UPDATE: If you go into NINA now, and update the plug-in… You can now point anywhere in the sky and are no longer tied to being close to the Meridian or Polaris. It also can be run as a tab in imaging instead of within the advanced sequencer - check out my UPDATE video for more info.

Good evening Patriot Astro, Yesterday, I finally tested the plug-in in real situation, one word only, excellent! 0°00"04' on both DEC and ALT, after 10 min. Thank you very much.

Wow, thanx Chad, this is even easier to do, very helpful video and very good explained, thanx a lot !

Now that I've seen the vid I will try this as it looks quite easy. Thx!

Very good, I'm building an observatory without a view of Polaris so this will help a lot. thanks, Monty

Awesome! I cant wait to try this.

Thanks for this. I am also on Nightly Builds and currently use Sharpcap Pro PA, manually rotating 90 degrees or using EQMOD. I like the idea of doing it all within N.I.N.A. I like to use Anydesk, through an ethernet connected router access point on the scope buggy, operating the scope mounted mini PC. When PA is done I could now press play on the N.I.N.A sequence and go back indoors to the ethernet connected desktop. By the time the kettle has boiled and the tea brewed the first exposures could be on the way. Liking the channel.

Great video. Thank you very much

Awesome ! Thanks a lot ! Can't wait to try it !

I have reproducibility problems using this. I polar align, start 6 minutes off (I was polar aligned from the night before), and got to well under 1 minute. Redid the polar alignment immediately, and was about 6 minutes off again. With sharpcap when I redo polar alignment immediately, or an hour later it's very consistent. If I get within 30 arc seconds, an hour later I get a similar measurement. Granted, 6 minutes isn't bad, and it's great to be able to do this if Polaris isn't visible, but for me this would be a fall back method rather than a primary method.

would be nice if the mount corrected those errors automatic, like aligning in astroberry, which closes in to your written down end result.

Fantastic video mate! Subbed too

Can I do this on ioptron skyguider pro with dslr?? But how will I rotate ra axis exactly by say 20 degrees or so

I have been using updated plugin for awhile now. Been working great, but all of a sudden it wont even solve the first capture. Just keeps saying plate solve failed. Using a GEM28 mount. Wondering if the time set on mount is different than the time set with NINA, I dont know how to check it.

Great video thanks for sharing one thing I did notice is when you have it on the high contrast setting it's hard to see the icon but that's my user error so will try another, I've yet to try it out so hoping to give it a go at a star party next week thanks again & clear skies.

Hello, Patriot Astro, yes, I watched it just after this one. but no good weather at this moment, I'm going to do a test for part one: mount must go south, part 2 I need a sky with stars, for now in Belgium, it's rainning too much. Thanks for the quick response. I will give you the result.

I'm having a big and unexpected problem here that stops my session. Using my very automatic ASIAIR Pro, doing a PA, it would slew the telescope over 60 degrees and after PA, I would slew direct to my target. But in NINA, when I press the button to begin 3PPA, the telescope rolls over to just beyond 90 degrees, and the EQMOD shuts off tracking (Meridian Limit is flashing). Why does it roll so far? What setting did I not know to set? Once it does this, I find the whole setup is locked out and I don't know how to recover from it. Mostly I need to know how to fix it, I obviously in ignorance have not set something correctly or not set it at all. I have a good view of Polaris in my driveway, but there are houses on both sides so the sky to the west is limited, but the mount goes west to more than 90 degrees (2 nights).

Hey dude, love your video thanks. Do I use my guidecam or imaging camera to do the polar alignment? Thanks

Thanks Chad, great video… just downloaded this plug in… it will be fantastic if it helps me to image from the other side of the house 🏡 where I don’t have visibility of the South Pole… just a quick question? What total error is considered to be a good enough point? I see that I. Your comparison with pole master it’s actually quite good however a rough reference would be great

Wow. Great video. Thanks Chad. I’ll try. How I install the plugin’s icon in NINA ?

