HEQ5 Polar Alignment / Synscan GOTO beginner stupidities

[biondi]

Hi,

I'm having trouble with the Synscan GOTO getting anywhere near (I mean seriously miles off) the stars it's meant to be aligning to (during the initial 3-star alignment process). So, I'd like to ask a stupid question please.

Once I've polar aligned do I start the alignment from the place I finished the polar alignment? i.e. what position does the scope need to be in before I begin the 3-star (or whatever) calibration?

I've read/watched all kinds of things online but I think I'm just missing the point. The manual is not helping me

cheers,

Matt

[jflowers]

Covered quite nicely here...

http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=78328

[biondi]

That thread is useful, thanks. However, it still doesn't seem clear to me from reading that. After you Polar align do you perform the star calibration from that point or do you first put the scope back in the home position?

[Photosbykev]

The polar alignment has nothing to do with the telescope position, all it is doing is setting the Ra axis of the mounts movement in line with the NCP. This can be done without a scope mounted.

Once polar aligned, fit the scope or release the clutches and reposition the scope back to the Home position, weights down and scope looking towards Polaris, turn off the mount and then turn it back on again. The mount now knows where the scope is and you can run through the star alignment

[Gomtuu]

Start without the scope on the mount.

Level the mount.

Polar align the mount.

Put the scope on, put it in the home position (check the mount is still polar aligned after!).

Switch on the Synscan - when you get to "start from home position?" say yes.

Then just follow the instructions for alignment.

[biondi]

Cheers guys, will give that a go.

[David JM]

You mention polar aligning and three star aligning. Three star aligning is used for an alt-az mount, not an equatorial mount. You should have the options skyalign, auto two star, auto one star, solar system North Eq and South Eq or similar [these are Celestron handset terms].

For a polar alignment you are setting up the scope in a different way than you will with an alt-az and you will set your lattitude and then find Polaris.

Other things to consider:

Have you entered your location [lat an long] correctly?

Have you entered the time and date [date in mm/dd/yy format] correctly?

Have you entered daylight saving time correctly?

Have you entered the right time zone?

[jflowers]

You mention polar aligning and three star aligning. Three star aligning is used for an alt-az mount, not an equatorial mount. You should have the options skyalign, auto two star, auto one star, solar system North Eq and South Eq or similar [these are Celestron handset terms].

I may be misunderstanding you here, but my equatorial heq5 has 1, 2 and 3 star alignment.

I only do visual, so just do a rough polar align and then a 2 star align and its pretty accurate for the evening.

[Davie]

Funny you should mention this as when i went out lastnight i couldnt get a 2 or 3 star alignment to work as it was miles off, not even in the finder scope.

Managed to get it to work fine before and the only difference this time that i can think on was the handset was upgraded to 3.28 and this is its first use since

Sent from somewhere using something.

[JamesM]

If you want to be extra accurate about the three star alignment, you might want to try the following. When the mount moves to where it thinks the first star should be, disconnect the clutches and position the scope manually (no hand controller) to place the first star in the centre of the scope, tighten up the clutches, press enter and then on to the other two stars. Final positioning of the scope on the two remaining stars can be done using the handset. This will make it more accurate during the evening by effectively cancelling out the biggest discrepancy at the start of the alignment. At the moment, the choice of stars at dusk seems to be, Arcturus, Altair and Pollux, though I believe the last one is too low, so I would ignore that one and choose the next choice Regulus which is easier to identify.

Lastly when attempting to centre a star in the eyepiece, try defocusing it a fair way, as a now larger blurred circle will be easier to centre within the outer edges of the eyepiece than a tiny bright sparkling dot somewhere in the middle. Hope that helps.

James