Issues with setting up my GOTO - advice needed please

[Norteme]

hi all

I have had my SW150 GOTO for a couple of weeks now and every time I try and use the GOTO, the scope seems to point in the wrong place.

I usually try a 2 star alignment following a polaris alignment. Then because I know where Jupiter is, I ask the GOTO to slew to there. Its end up in roughly the right direction but almost pointing downwards at my fence!!

Its driving me and my other half mad as we are sure we are following the manual correctly.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks :-)

Penny

[VigdisVZ]

First of all, is it the EQ3-2 based equatorial mount? And I'm guessing a Synscan handset?

[Norteme]

Hi Carl

Yes that's correct.

[Jiggy 67]

Hi Penny,

Make sure you have inputted the data correctly in the handset. Date must be in US format, MMDDYY, use an accurate timepeice, I use my Iphone. Make sure your location is correct, use http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html to get your location correct and ensure that it inputted corectly as per the instructions in the manual. Don't forget we are NOT in daylight saving at the moment, so answer NO to this question when the handset asks. Make sure that you pick stars for 1,2 or 3 star alignement that you can sure you can recognise through the eyepiece, I mean, if you pick a star in a crowded area of sky, you maybe aligning to the incorrect star, pick the brightest one you can, so you can align to the correct one, at the moment I am using Vega, Caph and Deneb...these are pretty easy to lock on to......and......if at first you don't succeed......

[VigdisVZ]

First of all, you should make rough polar alignment. Ie making sure the polar axis is pointed roughly towards polaris. You only need to be precise with this when imaging.

Secondly make sure that your mount is in home position when you start off.

Then double check your handset like Jiggy said.

If you really want to get to the bottom of setup and polar alignment for precise imaging standards, check out astronomy sheds complete setup of a NEQ6. It's probably overkill, but sometimes it helps getting the big picture of something before trying it.

[Norteme]

Thanks everyone. All i need now is a clear night for another try. Fingers crossed :-)

[VigdisVZ]

If you succeed or not, you should check out your local astronomical society. Apart from being able to help you in person, astronomers are a friendly bunch

[Jiggy 67]

Secondly make sure that your mount is in home position when you start off.

This is an excellent point and very important. When I first started I found that I was often off target. By far the biggest improvement on this problem was getting the mount in the correct "home position". This makes sure that the axis of the scope is pointing along the same RA axis of the mount. Astronomy Shed has a video describing an easy method of getting the perfect home position