A very daft question from Denni's other half..

[Denni]

Afternoon everyone,

apologies, but I am posting on Denni's username as I'm sure we don't need 2 users on the same forum.

He is currently away and I was trying out his telescope the other night as it was very clear and you could see a lot with the naked eye.

He has a 127 Skywatcher Mak scope with the electronic mount.

Anyway I digress. I couldn't use the electronic thing as there was no batteries and I don't know where the portable station thing is so I positioned the scope looking at the moon, put the little scope thing on so I could see the moon in the middle of it (It is a ****** trying to move the scope without power!) I then put the 25 mm lens thing in looked through the scope and I couldn't see anything!

I have never used a telescope before but looking at the eyepiece things, I am sure there is no other way they can go. I must be doing something basically wrong because surely if the little scope has the moon in view I should be able to see the moon? When I say I can see nothing, I mean absolutely nothing at ll. No hazy lights nothing and before someone asks, yes I did take the big lens cap off the end of the scope!! I fiddled with the little black knob on the side which I was assuming was some sort of focusing thing?

I tried the other lenses he has, a 10mm one and another one labelled Barlow 2 x.

Anyway, a long winded explanation of what I was trying to do without success. Can anyone please help me at all? Denni is away in the Arctic circle climbing so I can't ask him. If it is of any use, I could post a picture of how I put the lenses into the scope.

Sorry for such a stupid question but if you don't know, don't be afraid to ask!

Many thanks for taking time to read this. Anna x

[barkis]

Have you removed the protective cover from the front of the tube?

It may sound a silly suggestion, but believe me, it has happened often .

Ron.

[g0ibi]

Did you try the focusing knob on the back of the near where diagonal is? It can mean a lot of turning sometimes to find focus! Try using it in the daytime to get use to it??

[Denni]

Hi there guys,

thanks for the replies. Yup, did take the end cap off and I did try the black focusing knob near the diagonal thing. I might get it out now and have a look to see if I can focus on anything to get used to it. Appreciate the advice, Anna x

PS, A Dental Corps badge!! Denni was in the RADC.

[Rob L]

I think it's likely the finderscope Isn't aligned with the telescope. Easiest to do in the day time, pick something about 1/4 mile away and adjust the finderscope using the thumbscrews until what your using as a target in the scope is right in the centre of the crosshairs of the finderscope.

[Denni]

Right then folks,

after following your advice, I've tried to focus it on a chimney pot down the road, smack bang in the middle of the finder scope and even turning the focusing knob very slowly all the way out and back in, I still can't see anything!

I have had the scope level and also had the moon smack bang in the middle of the finder scope and again turned the knob very slowly in and out until it reached the end of the turn and still can't see anything at all, it is just white and blurry.

I have put the lenses in exactly the same as this picture below:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/user/products/large/skywatcher_skymax_127_AZ_GOTO.jpg

and the lens I put in was a 25mm lens which came as standard with the scope and I also put a 10mm one in.

What else should I be trying? I'm sure it Isn't that complicated and I am sure I'm not missing anything so I have no idea.

Sorry to bug you all :0) Anna x

[Cubemaster]

I'd go with the advice from Rob L. When you said "put the little scope thing on" you also have to align it to the scope..

[knobby]

can you see anything --- light / dark / or nothing at all. Is it blurry, describe exactly what you can see

edit , ... just read back. white and blurry !

dont know that scope but has it got a barlow or something, maybe the mag is too high with a 25 mm eyepeice.

my scope is a 1200mm and i can only fit the moon in a 20 mm eyepeice with no barlow. just a thought

also does it need to cool down like a newt ?

Also you need to match the finder scope with the main tube ... maybe youre doing it backwards !

1 aim the scope at something ... anything

2 move the finder scope to the same thing so they match

Good luck

[imarcs]

I agree, if you have re-attached the finderscope as you say then you will definitely have moved it out of alignment with the main scope.

You will need to use the thumbscrews on the finder to make it point at exactly the same point as the main scope.

