Help! Where do I live and what time is it?

[Dan287]

I'm struggling to set up my new syncsan az go to telescope. I can find the first star, but the scope slews anywhere but the second star I'm expecting to find. What am I doing wrong? According to me my longitude is -4 03w, latitude 51 43n, live in uk so is gmt daylight saving?

Any help or advice gratefully received

[Grunthos]

If you are in the UK it is currently GMT (aka UT) without Daylight saving. (The clocks change on 25th March 2012). i.e. the time of this post is 19:39

Check your coordinates. The ones you have given suggest you are swimming in the middle of the Bristol Channel.

What kind of scope have you got? (I presume a SKywatcher of some sort?). Try selecting a star you definitely know (the scope will not slew exactly to the second star, sometimes only to it's approximate direction).

Lastly, most scopes enter dates in North American format i.e. today would be 03/09/12

[Dan287]

My telescope is a Skywatcher Skymax 127 syncsan az goto

I was hoping that the goto would make exploring easier!

I've tried using my phone for coordinates 51 43'N 4 3'W

Pc says -4 3'W , I've tried both, but ended up looking at the patio rather than Beetelgeuse

[Dan287]

Thanks Grunthos! Just checked my date settings - wrong month, but still a bit confused about lat and long

[Astrosurf]

I use Google Earth to find my co-ordinates (I use a Skywatcher Synscan). I just put in my post code, tweak the positioning a bit by double clicking the hand in the right position to zoom in. Hold the hand over the position and read the co-ords at the bottom of the screen. I round up/down the figures as the seconds go into decimals. Plus Google Earth is great fun to play around with!

Download Google Earth free here:

Google Earth

HTH

Alexxx

[imarcs]

If you have an iPhone just check the compass screen. That shows your location in the correct format for synscan mounts. just enter 4 digits instead of 6

[Cornelius Varley]

You need to enter your coordinates in the follow order 004 03W, 51 43N. Time zone is +0.000, DST is off, date in the format of mm/dd/yyyy.

Use this site Lat - Long Finder: This page helps you find Latitude and Longitude to find your location more accurately. Enter you town and then move the map around to find your exact location. The coordindates you need are the one in degrees and minutes, you can ignore the decimal part of the seconds.

Peter

[mt01]

cornielius what would they do without you ??

[Capricorn]

cornielius what would they do without you ??

The word "Learn" comes to mind.

In amongst all this we still have no idea if the coordinates supplied are correct, no one knows where the OP actually is.

Hopefully Claydon Rd, Hendy ?

[Dan287]

Thanks for all the help - I'll have to wait till the fog clears to check!!

[Cornelius Varley]

cornielius what would they do without you ??

Lost ?

Peter

[Dan287]

Thanks Capricorn, you've confirmed the coordinates are correct - op is about 200m from Clayton Rd