South facing first time set up

[Luna Unicorn]

Hi everyone

Im a complete beginner with my first telescope an sw Newtonian explorer 150pl on a eq3-2 mount .due to the snowy weather and wanting to get a grip of the basics ive decided to temporarily set up my telescope in my bedroom - im not expecting to see a great deal but the intention is more to get used to it etc.

I originally set it up and balanced it with no problems with the tripod and scope facing south while i practised.

i thought id set it up properly and put the teipod to north.The problem I have is my window is facing south.

.im really confused how I look south or turn the mount south.the manual says to proform a meridian flip and to move 12hr ra using the setting circle.but when I used the setting circle nothing moved. I know I probably sound very stupid but ice spend ages looking around for simple help!!

Thsnk you all in advance!!

Joanne

[Pig]

Hiya Joanne - A meridian flip sounds like something a wrestler does to his opponent, a dance move or a even swear word. I am sure someine will help you.

[brantuk]

Hi Joanne - once you have the "N" leg pointing north and the scope is in the start position (weight bar pointing directly down and scope pointing upwards due north) - just loosen the clutches and swing it over in RA and Dec to point South. Then lock the clutches and you can use the slo mo controls. The movement is very unnatural and you may have to loosen the rings to turn the scope so the finder and focuser come round to a usable position - but you'll get used to it eventually.

It's all going to be very rough and you'll restrict the sky enormously looking out of a window - I doubt it'll be accurate at all - you really need to be outside with it so you can swing the scope to any chosen object. Good excuse for a trip to go "warm clothes" shopping lol

[Luna Unicorn]

Athanks brantuk

That sounds abut more simple.ill give thSt ago.

We've got bad snow here so not much hope going out properly.ijust wanted to practice while I was inside

Joanne

[Luna Unicorn]

But I don't need to touch the setting circles?

[knobby]

No... They stay where they are, they are a but like a map reference, they are to assist knowing where you are pointing.

If it makes you feel better about feeling silly, I've just got an eq5 synscan to put my SW127 on and done exactly what you've done but in the extension.

I also thought... How is this going to point south

trust me , when it is a meridian flip I thought the whole thing was going to fall over, its pretty spectacular!

[Luna Unicorn]

The setting circle doreny seem to do anything.it was at 0 but the manual said to move 12h ra do I moved the dial up 12 but like I said nothing happened.so do I put it back to 0?

[knobby]

The setting circle doreny seem to do anything.it was at 0 but the manual said to move 12h ra do I moved the dial up 12 but like I said nothing happened.so do I put it back to 0?

You move the mount, not the setting circles

Google polar aligning and you'll find videos of it, its much clearer if you see it !

[brantuk]

The setting circles aren't really accurate enough on the EQ5 to get you pointing more than in the general direction of your object. They would need to be larger to be more accurate. Much easier to have a good finder and then star hop a manual scope to the object imho.

Yep we have the same snow as you being just up the road.

[knobby]

This video explains thing pretty well

[Luna Unicorn]

That video is perfect!!!

I think im being to scared to move it!!

But my mount doesn't seem to move that easy.

So the home position is always tripod and scope facing north? I balance the scope and do the polar alignment facing north and then I can move the whole mount and scope south after I done that? There isn't. Need to use the setting circle or rebalance or re alight when I move it to face south?

[Bizibilder]

"But my mount doesn't seem to move that easy."

Are you undoing the clutches on the two axis before you try to move anything? There is a short black plastic lever for each axis which needs to be undone (1/4 turn) to free each axis. Once you have the scope in the right position you must turn each clutch again to lock the axis.

I would totally ignore the setting circles as they are pretty much useless. Once balanced there should be no need to rebalance (unless you add/subtract some weight - like adding a camera or swapping to a really big, heavy eyepiece etc)

[Luna Unicorn]

Thanks Roger I think im just being over cautious!

[Luna Unicorn]

I thought I would just start again!!! Align first and then change the scope to south,

Im following the video on "How to Alight an Equatorial Mount"

on Eye onto the Sky

1. Find you Latitude- and adjust that on the mount. My manual doesn't say to do that. It says to RA balance the altitude to between 15-30 degrees. According to the video the dial he used for the Latidude it the one is put at 15-30. Is that wrong (the Altitude Adjustment T bolt) and my latitude is 52 degrees but i cant even move it to get that far.

