Polar alignment...

[zainraza]

Please don't kick me for this but I've been using my scope for a little over a year.... and am just going through the polar alignment today (just need to tweak it with the next clear sky with polaris)

I was wondering where do you actually go from there with your scope, as in how is getting something in your scope with polar alignment different to without?

I did watch a few videos saying it counter acts earth's spin etc but wouldn't loosening and moving the scope just make polar alignment a waste of time?

[Cornelius Varley]

Please don't kick me for this but I've been using my scope for a little over a year.... and am just going through the polar alignment today (just need to tweak it with the next clear sky with polaris)

I was wondering where do you actually go from there with your scope, as in how is getting something in your scope with polar alignment different to without?

I did watch a few videos saying it counter acts earth's spin etc but wouldn't loosening and moving the scope just make polar alignment a waste of time?

It is the mount that is polar aligned not the telescope. As the videos indicate, polar alignment aligns the mount with the Earths' axis. Slewing the telescope doesn't affect polar alignment.

Peter

Peter

[starstuck]

I think you are aligning the mount to the earths axis so then you have a fixed reference point around which everything else rotates.

[zainraza]

So would that mean an object I have in my scope would seem to stay still instead of having to continuously use the slow mo cables?

[Black Knight]

You will still need to use the slow mo cables to track the object in right ascension as the object moves across the sky. Well, it's the earth that is moving, but you get my drift ....

[Cornelius Varley]

So would that mean an object I have in my scope would seem to stay still instead of having to continuously use the slow mo cables?

No. The object in your eyepiece will continue moving unless you track it using the RA slo-mo cable or have an RA drive fitted to your mount. If the mount is correctly polar aligned the mount only needs to be adjusted in the RA axis to keep the target central in the eyepiece. If the mount has not been correctly polar aligned the target will drift in both axis (RA and DEC) so you would need to adjust both cables to keep thtarget in the eyepiece.

Peter

[zainraza]

Ohh now I get it, thats cleared up a lot thanks.

This is gonna make it a lot easier then