Help for a complete noob

[Leigh81]

Hi all,

As mentioned in my introduction thread, I recently got the bug after watching Stargazing Live, since then I have taken a few shots of the stars from my house, with a Nikon D3 and a 50mm 1.8...

I have now purchased a Skywatcher 150PDS with a EQ5 Pro Goto mount. I received the order the other day, I've set everything up, but I actually am struggling to get things going.... I've read about Polar alignment (stuggling with that - can't seem to grasp how to set my mount up), I've tried a 3 star alignment with my goto (didn't work - I guess u have to polar align first?), and now I'm really confused about what to do...

I've read a few links from here (astro baby?) and watched a guy on you tube in his living room setup up his mount.. but I think thats intended for a beginner who knows a little about dials, polar alignment etc, I finished watching that and was more confused than I was before I watched it.

Can someone help me please?

[todd8137]

i can not help but if you post in the equipment section am sure some one will be along soon where abouts are you ,some one may be local to you who could help

[en51nm]

Do you live near a local astronomy club? If you do I would suggest taking your kit with you and someone will be more than happy to walk you through your first polar alignment and goto setup. it took me a couple of attempts to fully understand it so don't worry - you'll get there in the end!

[Leigh81]

Thanks for your replies, I live just outside Witney (Oxfordshire)

[tharil]

Hi Leigh,

I live in Carterton but unfortunately I am also very new to the hobby so not able to help with your questions. Nice to see someone else in the area on here though! I am currently looking for some help with collimation in our area as well. I kinda think I might have totally screwed the collimation on my scope last night while trying collimate it! Tried and tried to put it right but failed miserably! I have sent a mail to T4 in witney to see if they can help. Hope you find some help.

[Ian123]

Although this is a different mount the principles are the same, HTH.

EDIT: this is for polar alignment but not the GoTo procedure.

[Leigh81]

Hi Leigh,

I live in Carterton but unfortunately I am also very new to the hobby so not able to help with your questions. Nice to see someone else in the area on here though! I am currently looking for some help with collimation in our area as well. I kinda think I might have totally screwed the collimation on my scope last night while trying collimate it! Tried and tried to put it right but failed miserably! I have sent a mail to T4 in witney to see if they can help. Hope you find some help.

Lol at least you've got to that stage, I can't even polar align properly, god knows what I'm going to do when I need to collimate my scope

[Leigh81]

Although this is a different mount the principles are the same, HTH.

EDIT: this is for polar alignment but not the GoTo procedure.

Thanks for the link, I'll have to view it when I get home tonight from work

[Jiggy 67]

Polar alignment and scope set up can be a big subject but basically....for visual observing polar alignment does not have to be Meghalaya accurate. Your mount will have a leg with N on it. Using a compass point this North. Set the altitude adjustment bolt to your latitude on the scale. Find Polaris in the sky and look through your polar finder. Make adjustment with your alt/az bolts, and latitude bolts if required to bring Polaris into the centre of your polar scope, that is all I do for visual observing and you will be aligned, with practise it will take less than 5 mins.

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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.364367,-2.733765

[Leigh81]

Thanks very much, u make it sound so simple,.... Lol I'm sure it once uve done it a few times. I wish to do more astrophotography than observing though so I will need an accurate setup.

Thanks for ur reply

[UnderTheRain]

I think the guy on youtube you mention must be Dion from astronomyshed.com if you go there he was dozens of vids including a walkthrough of setting a scope up from start to finish. He's really helpful to he's replied to every post I've made on there, top bloke

[Leigh81]

Cool, thanks for that, I'll take a look