Balancing and Polar Alignment Questions

[SpaceDawg]

I found the astronomyshed video for scope setup as well as the guide on SteveBB.com and tried to follow through the process on my own mount (HEQ5) but hit a couple of problems. First of all, when I put the spirit level on the counterweight bar and level it and then try to lock the RA clock at 1800hrs, when I release the RA lock to spin round to 1200hrs, the clock doesn't move with the spin, it stays fixed on 1800. Am I doing something wrong?

Second, when attempting polar alignment, I look through the polar scope (scope pointing north, latitude set to 53) but can't see anything. It's pitch black (obviously I've taken off both caps!) If I look through one end while shining a torch in the other I can see the light from that so is it just a light pollution problem (I was only in my back garden) or again, am I doing something wrong?

Lastly (and this is actually completely unrelated to the topic or anything I've mentioned so far), I eventually want to be able to try astrophotography and bought my scope (200p) and mount with this in mind. Do I need any additional equipment for this? The specification of the scope said something about an SLR camera connection (I have a Canon 550d) but I've not seen anything obvious so far that would attach to a camera (and is it just the camera body, or the lens too?) I'm not desperate to get this sorted, it'd just be nice to know if I need to get anything additional to set up with my camera.

I think that's everything for now but don't worry, I'm sure I'll come up with lots more questions soon!

[VigdisVZ]

I am unsure about your alignment and setup problems, I have not enough experience to help your there yet. My suggestion is to keep watching the Astronomy Shed videos, he has info about not using the clocks for like an EQ5. There are other threads on this forum aswell, and the rest of the blokes here will get you sorted out.

Your eyes will also need time to adjust to darkness. No stray light from the house if youre working in your back garden.

First you need a T-2 ring for your camera and a camera adapter (if the scope doesnt have one as standard).

You can take shorter exposures (bout 1 minute) with the telescope and mount unguided (this still requires good polar alignment), but you want to start racking up 5 minute exposures you need a small guidescope and a guide camera to "lock on" to a star and make fine adjustments to the tracking. Either as a stand alone camera setup connected to the mount or via a computer running EQMOD (or simlar programs). But if you get your scope lined up properly you should be able to take decent pictures of DSO's with unguided tracking. The exception is the moon (who is so bright you dont need any tracking at all) or the bright planets like Jupiter that is much easier with shorter exposures.

[Rustmonkey]

Firstly....don't lock the dial...unlock it and it will turn with the RA.

Secondly......did you turn the DEC to 90 degrees? i did the same...noticed there was a tube in the way of the Polarscope. only when I turned the DEC to 90 did i notice a hole through the tube which alowys yot to see through the Polarscope....a newbie thing to do but it didn't mention it in the manual...DOH.

Yes...you need the T-mount to connect camera to scope, possibly a remote camera switch unless you are using a laptop to control camera. You might want to buy a Bahtinov Mask....this will be the best bit of cheap kit you have and will give you pin sharp images if used properly. You can adnvance into EQMod for the HEQ5 but i wouldn't worry about that yet. Then you'll need a guidescope and camera for accurate tracking. the list is unfortunately long and usually expensive.

my suggestion would be.....enjoy and learn your new toy. when you feel you have cracked it...then move on to the other stuff. I'm being an hypocrite here though cause I did exactly the opposite. i don't do half measures...all or nothing but thats me, lol

[cosmojaydee]

Forget the clocks on the EQ5 , HEQ5 , there not up to much . A program to down load is Polar Finder this lets you see the position of Polaris at any given time, Use that in conjunction with your polar scope, you basically align Polaris in your polar scope to where the diagrams show where its sat at that given time. Use this link http://myastroimages.com/Polar_FinderScope_by_Jason_Dale/

[Jiggy 67]

Second - Most likely Rustmonkey's solution but if not then you maybe looking at a part of the sky with no or few visible stars, especially when aligning in twylight. Don't forget that just because you're pointing North and set the latitude, that doesn't mean that Polaris will necessarily be in the field of view, usde the lat and long bolts to move the mount (not the scope) to bring Polaris into the field of view

[brantuk]

If you're finder is accurately aligned with the main tube then you should see polaris in the finder even when roughly aligned. So you'll know which way to move the az/lat bolts to get the scope eyepiece on polaris too. Use a wide angle low power eyepiece at first to increase chances of finding it - then refine you're accuracy with higher powered eyepieces.

[malc-c]

I found the astronomyshed video for scope setup as well as the guide on SteveBB.com and tried to follow through the process on my own mount (HEQ5) but hit a couple of problems. First of all, when I put the spirit level on the counterweight bar and level it and then try to lock the RA clock at 1800hrs, when I release the RA lock to spin round to 1200hrs, the clock doesn't move with the spin, it stays fixed on 1800. Am I doing something wrong?

