Polar align

[look out hes above u]

Hi peeps just a quick 1,when I've star aligned and then when I polar align and my scope asks me to adjust to get star in centre of ep with the adjustment knobs,do I at all ever adjust my degree knob,as in 51 degrees where I am,only asking coz b4 I had my wedge I found a lot of stuff but since then I seem to always be abit off after I align or just fails star alignment ,thx

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[baggywrinkle]

My feeling is that you should use both adjustments.

The degree indicator on mounts is pretty coarse. Remember 0.5 of a degree is a full moon diameter which is pretty big.

[knobby]

Agreed, use whichever is needed... Or both, up/down left/right. Whatever it takes to align it.

Remember to do the alignment again after the polar align though

[jambouk]

What mount are you using?

Are you using a reticle eye piece or "guessing" where the centre of the field of view is?

As said above, be as accurate as you can setting up, i guess you don't have a polar scope, and do the first star alignment as well as possible using the handset to centre the star(s). Then once you do the polar alignment routine only use the knobs to adjust the altitude/elevation and azimuth to re-centre the star(s): you might not be able to get the star(s) to be bang on in the centre easily, so just make a small adjustment in the right direction, and then i would accept that, then go back and do a new star alignment, and then repeat the polar alignment again and do this a few times. You must always end with a star alignment else you have moved the mount with knobs and not re-taught the handset what you've done so its GOTO accuracy will be poor (depending on how much you've moved things).

Again as said above, half a degree is a massive amount. On a similar routine (polar alignment routine) on my mount i struggled to get the star(s) to centre in the eye piece, despite massive changes in elevation and azimuth, which was clearly unnecessary as i was very closely polar aligned to start with, which is why i say make a small adjustment in the right direction of both knobs and then start the process again.

Good luck

James

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[Owmuchonomy]

As above but what software are you using? Usually on a polar alignment you adjust alt first let the mount slew in and out then adjust az second. Repeat as the guy above says.

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[knobby]

From the way he's describing polar alignment I've assumed its the celestron avx type mount...

[look out hes above u]

It's a fork mount with a wedge but since I got my wedge eq north auto align fails

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[brantuk]

You need to let the scope stand for 5-10 mins first to pick up gps time/site info, then do a rough polar alignment. Follow this with a 2-star auto align. Then "goto" the pole star and the scope will go to where it thinks the pole star is. Refine the wedge alignment manually using the alt/az controls on the wedge. Finish off with an auto two (or three star align.