First attempt observing!

[tehmac]

Okay, so I went out in the freezing temperature for my first foray into observing. Boy was it cold! Also took my first shot at polar alignment.

In the end, I decided to try just 'roughing it in' as one online guide had called it, to get me going and learning.

1). pointed the leg with the N on it to North as best as I could.

2). located Polaris by eye and took note of position of Cassiopeia and Ursa Major.

3). swivelled the mount so the polar scope hole wasn't blocked.

4). made sure the mount was at the right latitude setting for my location.

5). swivelled the mount until Cass and Ursa Major were in the relatively same positions through the polar scope as they were in the sky.

6). used the alt and az bolts to align Polaris into the small outer circle in the polar scope.

7). feeling chuffed with myself, I fired up the GOTO handset and selected for a 2 star align.

8). I choose Kochab as I know where that is in the sky and will be able to tell if the slewing is working properly.

9). the scope slews in the completely wrong direction and points at something random.

10). I sigh and look perplexed.

11). I try several more times but eventually give up as I have no idea where I'm going wrong even with this basic 'roughing it in' technique.

Any tips? 

[happy-kat]

Hi

Date must be entered month day year

[tehmac]

Just now, happy-kat said:

Hi

Date must be entered month day year

Thanks. This was one I'd had drilled in from all the talk about it in the forums. So I know I nailed this correctly.

[wookie1965]

Down load an app called synscanlnit for android tells you exactly where to put polaris in reticule just press show polaris then back shows you exactly what put in handset. make sure your scope is in park position starting scope up weights down.

[tehmac]

Just now, wookie1965 said:

Down load an app called synscanlnit for android tells you exactly where to put polaris in reticule just press show polaris then back shows you exactly what put in handset. make sure your scope is in park position starting scope up weights down.

I have an iPhone. I was going to use the following youtube video which seemed basic enough, but I didn't know what to put for the transit time for my location. My app I think has this data, but I have no clue which bit is the transit time I should use. In the end, I just tried to do it all manually without following any of that, but as you see, I failed. After I entered Polaris in the circle, should I have then moved everything to the 'home' position (even just roughly swung it around and left it, or do I need to use the date and time rings to do this in order to get any semblance of accuracy?)

 

[wookie1965]

http://welshdragoncomputing.ca/eqmod/doku.php?id=setting_home_position

This is how to set your home position I suggest making marks on mount so it is easy to do after. Another program download to computer is Polar finder all as i do is look where polaris is supposed to be e.g say where 6 oclock is then put polaris there works for me.

[wookie1965]

Check out this

 

[tehmac]

57 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Check out this

 

Very useful regarding the home position. I shall do this after the polar alignment for sure. I just now need to make sure I have the polar alignment correct as possible. However since I still don't know the best way to do this since I run a Mac and can't download Polar Finder or any android apps, all I have to go on is the Polar Scope Align Pro app as can be seen in one of my above posts. Do you know what figure is the transit time on that that I should use?

[wookie1965]

Looking at it don't quote me but i would say 11.52 if you put Polaris where this time says should be right. E.G Local hour angle but someone may correct me as I am not familiar with the program.

[ronin]

Owing to the description supplied it reads that you are not seperating the polar alignment from the goto alignment, they are unrelated.

You do the Poalr alignment. Then leave the mount alone and do the goto alignment with the scope starting from whatever is defined or required as the starting position/configuration of the goto alignment, then comes the 2 or 3 star alignment.

Your description has no seperation of the Polar and Goto alignments it reads that polar alignment is taken as the initial starting position for goto alignment. Your scope position/pointing is unrelated to the poalr alignment of the mount. Mount is pointed at Polar Axis (North), scope is pointed at M42 in Orion(East).

[wookie1965]

http://myastroimages.com/Polar_FinderScope_by_Jason_Dale/

Try this not saying it will work on mac but it might.

[tehmac]

2 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

http://myastroimages.com/Polar_FinderScope_by_Jason_Dale/

Try this not saying it will work on mac but it might.

Unfortunately it does not, but I really appreciate the help.

[tehmac]

2 hours ago, ronin said:

Owing to the description supplied it reads that you are not seperating the polar alignment from the goto alignment, they are unrelated.

You do the Poalr alignment. Then leave the mount alone and do the goto alignment with the scope starting from whatever is defined or required as the starting position/configuration of the goto alignment, then comes the 2 or 3 star alignment.

Your description has no seperation of the Polar and Goto alignments it reads that polar alignment is taken as the initial starting position for goto alignment. Your scope position/pointing is unrelated to the poalr alignment of the mount. Mount is pointed at Polar Axis (North), scope is pointed at M42 in Orion(East).

Yes. I think once I have a polar alignment (better one than the rough one I'm stuck doing just now), then I'll need to get it into an accurate home position for the GOTO. I was just leaving it as it was previously and starting the GOTO alignment from there.

[wookie1965]

Sorry could not be more help my own set up I have the home position like in the the photo the app I use is similar to yours I check that and see were polaris is supposed to be then align my mount to that once done I then get handset and go through that set latitude and longitude, time elevation the date in the correct order and then 2 star alignment and that's it. 

[wookie1965]

http://apk4iphone.com/SynscanInit-2.html

Look at this exactly same app that I use for iPhone. 

[tehmac]

11 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

http://apk4iphone.com/SynscanInit-2.html

Look at this exactly same app that I use for iPhone. 

Hi Wookie. Thanks again. Unfortunately this could only be installed on a jailbroken iPhone, which mine is not. It seems the astronomy world is conspiring against Mac users at the moment!

[wookie1965]

Sorry mate best I can do only other thing to do is watch some YouTube videos plenty out there helped me in the past.

http://www.astro-baby.com/HEQ5/HEQ5-1.htm

http://www.dulcemelos.ca/en/articles/heq5.asp

http://www.stevebb.com/polar-alignment-tutorial.html

Give these a look at should help a lot.

[tehmac]

I just fired up Sky Safari on my phone and clicked on Polaris. It actually has a bit that says "Transits: 10:49 PM"

So I would select 25th November and 10:49 PM as the time on my setting circles when following the tutorials, right?

Can anyone confirm with their own Polar Finder apps that 10:49 PM is indeed the next transit time for Polaris today?

[DeepSkyBagger]

Polaris transits at my location (Lancashire) at 2244 tonight. Make sure you use 24-hour notation, or that you specify PM if it's a non-24 hour input, or you'll be out by 180 degrees.

[tehmac]

Sorry. Maybe I should have specified if someone could check if Polaris transits at 10:49 PM tonight at the Latitude 55 deg 48' N and Longitude 004 deg 21' W.

Maybe you can swap in those above for the location in your app as that is my location. Would give me peace of mind. Many thanks in advance.

[DeepSkyBagger]

2251 at your location.

[tehmac]

Excelent. Pretty much close enough to be in the right ball park if I use the data in this app I have then! Many thanks for checking that.