Hey Peter, you are absolutely correct. This is a fantastic new application for someone like me who has a very tight and vertical view from my small property with close houses in Japan. I used to do some kind of drift alignment which would take a long time, and be a bit frustrating. But with this All Sky polar alignment feature , it takes only minutes! I also checked the accuracy versus the traditional method and also found the data deviated a bit. I verified that repeating the process a second time helps to increase the accuracy. But regardless, if you are using “guiding”, a perfect polar alignment is not a requirement. Being within a few minutes of alignment is perfectly acceptable for astrophotography. The only bit of additional information that I would add is to be aware that the mount moves 25° on each of the two steps, and it will not do a Meridian flip. So it is best to NOT start your All Sky polar alignment just to the East of the Meridian. If you do that, the telescope will move in to a position across the Meridian to the West, where the balance weights are positioned high above the scope. This could be an issue for big scopes, and of course having things unbalanced like that is generally not so favorable. It may also contribute to additional deviation of the data. So, my recommendation is to start the All Sky polar alignment well East of the Meridian, or just West, if possible. Finally, A big thank you to ZWO for continuing to make Astrophotography easier and more efficient. And more fun!
This is good to know that this works in hopelessly small balconies here in Japan. I am also planning to get AM5 and Asiair and use it on my south facing balcony. I don't have nearby buildings but my balcony width is only 80 cm at the base 😢
First of all thank you for youtr videos! The trick here is to do a seccond PA once you concluded the first one. Even if you have reached in the first try an allignment of 0.0.5 if you do it again instatly you ll see that you are actually more off than you think, but if you do a seccond PA you will manage to get an extremly good PA. BTW always plate solve and sync mount after reaching your target regardless how good your PA is. Those worked for me, and thank you again.
DUDE WHAT this is so cool! Thanks for taking the time to put this video together. I went out shooting with my Air just 2 nights ago away from my house and had no idea this was possible. I can finally shoot from my backyard. Like wow. Thank you. Also if you are having trouble with your cables on the air, a few of those command strip things on the back of it to hold it to a flat surface on your HEQ6 will go a long way!
Hello Peter,just want to thank you for your videos.You got me going with my ASIAIR Plus and first dedicated camera the Asi533.The app and hardware is amazing making the whole process so easy,thanks to all your videos.Thanks for sharing and helping.
I have also tried this new feature and I can't be more happier about it! No northern part of the sky is visible from my balcony, so I was really struggling to get a nice polar alignment. With that feature it took me around 12 minutes first time and later just 5 minutes to get it aligned. I started pointing the scope around east-southern part of the sky to have more room for my scope to slew to the west, as west is also not very visible for me :( What I figured out is that you should set the slewing speed of this mount to x1 (9 is the maximum), otherwise some strange slewing behavior might happen. I was using Celestron SCT 8" AVX and for main camera ZWO ASI294MC PRO, all connected to ASI Air Pro. 🥳
Thank you so much as I am new to Astrophotography (Not new to Astronomy) you have made this and many of your tutorials sooooooo easy to follow I’m getting really excited now I just need consecutive clear nights
I just bought AZ-GTI last week because my house can not see Polaris, and AZ-GTI does not need polar alignment, then I find your video about this new feature, I may consider returning it....
Peter, I just got my ASIAIR Plus a few days ago. After watching your video I went out and gave it a try. I’m used to using SharpCap polar alignment. After you’ve finished you need to manual unlock the clutch and put it back to the home position. In your video your don’t show how you put it back in home position. Which is were I ran into a problem, I put it back to home manually, I didn’t realize in the App you put in home position. (Not Manually). I couldn’t slew to the target when put in home position manually.
Do I have to manually reflash my firmware on the SD card to get this firmware update or will it update itself when I connect it to the ASIAir app? Also, and perhaps more importantly, I am using a "special" firmware from AWO so that my new Celestron AVX mount will talk to the ASIAIR PRO. Does anyone know if these AVX mount fixes are now included in this new firmware? I can't seem to get anyone to confirm or deny if the fix is included. I'd rather go without the new features if the new firmware will "break" my ability to connect to my AVX mount. Great video! With the 3+ feet of snow on the ground, my mind and hobbies have been elsewhere and I wasn't aware of the new firmware. Very cool.
Hi, Pat. I had that "special" firmware, cos of my AVX mount. Afterwards it was eventually updated to the newest version. So I would suggest you just start asi air pro with special firmware version, check that avx is actually connecting to asi air pro. Then you can proceed to update to the latest version.
Super info. I think you meant northern sky instead of southern sky. I tried this last week and wow it was very accurate and I got PA in less than 2 minutes. Thanks again
Hey, thanks for mentioning that feature Peter :) But I have one question - do I need go-to mount to use that? Also guiding cam and scope is need or I can use only DSLR with asiar ?
