Hello Jasem,

Thank you for the explanation. I was particularly confused after reading about 'Polemaster' products on the web and how one is supposed to set it up.

Here's my understanding now:
For polar alignment using Stellarmate, there is no need for the camera/telescope to be exactly aligned with the axis of the mount. It helps if they are both generally in the same direction and the mount is more or less pointing at Polaris.

The system will take photos of the sky while rotating the mount, plate solve and figure out the exact center of the arc the camera just described. So now it knows exactly where the mount's axis is pointing. It will then guide you to turn the knobs on the mount so that the mount's axis is pointing exactly at the celestial pole. Pretty cool.

(And you don't waste $300 + additional complexity due to Polemaster).

Thanks!
Sanjaya

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In Stellarmate documentation it seems that the terms ‘Telescope' and ‘Mount' are used interchangeably and that has confused me.

Isn’t it true that we polar align the Mount (the Telescope itself can be pointing somewhere else during this time)?
And then we do Star Alignment / Plate Solving to tell the software where the telescope is pointing and how it is oriented with respect to the mount (provided the mount has been Polar Aligned), correct?

The last step in Polar Alignment is to physically go to the mount and use its knobs to adjust azimuth / altitude, correct? In other words, polar alignment can't be done entirely remotely (unless there is an ultra-fancy mount that has two additional motors).

How is the camera that is doing the Polar Align Assist attached to the mount? Like the Polemaster in front of the reticle of the mount? Are there any alternatives to the Polemaster if I'm using Stellarmate?

Can this camera that I just used for Polar Alignment also be used to guide the celestial tracking (i.e. a closed loop system that corrects tracking by locking on to a star) or does that have to be a separate telescope/camera combination that is attached to (and parallel to) the main telescope?

It's late night here and it is very likely that I've managed to thoroughly confuse myself, but I'd appreciate any clarification.

Thanks!

 

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