As any experienced astrophotographer can attest, getting a good polar alignment is no easy task. In the past, this was mainly only possible with polar binoculars for amateurs, but even a small inaccuracy can ruin your work under the stars. Although there are special methods that give high accuracy, they are time-consuming and are almost only useful for fixed instruments. The QHYCCD Polemaster helps this by making pole-positioning more convenient, accurate and, last but not least, faster.
What is the QHYCCD Polemaster all about? PoleMaster is a fusion of a fixed bright small optic and its associated sensitive camera, combined with clever software to make the alignment process much easier.
No longer do we have to manually locate and set the current position of the PoleMaster, the QHYCCD Polemaster software does it for us, knowing the time and location. The sensor, which is much more sensitive than the human eye, allows the detection of fainter stars in the vicinity of the North Star down to 9 magnitude, which is one of the features used by the software. In addition, unlike the traditional polar binocular setup, you don't have to wait for your eyes to adapt to darkness. Not only in the northern sky - where the pole alignment is greatly facilitated by the North Star - but also in the southern sky - where no suitable star can be found near the South Pole - the QHYCCD Polemaster helps!
With its 11 x 8 degree field of view, the QHYCCD Polemaster makes it easy to find the north/south pole and the stars around that area, which can be aligned with great precision using a digital mask on the live image. The clever little instrument can exchange data with software running on a variety of devices via a MiniUSB 2.0 connection.An app has been written for Win, Mac, Linux Deb, Android and the latest version can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website.
Weighing just 106 grams, it doesn't put unnecessary strain on the mechanics. Convenient because you don't have to "hide" under the mechanics as in many cases with a polar scope, and it is not necessary to have the telescope tube facing north/south when setting up, as the crosshairs can be moved out of the light path, as the small camera can be attached to the north end of the clock shaft using optional adapters. Thanks to its adaptability, it can optionally be used with several mechanisms (for example, a heavy-duty and a travel mechanism).
According to the manufacturer's specification, after rough adjustment, up to 30 arcsecond accuracy of pole positioning can be achieved in up to 2-3 minutes of adjustment time with the QHYCCD Polemaster.