Polar aligning with Synscan attached

[steviemac500]

Think I may be doing something wrong.....When I have gone to polar align recently, because of where I am geographically and the position of Ursa Major, the small circle for Polaris in my aligning scope needs to be very close to the 7 o'clock position (bottom left). The problem is, when I go to rotate the mount through its axis to rotate the alignment reticule and place the constellations in the right places, it only goes so far before it hits the Synscan motors. This means that I'm making a bit of  a guess as to the correct position of Polaris. Am I being daft and missing something? Any advice appreciated.

Steve

[chrisg18]

get the polarfinder app on your phone .this will tell you the hour position in your polar scope.are you sure you have got polaris? don't worry about the constellations in the reticule concentrate on  polaris.

[StargeezerTim]

I had this problem. It was a simple solution that I can't remember! Think it involved turning it 180 degrees on its axis or something! Any, I dont bother turning it now, just get the clock position from synscan or polar finder and guestimate where to put polaris. Its no more trial and error than moving the little circle into position. Tim.

[spaceman_spiff]

Hi, 

I don't think you really need to line up Ursa Major with the image on the reticule. I use Stellarium and zoom in on the NCP with North facing directly downwards. I then take a screen shot and flip it upside down. I then put polaris at a point on the inner circle of the polar scope that approximately matches the position of Polaris on the declination lines (with eq grid on). 

I always get a good alignment doing this.   

[Tinker1947]

Page 36 of the Syscan V3 manual explains how to Polar Align with out a Polar Scope....

http://skywatcher.com/downloads/Synscan%20V3%20Hand%20Control%20Manual_SSHCV3-F-141110V1-EN.pdf

[steviemac500]

Thank you all. Tinker, I was aware of the manual instructions, I was really hoping to find a way round the physical problem rather than do another alignment procedure and wanting to check I hadn't done something daft! Thanks again guys.

[StargeezerTim]

Thank you all. Tinker, I was aware of the manual instructions, I was really hoping to find a way round the physical problem rather than do another alignment procedure and wanting to check I hadn't done something daft! Thanks again guys.

Just checked... your scope is horizontal to see through the polar finder... turn your scope 180 degrees so the motor housing is at the top, not bottom, and you will be able to turn it freely. Took me ages to work it out as well and I also posted a question on here about Tim.!