@@ozgurunaldi I've checked it, so - asi air works with DSLR - but check compability list on zwo page. For example my R7 doesn't work with it, but Canon R5 and R6 can
@@groundhoppingwlkp3622 thanks, yes my D3300 is in the list but what about the mount? This polar alignment and plate solving experimental feature is possible with my mount Skyguider Pro?
I just scratched a little this fantastic hobby and i have to ask if the polar drift alignment tool in phd2 is the same with this new experimental feature. I was able to polar align my mount without seeing Polaris using phd2. Just oriented the mount in the general direction of Polaris (tjat was hiding behind a building :)) and phd2 told me where to precisely point my mount.
it measures in arc-seconds. You can see in this video it was above 10 minutes. when he did the polar align without the all sky, he manage to get just above 2 minutes. That is how far your polar align is, less is better. But I believe 10 minutes it is already good considering your options.
Hi Peter. Thanks for posting this tutorial. Unfortunately as a newbie I've managed to get very confused. Hopefully you, or someone else familiar with AISAir and the All-Sky Polar Align command can and will help me. If the north tripod leg and the front face of the mount are point approximately north then does this mean that the "mount" is pointed north? Assuming that's correct (oh I hope so) then if I were to slew in RA until the counter-weight shaft was level and slew in DEC until the OTA was pointing southward and somewhere between level and the zenith would I be satisfying the conditions to start an All-Sky Polar Align? If I'm correct about that, is it not possible that an All-Sky Polar Align (which I believe slews only in RA) from this initial position might crash my OTA if it slews RA in the same direction I used in my description above? I'd like to use All-Sky Polar Align since I don't have a view to the North. Can you or someone else suggest how I should get set up so as not to worry about Thanks in advance. Paul
Peter - have you had any luck using any other software for the Polemaster other then their own software? It is a shame that ASIAir Plus (and the other models) do not support this. From what I have read the Polemaster does a better job of polar alignment then the ASIAir does by itself.
Hey Peter. Se this for the first time, and it looks to me, that your Ball berings loks a little to tight. S.W. do tighting there bearings to much. Right. ?????
How do you "aim your telescope roughly where polaris would be if you could see it"? Just pointing north can produce an initial starting point which is several degrees off. Thanks
Does the tracking has to be switched on whilst doing the AllSky PA? I encountered the situation, that when I take several pictures and platesolve them without touching the azimuth knobs inbetween pictures, I get an increasing azimuth error. That makes it very hard to actually do a precise PA with the AllSky feature because I never know if I am really missaligned or if the error inbetween two pictures is based on the continous drift?
What If I see only the East from my balcony 😔. Its not really ''All sky''...I can do this on our roof top garden, however, sometimes I can shoot only from my baclony where I see only the East. I am in the Southern Hemisphere (Sydney). I checked Drift Alignemnt but I didn't get it. I spent 3 hours but couldn't do it. Does anyone know some usefull instruction about how to do it? I have AM5, ASIAIR and ZWO main and guide cameras. Thanks
It’s a good feature but sadly many users have issues with the latest update. It would be good if you brought this up. Unless of course you are contract bound
Hey Peter, you are absolutely correct. This is a fantastic new application for someone like me who has a very tight and vertical view from my small property with close houses in Japan. I used to do some kind of drift alignment which would take a long time, and be a bit frustrating. But with this All Sky polar alignment feature , it takes only minutes! I also checked the accuracy versus the traditional method and also found the data deviated a bit. I verified that repeating the process a second time helps to increase the accuracy. But regardless, if you are using “guiding”, a perfect polar alignment is not a requirement. Being within a few minutes of alignment is perfectly acceptable for astrophotography. The only bit of additional information that I would add is to be aware that the mount moves 25° on each of the two steps, and it will not do a Meridian flip. So it is best to NOT start your All Sky polar alignment just to the East of the Meridian. If you do that, the telescope will move in to a position across the Meridian to the West, where the balance weights are positioned high above the scope. This could be an issue for big scopes, and of course having things unbalanced like that is generally not so favorable. It may also contribute to additional deviation of the data. So, my recommendation is to start the All Sky polar alignment well East of the Meridian, or just West, if possible. Finally, A big thank you to ZWO for continuing to make Astrophotography easier and more efficient. And more fun!
This is good to know that this works in hopelessly small balconies here in Japan. I am also planning to get AM5 and Asiair and use it on my south facing balcony. I don't have nearby buildings but my balcony width is only 80 cm at the base 😢
I am lucky, I guess. I actually have a patch of grass (dirt) for a back yard. Clear skies!
@@jpastroguy hey do you RUclips channel? I think I follow you!
Yes indeed! I appreciate your interest!
