Help again

[brrttpaul]

Hi guys, couple of things playing on me. I bought the star adventurer and as some of you may know my first outing was a bit of a disaster. So it got me thinking, how accurate do I need to be with locating polaris? I can find it ok and point the tracker to it, I can look through the finderscope and get it on the circle the same as it says in polar finder, what I dont get is the setting rings, there is an outer ring set at zero then an inner ring, and then theres another ring smaller again. I take it the outer ring dosnt move at all?  its the middle ring that throws me completly as the degree compensation is only on a small part of it? I know I,m just not seeing it and its staring me in the face. So I was wondering with the vixen polaris it states that you can get by without a finder scope well surely the star adventurer would also? another thing is on polaris finder it asks for three digits the first being degrees and then the 2nd hrs third minutes, would I be right in saying 3 degrees ( merthyr) and then put the hour and minutes of the time im observing?

I know I probably sound thick as hell but if you dont ask

Cheers

Paul

[hazegood]

cant help with the polar finders, but for the degrees I would think you need the hours and minutes of latitude / longitude,  so for mythyr according to google it is,  51° 45' 0 north and 3° 23' 0 west,
 

Hope this helps

 

[steppenwolf]

Page 20 of the manual explains this pretty well but in essence these setting circles provide a circular slide rule for calculating the position of Polaris at any date/time/location.

You need to calibrate the polarscope first to ensure that the crosshair remains in the centre for any orientation of the polariscope.

The 'degree compensation is only on a small part of it' section (innermost ring) is to set your longitude as an offset in degrees from the Greenwich meridian.

The outer ring represents a 24 hour clock for setting the local time.

The middle ring is graduated in days and months of the year - each minor graduation representing 2 days. This is not absolutely accurate as each month is assumed to be 30 days long but it is accurate enough for most purposes!

[brrttpaul]

Ah right so I just type in 3, 23, 0 in the box yes? ( a box appears that says longtitude the bit that threw me was mins and secs)

[brrttpaul]

Think it was the calibrating I meant sorry, it says about setting it to 31st of Oct (if i remember rightly) then using the degree compensation which I think would be 3 degrees west for me, wish there was a club nearby to have a more hands on approach but thanks for your help im annoying i know 

cheers

Paul

[brrttpaul]

The outer ring dosnt move does it?

[Psychobilly]

Whats the reticle like on the polarscope? Does it just have the ring abd circle on it or does it have a few constellations marked on it.. Either way -  Do you have a smartphone ... you can forget about using the setting circles if you use an app like polarfinder instead ...

Just checked out the User Manual  .. Looks you may still be able to use polarfinder...

Peter...

[rowan46]

I used polar finder on mine got a good 3 minute sub off a 50mm lens and then the clouds rolled in. that was about 6 weeks ago i havent been able to use it since  (combination of weather and work) just wanted to confirm polar finder works with the star adventurer and is much easier to use than the polar scope

[brrttpaul]

Thanks for all the replies guys it is very much appreciated, I am a little confused though Rowan I thought the polar finder was used inconjunction with your polar scope not instead of. The way I read it was print out the polar finder, look through the polar scope and adjust the scope untill its the same as polar finder

[Psychobilly]

The polarfinder app shows you how you the orientation of the ploarscope based on your location and time if the smartphone has GPS and its enabled the app uses it to set loxation and time. You then match the position of the polaris circle on the mount with the one shown in the app.

Peter

[brrttpaul]

thanks for that i thought so, except Im not using the app its on my computer I do have a windows phone mind so may see if there is an app to go with it

[Tinker1947]

Take a look here....all types....  http://www.polarfinder.com/

[rowan46]

I used polar finder on mine got a good 3 minute sub off a 50mm lens and then the clouds rolled in. that was about 6 weeks ago i havent been able to use it since  (combination of weather and work) just wanted to confirm polar finder works with the star adventurer and is much easier to use than just  the polar scope

Thanks for all the replies guys it is very much appreciated, I am a little confused though Rowan I thought the polar finder was used in conjunction with your polar scope not instead of. The way I read it was print out the polar finder, look through the polar scope and adjust the scope until its the same as polar finder

 sorry I wasn't clear I really should read my posts before sending ,  I just line it up with polar finder as I don't really understand the skywatcher instructions. it seems to work fine line the reticle up to the position shown on the app  put polaris on the spot and you are away. 

[brrttpaul]

Thanks very much for your time and trouble its much appreciated

[Psychobilly]

I noticed you found your way down to the South Wales Valleys Group they are very active in your neck of the woods

Peter...

[brrttpaul]

Yeah I went to one of their meetings during a meteor shower think it was persids and spoke to a few there nice bunch, been keeping a keen eye on their next meet think its around the 23rd of Jan so hope to go and annoy i mean pick their brains

[Psychobilly]

Keep an eye out for some impromptu short notice  viewing sessions over the Crimbo and New Year period if the weather breaks chances are people will want to get out...

Peter...

[brrttpaul]

i most definatly will