Polar alignment

[tim26792]

Hi All,

Picked up my scope last night and hopefully will be out with it tonight. It is a 200p on eq5

Is there anything I can do with the mount prior to the session in terms of lining it up/setting? Also when it comes to polar alignment I will just be in my back garden tonight and will not be able to see polaris, is there a way round this.

Any advise welcome

Thanks

Tim

[DOBBY]

our house is in the way of polaris here...so...we put a compass on a piece of wood on the floor...got it pointing north...lined up the leg of the tripod...the arm with the weights...& the 'scope to the wood...seems to work ok.. someone will no doubt know the proper way to do it tho

[Diddydo75]

Tim, I found this on another thread.

Polar Alignment of your Equatorial Mount - McWiki

hope it helps

Dale

[tim26792]

thanks for the replies

[JamesM]

You really only need a rough alignment for observing, it's when you're imaging that accuracy becomes a factor. Make sure tripod (legs bit) is level, that the latitude scale on the mount head shows 51 degrees (the dial nearest the tripod legs) and is achieved by tilting the whole mount head forwards/backwards and tightening off. Point the tripod/mount north ensuring that one of legs is pointing in that direction. When you attach the scope/weights the scope should be pointing up towards north with its counterweights pointing downwards in the same northerly direction as the tripod leg mentioned above.

The general idea is simple, in that an equatorial mount is just like an altAz mount that is tilted slightly backwards so that any 'horizontal' movement you make follows the path of a shallow arc across the sky rather than a straight line like that seen on the horizon. This 'arc' is the same path that the stars follow and enables you to keep track of their movement by using only one control. With an AltAz mount (think of a camera tripod) you will have to move it both across and up/down at the same time to track an object whose trajectory is curved.

Hope that helps

James