GOTO Alignment finderscope issues!

[Notty]

Hi all as it was such a nice night last night I finally had a chance to have a play my kit and having rehearsed indoors many times I whizz end through the steps and began the process. First star, no problem it was a nice obvious bright one (aldebaran I think) but then nearly all the ones it suggested were out of my view (lots of trees in my garden) so I had to settle on Dubhe, which is obvious to spot with the eye though not so obviously bright compared to its compatriots. The problem was I just could not locate it using my finderscope. I know the view is reversed and it reveals way more stars than you can see with the eyes but I ended up giving up after about an hour of head scratching, and despite being exhausted from being up since 0400 with work I was so frustrated I couldn't even sleep properly!

is this just part of the learning process, or are there any tips anyone can share? I've heard of this Telrad finder, does this aid the process, if so how?

many thanks and hoping for some clues,

Andy

[Astro Imp]

To see a good explanation of Telrad I found this U-tube vid:-

HTH

[malc-c]

Hi Andy,

I would suggest you set up the scope around twilight, when the first bright stars are becoming visible. In the east, fairly high up is Arcturus which should make for an ideal target. Release the clutches on the mount and slew the scope round until it's visible through the main scope in a low powered eyepiece. Centre it as best you can and lock the clutches. Replace the low powered eyepiece with a high powered one and either release the clutches and re-centre or use the direction controls on the handset to do the same.

Now you have a target in the centre of the fields of view in a medium to high power eyepiece, and the scope is tracking, look through the finder. If the finder is reasonably set up you should see Arcturus in its field of view. Adjust the two screws that support the finder whilst looking through it until the star is directly under the cross-hairs. The finder is now "calibrated"

Hope that helps

[Notty]

Thanks Guys!

[Alan_B]

When using a straight through finder try using both eyes - one eye looking through the finder and the other looking directly at the sky.

[NoSiriusly]

I had a similar problem when I first used my GoTo mount. It took me a while to realise that I had knocked my guide scope and it was way out. Evening wasted. Follow Malc-c's advice of lining it back up and you'll be good to go.

[steppenwolf]

Getting the finderscope correctly aligned with the telescope is critical but once done, it makes finding subsequent objects so much easier - make this a priority while you are aligned on that first bright star exactly as Malcolm has suggested. All part of the learning process!

[Oat]

I use a red dot finder. What you see is what you get - an unrestricting field of view in 'normal' orientation.

Like you i didn't find finderscopes so simple to use.

[PorkyB]

I use both a Rigel finder and a right-angle finderscope. The Rigel to initially find my target and the the finderscope to get it into the eyepiece. It is important that these are aligned every session, the finderscope especially is easy to knock out of alignment. I align them on a clearly identifyable target so as to remove the risk of aligning on the wrong star. Mizar is a good one, that's unmistakable whether viewed through the scope, finder or naked eye.