JenP04

Brilliant, thank you so much for these, I have now properly set up the home position according to these instructions and it is definitely going the right way when slewing now and pointing at where the stars claim to be on Stellarium so hopefully we will get something a bit more when clearer skies are upon us! We are a step closer! Thank you!

Hi, Please forgive me in advance for my newbie and potentially frustrating question here! I have got an HEQ5 mount for my skymax 180 that I was given for Christmas. We have tried following many YouTube videos and reading what we can to get this set up and polar aligned and feel like we are missing something fundamental as when we go to then star align with the GOTO remote, it points at the floor instead of the moon or the star we are trying to align to. So far we have used 5 freezing nights of trying to do these things to no avail and it is rather frustrating and extremely disappointing! So I am wondering please, what is the best way for me to actually set this thing up so we can finally enjoy using the scope? Do I need to have Home position sorted before I've aligned so once we have (hopefully) done that then we can navigate everything easier? Is that potentially what we are missing? With lockdown i dont have a handy shop to visit or anyone else that knows how to do this and while I am sure patience is a virtue, I feel so overwhelmed by it all! Any advice or recommendations on what to watch or do to help us are gratefully received! Again, I am sorry for being such a newb, I am hopeful once we crack this it will become second nature over time! Thank you!

Thank you all so much for your replies and welcomes, they are all very much appreciated! I was looking at the HEQ5 pro as well so pleased to see you would suggest it, I will investigate this more! @dweller25your tips are great, thank you so much for that too, really kind of you. I will definitely do all of those things! Thanks again all!

Hi everyone, My husband has given me a Skywatcher sky max 180 mak for Christmas, hugely generous, but I am complete newb to all of this (having been fascinated for years but never taken the plunge) but was struggling to find a suitable mount for it which I am now researching. Whilst I have seen so far that a motorised mount is the better way to go for this, what with our newb status and the assistance it would give us to tracking, I really don't know a lot about this yet and am looking for some help from those more in the know while our local shop and assistance with this is closed under tier 4 restrictions. So far I am wondering if the EQ5 is suitable enough for it? Apologies for the complete newness, but I do appreciate and guidance anyone can kindly offer! Thank you in advance!