What to do When Plate Solved Polar Alignment Fights You, ASIAIR Plus/Pro

Ever have one of those nights where polar alignment just took forever. Maybe you ASIAir just refused to plate solve. I have had plenty of those nights. Mainly because I do a lot of imaging and I run two rigs.
With all of that time under my belt though I have learned a few things about the routine. Plate solving is probably the largest point of hangup that delays the process. I put this video together to help others out and get polar alignment done faster. After all we would much rather be imaging than polar aligning right?
There are four things in here I show to helps speed up plate solving or fix issues with it. I actually did not cover bining or exposure time simply because everyone else has already covered it. No need to repeat such info.
Keep imaging and processing!

[@tomlowman2252]

Thanks, since I disabled the “auto button” and refreshed it manually, it works much better, especially on cameras with larger sensors and on cold nights. Strangely, I only had problems with the ascension, the declination alignment worked perfectly.

[@mikelockwood2104]

Thank You ! I tried your suggestion tonight by Un Checking the Auto Refresh box ( which I have done since day 1 ) and I Polar Aligned faster than ever before. Keep them Vids coming 😎

[@PatJones82]

Great Video. With auto-refresh turned on, I think it takes images so quickly, one after the other, that you can't adjust your mount in between image captures. So you end up adjusting the mount while it is taking another image to solve and of course, with the mount movement, you have elongated and messed up stars, and the plate solve fails. So after adjusting the mount, I would have to wait for the plate solve to fail, which sometimes takes longer than you want, and then continue to wait for it to take a new image which solves ok because you were not moving the mount during that 2nd image capture. For me, if it didn't sometimes take so long to "fail", it wouldn't bother me, but like you... I find it MUCH less trouble to adjust my mount and manually refresh the image in between adjustments with auto turned off.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Time is everything.

[@garyrobertson6469]

Excellent ideas. I’ve discovered that a lot of my plate solving issues during polar alignment were due to the fact that I didn’t get my stars very well focused prior to the PA.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Yes check focus just before starting if you have problems plate solving. It's a pretty obvious one though so I did not cover it. I actually do not do that but that is because from night to night I do not take my scope apart. So if I am using the same filter as I was the night before its usually on.

[@jpastroguy]

Thanks. Those are good suggestions. I mostly have problems when attempting All Sky polar alignments, not the traditional North Celestial Pole alignment. Sometimes when I am unsure if my All Sky alignment worked properly, I simply repeat it from a different starting point. And then I usually go to some star near the celestial equator and do a one or two-minute image to see if I have any trailing under sidereal tracking. If no trailing, then I feel more confident to proceed with my imaging.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Thanks for sharing! I have not tried it so it is good to know of some ways to check it.

[@davidletz9123]

Thanks for this! I just tried using my Skywatcher Skymax 127 on the AM3/ASi Air Plus for the first time 2 nights ago and kept getting a "narrow FOV" error...it never occurred to me to attach my small Gude scope and PA with that!

[@smatruk]

Awesome - thanks man - I'll take away the idea about raising the gain purely for plate solving when PA, hadn't thought of that one before - thanks mate.

[@DenisMartin72]

Good tip with swapping to the guide camera. I use an unmodified DSLR and I think when I try to polar align to early that's causing my PA to be a pain.

[@Mistr_A]

One of the few channels where you make it so easy to understand and follow along, Also your reviews are second to none. One question does the guidescope have to be perfectly aligned with the main scope? This is why I always use the polemaster as I trust this way more than any of the scopes.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Thank you for the kind words. So the guid scope does not have to be perfectly aligned. I have done polar alignment with the guid scope and also with he main telescope and both give the same result.

[@kevinhanley3023]

Ben, Kevin here. I have no particular issue with the ASIAIR PA function except I like to look through the polar scope. So long as I have checked the polar scope accuracy during the day, then the polar alignment is very good. Best of all, polar alignment takes less than 30 seconds after I see Polaris in the scope. And, I usually have this done before it gets dark. The PA function is a bit too time consuming and technical. I just want to point it and go. Down side: My old knees disagree. I had once wondered about how the errors add up using different methods. It “seems” intuitive but might not be: polar alignment thru the main optical instrument may eliminate some alignment errors? I don’t know. I just knee, align and move on. K

[@doubledark2]

great tips; FANTASTIC channel... cheers from Down Under

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Thanks for watching! I really want to come see your sky in the south some day.

[@skye7690]

Great advice I had to PA with guidescope a few weeks ago, didn't have any other choice, and it works. Too bad they don't make it easier to choose that camera for PA.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Right on I would also like to see switching them be made easier. I seam to do it a lot.

[@skye7690]

@@TheNarrowbandChannel Thx I add this request to the ZWO Feature Forum

[@Nick-we7lf]

Awesome video !

[@joanantonim.p.2400]

👌👍👍🙏 👋🏻🙋🏻‍♂️ Thanks

[@randallpatrickc]

Great vid! Can I ask a basic alignment question - can the ASI Air Plus use plate solving instead of doing the hand control 1 or 2 star alignment?

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

yes you can and I often do it this way.

[@johnrsims43]

Great tips. I’m having a similar problem after slewing to target it cannot confirm centering. I believe this is due to use of a filter drawer/filter (dual narrowband Ha OIII), which results in only 30 to 40 stars being found. Is there a way to increase the exposure time? I am NOT using the filter wheel, so cannot use those settings.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Yes there is. I think it is in the mount settings. I will have to look it up though. You can specify how long centering exposures need to be for each filter with a filter wheel too.

[@Spamandrice]

Thanks for the video. So if I polar align with my guidescope, my polar alignment is set for my main scope as well? I’m a newcomer to this so I’m still getting star trails.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Yes. They both are riding in the same mount axis.

[@Spamandrice]

@@TheNarrowbandChannel I appreciate it. This helps. My main scope has a narrow FOV so the guidescope made is so much easier

[@bamsemh1]

Hey there. Can you do a test for me one of these days? Om-1 with oly 100-400mm lens. Tracking shot of Saturn? I did a single shot of it, and was actually very surprised of the result 😳 so I wonder what I could get with using a tracker 😊 stacking would probably do wonders, but it will take more time than just a long tracked shot? 😬

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Yes i can give it a try soon. Just moved to a new place. I have much better horizons now too.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

And stacking planetary should not be a problem with planets. You use very fast shutter-speeds anyway. Just the stacking part is a challenge. Most planetary stackers hate 4k. Because they were written 10-15 years ago.

[@bamsemh1]

@@TheNarrowbandChannel I used s 1/6. F6.3. Iso 200. 400mm mm. Spot metering. And starry focus. I actually managed to get the ring too 😊 not fully detailed of course. And surprisingly no movement disorientation from the slow shutter 😳

[@peterrothstein2839]

How did you mount the ASI Air to your scope? Is that Velcro i see?

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

It is bolted on. The Sharpstar has a cary handle that fits it quite well.