getting it all wrong.

[bibbsy]

oh how easy it for us newbies to get it all wrong.

ive been trying to do the star alignment on my HEQ5 goto mount for what seems like months but its only been about 4 nights,just feels like months as ive been getting no where.

decided to phone the company today were i bought it from and ask what am i doing wrong,have you polar aligned the mount,said the chap on the other end of the line.......polar align says i,whats that then lol,he then ran me through the process of just how to do this.

just this minute set up the tripod and mount in the garden to have a dry run of what i was just told,i noticed that the mount was not pointing up high enough to clear the trees at the north end of the garden,i turned the bolts on the base of the mount so that it now clears the trees and is pointing quite high up into the sky. have i done this part right,not wanting to phone the shop back already fingers crossed for clear skies tonight so i hopefully can manage doing the polar aligning and then onto star aligning,then at long last the wonders that are out there to be seen......i hate being green and wet behind the ears

[nicnac]

Lol, dont worry about that, it ain't the first and wont be the last pal, we are all open to muck ups

[bibbsy]

thanks nick,

quick question if i can,did i do the right thing in adjusting the two bolts at the bottom of the mount to get it to look higher up ? excuse the lack of technical terms but i hope you know what im saying,bit worried in case ive done this wrong and cause damage,it must be right im thinking,or how else am i going to align to polaris,thanks for any help

[steelfixer]

Bibbsy.

If you look at the side of your mount you will see a scale marked off in degrees 0 - 90.

I do not know what part of Essex you are in but the pointer/marker should be around the 50 degree mark on this scale.

If should match up with the lattitude setting you put into the goto set up.

Providing your mount is level in all directions and is pointing just slightly off magnetic North the polar alignment will be pretty close and you should be able to see the pole star through your polar aginment viewer. you can then make the fine adjustments to get it spot on.

Graham

[Celeste]

Newbie myself, have you set the (I think) Altitude to 51/52 deg? Sorry if you have as I said newbie myself. My scope is at 52, and well clears ANY tree/house/streetlight etc.

Edit: Lol beat too it...I should type faster! haha

[bibbsy]

thank you graham,i did ask the chap if i should be using the various dials and clocks but he said not to bother with those ? i shall go back out and take a look at the dial reading,thanks so much

[bibbsy]

thanks celeste,im off to check now

[bibbsy]

hi guys,

it was slightly under 50,my latitude is 51,should i set to 51 or does this small amount matter ?

[martin_h]

The dial you are looking for is at the bottom of the mount near the 2 screws you adjusted, its a black? plastic disc with a metal pointer over it. Wind the screws untill its reads 52/53 degrees and you should be somewhere close.

[martin_h]

beat me to it...LOL

The dial is not very accurate... get it as close as you can....then adjust it at night when you can see Polaris.

[steelfixer]

one last point.

When you look through the polar scope everything is reversed so if the pole star is to high in the viewfinder you need to go down if it is to the right you need to go left but only turn the adjusting screws a tiny bit at a time as things will move pretty quickley.

You adjust the two bolts you mention to go up and down and to go left and right you will find two horizontal screw adjusters on the front of the mount below the polar scope appature. Whilst it is daylight you want to set those two screws so the mount is centeral to the peg they screw up against this will mean you will have adjustment both ways tonight.

If you do not you will have to move the tripod to get the adjustment you need and you will have to go through the levelling process again which is not much fun in the dark.

Graham

[stringbean]

You don't have to be spot on. You can make any final adjustments when you look through your alignment scope to centre polaris.

[MG1]

I assume that they took you through aligning the polar scope reticule?

If not then check out Astrobaby's guide: Astro Babys HEQ5 Polar Alignment

Also if youtube is more your thing then I don't think there are any better guides than Dion's: Polar Scope Reticule Centering & Mods - YouTube

Have fun...

[steelfixer]

sorry one last last bit.

Did the chap tell you to rotate the scope to the horizontal position before you try to polar align.

If not then I will.

The scope needs to be horizontal to open the polar scope appature so you can look through it.

Graham

[bibbsy]

thanks very much for all the help guys,fingers crossed i can get this sussed tonight,thanks again

[nicnac]

Hello bibbsy, yep, you alter with the screws, one at the front and one at the back, screw one out and the other in until you get to your latitude then use your polarscope and fine tune then tighten the screws to lock up.

[bibbsy]

thank you nick,got the kit all set up in the horizontal position so that i can now see through the polar scope,fingers crossed for a clear sky and that i can at last polar align,star align then use the goto i mean.....what could go wrong now lol.

[steelfixer]

I hope it all goes well for you tonight.

Once you get it all lined up you want to mark the surface your tripod is standing on.

If you put a mark where each leg meets the ground you should be able to put it back in the same place tomorrow and it will save you a load of time.

Graham

[bibbsy]

thank you graham,good thinking,i shall make sure i do just that big thanks for all the help.

[Woody]

I think it was mentioned earlier but make sure that when you adjust the bolts that you loosen the opposite one before you tighten the other, otherwise you may bend the bolt.

[bibbsy]

thanks woody

[bibbsy]

yet another night goes by with no luck had polaris in view but was up to high and off to the right,got it down to the correct level but needed to be brought over from the right and into the circle,came in for my allen key kit.....and then a grrrrrr moment,i dont have a key small enough,so with fingers crossed i went for the star alignment anyway,not a chance,still way off,so back on the old push around mount the dob went,took a look at jupiter and pleiades then packed up and came indoors with my tail between my legs.

this new hobby is starting to grate.

[Woody]

Hello bibbsy.

Why did you need an allen key? Where you trying to Polar align the mount or align the polar scope reticule?

If you are polar aligning the mount you will not need any allen keys, all the movements are done with the Altitude and Azimuth bolts.

The 3 tiny allen key bolts near the eyepiece of the polarscope are for aligning the reticule, which is a whole other task ( and don't worry about it for the moment)

Jeremy

Edit - PM me if you like and I will give you my phone number and you can call me if that helps.

[todd8137]

time and Patience took the snail to America,my dad says all the time to me i can not help but some times the easiest of things sem hard you`ll get there in the end am sure

[bibbsy]

hi woody,

doh i thought that i had to adjust those to move polaris left or right and get it into the polar scope small circle,i used the Altitude and Azimuth bolts to bring polaris down but i could not get it to come across from the right and into the small circle ? what do i use to perform this task please.