First of all thank you for youtr videos! The trick here is to do a seccond PA once you concluded the first one. Even if you have reached in the first try an allignment of 0.0.5 if you do it again instatly you ll see that you are actually more off than you think, but if you do a seccond PA you will manage to get an extremly good PA. BTW always plate solve and sync mount after reaching your target regardless how good your PA is. Those worked for me, and thank you again.
Alex, could you elaborate on how to do the second PA? Where are you starting from? Also, "Sync Mount after target"?
DUDE WHAT this is so cool! Thanks for taking the time to put this video together. I went out shooting with my Air just 2 nights ago away from my house and had no idea this was possible. I can finally shoot from my backyard. Like wow. Thank you.
Also if you are having trouble with your cables on the air, a few of those command strip things on the back of it to hold it to a flat surface on your HEQ6 will go a long way!
this is exactly like the TPPA in NINA ;)
Hello Peter,just want to thank you for your videos.You got me going with my ASIAIR Plus and first dedicated camera the Asi533.The app and hardware is amazing making the whole process so easy,thanks to all your videos.Thanks for sharing and helping.
I have also tried this new feature and I can't be more happier about it! No northern part of the sky is visible from my balcony, so I was really struggling to get a nice polar alignment.
With that feature it took me around 12 minutes first time and later just 5 minutes to get it aligned.
I started pointing the scope around east-southern part of the sky to have more room for my scope to slew to the west, as west is also not very visible for me :(
What I figured out is that you should set the slewing speed of this mount to x1 (9 is the maximum), otherwise some strange slewing behavior might happen.
I was using Celestron SCT 8" AVX and for main camera ZWO ASI294MC PRO, all connected to ASI Air Pro.
🥳
Thank you so much as I am new to Astrophotography (Not new to Astronomy) you have made this and many of your tutorials sooooooo easy to follow I’m getting really excited now I just need consecutive clear nights
Excellent! Thank you so much. Thanks to ZWO for incorporating this feature into the ASIAir.
Thanks mate looks great especially for us in the southern hemisphere who cant see our southern constellation.
This is the video I've been looking for. Very well done. Thanks, Peter.
Thanks for the video. You really should put a mouting plate or some velcro on your mount for the ASIair.
Nifty! I almost tried this the other night, but it was too cold and I just wanted the data I came out for.
Thanks for taking the time to outline this feature and upload. Excellent content. ~Clear Skies
I just bought AZ-GTI last week because my house can not see Polaris, and AZ-GTI does not need polar alignment, then I find your video about this new feature, I may consider returning it....
Peter, I just got my ASIAIR Plus a few days ago. After watching your video I went out and gave it a try. I’m used to using SharpCap polar alignment. After you’ve finished you need to manual unlock the clutch and put it back to the home position. In your video your don’t show how you put it back in home position. Which is were I ran into a problem, I put it back to home manually, I didn’t realize in the App you put in home position. (Not Manually). I couldn’t slew to the target when put in home position manually.
have you thought about putting the asi air on the telescope with a dovetail bar? I find that its pretty easy to cable manage
Do I have to manually reflash my firmware on the SD card to get this firmware update or will it update itself when I connect it to the ASIAir app? Also, and perhaps more importantly, I am using a "special" firmware from AWO so that my new Celestron AVX mount will talk to the ASIAIR PRO. Does anyone know if these AVX mount fixes are now included in this new firmware? I can't seem to get anyone to confirm or deny if the fix is included. I'd rather go without the new features if the new firmware will "break" my ability to connect to my AVX mount. Great video! With the 3+ feet of snow on the ground, my mind and hobbies have been elsewhere and I wasn't aware of the new firmware. Very cool.
Hi, Pat. I had that "special" firmware, cos of my AVX mount. Afterwards it was eventually updated to the newest version. So I would suggest you just start asi air pro with special firmware version, check that avx is actually connecting to asi air pro. Then you can proceed to update to the latest version.
I’ve ordered the ASIAir Plus once I saw that feature. I’d love to see that in action with a Star Adventurer, or equivalent mount.
SA is a manual mount, btw. It won't auto rotate to align itself with the asiair's PA feature.
@@ly8370 That’s why I’d like to see it with the SA.
Whoa. It's a killer feature for me.
Super info. I think you meant northern sky instead of southern sky. I tried this last week and wow it was very accurate and I got PA in less than 2 minutes. Thanks again
He meant southern sky. He said you could also use the GoTo and select Orion which is in the southern sky. Menu said to not use east or west.
That's really nice!! I will definitely try this out :D awesome Video!
Hey, thanks for mentioning that feature Peter :) But I have one question - do I need go-to mount to use that? Also guiding cam and scope is need or I can use only DSLR with asiar ?
I have the same question. I actually expected him to make this video with a Skyguider Pro.
