Traveling with my scope

[cpittman35]

Hello,

This may be a dumb question but here goes. 

I have a Celestron Astromaster 130eq. If I take the tube off the tripod to get out past the city lights do I have to re polar align, do anything special, or just pop the tube back on, tighten down the tube mounts and start looking when I get to my setup location? 

I wouldn't be unlocking the nut at the bottom of the mount but simply taking the tube off to transport. 

Forgive the noob

Thanks

[Putaendo Patrick]

It is the mount rather than the telescope which needs to be Polar aligned, and this must be done to an extent each time the mount is moved and set up anew. If you travel a shortish distance, you don't have to bother resetting the Latitude.

Where I am in the Southern Hemisphere, there's obviously no Pole Star - and there's no easy South Pole star either. Unless I need great precision, I generally use a good compass. Remember to correct for the offset between magnetic and true north, which does vary significantly if you travel long distances.

[MattJenko]

taking the tube off the mount is fine. as mentioned above, polar aligning is all about the mount, so is something you will get terribly familiar with unless you are a lucky one with a fixed mount that never moves!

[cpittman35]

Thanks guys.  I'm still learning the lingo but I understand.  It would just be a short drive away from the city lights, like 5 miles.  I can usually find Polaris with no problem.

I never made it last night because our weather people suck.  Forecast was clear skies.  Ha, yeah right.  Clouds, clouds, and more clouds.  Now the rain is coming back.  Who knows when I'll get it back out.