Alignment and Balancing

[Nirusan]

Hi, 

I recently purchased a celestron 6se. I read that if you want perfect alignment you need to balance the optical tube and you should balance the optical tube with all the devices that you would have when observing (i.e. eyepiece, camera etc). My question is that if you balanced your optical tube with a camera on it, do you need to have the camera on the telescope when you are trying to align? I haven't tried this yet but I can only guess that it would be a nightmare trying to align a telescope with a camera on it.

Thank you 

[Thalestris24]

Hi

The 6SE as it stands isn't suitable for long exposure AP as it's an Alt-Az mount. What sort of targets did you have in mind? Normally balancing and (polar) alignment are more of an issue with equatorial mounts.

Cheers

Louise

[wuthton]

Hi, 

I recently purchased a celestron 6se. I read that if you want perfect alignment you need to balance the optical tube and you should balance the optical tube with all the devices that you would have when observing (i.e. eyepiece, camera etc). My question is that if you balanced your optical tube with a camera on it, do you need to have the camera on the telescope when you are trying to align? I haven't tried this yet but I can only guess that it would be a nightmare trying to align a telescope with a camera on it.

Thank you 

The easiest way to achieve balance is to remove the ota from the mount and balance the tube on a pencil. Use a pencil to mark the balance point for your diagonlal/eyepiece and another mark for your camera. Align the appropriate mark with centre point when you place the tube back on the mount.

If you are planning an evening of photography use the camera balance point but use an eyepiece for your alignment.

You mount is not really suitable for astrophotography but it's well worth a go! Select bright subjects, high iso on the camera with 20-30 second exposures, as many as you can in about 10 mins. Then go and learn about DeepSkyStacker.

[CodnorPaul]

The balance issue on SE mounts really affects slewing (making go to more accurate) and tracking - so as wuthton says, align with eyepiece but get balance with camera.

Now as for AP on the SE mount - short exposure planetary can be done, long exposure DSO cant - but the beauty of the OTA is you can rip it off and put it on a GEM mount, which is what I did and never looked back.  I don't do imaging, but the GEM mounts are more stable and accurate, and can be picked up 2nd hand.

[Nirusan]

Thanks for the feedback. I understand that the 6SE is not made for long exposures of DSOs. I was primarily concerned with getting accurate alignment/tracking. As some of you have commented, I will try aligning with the eyepiece but balance with the camera. 

I can probably get away with a 30 second exposure with the 6SE. Just curious, is that sufficient to see at least some detail when imaging DSOs? 

Thanks! 

Nirusan 

[wuthton]

Thanks for the feedback. I understand that the 6SE is not made for long exposures of DSOs. I was primarily concerned with getting accurate alignment/tracking. As some of you have commented, I will try aligning with the eyepiece but balance with the camera. 

I can probably get away with a 30 second exposure with the 6SE. Just curious, is that sufficient to see at least some detail when imaging DSOs? 

Thanks! 

Nirusan 

You will not set the imaging forums on fire with your efforts but with a bright subject it is more than plenty to impress those you have left indoors.

[ollypenrice]

Fine balance has nothing to do with alignment. It affects backlash when tracking at high precision, normally under autoguiding. It surely can't matter much in other contexts.

Olly

[CodnorPaul]

On the SE mount it is said to affect go to as you progress through a session, and will place strain on gears if badly unbalanced due to single fork arm nature

[wuthton]

"Caveat"

Capturing your your first image of a DSO (Nebula, galaxy etc) can can horribly addictive. Be sure your bank balance can keep up as there are certain illegal addictions that are way cheaper to take up as a pass time.

[CSM]

In the Utilities menu there is a Calibrate function which will effectively 'balance' the scope.  So fit your equipment then select this option.  See manual for further information.