Second, when attempting polar alignment, I look through the polar scope (scope pointing north, latitude set to 53) but can't see anything. It's pitch black (obviously I've taken off both caps!) If I look through one end while shining a torch in the other I can see the light from that so is it just a light pollution problem (I was only in my back garden) or again, am I doing something wrong?

Lastly (and this is actually completely unrelated to the topic or anything I've mentioned so far), I eventually want to be able to try astrophotography and bought my scope (200p) and mount with this in mind. Do I need any additional equipment for this? The specification of the scope said something about an SLR camera connection (I have a Canon 550d) but I've not seen anything obvious so far that would attach to a camera (and is it just the camera body, or the lens too?) I'm not desperate to get this sorted, it'd just be nice to know if I need to get anything additional to set up with my camera.

I think that's everything for now but don't worry, I'm sure I'll come up with lots more questions soon!

As mentioned you need to turn the DEC axis of the scope so that the hole in its shaft rotates to give a clear view from the polar scope. For setting up the polar alignment, I use a PC running EQAscom (EQMOD as some know it) which has a built in polar alignment program which will rotate the mount to the correct position allowing you to then place polaris in the bubble on the polarscope using the alt/az bolts as per the instruction on the Youtube video.

As for the camera, if you take the standard SW 2" to 1" eyepiece adapter that comes with the 200P, you can twist off the 1.25" barrel to leave the 2" ring part.

All you then need is a Canon T ring adapter (around £15) to connect the body of the camera to the 2" ring and this the ring to the scope. I would also advise you look at using a laptop / PC and running APT or BackyardEOs to control the exposures, however without any form of guiding, exposures will be limited before trailing sets in, even with a well balanced and aligned set up.

Guiding the mount can be done via the ST4 port with a suitable guide camera (the QHY5 seems to be one of the more popular guide cameras - Typically £190) - However for £30 you can buy an adapter to attach a Phillips SPC800 / 900 web cam to the 50mm finder thus converting the finder into a guidescope. A cheap and basic entry into guided imaging. The other option that is well favored is the use of the ST80 and QHY5 combo as a dedicated guidescope.

[Astrosurf]

Hi there. I'm always posting Astrobaby's polar alignment page as it's so good. I know there are some who don't agree, but I'm not technical and I've succeeded quite well with astrophotography with it, before I started guiding. I managed max 45 seconds. The Ring Nebula was my first and was quite good for such short exposures. I love this scope!

Here's the link: http://www.astro-baby.com/HEQ5/HEQ5-1.htm

Just start with that. As has been said, get yourself used to the scope and then attempt AP.

Alexxx

[jgs001]

I used AstroBaby's HEQ5 setup routine for my HEQ5, and using an 80ED was able to achieve 3 minute exposures without guiding, it works nicely.

[Astrosurf]

Glad you agree John. If I'm correct, the 200P magnifies much more than the 80ED so will only manage shorter exposures?? My Ring Nebula was 30 secs and there was the faintest hint of trailing. But then my polar alignment had probably gone off!

[jgs001]

The focal length is longer so the FOV is narrower and that does mean your exposure times will be shorter, and the 200p is far more of a sail than the 80ED. It's also a lot heavier with a totally different weight distribution . All that will have an effect on the exposure times that can be achieved. This is all unguided of course

[Astrosurf]

Thank you. I hope this is helping SpaceDawg!

[SpaceDawg]

Thank you all for the info, it is indeed very helpful. I thought I'd read that you were supposed to lock off the dial, not unlock it so that's one problem solved and I didn't realise I was supposed to rotate the DEC 90 degrees to view through the scope so that's two! It'll be a while before I have a stab at photography with the scope but the information here will come in very handy when I do so thanks again, it's all very much appreciated.

The weather report for Friday night (so far) shows clear skies so hopefully I'll be able to go out and do a bit of polar aligning!

[Tinker1947]

Couple of picture showing the Canon connected to the Focus tube, and the bits in between......

First the T-Ring and Adapter.....

Next the T-ring and Adapter in place....

Then just pop them in the Focusor...

[Whistlebare]

Couple of picture showing the Canon connected to the Focus tube, and the bits in between......

First the T-Ring and Adapter.....

Next the T-ring and Adapter in place....

Then just pop them in the Focusor...

Hi there, I have a canon T-ring also, mine is around 6 " long (with a 1.25" end) and seperates in four parts, the middle part allows me to slip in a lens. Do you no need a lens to achive the focus? When I tried attaching just the camera to the focuser I could neve achieve any focus...Am I doing something wrong?

