First proper night out

[AlistairW]

So had my scope for 2 weeks and seem to have spent more time reading and waiting for a good clear night. Anyway the reading was time well spent, but I would be interested in any comments on my preparation below.

I placed the mount down and faced the leg (with the N on it) towards North. This is where I found the iphone apps wildly off compared to my simple plastic compass. So I decided to use the plastic one. Note this was all done in daylight. Then I went outside at dusk, and spotted polaris coming up, so I then tweaked the altitude bolts a bit and turned the RA rather than the latitude bolts (was that a mistake?) - and got polaris in the center of the finderscope and also in the center of the 25mm eyepiece. I then waited for an hour until dark and was please to see that Polaris was still in the center when I came back. Then I used Synscan with a 2 star alignment, on Dubhe and Alderbaren, - that was harder than i thought. The scope slewed to the general area, but I had to center the objects, which were not in the field of view (it was close though). I just sighted down the barrel of the OTA with my eye and use the hand contol until I managed to get the objects centered. Once the alignment procedure had finished, I selected the Orion Nebula and Andromedia galaxy - and I am happy to say the sope went directly to them. One strange thing though, the scope way as a slightly awkward angle, and there was a clicking noise from one of the drives, that put a small shake in to the mount, which you could see happening via the eyepiece. This only happened when I was looking at Orion, and not Andomedia, - I did not have time to investigate further, but I am assuming that it is nothing too much to worry about. All in all a success though and a very happy start. Just need some more time now.

Any suggestion on how to improve most welcome.

AListair.

[rwilkey]

Hi Alistair, a good first night all told by the sound of it, many people struggle with alignment, so well done first time.  I just happened to notice that you live in Bath (the place of my birth!) and wondered if you had come across 'Bath Astronomers' on FB here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/348901398493574/

[Astro Imp]

Nice one Alistair, as Robin says above you have done well to get alignment working first time.

You picked two great objects for your first evening out.

Have a look at Jupiter tonight, Callisto begins a transit at 20.26 which you probably won't be able to follow but at 21.10 the shadow starts it's transit which is not too difficult to observe and always worth seeing.

Good luck and clear skies.

[bingevader]

I'm glad the first night went well.

If the problem with the mount persists, try the equipment section.

[Peter Drew]

Hello Alistair. You certainly seem to be on the right track. Next time you set your mount up position Polaris in your polarscope by adjusting the mount using the latitude and azimuth screws rather than the RA axis, this should improve your pointing accuracy. The noise you heard from your mount might be due to not being balanced well enough, worth checking before considering other options.