Complete novice needs help with alignment

[dave1978]

Hello, i have just bought a Meade Etx-70 with the Autostar controller. I have very little knowledge about which lenses to use etc. I understand the alignment procedure for the telescope ie leveling the scope and pointing North but which lense should i use for the alignment with the 2 chosen stars? i have a 6mm, 9 & 25mm Plossl & 3X Barlow lense. I take it the 3x Barlow goes in first for higher magnification but do i need this for the alignment or do i just use the Plosll lenses?

Any tips please

Thanks

[Kai]

I would go for just the 25mm plossl for the initial alignment,thant what i use when i set up

[ZOG]

Dont know about the Meades but when I align the Celestron mount I use my 32mm EP at first, centre the target, then drop in the 10mm to get a more accurate centreing. I never have a fail this way.

[dave1978]

Thanks guys, so when would i need to use the 3x Barlow lense? or is this used for land viewing

[Kai]

if you use the barlow it would give you the same magnifacation as a 8mm eyepiece,once you are aligned and running go to saturn look through the 25mm and then pop the barlow in and look again.You will then see what difference the barlow makes.

[Black Shuck]

Dave,

The barlow basically gives you extra magnification. Mine is a 2x version so if you use a 20mm eyepiece with a 2x barlow you effectively get a 10mm, etc.

You are better off using the least magnification for alignment (i.e. the 25mm) as you will get a wider field of view and be able to identify where you are better. Using a higher magnification is very difficult as small movements of the scope translate into large movements through the eyepiece and you could lose tack of your target object very easily.

Hope this helps - I'm quite new to scopes and SGL too. Keep asking the questions they are a very friendly, helpful bunch on here.

Cheers

Bill£

[dave1978]

Nice one, well hopefully it will be clear tonight. I think i will practice on the Moon (if its out tonight) and get used to the different lenses the move on to the planets.

[CELESCOPE]

Hi Dave , like the guys have said 25mm is fine for viewing , as i only do imaging i use a 13mm , just to give a more accurate alignment and suitablity for the ccd chip, the go to is normally fine then and centred in the imaging frame

Rog

[Astroman]

I'm afraid I disagree with Bill about lower power ep for aligning. You find the star with low power first, then drop in a higher power to get more accurate centering, as Zog says. The better the initial alignment, the better the accuracy later.

[Black Shuck]

You find the star with low power first, then drop in a higher power to get more accurate centering.

Sorry, that's what I meant to say but got carried away Find your way at low power then move to higher power to fine tune.

As Capt C says in another thread "the more you explain things the more you under stand yourself".

Cheers

Bill£

[Jeff RV]

Hi there Dave, "A tip just in case" even though it recommends you level the scope first,"Don't" instead align it to north, find pole star through ep, Centre well as suggested, then lock RA, then level. this the best way to find home position from my experience.

Hope this may be of some help.

Jeff.

[CH]

Thanks guys, so when would i need to use the 3x Barlow lense? or is this used for land viewing

Dave- from one novice to another. That lens doubles your magnification but it also doubles everything else aswell including the bad stuff. I live in an area with little light pollution, sometimes I look at something and get a lovely view using maybe a 25mm lens. If I double it using a barlow the image sometimes appears to 'boil' and is therefore rubbish. This is what everyone refers to as 'seeing' which can be affected by (as far as I've read)

jetstreams, general atmospherics, heat, altitude and probably by the numbers of beers you've consumed aswell.

Magnification isn't everything sometimes.

[proflight2000]

When i had my 105ec etx the set up was as follows. Take the scope outside, undo all the clutches then turn the scope anti-clockwise until it locks off (cannot move any further) then turn the scope clockwise until setting circle (the one with numbers on it) is directly above the box bit where you plug in the handset etc. Once you have done this, lock all the gears then pick up the whole thing and turn it around until the (N) north leg on the tripod is facing north.

