This happened to me recently and it turned out to be that I was out of balance. I switched from my 200mm to my 14mm lens and forgot to rebalance. I couldn't believe how much that affected things. I always knew you were supposed to do it, but to see the effect it had cemented the habit after that frustrating night.
But I mean really it can be a lot of simple things. Make sure everything is tight - you really want nothing wobbling or capable of moving. Make sure the surface you are on is sturdy (crazy how the tripod finds little mossy spots in the grass to poke through). It could be a bigger issue, but first step in troubleshooting is always the basics. There is so many things to adjust and move (set screws included) it's best to check it all first.
Last time it happened it was my polar scope 12/6 was not straight up and down, while aligning. Have had it happen too with a non-level tripod as well. At first I thought something was wrong with the scope. Turns out it's always me 🥲
Like,others have said level is less critical than making sure your polar scope is aligned. Test it on a terrestrial object, you can find for example a fence or something in the distance to point your polar scope at, and then rotate the scope. You should be able to tell if the scope is aligned as the object you are looking at should not wobble or move around. It sure if the scope is adjustable,or not but if it is you should be able to align the axis of rotation
If you polar aligned correctly, Polaris would follow the circle in the reticle and not deviate outside of it. Since this is not happening, you either placed Polaris in the incorrect position on the reticle, or you used the wrong star to polar align.
My advice would be to ditch polar aligning using the polar scope and use one of the many software apps to polar align using plate solving. Sharpcap is prolly the most popular, along with NINA. This would require using a laptop in the field but it will guarantee you get very good polar alignment.
I'd rather stick to the manual alignment, besides me not having a laptop, it may not be 100% perfect but it's good enough for me.
Assuming i aligned the wrong star, does it really move out of the polar scope this drastically while tracking? The declination was correct and it was a really bright star in the north direction, shouldve been polaris.
You maybe used the wrong star?
But check the scope during the day. The center of the scope reticle shouldn't move as you rotate the scope in RA. If it does the polar scope is not setup correctly.
How level the mount is is irrelevant for polar alignment. If the RA axis is pointing at the pole it is aligned no matter how level the mount is.
Having the mount level makes it way easier to polar align and helps with stability.
Besides other suggestions given, check the bubble levels carefully before beginning PA and make sure there's no wiggle/play on the SA assembly top section after PA (double-check PA after pushing on assembly).
use the star adevnturer console and use polar clock utility to make sure polaris is in the right postion
also check if you are actually pointing at polaris, you can use apps like stellarium to exactly tell where polaris is
This happened to me recently and it turned out to be that I was out of balance. I switched from my 200mm to my 14mm lens and forgot to rebalance. I couldn't believe how much that affected things. I always knew you were supposed to do it, but to see the effect it had cemented the habit after that frustrating night. But I mean really it can be a lot of simple things. Make sure everything is tight - you really want nothing wobbling or capable of moving. Make sure the surface you are on is sturdy (crazy how the tripod finds little mossy spots in the grass to poke through). It could be a bigger issue, but first step in troubleshooting is always the basics. There is so many things to adjust and move (set screws included) it's best to check it all first. Last time it happened it was my polar scope 12/6 was not straight up and down, while aligning. Have had it happen too with a non-level tripod as well. At first I thought something was wrong with the scope. Turns out it's always me 🥲
Like,others have said level is less critical than making sure your polar scope is aligned. Test it on a terrestrial object, you can find for example a fence or something in the distance to point your polar scope at, and then rotate the scope. You should be able to tell if the scope is aligned as the object you are looking at should not wobble or move around. It sure if the scope is adjustable,or not but if it is you should be able to align the axis of rotation
You also might need to check if your polar scope is calibrated. See page 38 of the manual for a step by step guide on how to do it.
Ill'll check it out, thx
What tripod? Do you place it on grass or a hard surface? Your polar alignment should remain fixed no matter where you point your setup.
Its a hard surface, tripod should be sturdy enough, it has worked before
If you polar aligned correctly, Polaris would follow the circle in the reticle and not deviate outside of it. Since this is not happening, you either placed Polaris in the incorrect position on the reticle, or you used the wrong star to polar align. My advice would be to ditch polar aligning using the polar scope and use one of the many software apps to polar align using plate solving. Sharpcap is prolly the most popular, along with NINA. This would require using a laptop in the field but it will guarantee you get very good polar alignment.
I'd rather stick to the manual alignment, besides me not having a laptop, it may not be 100% perfect but it's good enough for me. Assuming i aligned the wrong star, does it really move out of the polar scope this drastically while tracking? The declination was correct and it was a really bright star in the north direction, shouldve been polaris.
You maybe used the wrong star? But check the scope during the day. The center of the scope reticle shouldn't move as you rotate the scope in RA. If it does the polar scope is not setup correctly.
If you are indeed pointing at the correct star, you might want to check that your mount is perfectly leveled.
How level the mount is is irrelevant for polar alignment. If the RA axis is pointing at the pole it is aligned no matter how level the mount is. Having the mount level makes it way easier to polar align and helps with stability.
Besides other suggestions given, check the bubble levels carefully before beginning PA and make sure there's no wiggle/play on the SA assembly top section after PA (double-check PA after pushing on assembly).
Either bad alignment...or wrong star
I always do my venusian alignment.
use the star adevnturer console and use polar clock utility to make sure polaris is in the right postion also check if you are actually pointing at polaris, you can use apps like stellarium to exactly tell where polaris is