Dr. Pole

Dr. Pole let you do the EQ mount polar alignment effortlessly even when you do not see the pole star at all or the initial RA axis is pointing far away place from the pole star. This feature makes Astroid’s polar alignment ability outstanding among the competition especially in the southern hemisphere (no bright star around the pole) or an urban environment (the pole star is often occluded).

Setup

You can do the polar alignment while Astroid is attached to the telescope lens instead of the RA axis. This means that if you adjust the DEC axis the camera will not see the same direction with the RA axis anymore but this is totally fine with Dr. Pole. This would be especially useful when the pole star is occluded. In such a situation, just rotate the DEC axis until Astroid can see stars like the following figure.

Version check

It is generally recommended to make a wider angle between the three RA positions but if it is not allowed in your place narrower angle works as well but with decreased accuracy.

Rotation Axis Finder

To start the polar alignment you have to find the RA rotation axis. RA rotation axis can simply be found by rotating the RA axis three times. Start the rotation axis finder by clicking the telescope icon on the bottom and follow the instruction on the screen.

Once the rotating axis is found you will see a guide arrow, pole star mark, and rotation center. The rotation center point is where your RA axis is rotating around. So, you need to move the point near to the north or south celestial pole according to your location by adjusting the mount base.

Version check

The rotation point mark is usually on the image of your RA axis and the camera is looking in the same direction. But if you used an off RA axis setup as described in the previous section, it could be anywhere like the right figure above.

Note that the DEC axis should not be moved at all times after the rotation axis is found. If it is moved by any chance, the axis finder should be started from the beginning.

You can also mount on the RA axis if you want more accuracy. This is due to the large telescope tubes sometimes being structurally distorted due to gravity which might affect the accuracy of the result a little bit.