Jay_B

Cheers SuburbanMak, Will definitely heed your good advice on levelling the tripod and mount and using a viewfinder scope plus Rigel Quickfinder. I have a Rigel Quickfinder and so I will attach a spare bracket for this purpose 🙂

Thanks Gfamily, There are some landmarks visible at night near the horizon and so I will use an OS map to calculate the datum bearing as per your suggestion. I have also realised that by carefully loosening the bolt at the base of the extension tube and then slowly turning the extension tube the telescope can be aligned to the datum bearing without rotating the tripod after an approximate "North"-Level starting position. This should align the telescope bearing shown in the app to the landmark datum bearing.

Hello everyone, I have recently started to use a Skywatcher AZ Gti with a small Maksutov 102mm ( OTA=2kg approx ) in AZ mode (using the Synscan Pro App) with various eyepieces with some success. All my observing is from a small balcony facing SW. Polaris is blocked by the house and magnetic compass bearing is iffy due to steel in parts of house above window. For a North Level alignment , can anyone give me an idea of how accurately the telescope must aligned to true North at the start of the alignment procedure ? Thanks...

Yes, Cumbria is quite good for dark skies although the Lake District inevitably tends to act as a "cloud magnet"....

Hello from a newbie from Cumbria. I started 2 years ago and have made steady if unspectacular progress. Am using a Skywatcher 102mm achromatic refractor and a Skywatcher 102mm Maksutov. Maybe the achromatic refractor was a typical newbie mistake? Both telescopes upgraded with Williams optics diagonals and a Rigel Quickfinder plus a right-angled e/p finderscope. I decided to avoid as much electronics and GOTO capability as possible until I had much better overview of the pros and cons. Fifty years ago my father made a very basic refractor telescope and we saw the rings of Saturn which I have always remembered...