Polar scope trouble

[Gomtuu]

Okay, I had questions about my polarscope here http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/175736-polar-scope-question.html#post2156215

but I seem to be in a lot more trouble now.

It seems the reticle has disengaged and even worse, I have managed to drop one of the damn grubscrews into the polar scope.

Any ideas on how to sort this out? I'm getting to the point where I'm beginning to regret ever hearing the words "polar alignment".

[Gomtuu]

Okay. I've removed the polarscope, retrieved the grubscrew and am ready to position the reticle again. Does it need to be oriented a particular way?

[Kevdan]

Yes,

Look on you tube for astronomysheds video it explains how to do it but I can tell you from experience I did the same as you and had a nightmare but all will come good in the end.

Kev.

[Gomtuu]

Not sure if I made my question clear. What I mean is, is the orientation of the reticle in the scope housing itself important? Or can I put the polarscope back in with it at a random rotation?

[Kevdan]

Not sure if I made my question clear. What I mean is, is the orientation of the reticle in the scope housing itself important? Or can I put the polarscope back in with it at a random rotation?

If you download polarfinder it will show you what position polaris will be in, then just turn the polar scope to this position and then align polaris in the smaller of the two circles.

It's not as bad a sit seems.

Kev

[JamesF]

Once you have the reticle properly lined up with the RA axis, it's the reticle's orientation relative to the time and date rings that is important. Basically you need to arrange everything such that when you set the time and date on the dials, the reticle is rotated so Polaris shows in the correct place relative to the NCP.

AstroBaby's page explains how to do this, but the second link I gave in your other thread does it a simpler way.

At midnight on 1st November, Polaris is directly above the NCP. Because you're polar scope isn't corrected vertically, that means that when the rings are set for the same date and time, the marker for Polaris should be at the bottom of the reticle. I usually do this adjustment indoors because I can use something like a door frame to judge vertical alignment. Get the mount all set up on the tripod and rotate the RA axis until the Polaris marker is at the bottom and lock the RA axis. Now rotate the date and time rings to show midnight on 1st Nov. Then you need to undo the locking index ring on the polar scope and rotate it until the white index mark on it lines up with the "0" value (assuming you're in the UK) on the date ring and do it up again. Once that's done, you're finished.

When you want to take the mount out and align to Polaris, you make sure the date ring is aligned with the index mark, rotate the RA axis to get the date aligned with the time and then use the mount alt/az adjusters to line Polaris up with the marker on the reticle.

James

[Gomtuu]

Hi, thanks for your efforts to help me out. I was actually asking (somewhat clumsily) if the rotation of the reticle relative to the polarscope tube is important - apparently it isn't.

On the bright side, I've now learned how to take apart and reassemble a polar scope!

[themos]

Don't worry, orientation of the reticle is not important. Positioning it correctly (so that the + coincides with the mount's axis) is.

[hemihaggis]

you need to align the polar scope , use the grub screws to make sure when you rotate the ota dec axis the object you venterd on stays in the cross hair . you dont need the polar alignment of polaris to be perfect for visual use , just center polaris roughly , dont bother with ncp`s and pole star transits or time and date dials ,