Once you have done this make sure you carry out a train drives set up, its in the handset, this will allow the drives to be manipulated by the computer so that they are working correctly. Dont need to do it all the time but if it is new then its a good idea.

Carry on with the set up giving it your time, location etc etc, then allow the scope to star align, wait for the scope to track its alignment star, once it beeps for the final time, use your handset to put the star in the center of the scope, only press ok once you have done this. Then allow it to find another star, do the same thing then hey presto should be working. This was with the 105 remember, so hopefully it may work with the 70.

[dave1978]

Thanks for the help chaps but im still having some trouble. When aligning North i have been using a compass and aligning the telescope with that North. I have read on other sites that this will always result in failure of the alignment and that Polaris should be used for succesfuill results. They also mention magnetic declination correction.

[dave1978]

So do i have to adjust my compass to allow for magnetic declination or can i just align to magnetic North and work from there? or is it best to use true North?

[themos]

I am a complete novice but there's no way I would bother with a compass. Polaris should be easy to find in the sky and if it's not then it's not good telescope weather! True North cannot be further than one-and-a-half moon diameters away from Polaris.

[CH]

Watch some of the videos on here http://www.meade.com/educational/index.html it should help you a little.

[Greg]

The biggest problem with not getting the two alignment stars in the EP are...

A) Scope not level.

Scope not pointing North.

C) Not parking the scope after an observing session

D) Use fresh batteries.

E) Drives not trained.

D) Tripod not level.

Also you need to "Train the drives"...I used to do mine after every 4-5 observing sessions.

The set up form the ETX-70 is different to the ETX-105 you don't have to do the swizzling round bit

Get youself a bubble level and compass.

Before you put the tube on the tripod, make sure it's level accross all three axis...This makes all the difference in all GOTO setups....

Plonk the scope on the tripod.

Make sure the scope tube is level and pointing north.

Drop a low power eyepiece in (25mm) Set the date/Time Blah, blah...

The 1st alignment star should be close, if not in the field of view of the low power eyepiece...slew to the center of the eyepiece..Drop in the 9mm eyepiece and go for greater accuracy.

Plop the 25mm back in and go for the second star alignment.. Again this should be in the eyepiece or at least just a few degrees off...Slew in the alignment star...Drop in the 9mm and go for greater accuracy..

Press enter...

Et voila..

The handset should go BEEP and say "Alignment successful ...Please pay Phattire £25+VAT Paypall accepted but add 4%"

Just don't kick the lightweight tripod or you'll be practising alignment again!

PS.. If you havn't already got one a "Focus mate" Is invaluable with the ETX series of scopes...Ask FLO for details...

http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerid=16524OgxTpxM3uShhVtY2neI7yKcIRFa&action=lnk

Did you want a compass bubble level as I have one somewhere for a few quid...

http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerid=62899p3wRHVJSZqwYypLPtugoUYC6Iay&action=lnk

PM me if interested..

Greg

[ElijahB]

I keep seeing people saying to make sure the scope is pointing north, I have a CPC 800 with GPS, is the North thing still necessary? I didn't think it was as the GPS should know which way that is Or, is it still good practice to do that step?

Other than that bit I take it everything else stands, level tripod, etc.

Cheers,

ElijahB

[Greg]

The Meade ETX-70 is not equiped with GPS..

[ElijahB]

The Meade ETX-70 is not equiped with GPS..

I get that bit....

I have a CPC 800 with GPS, is the North thing still necessary?

As my scope does have GPS, I was just wanting to make sure I can skip the pointing north bit or whether it's still good practice to set up that way. Cheers.

[Greg]

Sorry I read you post the wrong way...

From what I understand it's not so important with the GPS equipped stuff as the scope knows where it's pointing and it's orientation...as long as it's got the fix on three satellites...I saw one work recently and was quite impressed..It just got put down and switched on..it took longer to aquire the satellites than anything else.

I may be wrong....