Now Ive done the Dec between 60-75 degrees. But the same dial has 2 different arrows - one with a black printed on and one white the same as the rest of the mount- but also the same style as the RA one i have set to 20 degrees. And they are slightly different one side says 70 (which is one the same side as the RA altidue I have put to 20 degrees. and the one with the black arrow reads at 61 ish.

Ive done the balancing- apart from the bit on the video which says set your latitude.

The next bit says to move the whole mount round so the telescope and the tripod face north (My tripod is facing north but my scope is facing south. To unlock the Azimuth locl (the two spinny wheels?) this is the bit I cant move. I can move the axis no problem and everything is unlocked as far as i can tell.

Help!

[Luna Unicorn]

My counter weights are on the north but my telescope view finder is on the south. Im sure that is wrong too

[Luna Unicorn]

The weights were in the correct place when i first balanced it but when i went to moved thetripod to face north adn the elescope to face south i moved them in the position they are in now (somehow!). But because I decided to start again. the weights are still there.

[Bizibilder]

Your scope on its mount int the "home" position should look like this:

North is to the left of the picture. If you are set up like that then let us know and we will help you with the next stage.

[Luna Unicorn]

Hi Roger

I am in the home positon everything is facing north!

[Luna Unicorn]

This was how i was origianlly until I started messing around trying to face south but keeping the tripod facing north!

[Bizibilder]

With your mount set up as in the picture above undo the declination lock lever - shown in the picture below:

You will now find that the whole scope tube will swing around from left to right (or east to west if you prefer). If you turn it through 180° it will be pointing at the ground and exactly opposite to the way it is pointing in the picture! Turn it back through 180° to the home position and lock the lever again. This is the Declination axis.

There is a second lever on the mount - unlock this one (sorry its not visible in the photo!). The scope will now rotate "over to the left" or "over to the right" but will always point in the same direction ie north. As you "roll the scope over" the weights will move upwards from their rest position. If you go too far the scope will hit the mount - so be a bit careful with this. When you are happy put the scope back to the home position and lock the lever. This is the Polar axis.

[knobby]

imagine you are standing on the left of the picture Roger posted ... loosen the clamps and grab the weight, then move it anti-clockwise til the scope is on the left and the weight is on the right.

Then spin the scope over to point South. You might have to then loosen the tube rings to rotate the scope to get the eyepeice in a comfy position

---edit--- Roger types faster than me and does diagrams !

[Bizibilder]

So you want to look south? Here's how to do it:

Undo the Dec axis lever (quicker to type Dec than Declination - and PA is the Polar axis) and turn the scope through 90°. The tube will be horizontal and pointing either east or west - it all depends on which way you chose to rotate it. It doesn't matter which way!. Lock the Dec axis lever.

Unlock the PA lever. Rotate the scope in the direction that makes the eyepiece end point upwards and towards the South - if you go the wrong way the scope will point towards the ground! lock the PA lever. You are now pointing South.

[Bizibilder]

Stand back and admire your work!

But what if you want to look at something in the South but a bit higher up in the sky?

Undo the Dec axis lock and raise the scope a bit. Lock the Dec axis. Done.

Now the clever bit - following an object as it moves across the sky: Simple really - assume your chosen object is in the eyepiece with your scope looking south - undo the PA lock and gently and slowly move the scope around from east to west (or west to east). You will notice that it looks in an arc from one horizon, steadily upwards to due south and then steadily down to the opposite horizon. If only the mount didn't get in the way!!!!!!! We'll deal with that in a minute - just get used to tracking the mount using this one axis as far as you can without hitting the mount. You have discovered 1) How an EQ type mount works and 2) Its biggest drawback!

[knobby]

Hi Roger, a bit of thread hijacking coming up ... but it is relevant

re: the bit about hitting the mount, is the EQ5 SynScan clever enough to realise it will hit itself ... ?

Cheers

[cosmojaydee]

Hi Luna welcome to SGL mounts can be complicated things, instructions supplied are pretty basic, buy for the best part for visual , don't bother with the clocks on the mount , a rough polar align will be fine. Once you have that sorted , the mount is not moved you can adjust the scope by loosening the clutches ringed in the picture , once you have found your target and centered you can lock the clutches back up