[Whistlebare]

As mentioned you need to turn the DEC axis of the scope so that the hole in its shaft rotates to give a clear view from the polar scope. For setting up the polar alignment, I use a PC running EQAscom (EQMOD as some know it) which has a built in polar alignment program which will rotate the mount to the correct position allowing you to then place polaris in the bubble on the polarscope using the alt/az bolts as per the instruction on the Youtube video.

As for the camera, if you take the standard SW 2" to 1" eyepiece adapter that comes with the 200P, you can twist off the 1.25" barrel to leave the 2" ring part.

All you then need is a Canon T ring adapter (around £15) to connect the body of the camera to the 2" ring and this the ring to the scope. I would also advise you look at using a laptop / PC and running APT or BackyardEOs to control the exposures, however without any form of guiding, exposures will be limited before trailing sets in, even with a well balanced and aligned set up.

Guiding the mount can be done via the ST4 port with a suitable guide camera (the QHY5 seems to be one of the more popular guide cameras - Typically £190) - However for £30 you can buy an adapter to attach a Phillips SPC800 / 900 web cam to the 50mm finder thus converting the finder into a guidescope. A cheap and basic entry into guided imaging. The other option that is well favored is the use of the ST80 and QHY5 combo as a dedicated guidescope.

Hi Malcolm

I notice on your 200P that you have an extra ring around it, I assume that is so you can spin the tube to get your focuser into a more comfortable position and not upset the balance. One question though, do you leave the main rings loose so that the tube moves itself when your scope is slewing or do you pinch it tight and only loosen when you need to spin your tube to look through the focuser?

many thanks

[malc-c]

Hi Malcolm

I notice on your 200P that you have an extra ring around it, I assume that is so you can spin the tube to get your focuser into a more comfortable position and not upset the balance. One question though, do you leave the main rings loose so that the tube moves itself when your scope is slewing or do you pinch it tight and only loosen when you need to spin your tube to look through the focuser?

many thanks

Yes that is correct. For visual use it allows the tube to be rotated within the tube rings to make the observing position a lot more comfortable. Once the scope is in position I slacken off the rings and rotate the tube, the wilkinson ring stops the tube sliding down and really upsetting balance. The rings are then tightened up before slewing to an new target. However most of the time I tend to image, and thus don't use this function as balance is more critical.

[Whistlebare]

Yes that is correct. For visual use it allows the tube to be rotated within the tube rings to make the observing position a lot more comfortable. Once the scope is in position I slacken off the rings and rotate the tube, the wilkinson ring stops the tube sliding down and really upsetting balance. The rings are then tightened up before slewing to an new target. However most of the time I tend to image, and thus don't use this function as balance is more critical.

Thanks for info Malcolm, I'll be in touch...I have some other questions

[Tinker1947]

Hi there, I have a canon T-ring also, mine is around 6 " long (with a 1.25" end) and seperates in four parts, the middle part allows me to slip in a lens. Do you no need a lens to achive the focus? When I tried attaching just the camera to the focuser I could neve achieve any focus...Am I doing something wrong?

Finding the focal point when the camera is attached is a bit hit and miss, but once found a small pencil mark on the grey part of the focus tube will help with getting it close to where it should be, so if you can't seem to get it to focus, try in the day time on a distant object, wind it right in and then slowly out, if you get to the limit of outward travel, try releasing the camera and move it further out while looking through the camera's view finder, getting a image this way will indicate you need a extension tube, my own 1100D and now CR2 Moonlite Focusor require the focus tube to be about 1/4" out from the inward position. If you need more inward travel, i can only think that moving the main mirror up the tube would do this, collimating with the mirror screws going inwards might do the job....

[Whistlebare]

Finding the focal point when the camera is attached is a bit hit and miss, but once found a small pencil mark on the grey part of the focus tube will help with getting it close to where it should be, so if you can't seem to get it to focus, try in the day time on a distant object, wind it right in and then slowly out, if you get to the limit of outward travel, try releasing the camera and move it further out while looking through the camera's view finder, getting a image this way will indicate you need a extension tube, my own 1100D and now CR2 Moonlite Focusor require the focus tube to be about 1/4" out from the inward position. If you need more inward travel, i can only think that moving the main mirror up the tube would do this, collimating with the mirror screws going inwards might do the job....

Sounds like a plan! I'll give it a shot...Thanks for your help

[Ouroboros]

I bought a spare adapter, shown in the foreground of this picture, from the good folks at FLO. Which means I don't have to keep assembling and disassembling components when swapping between imaging and observing.

[Alienfox]

I recently got my eq5 and found this video that I found very useful:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXgtGQq-3V0