Stupid question on polar alignment.

[ribuck]

Hi all,

just a daft question on polar alignment for a newbie on a sttep learning curve.

Ok I have my shiny NEW HEQ5 Pro, and i'm waiting for it to get dark ready to align with polaris. I have set my latitude position to 55 to match my posiiton in the UK 55 degree's north.

So am i right to assume that polar scope should be pretty close to polaris in the sky, what do i do if i cannot see polaris in the polar reticule ? I'm hoping that is should be pretty close and only some fine tuning required.

[saturn5]

Make sure scope is level and pointing north as best you can,if you cannot see polaris then adjust your latitude(altitude)and azimuth knobs until you do.

[saturn5]

I have to be honest and say that unless i'm going to be taking photos i just point mine to polaris by eye and never look at the polar scope,near enough for visual work,only for photography do i bother setting up properly although i have sometimes decided to take a photo after i've set scope up by eye and wondered why stars seem to be trailing so maybe its best to get in the habit of doing it properly.

[Whippy]

Hi all,

just a daft question on polar alignment for a newbie on a sttep learning curve.

Ok I have my shiny NEW HEQ5 Pro, and i'm waiting for it to get dark ready to align with polaris. I have set my latitude position to 55 to match my posiiton in the UK 55 degree's north.

So am i right to assume that polar scope should be pretty close to polaris in the sky, what do i do if i cannot see polaris in the polar reticule ? I'm hoping that is should be pretty close and only some fine tuning required.

Assuming you know where Polaris is, all you need to do is get the mount pointing towards it and then adjust the polar axis using the Alt/Az bolts. I find it a little easier having my right eye looking through the polarscope and my left looking at Polaris from the side of the mount. If you're doing visual observing, just get Polaris in the crosshairs on the polarscope and that'll do you.

Tony..

[ribuck]

What is the purpose of the latitude markings if you just generally adjust it until it's in view ? why have the markings at all of they not used ?

Thought that if i adjusted latitude to match my northern latitude then this would almost center polaris in terms of latitude or be damned close to it.

[Whippy]

You mention that your location is 55 degrees North. In the unlikely event that you live exactly 55 North, the dial will give you a rough ball park figure and then you can adjust it more precisely doing it visually. It'll be close, but the closer the better. After you've done it the first time, you'll only need to give it a little tweak next time unless you go to a totally different location a fair away away.

Tony..

[saturn5]

If your tripod is 1 degree of level and you set your latitude to 55 degrees you will be 1 degree out.The scale on the scope is not that accurate,its not like its a vernier scale ,just a rough guide,you could be the thickness of the line out in your setting ,your tripod a little of the level or your tripod could be a degree or so out and polaris will be out of view.

So make sure tripod is level and leg with N on it is pointing at polaris.

If these are done accurately and your 55 degrees is set accurately then polaris wont be far away,only fine adjustment will be required.

Just remember if your tripod is not level then your latitude scale setting will be out so you just adjust it until you get polaris in view,even if it says 56 degrees, in other words the scale is only accurate if you tripod is level

[ribuck]

Thanks Tony,

I feel like i'm slowly starting to learn stuff and i'm glad that my assumtion was correct and that the latitude markers tie up with my position in the uk. Now all i have to do is wait for the damned clouds to clear.

[ribuck]

Thanks Saturn also, I appreciate that you guys are all taking the time to answer my newbie questions.

[saturn5]

Your welcome,just wish i could show you ,its soooooooooooo much easier.

When i started out years ago i wish the internet was around because it took me ages to figure things out

as there was nobody living near me into astronomy,but once you learn you dont forget because youve had to work hard to get things done,good luck and i hope your skies are cloud free,mine are but at 59N its not very dark yet.

[moondog]

ribuck

what do i do if i cannot see polaris in the polar reticule ?

Have you checked that the reticule is aligned properly first?. The HEQ5 instructions explain how. If the reticule's not aligned your polar alignment will be off (you only need to do this the once!).

MD

[ribuck]

Yeah i've aligned my reticule using the tv ariel method, and yes it was way out. Took a fair amount of tweaking to get it stay exactly in the same place whne rotating the RA 180 degrees. Now i'm just waiting for a clear night to try a polar alignment.

Fortunately i'm not working away this week as was planned so i'm now juat praying to the gods for clear skies. anyone know any good sacrifices for clear skys and which god i should do it for.....lol......

[Trevor]

Good article here about polar alignment of the HEQ5

http://lonewolf-online.net/astronomy/tutorial/polar_alignment_on_a_heq5_mount/

Trev.

[The Warthog]

You mention that your location is 55 degrees North. In the unlikely event that you live exactly 55 North, the dial will give you a rough ball park figure and then you can adjust it more precisely doing it visually. It'll be close, but the closer the better. After you've done it the first time, you'll only need to give it a little tweak next time unless you go to a totally different location a fair away away.

Tony..

Also, if your mount is more or less level, and you are pointing at Polaris, and the latitude scale reads 62 degrees, you are probably not pointing at Polaris, so check again. If your skies aren't very good, you may be pointing at, say, the stars in the end of the Little Dipper's bowl. I've done that.

[cygnusx1]

Also, if your mount is more or less level, and you are pointing at Polaris, and the latitude scale reads 62 degrees, you are probably not pointing at Polaris, so check again. If your skies aren't very good, you may be pointing at, say, the stars in the end of the Little Dipper's bowl. I've done that.

Yeah, i was using the tail star of Ursar Major not Ursa Minor to polar align

Daft or what!

Truth be toild i mistook Ursa Major for Minor and wondered for days why my RA/DEC settings were so far out!

[ribuck]

No not daft at all really, as i've been struggling to identify polaris, so i've ordered starry nighty to try and help me out as i was getting so frustrated when the star alignments kept failing.

hopefully starry night will help with the steep learning curve.

[ribuck]

Can i just ask one other question, once i have idententified polaris and lined it up in my polar scope, sould i also expect the main view in the OTA and the finder scope to also be aligned on polaris.

I.e. Should i expect my polar scope be aligned with my ota and my finder scope ?

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

In a word, no.

When you have the 'scope in the "parked" position with goto it should point close to Polaris, but not exactly at it. Polaris is close to the celestial pole but not that close. The finder should be pointed at the same place that your main 'scope is though, as that's what its for.

The park position is with the RA set so that the weights are at their lowest position and the inlet end of the 'scope is at the highest position.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[ribuck]

Thanks for all the help Kaptain Klevtsov, really appreciate the help you have given me on different topics.