Aligning finderscope - How far away?

[ykket]

I am trying to align my StarPoint finderscope for my 127SLT. Being that the moon is not out at night (atleast for another week) I am trying to align it during the day. How far away should the object be that I am aligning with? Thanks

[kirkster501]

As far away as possible - hence a star is the best choice and do it at twilight.

If you want to do in broad daylight then at least a mile to avoid parallax effects and choose a church steeple, a building or something like that.

Tip. Take your time and get it spot on. Its time very, very well spent and saves countless frustrations when trying to set the main scope alignment in pitch dark. I am still tinkering with mine and got it spot on almost.

Steve

[rory]

use jupiter if you do it in the evening.

[182570]

I'm still tinkering with mine after over a month just to get it spot on,it's fine to use as it is,but the more accurate you get it the easier it is to find things in the dark,so keep at it till your happy with it.

[crazyjedi]

I tend to do a rough alignment on an object as far way as poss during the day when i first set up and then fine tune my finder on a star once night falls. I have to regularly do this when ever i take my scope down and travel to Wales. I usually use a rock on a near by mountain during the day.

I got very confused and confounded once when i tried lining up on a rather bright lump that stood out well on a mountainside. I couldn't seem to get the damn finder to stay aligned??? until i discovered I was trying to line up on a far off sheep that would wonder about periodically!

[ykket]

Cool thanks for input. I will try to give it a go tonight if the clouds stay away.

@crazyjedi: thats funny, align with a sheep

[LukeSkywatcher]

Cool thanks for input. I will try to give it a go tonight if the clouds stay away.

@crazyjedi: thats funny, align with a sheep

Lets face it...................sheep dont move much.

[kirkster501]

I now have mine almost crack on. Difference it makes to the use of a goto scope is massive and saves so much frustration. Time spent now will be repaid a thousand fold and make alignment a breeze rather than a chore and something to endure...

Persevere with it and get it 100%.

[brantuk]

To align the finder I use a pylon tip about 2 miles away. Align with a 25mm eyepiece or there abouts first. Get it dead central in the eyepiece then on the finder cross hairs or RDF dot. Then I refine it with a 15mm eyepiece which will show how far out the first time was. Then do it again with 8mm or 10mm eyepiece.

You'll find it's now set nicely for most objects in the night sky. If you have a zoom eyepiece it's much easier cos you don't have to keep changing eyepieces. Any further refinement at higher mags can be done at night

[glowjet]

A basic cross hair eye piece can be very useful in refining your alignment in daylight and if its an illuminated type, its even better at night

[bcfcciderhead]

I always thought it's best NOT to use objects in the sky, such as moon, jupiter etc as they keep moving, you get the finder on it and then when you look in the EP it's not dead centre, so you move the scope to get it right, look in the finder and then that out a bit.......you will do this all night!!

[rowan46]

Best align on something as far away as you can see during the day then get it spot on with polaris at night.

[glowjet]

I always thought it's best NOT to use objects in the sky, such as moon, jupiter etc as they keep moving, you get the finder on it and then when you look in the EP it's not dead centre, so you move the scope to get it right, look in the finder and then that out a bit.......you will do this all night!!

If you have aligned your finder as best you can during daylight then rechecking on a bright star using your lowest power ep should only take a few seconds as they move at sidereal rate, 0.25 deg per minute, if you are having trouble, then Polaris, it don`t move much at all. If your scope has auto tracking there should be no problem

[paul schofield]

The best thing about the Dartford bridge is, its about 3 miles from me and during the day time I line up my finder with the very handy red light on the top of one of the pillars basically using the same method described by brantuk above and its perfect, so for me about 3 miles away.