GOTO advice please

[AndyDix]

Morning all

Last night I got my Heq5 pro and scope set up.

All polar alligned and carried out a 1 star allignment.

When I then set the goto to find the moon it was a fair way off.

My question is could I loosen the clutch`s and manually move the target to centre of FOV ? Will this then bring the goto back on track?

I know a 2 or 3 star allignment will prob solve the problem but I was just wondering.

Again thanks for all the help/advice.

Andy

P.S the moon looked amazing. Bright but amazing.

[Cornelius Varley]

If you loosen the clutches then manually slew the mount after a star alignment you will lose the goto accuracy. Make sure that you have the correct date format (mm/dd/yyyy) and longitude and latitude.

Peter

[AndyUK]

I have to admit that I never use a 1-star alignment (always at least 2 and usually 3!) but having polar aligned I then start the mount from the park position (having previously parked from the previous session). I then use a wideangle EP to start with and when having selected the first goto callibration star, I manually align using the clutches but only for the first star. (To get better accuracy I also use a 12.5mm reticle EP).

When I select the 2nd star, it's usually pretty close, but then you have to use the handset to centre (and ditto for the 3rd star), otherwise, as Peter has noted, your goto aligning efforts are shot!

I also find it's useful to use PAE on a few other stars at the start of the session (especially around the area or areas I expect to be looking) to increase the accuracy further (and it stops me having to faff around with the reticle EP!)