It sounds like you have focused the finder on the chimney but the main scope is pointing above that into the open sky, which is why its just all white. Try pointing the scope at something more solid in the distance first then attempt to focus and then move the finderscope accordingly. You have already noticed that there is a lot of focuser travel so you may have to move it a fair bit.

Try a tree first so you can be happy that you are actually focusing.

Also, use the eyepiece with the highest value in mm (least magnification) when aligning the scope as this will give the widest field of view.

good luck

[brantuk]

Yup - get the scope focused on an object dead center of the eyepiece then adjust the finder till you see exactly the same thing dead center on the cross hairs. Do this in daylight if it's your first time. Both scope and finder have to be adjusted till they see the same thing - i.e. aligned together. Otherwise you will not stand a chance on the night sky - everything will be way off.

[Cath]

And DON'T let the scope point anywhere near the sun AT ALL when playing with it in daylight Anna.

[RobH]

I'm a bit concerned when you say that the scope is hard to move without power.....I don't have one of these scopes, but it's not big.....you're not forcing the drives are you?

Maybe someone with a similar scope knows if this is okay or not?

Rob

[Rob L]

I'm a bit concerned when you say that the scope is hard to move without power.....I don't have one of these scopes, but it's not big.....you're not forcing the drives are you?

Maybe someone with a similar scope knows if this is okay or not?

Rob

I kinda skim read that bit ;-) but I think you're right, from memory I think the altitude moves freely but I don't think the azimuth does at all.

Might be an idea to dig out the battery pack.

[Tribal-Wolf]

From looking at an old manual it says 'do not move by hand as this will cause damage to the motors and/or gears'. I would be checking the instruction book before fiddling lol.

[Tribal-Wolf]

http://www.skywatcher.com/swtsupport/Instruction_Manuals/Auto-tracking.pdf

[imarcs]

I took mine apart earlier this week. There is a slip clutch on the Alt so its fine. But not on the azimuth.

[Denni]

Morning chaps,

thanks again for all the replies, much appreciated.

Don't worry about the motors, when I say I have been moving it, I meant pointing it in the general direction of the chimney and the moon, then physically picking up the whole unit until the object was in the middle of the finder scope, wasn't a hard task at all, just a wee bit of patience :0)

Anyway, today I was planning on following the advice given ref pointing the scope at something and focusing the scope first rather than the finder scope bu it is peeing down here in Pompei so I'll have to try and set it up looking out of the bedroom window, try it that way and hope no one thinks I'm up to mischief!

Cheers again, Anna x

[Denni]

Afternoon folks,

spent a while this morning trying to focus on the top of a tower about half a mile away and success! I have no idea but it seemed to take an absolute age to focus generally never mind onto the tower. So I focused the scope, then set up the finder scope and it is all good.

I then tightened up all the tripod mounts as they seemed loose ( I have come to the conclusion that the tripod is absolutely pants and for the sake of sticking 20-30 quid onto the RRP, they should have made something more sturdier, my 2p anyway!) and then did the whole process again and they are now both aligned. I'm guessing that when I move it tonight back into the garden, I'll have to do the process again?

I have also found the Power tank that came with it and it is now plugged in charging. I'm now going to sit down and try to figure out how to use the remote control now. At this stage, I'll let you all know that I switched it on but then didn't know much about my Long and Lat so I looked at Google Earth and got some coordinates.

I looked at a demo on youtube from the Astronomy and Nature Centre and their controller has East and North whereas mine has West and North on it. Is there a reason for this?

Anyway, thanks again for all the help folks, onwards and upwards! Anna x

[imarcs]

Hey Anna,

you shouldn't have to fiddle with the finderscope again unless you knock it of its present settings. It should survive the trip to the garden.

Tip for the long and lat. They can be shown in different formats, which confuses a lot of people intially (including me). see this thread here for clarity

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/152409-az-goto-latitude-longitude.html

Or even easier if you have an iPhone. just look on the compass screen. This will give your long/lat in the correct format.

Let us know how you get on.

[Rob L]

Unless you remove the finderscope you shouldn't need to align it again, although it may occasionally need the odd tweak.

You only need worry about the latitude and aligning to north if you want to track. That is find your target and then let the mount automatically keep the object centred in your eyepiece. Useful at high magnification but not absolutely necessary.

