Major HEQ5 Polar Scope problem? :-(

[jambouk]

Cone error does impact on the handset polar alignment routine, even if doing a three star alignment first. Handset polar aligent after any three star alignment seems to be poor which is why most people say do it after a two star alignment using two stars on the same side of the meridian.

James

[Gerhard]

Yesterday I had another go. This is after my attempt to fix the polar scope alignment, and trying with drift alignment (a very small try)...

It looks like I'm now down to "just" a huge coma problem... The stars are no longer triangular, but nice and comet shaped on the edges of the photo...

In the centre the stars seem fairly round...

Still a long way to go... 

[Tommohawk]

As you say, that looks pretty good. The coma problem is normal, although to be picky you have a bit more top right than elsewhere I think - assuming the pic is not cropped. You might want to have a play with collimation, but I wouldnt lose any sleep over it.

[Gerhard]

In fact I didn't crop, as the stacking anomalies show... :-)

I did collimate as usual with the laser collimator.... :-/

We'll see what happens next time...

It's a pity I didn't pick up more of the virgo cluster.... I pointed M87 which seems in the middle..

Have to figure out what the fov is of my camera / combo in degrees of sky, and then confront that with the sky map... 

[theghettostylus]

I had a DUH moment a week or to ago, having a go at piggyback and I put the camera lens on to take some darks and was trying for ages to get something to show on the view finder, messed with every setting on my camera till I then realised the lens cap was on. I felt like a right fool. Glad you got it all sorted and it was only a DUH moment and not something more serious.

Just to add my reticle actually fell out when I was taking the grub screw's pit to pit thumb screews in and its pretty simple to put back in, just make sure you dont cover it with grease like I did aha

[Gerhard]

Just to add my reticle actually fell out when I was taking the grub screw's pit to pit thumb screews in and its pretty simple to put back in, just make sure you dont cover it with grease like I did aha

I'm not sur ewhat you mean by "taking the grub screw's pit to pit thumb screws in"....

How did you put the reticle back in? does the polar scope open up?

[theghettostylus]

That was my phone being stupid, I meant I took the little Allen keys screw's out and put in tumb screw's from a polar scope attachment that came with my scope, mine polar scope focuser unscrews and comes off then the reticle will be free to be taken out or moved, mine has a clock face and isn't like the little circle in a big circle kind of reticle so I lined it up level with my mount. I have the eq3-2 polar scope but believe its similar to the eq5.

Hope that helped.

[Gerhard]

ah, the focuser unscrews? didn't know that! will remember!! thanks for the info! For now the reticle seems fine, apart from the background moving, which I still have to find out why...

Next cloudless night I will be trying again, this time also with my newly acquired eyepiece with illuminated reticle, to better try drift alignment.