wish :) Please email me at [e-mail] and I will walk you through this and any questions you have as fast or as slow as you like. This also gives me the idea to create a video dedicated to setting up this workspace. Would you mind if I credited you for the idea? The imaging screen can be customized to show whichever menus you choose. Those different menus are located at the top of the screen. If you scroll your mouse and hover over the icons at the top of the screen, a little window will pop up telling you what the icons are for. Once you find what you like, you can either click the icon and it will set the contents of that icon on the workspace or click, hold and drag the icon into the workspace. My workspace you see in the video includes the following: “Focuser” and “camera” in the same window at the top left. Focuser gives me information about my electronic autofocuser such as current step size (position of the focuser) and ability to command adjustments of the focuser. Camera gives me information about the camera such as sensor temperature. Immediately below that is “telescope” which shows me information such as pointing location coordinate (where it’s currently pointed in the sky), minutes to meridian (how long until the scope is at meridian which is an imaginary line in the sky separating east from west). Once the telescope crosses meridian, you’ll want to flip the side the telescope is on. You can have NINA do this automatically for you and I have a video on how to set that up. The big window to the right of those is “image” which shows me the last image taken from the camera. This is good for viewing live what the telescope and camera are seeing. Think of this as the screen on your phone when you take a picture :) Immediately to the right of that and at the top is “imaging”. Unlike “image”, “imaging” allows you to control your camera such as set exposure time and actually take the photo with the shutter button. The photos you take here are not saved and I use this to check focus and dial it in as you see in the video. The 3 second exposure you’re referring to is in this “imaging” window. I just set a 3 second exposure and then clicked the shutter icon and then looked at the picture in the big window to the left. My stars were very bloated meaning out of focus. At this point I would use my focuser window to adjust the focuser until my stars become as small as possible. If you do not have an autofocuser, you would just manually adjust your focuser until you get your stars as small as possible. Take an exposure, adjust if needed and take another exposure to check your work. You would keep doing that until you achieve the smallest stars possible. NINA’s Three Point Polar Alignment needs to be in focus to work. Just below this window is “sequence”. This gives me information about how far into my imaging I am and how much is left. Just below that is “image history”. This shows me all of the images that were taken and allows me to scroll through them to, for a lack of better words, audit my imaging quality for the night. To the right of these is another combination window containing “platesolve” and “autofocus”. Platesolve is used to perfectly center you on your desired coordinates to a certain margin of error. By nature, nothing is perfect, so when you select a target or coordinates you want to go to and click slew, more times than not, you’re not going to be pointing exactly where you want to. When you go into “platesolve” window and click plate solve, NINA will take a picture and analyze the stars in the picture, solve the image by comparing the stars and location of the stars within the field of view in the photo compared to what stars it should be looking at and location of those stars in the field of view. NINA will then take this information and figure out how far away from the desired location it is, sync the scope and automatically slew until centered on your desired location. Now autofocus is a control window which has a button to run autofocus and NINA will then automatically control your electronic auto focuser to bring you precisely in focus :)

[@larryfine4719]

For us in the southern hemisphere, NINA's TPPA is essential :-)

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Yes, and it makes it so easy to do! What’s your favorite target you’ve imaged so far? There are a few I wish I could image that are in the southern hemisphere.

[@larryfine4719]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography I'm about to do Gabriela Nebula (NGC 3324) which is in the southern hemisphere. I've recently got a 1000mm reflector and it frames very nicely now 🙂

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

What a beautiful target!! I need to add that to my bucket list now haha. What scope did you get?

[@larryfine4719]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography I did it last year on an Askar 65PHQ but this year I'll do it on the Skywatcher 190mm Mak-Newt 🙂

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

If you don’t mind, I’d love to see your results when you’re done 🙂

[@jesuschrist2284]

Ty v v helpful

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Thank you and you’re welcome! Have you used plate solving for polar alignment before?

[@jesuschrist2284]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography only ever used nina and it works well but i could only use 10 degree measure points or i had problems. You highlighted how i can fix that :)

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

I’m very happy to hear! What ended up being the solution for this?

[@jesuschrist2284]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography well i hope to try it tonight. Ill set it to start at 45 (currently 53 for some reason) and change from 10d steps to 20d steps. 45+20+20 is less than 90 so wont hit the ra axis bump stops?

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

What’s happens when you have the issue? Is it an error or was it hitting the mount limits?

[@erikjede1ste]

sorry. maybe a stupid question , newbie here . i use a dslr . does it matter in what angle it is attached on your tube ?

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

There is never such thing as a stupid question. By angle I am assuming rotation? If so, no, NINA will be able to detect rotation and position through ASTAP plate solving. Your camera does need to be able to connect to NINA though for this to work. I know NINA can connect to DSLR as long as you have the correct ASCOM drivers for it.

[@erikjede1ste]

@Hidden.Light.Photography thanks! Yeah I ment rotation . Thanks for the answer. Will give it a try next possibility.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

You’re very welcome! Let me know if you need any more help and never hesitate to ask!

[@erikjede1ste]

@Hidden.Light.Photography had the opportunity yesterday! This works flawless! Now 30 sec exposures without any drift without guide camera. Your info helped a lot . Thanks !

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Perfect, awesome job!! Now time to get a set of photos to stack together. Let me know if you need anything else.

[@jesuschrist2284]

Shouldn't one leg of the tripod be pointing north, more stable for ra?

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

Excellent question! Not necessarily, the tripod will nice and stable either way. You are able to adjust the orientation, but that’s for clearance purposes as the telescope moves around. Which way do you have yours?

[@jesuschrist2284]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography one leg pointed north and the ra axis directly over the top of it. As it tells me in the extensive (lol) sky watcher manual. My payload is fairly light, though.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

I can definitely see that of weight isn’t evenly dispersed, but if you’re well balanced and have adequate clearance, leg positioning shouldn’t be an issue. After all, the telescope does move around and point in all kinds of directions, so at some point, the weight would have hit all potential areas.

[@jesuschrist2284]

@@Hidden.Light.Photography ive read one mount manual, all 5 pages. Its a lightweight mount, other proper mounts like yours maybe doesn't matter.

[@Hidden.Light.Photography]

That raises a good point, actually. Always prioritize your equipment manufacturer recommendations. Personally, I haven’t come across one that specifies specifically which way to orientate the single leg, however, if yours does then always follow what the manufacturer recommends. Which mount are you running?