Explorer 200P HEQ5 SynScan and Stellarium

[spacedyemeerkat]

Couple of questions arising from last night with my new gear, if I may:

I roughly polar aligned my mount, placed my telescope vertically and found Polaris in the viewfinder. Following this, I switched on my SynScan unit and went through the two star alignment process (the three star version seems to be a little less accurate for me at the moment).

Do I need to aim the OTA in the direction of Polaris initially at all if using SynScan before the alignment procedure? And should I ensure the scope is vertical?

This leads on to the second part. Once I have performed alignment, the telescope is finding objects reasonably well, still within the viewfinder, half the distance from centre. I then centre them using the hand controller.

When I connect my telescope to Stellarium (or TheSkyX), it thinks my telescope is pointing a little off where it actually is (it's only just off in the human eye field of view setting but obviously gets more off as the FoV is reduced). Should this be the case?

Thanks, folks.

[Cornelius Varley]

"Do I need to aim the OTA in the direction of Polaris initially at all if using SynScan before the alignment procedure? And should I ensure the scope is vertical?"

The starting position for the telescope should be counterweight pointing straight down and the telescope pointing at the North Celestial Pole. The handset assumes this is the starting position for the telescope when it starts the alignment proceedure.

Peter

[Tinker1947]

You should do as CV mentions, the mount its self need to be polar aligned, so at least Polaris is in the Polar scope close to where it needs to be. Take note of where the tripod feet are and place them there every time will take away the need to polar aligned every to you do some viewing...

[StuW]

If you select in Stellarium whatever is in the center of the field of view of the eyepiece then press CTRL+3, it should sync the software to the scope's position.

[spacedyemeerkat]

Thanks, folks.

When the mount is polar aligned and the telescope is in the home position, should I be able to see Polaris centred through OTA before switching on SynScan? I've just read something that implies I shouldn't see Polaris through the OTA when the mount is polar aligned the scope is parked.

[Cornelius Varley]

You shouldn't be able to see Polaris. The telescope is pointing at the NCP which is a lttle less than 1 degree away form Polaris.

Peter