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Polarscope disaster???

nephilim

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nephilim

nephilim

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I've been attempting (i use that word very loosely) to calibrate my polarscope on my EQ5, to start with it wasnt that far out anyway so I should have just left it alone, but oh no!!! so I started faffing about with the adjustment screws obviuosly went far to far in whatever direction & now not only is it as far out as the Oort cloud its now all loose inside it :eek: (the lense) the skywatcher manual is completly useless as all that does is point to it in a diagram (really helpful) Can anyone help me out here (preferably in laymans terms) as i'm slowly loosing the will to live :mad:

Steve

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JamesF

JamesF

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That does sounds like it could be the problem.

Some people recommend changing the grub screws for knurled screws which might help. I actually went the other way (my EQ3-2 polar scope came with knurled screws) because I was worried about disturbing them when aligning the mount. I did go for longer grub screws though, so they protrude above the surface all the time. Just not enough to catch on anything.

James

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nephilim

nephilim

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I know, I watched the Astronomy shed tutorial & thought they where a good idea as I was having to keep locating the hole for the allen key, adjusting, going to the next etc etc & I think I just got a little impatient so I'm leaving it for now & i'll come back to it later.

Steve

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nephilim

nephilim

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Dude, why did you have in the impulse to fiddle with it anyway?!! Misaligned?

OCD kicking in haha, it was slightly out & apparently its gota be spot on for AP, if i'm struggling with 'that' then I cant wait to see what goes wrong when I start attempting taking the actual subs.........Keep an eye on ABS as there could be a cheap 200p/EQ5 (with dodgy polarscope) popping up there soon :grin:
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mareprah

mareprah

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Dude, why did you have in the impulse to fiddle with it anyway?!! Misaligned?

Mine for instance was preety much misaligned (NEQ6) when it came from the dealer. The astronomy shed tutorial how to align it was VERY usefull, but I have to say I did it with caution... A very small turn of the screw makes a great difference...

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emadmoussa

emadmoussa

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I actually fitted my motor yesterday and adjusted my latitude and pointed it in the right direction, using the campus on my phone. Then I attached my phone with Google star map app running to the scope. It seemed to have kept a certain star in the middle for about 20 minutes. So, assuming my polar alignment was kind of OK. Can somebody please send me the link for the Polar alignment tutorial, I think Steve's OCD is pretty infectious... :D

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JamesF

JamesF

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OCD kicking in haha, it was slightly out & apparently its gota be spot on for AP, if i'm struggling with 'that' then I cant wait to see what goes wrong when I start attempting taking the actual subs.........Keep an eye on ABS as there could be a cheap 200p/EQ5 (with dodgy polarscope) popping up there soon :grin:

To be honest, if you get things close with the polar scope that's probably sufficient. After that it's more accurate to drift align.

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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I actually fitted my motor yesterday and adjusted my latitude and pointed it in the right direction, using the campus on my phone. Then I attached my phone with Google star map app running to the scope. It seemed to have kept a certain star in the middle for about 20 minutes. So, assuming my polar alignment was kind of OK. Can somebody please send me the link for the Polar alignment tutorial, I think Steve's OCD is pretty infectious... :D

Astro_Baby has a walk-through on her site for the HEQ5:

http://www.astro-baby.com/HEQ5/HEQ5-1.htm

but they're all basically the same. The only place I really do anything different is when I'm setting the rotational alignment of the polar scope. I find it easiest to set the time and date on the rings to midnight on 1st November and then adjust the polar scope so the Polaris reticle is at the bottom (because that's where it ought to be at that time and date).

James

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emadmoussa

emadmoussa

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To be honest, if you get things close with the polar scope that's probably sufficient. After that it's more accurate to drift align.

James

Daft question, I'm kinda confused as for what drift align in astronomy exactly means? I use the same term in web development and design but I'm sure it means different things.

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JamesF

JamesF

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Daft question, I'm kinda confused as for what drift align in astronomy exactly means? I use the same term in web development and design but I'm sure it means different things.

Basically its using the apparent movement of the stars across the sky as a guide to adjusting the alt and az settings on the mount so the rotation of the RA axis matches that of the Earth (but in the opposite direction).

James

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skir

skir

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I've been attempting (i use that word very loosely) to calibrate my polarscope on my EQ5, to start with it wasnt that far out anyway so I should have just left it alone, but oh no!!! so I started faffing about with the adjustment screws obviuosly went far to far in whatever direction & now not only is it as far out as the Oort cloud its now all loose inside it :eek: (the lense) the skywatcher manual is completly useless as all that does is point to it in a diagram (really helpful) Can anyone help me out here (preferably in laymans terms) as i'm slowly loosing the will to live :mad:

Steve

It sounds like you've loosened the screws too much and the reticule has fallen out. I did this myself, its easy done. Basically remove the polar scope from the mount and then each end should unscrew from the dial section. Then you'll be able to extricate the reticule. It will just fall out. Just put it back in position and gently do the screws up to hold it in place and then re-screw each end back on and re-screw the whole scope back into the mount.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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nephilim

nephilim

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It sounds like you've loosened the screws too much and the reticule has fallen out. I did this myself, its easy done. Basically remove the polar scope from the mount and then each end should unscrew from the dial section. Then you'll be able to extricate the reticule. It will just fall out. Just put it back in position and gently do the screws up to hold it in place and then re-screw each end back on and re-screw the whole scope back into the mount.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Cheers mate, u were right, i'd undone them to much & it'd come loose,now iv taken it apart & seen how it all goes it'll be easier to calibrate it tomorrow, I find it easier doing things if I actually see how it works rather than just reading how the reticule is sat in the scope.

Steve

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