I don’t have access to Polaris from my backyard. I’ve used Celestron’s All Star Polar Alignment, and Drift Alignment in PHD2. My question, how do these non-Polaris methods compare precision wise to alignment on Polaris? With PHD2 I’m usually happy with alignment error of less than 0.5 arc minutes. I don’t have a frame of reference for how that compares to a pole master or this new method in NINA.

Hello, I tried the plug-in a few days ago, on my south side balcony. I start my mount set to north with the azimuth of +/-52°40, the telescope points to the topt roof not the sky. So I turn the mount to the south not too high (again the ceiling that protrudes) and when I start the plug-in, the mount returns to the north without having made a first photo and astrometry, what did I do wrong?

I wish the NINA polar alignment just used Polaris, simple for me. In this video, you left Altitude and Az settings at default. So did I, I don't know how to astronomically calculate the settings one puts in there apart from my lat/longs. You don't show in this video your scope slewing when 3PPA is started. I watched Cuiv's, his small scope slewed (I would say "rolled" in RA) about 75 degrees. My rig rolled over 90 degrees and instantly shut down everything due to mount limits in EQMOD. Ok, I now have adjusted my mount limits in EQMOD to allow more than 90 degrees and still not collide with tripod. Should I run 3PPA in Manual?? I dont really understand how to reposition the scope along the meridian line, along the top of the sky. Should I tell it to "start from where I am"? Since my mount is already pointing right at polaris? A NINA newbie has difficulties troubleshooting problems when stuff doesn't work right. Ha, I don't give up easily, and I just want to not damage any equipment until I know what I'm doing. Thanks for your videos, some of them I have watched several times now.

Great video man. thanks for this very helpful tutorial. My question is this, since i can't see Polaris, do i need to slew first anywhere in the sky? Lets say i want to slew in Antares, can i immediately use the Three Point polar Align plug-in?

I have a DSLR, tracker, and manual mount. Can I still use NINA? Can I choose where the 3 points are used?

Do I still use PHD2 while running this or will this interfere with PHD2 commands?

Are you meant to be platesolved/synced before you start this process in the sequencer? I have updated NINA and downloaded the plugin, but yet to try it.

in which version of NINA? version 1.10 HF3 has no plugins

Excellent video Chad, i can't wait to try it, although i am having trouble getting the plugin. i was using an older version of NINA (1.10) so i downloaded and installed the 1.11 nightly versions (32 and 64 bit, i have tried both with the same results) but the plugin tab comes up saying 'no plugins found' and the 'avaliable' world icon and 'check for updates' tab don't do anything either. What have i done wrong please. i am a newbie so technical stuff will probably go over my head. Thanks in advance if you can help me mate.

Hello, I had recently an issue with this polar alignment plug in. I found that, if I stop procedure while it's running (for example to change position from which I'm going to start it - because plate solving is falling too much time at latest step), my mount it's stopping to track at all. Did you find something similar? Is it a wrong settings I got. In case, please, tell me what I have to change, thanks

When I try the 3 polar alingment, does not star the sequence imaging. What could be the problem? Go-to is ok

This might be a really stupid question, but i am a total newb. Do you start with the tripod roughly aligned to North and then slew to a visible part of the sky and go from there or do you keep the mount at the ”home” position and align the tripod towards the visible part of the sky and go from there?

Chad having nightmares making ASTAP work on my nightly build. What platesolver did you use for this video?

I'm trying to give Nina's tppa a go but it keeps telling me "Telescope cannot move primary axis, this is required for the automated slews around the right ascension axis!" I'm using an heq5 pro with an eq cable, is this a problem with my ascom? I usually use sharpcap for my PA but it would be nice to utilize this when Polaris is not visible.

The only two mentioned reasons you can't see Polaris: Obstructions at home or traveling. Astrophotographers from South Hemisphere: "- Dude..." .