Help Needed Polar Align Star Adventurer

[daveangie0110]

Hi all

I have got a Skywatcher Star Adventurer which i am still waiting for a clear night so i can take it out, i have never done a polar alignment of any sort as i have a Nexstar 6SE.

After reading the rubbish instructions that came with the star adventurer i am still none the wiser ! 

When looking through the built in polar scope it has a 0, 3, 6, 9 which can rotate around and it has an etched image of the big dipper, is it as simple as placing 0 at the top and getting Polaris in the middle of the circle to get it polar aligned ?

Can anyone give me a idots guide on how to polar align it.

Many Thanks

[baggywrinkle]

I have one and I have yet to use the polar scope.

The polar scope instructions are I think written in a foreign language that resembles English...

Once I have it set level on my tripod I use a compass to ensure it is set to true north and then to set the altitude to my latitude and use an inclinometer to ensure that it is within a half degree or better. I have used this to track the Sun with my ED70 + Herschel Wedge and PST and with the ED70 for the Moon. I have kept the Sun and Moon within the field of view for over an hour.

It is a magic piece of kit.

[MattJenko]

Polaris is not directly at the North Celestial Pole, it is slightly off and rotates around it, and this is the circle you can see through the polar scope. By far the easiest method to align the mount, and the one I use with mine, is to use a PolarAlignApp for your phone or laptop, (I use the polar function within AstroPlanner for example) which takes the current time and your location and shows you where on the circle Polaris should be, and you just use the A;t/Az controls to just put Polaris there. A quick confirmation that a rotation of the mount causes Polaris to trace around the circle should set you up and be good to go.

Cheers

Matt