polaris alignment problem

[paul j]

Hi all,i own a eq5 synscan goto mount and a celestron c8 xlt scope.im fairly new to astronomy,i did own a skywatcher 102 scope which i never really had problems with,my question is since i bought the c8 and fixed it to the mount then i alighned the mount to polaris i cant see polaris through my scope,i set my telrad and i can see it through that ok but i still cant see it through my c8 scope,im sure ive alighned it correctly as ive done it before with my old scope on the mount and never had a problem.but ive been 3 nights trying figure out what i doing wrong,surely if i can see it through my telrad i should be able see it through my scope?

[Capricorn]

You are not aligning the scope to polaris, you are aligning the mount to polaris.

Doesn't matter where the scope points it is the mount that is set up, otherwise you will do nothing other then look at polaris.

Look at it like this: Take the scope off, align the mount, then reattach the scope. You do not need a scope on the thing.

Forget aligning the scope, ignore the scope, do not look through the scope.

By the way Polaris is not on the polar axis, so if the scope were completely aligned with the mount then when you align the mount to the polar axis you are actually aiming off of Polaris so it shouldn't be in view in the scope unless like the finder it has a wide field of view.

[K3ny0n]

Best bit of advise I've ever had when I was starting up.

Take your mount outside, and lock your telescope in the house until you have polar aligned your mount. It's very hard when setting up the mount to get confused with the telescope too.

Polar align your mount, then add your OTA to your telescope. Your telescope doesn't need to see Polaris just your mount.

Rob

[Velvet]

Hi as said previously polar align without OTA. Put on OTA and align that with your telrad. That should do the trick. You need to forget about polaris once you have polar aligned and just align telrad to scope and you are good to go.

velvet

[Velvet]

Just another tip with polar alignment on EQ5, this is the mount i have and i found polarscope a bit wobbly on the eyepiece.

I have unscrewed it and put an o ring on the thread. Then screwed it back in and it does not now move and is a lot better

velvet

[Astro_Baby]

You almost will never see Polaris through the main scope when you ate polar aligned.

Think of it this way, you are aligning the RA axis, the bit with the polar scope in it, to Polaris. Your main scope is probably a good 6" offset from that point and has a very narrow field of view. So you will be missing Polaris in the main scope by about severel thousand lightyears simply because the main scope is not aligned to the polarscope and never can be.

All GEM/EQ mounts have a kind of blind spot for their scopes around the NCP. Its just the way a GEM works.

Simply put your polarscope is looking about 6" away from the main optics. As has alteady been said polar alignment is about the mount, not the telescope. Its a slippery idea to get your head round at first.

Its worth saying sas well that On a small scope with no polar scope or a simple mount, you can use the main scope as the polarscope to get a rough fix and that will be good enough for a small scope doing visual only.

Any corrections can be made using the slo mo controls on the mount..I am thinking of EQ1 and EQ2 mounts here.

[paul j]

Sorry for late reply.many thanks for your comments been helpful.I now understand why I couldn't see Polaris in my scope.I wish I asked that questions many days ago would saved me lot disappointment.thanks again.

[paul j]

For some strange reason I was thinking if I lined Polaris through mount I should see it in my scope in centre.