Moving Telescope

[Alexander V]

Hey,

I have literally just started watching the night sky with a telescope.. However I seem to have a problem that I am unable to grasp the solution to!?

When I set the sight to something (and tighten the mount screws, tightly by hand) and start focusing or even if I manage to focus the telescope, it will constantly move so that within a minute I am no longer looking anywhere close to my original point!

My telescope has an equatorial mount and counter-weights.

Should I be re-balancing the telescope every time I change its trajectory?

Any help will be greatly appreciated...

[Pauly]

Hi Alex. It sounds like you have no problem at all. What you may be seeing is the effect of the earths rotation. It is quite surprising how quickly things scoot across your field of view when magnified through an eyepiece. You will need to use the slow motion screws on your mount to track whatever you are looking at.

[5thelement]

Have you aligned the scope with polaris ?

I'm in the same boat as you, just got a scope on an eq mount and im a bit baffled about all the balancing stuff...and thats before i even try and align it.

First night trying it tonight, just aiming it at the moon and jupiter by eyesight and wow..i was gobsmacked!

..but..had the problem of the target moving out of sign constantly and difficulty re-aligning...hence needing to align with polaris i guess, then use the RA axis to keep things in view

[Capricorn]

Are you sure that the scope/mount is moving?

What you describe could well be the stars rotating out of view.

What is the scope, and what eyepieces are you using?

That will give an idea of the field of view and how rapid anything will wander out of view.

If the mount has motors fitted tell us, also if motors are you preforminga basic polar alignment.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

Certainly sounds like a balance issue. Take a look at this - Andy's Shot Glass - Balancing the Orion SkyView Pro

Even if you don't get it perfect, it will at least reduce the strain on your locking mechanisms and eliminate the movement.

edit - it didn't even occur to me that it could be a tracking issue...

[Stephen]

If I recall correctly the OP has a Jessops newt? This doesn't have motors so you will need to continually move the mount with the RA slow motion controller else objects will move out of your field of view.

[Alexander V]

Haha, that's incredible. It actually makes perfect sense, I cannot believe I didn't consider the speeds of orbits and rotations!

Thanks everyone for your help! I'm going to set my telescope to a new angle today and just watch its dials to be 100% sure but I have 100% faith that you are all correct.

You have restored my faith in my construction abilities =D

[pastiche]

When I first used my telescope I had exactly the same issue.

I was amazed at how fast things move across the field of view, but then again, the Earth does spin quite fast!! :)

[brantuk]

Objects will stay in the eyepiece a bit longer with lower magnifications on manual scopes - but they'll still need tracking. 25mm-40mm eyepieces will take a couple of mins to traverse the view. If you pop in a 10mm or less (or a barlow) it'll be a couple of seconds - best to go for a clear, crisp, but smaller view when you're just starting out untill you get used to how everything moves.

Stellarium demonstrates this very well, set sidereal rate and click on an object and zoom in to it. You'll soon get a feel for the different speeds of different objects depending on what zoom level you're on

[bullettooth]

ive just started out this christmas with a scope too and found that when i polar aligned it was much easier to track than just going out and pointing at an object like i first done. takes a lil while to get used to the workings of an eq mount but when you do its a very pleasant experience.

good luck and clear skies

martin