Polar Aligning question

[RyanGSams]

After you polar align, how do you observe objects to the south horizon? I have a CG-3 mount and was thinking about this last night while looking at Saturn to the south last night. If i was to say, i believe its not possible with my mount, but i could be completely wrong. Sorry for this simple question.

I would like to get longer exposures with my camera through my telescope looking to the south, but not sure how to do this after its polar aligned.

[Freddie]

You will just be able to rotate in dec and RA to point your scope south. No problems.

[steppenwolf]

Telescopes mounted on equatorial mounts are certainly not intuitive to point but be assured that you can point one to the south. Don't be afraid to move both axes all over the place to get a feel for how they work.

[Ben_Jim]

This chap is on about the balance but it does show in the vid how much movement you do have on equatorial mounts.

Jim

[RyanGSams]

Ok thanks fellows. I figured it out.

[RyanGSams]

Actually thought of something else. Can I use the moon to do the Star drift polar alignment? Since my apartment faces south, I figured I could since it follows the celestial poles like stars.

[Peter Drew]

I doubt if this would be particularly accurate as the Moon's movement is very complex compared to the stars. The Moon moves backwards relative to the apparent motion of the stars and also moves up or down in declination depending on the lunar cycle.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ive had one scope on an EQ mount and i am sure i wasnt even using it correctly. I sure as hell do not miss using an EQ mount. Give me a Dob or an Alt-Az any day of the week.

[RichieP]

If you are just using the mount to track visually, you don't need a spot on polar alignment. You can be a few degrees out. If you don't have a clear view of Polaris, then you can get a rough polar alignment by just aligning your RA axis north snd setting the altitude to your latitude.

Don't be afraid of EQ mounts, they are pretty easy once you get over the alignment procedure and the wierd motion!

[RyanGSams]

I got it basically figured out. I set my RA axis north and a rough altitude angle, I tracked the moon pretty decently. Then i tried it on saturn and it kept saturn in the frame of the camera for over 5 minutes, could have went longer, but thats as long as i recorded.