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NEQ6 unboxed and assembled ... now what?

srdegnan

By srdegnan
in Discussions - Mounts

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srdegnan

srdegnan

Posted
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Hi

Following earlier helpful advise on a new set up (I'm reasonable newbie) I picked up a second hand NEQ6 and a new ED80.

I'm new to goto mounts and the NEQ6 was well recommended. It's come with a very light manual and resources on line seem similarly thin.

So far it's

* unboxed and assembled (heavy :D)

* ED80 is on and balanced

* latitude set

I'm now at the point (once these cloudy nights go) where I guess I'm into star aligment and polar alignment. The manual tends to try up at this point.

I guess one question could be "so how do I go about doing that". But with a little more thought, perhaps the questions are:

Do I need to polar align before I do three star alignment?

How does the NEQ6 take into account where the scope is orientated once latitude and longitude are set in order to do star orientation?

For example, in three star alignment, the first star might be Vega. How can it make a reasonable fist of locating it when it doesn't know it's azimuth starting point? I previously had a tracking satellite dish and that relied on an electric compass.

Any help appreciated!

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malc-c

malc-c

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setting up an EQ mount is well documented, both here on the forum and on the web, so a little research / browsing will be required. I suggest making a cuppa and witch the Astronomyshed videos on youtube.

Basically - use a compass to point the mount north (the leg with the N on) - set the latitude to match that of your location. Then polar align the mount (again this has been documented to death on the forum) - Set the mount / scope in the home position and then power on the controller. Run through the steps entering the date / time / lat and long / and then select two or three star alignment - again this is well documented so I won't run through it again... but it's not a complicated process

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keithatrochdale

keithatrochdale

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You need to polar align the mount first and make sure it is level.

Switch on the mount and send it to PARK and switch off, manually turn it to the home position (which should point your scope at Polaris).

Switch on and you can start the star alignment.

This is my, very simplistic, understanding, but I am very much a beginner.

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srdegnan

srdegnan

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Thanks - will do a bit more looking. No sign of an "N" anywhere though!

setting up an EQ mount is well documented, both here on the forum and on the web, so a little research / browsing will be required. I suggest making a cuppa and witch the Astronomyshed videos on youtube.

Basically - use a compass to point the mount north (the leg with the N on) - set the latitude to match that of your location. Then polar align the mount (again this has been documented to death on the forum) - Set the mount / scope in the home position and then power on the controller. Run through the steps entering the date / time / lat and long / and then select two or three star alignment - again this is well documented so I won't run through it again... but it's not a complicated process

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Merlin66

Merlin66

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The mount basically gets it's "zero" position from the "PARK" position ie tube pointing to polaris with counterweights in the down position.

Don't worry too much about the "N" leg - it becomes more of a stability issue with larger OTA's.

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malc-c

malc-c

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Thanks - will do a bit more looking. No sign of an "N" anywhere though!

In that case, it's the leg which is next to the small "post" that sticks up to allow adjustment of the azimuth position

Basically this is the home position to start the alignment - mount and scope pointing North

ST120EQ32.jpg

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Tinker1947

Tinker1947

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There is another thread that talked about the tripod leg positions, have a leg pointing north so the counter balance weights hang over it seems to be flavour of the day, this also left the rear with enough space to sit under the mount when doing the Polar align bit. As for how does the mount knows when it is when turned on and all the data has been entered, i read someplace in these forums that it does'nt and when it goes to the first of the 3 star selection manually point it at the chosen star as it in my case seems to go completely the wrong way, the 2nd selection it should then go and find then the 3rd selection, i have had a couple of goes but not got the "Aligned Successful " in the hand set yet, like every thing once it been cracked it will be like fall of a log.

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brantuk

brantuk

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Once I have the mount polar aligned - I just tell it to go to an object - one that I can id in the sky. Doesn't matter where it goes to or ends up pointing. When it stops I just move it manually to the object and the electronics are "con'ed" into thinking it's map is correct. It'll go straight to the second alignment object then.

Fine for visual tracking and observing :D

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