Edit: do you know if it's the goto or autotraking version of the mount?

[Denni]

Hi again guys,

thanks for that advice again. imarcs, I have an iphone and just found the compass, I never knew it was there! On the remote control thing for the telescope, it reads like this:

000*00 W 00*00 N

and on my iphone it says

50*48'45 N 1*10'11 W

(* of course means degrees :0)

so how do I enter that into it, is it like this?

001*10 W 50*48 N soz again folks :0)

Rob, the telescope is a 127 Synscan AZ GOTO and if my coordinates are right above, then I'll try and get it aligned tonight.

What I really want to do is simply have a look at the moon without all the techno hassle, for the moment at least anyway. I have also found a piggyback mount for a camera and an adaptor for the lenses so we can put a camera onto that so I'm hoping when I get the jist of it all, I can take some photo's. I've also found a webcam with "don't touch, Denni's telescope webcam" written on it but I'll leave that alone for now!!

Seems you can do loads with it, but I'll settle for a look at the moon and maybe a piccie.

Thanks again guys, I realise it is all very basic but I find it all a wee bit confusing.

Anna xx

[imarcs]

Hi again guys,

thanks for that advice again. imarcs, I have an iphone and just found the compass, I never knew it was there! On the remote control thing for the telescope, it reads like this:

000*00 W 00*00 N

and on my iphone it says

50*48'45 N 1*10'11 W

(* of course means degrees :0)

so how do I enter that into it, is it like this?

001*10 W 50*48 N soz again folks :0)

Yep. maybe round the 48 up to 49. but it wont make much difference.

Remember to answer 'No' to daylight saving time as well.

Use 'two star align' instead of 'brightest star' as it seems to function better. But you will have to know the names of two bright stars. Use stellarium to find some. (im sure Denni will have that installed on his computer )

You might think its a lot of hassle just to look at the moon, but setting the alignment activates the tracking. So once you point it at the moon the mount will track it automatically so you wont have to continually adjust.

[bigwheels]

Dennie i have the same scope and mine are lat north 52..32.37.08 so i put in 52.32 long west is 1.55.03.67 so i put in 001.55 this should be in degrees and minutes what you have put should be right 001.10 w and 50.48 n best getting them from goggle earth but having said that when i use mine they are always there so i just press enter no need to keep putting them in

[Denni]

So then, here is what happened next...

I found Stelarium on the computer and it is excellent! Very easy to use and within 2 mins, I'd identified half a dozen bright stars.

Stuck the scope in the garden pointing at the moon and it was right in the middle of the finderscope and the telescope then plugged the powertank in and on came the remote.

Entered all the bits and bobs from above and entered Betelgeuse and Regulus as the 2 points but when I did this, the remote control told me to use the directional buttons to centre the object? I tried to use all the buttons on the control and the unit didn't move so I followed the youtube demo and just pressed enter. Did this again for Regulus and at the end it said alignment successful.

Not knowing any different, I then asked it to move to Jupiter and then the moon and it was way off. I did the whole thing again,making sure I had the right date format, time etc etc, said no the the savings time and didn't change the plus minus thing for the time zone and then entered the alignment info again.

Still no joy at all with asking it to goto the moon etc. I take it I am missing something easy here but I followed the youtube demo with the ipad in the garden and just a bit baffled.

Anyone any more useful info for yours truly :0) Anna x

PS, cheers bigwheels for the confirmation!

[DoctorD]

Hi

If the scope did not move when you pressed the arrow keys, then you probably had the rate set too low - press 2 then a number between 0 & 9 (9 being the fastest) - if you press 9 you should be able to easily see the scope moving.

Centre the chosen star in the finder and then centre it in the eyepiece (25mm). You will need to use a slower rate (lower number).

Once centred in the 25mm eyepiece, swap to the 10mm and recentre, try make the final movements with the right arrow and the up arrow.

Once you have centred the first star, you can select the second star - the scope will slew to this, but it likely to be off centre - recentre using the handset as above then press enter.

The scope should now be aligned.

HTH

Paul