@@ozgurunaldi I've checked it, so - asi air works with DSLR - but check compability list on zwo page. For example my R7 doesn't work with it, but Canon R5 and R6 can
@@groundhoppingwlkp3622 thanks, yes my D3300 is in the list but what about the mount? This polar alignment and plate solving experimental feature is possible with my mount Skyguider Pro?
@@ozgurunaldi it should work with it - there is a video even on YT with this configuration on Peter Zelinka channel
Awesome!! Much needed feature.
Use a few velcro strips and mount the ASI on the flat side of your mount.
Thank you. It's very helpful.
I just scratched a little this fantastic hobby and i have to ask if the polar drift alignment tool in phd2 is the same with this new experimental feature. I was able to polar align my mount without seeing Polaris using phd2. Just oriented the mount in the general direction of Polaris (tjat was hiding behind a building :)) and phd2 told me where to precisely point my mount.
How do you know which polar alignment was accurate?
Thanks. Would've been great to do a test to see if it produced round stars.
it measures in arc-seconds. You can see in this video it was above 10 minutes. when he did the polar align without the all sky, he manage to get just above 2 minutes. That is how far your polar align is, less is better. But I believe 10 minutes it is already good considering your options.
This is epic now I just need to learn how to focus my asi183mc 😂
Evening from Scotland..
Hi Peter. Thanks for posting this tutorial. Unfortunately as a newbie I've managed to get very confused. Hopefully you, or someone else familiar with AISAir and the All-Sky Polar Align command can and will help me.
If the north tripod leg and the front face of the mount are point approximately north then does this mean that the "mount" is pointed north? Assuming that's correct (oh I hope so) then if I were to slew in RA until the counter-weight shaft was level and slew in DEC until the OTA was pointing southward and somewhere between level and the zenith would I be satisfying the conditions to start an All-Sky Polar Align?
If I'm correct about that, is it not possible that an All-Sky Polar Align (which I believe slews only in RA) from this initial position might crash my OTA if it slews RA in the same direction I used in my description above?
I'd like to use All-Sky Polar Align since I don't have a view to the North. Can you or someone else suggest how I should get set up so as not to worry about
Thanks in advance.
Paul
Why havent you mounted the ASIAIR to your rig somehow? This eliminated the cable-pulling-issues..
Peter - have you had any luck using any other software for the Polemaster other then their own software?
It is a shame that ASIAir Plus (and the other models) do not support this.
From what I have read the Polemaster does a better job of polar alignment then the ASIAir does by itself.
I use astroberry on a raspberry pi 4 it's had this feature for ages
I would like to find a tutorial where all the functions are applied with a dslr camera. including polar alignment
Hey Peter. Se this for the first time, and it looks to me, that your Ball berings loks a little to tight. S.W. do tighting there bearings to much. Right. ?????
Can this be done with the Guidescope as well? When using a DSLR?
That's with no guide scope? You're just using the main camera?
How do you "aim your telescope roughly where polaris would be if you could see it"? Just pointing north can produce an initial starting point which is several degrees off. Thanks
Hi,
I am living in Southern Hemisphere.
Could we use this kit with a stock camera on the regular star tracker to do Polar alignment?
Cheers
Is this feature only available for the PLUS or is it available for the PRO as well?
Does the Go2Nova®8408 Hand Controller work well with the latest SkyGuider Pro? Does it actually auto point to celestial objects from the database?
Does the tracking has to be switched on whilst doing the AllSky PA?
I encountered the situation, that when I take several pictures and platesolve them without touching the azimuth knobs inbetween pictures, I get an increasing azimuth error. That makes it very hard to actually do a precise PA with the AllSky feature because I never know if I am really missaligned or if the error inbetween two pictures is based on the continous drift?
I have the exact same problem, did you ever found a solution?
Does it work on skyguier pro？ It seems there is a difference between the mount face and the camera saw
What If I see only the East from my balcony 😔. Its not really ''All sky''...I can do this on our roof top garden, however, sometimes I can shoot only from my baclony where I see only the East. I am in the Southern Hemisphere (Sydney). I checked Drift Alignemnt but I didn't get it. I spent 3 hours but couldn't do it. Does anyone know some usefull instruction about how to do it? I have AM5, ASIAIR and ZWO main and guide cameras. Thanks
Is this on the mini too ?
has it gotten any better or any more exact?
Assume this will work with a non-goto mount?
It’s a good feature but sadly many users have issues with the latest update. It would be good if you brought this up. Unless of course you are contract bound
Hello Peter, can this work with skyguider pro?
Do I need to replace my Pro with the Plus version to have this feature?
Ok, it works on a Pro as well. Great! Thanks for this tip. Cheers
good golly that helps
I have a load of questions. Would you mind if I sent then to you thanks
Is it usable on a star tracker?
His monotone voice drives me crazy
i love your videos but it's sad to see you using asiair which illegally uses kstars/ekos breaking the licence terms :(