Aligning finder scope tips?

[tehmac]

Does anyone know a trick to quickly align your finder scope with the main scope? I attempted to do this today in my back garden looking at trees way in the distance, but a high fence we have is just too high, even with my tripod fully extended. While the finder scope could see the tree tops in the distance, the OTA was hitting the fence. If I tried to angle the OTA up, the finder scope is looking at the sky. Very frustrating. I'd have to be angling at peoples houses in order to it properly, and that wouldn't look good, nor would it be a great enough distance.

Any super tips to get this done indoors?

[Oortrageous]

It's a tough one to do inside to be honest. I remember I did the initial set up on my 200P in my hallway using the flushing handle of the bog about 20 yards away  I then took it outside and located Albireo with the finder scope roughly aligned (as it could be just about split in the finder, and it's well placed at the moment for an early evening hit) then nudged the scope about until I had it in the centre of my 25 mm EP. Then adjusted the finder scope to match, and went down to a 10mm EP. I'm sure someone has a more scientific way, but this was my solution to avoid looking like a voyeur pointing it at peoples aerials and the such  

[Kropster]

Do you have an 'upstairs' in your house?

If you do, point it out a window and use something far away.

Don't try it in a bungalow!

[Adamchiv]

I just line it up with a streetlight or fence post in the daytime obviously being careful to avoid the sun. I centre the target in the finder scope, then use a 25mm eyepiece and centre it on the scope. Then I go back to the finder scope and re align that so the object is centred, then check again on the scope. It works fine for me because I always use the 25mm when first viewing a target then throw in the 8mm once its centred. I would also try spotting an object thats also in the field of view that stands out  e.g I sometimes use a fencepost and behind it is a house with a blue door, if I see the blue door in both scopes then I can be sure its the same fencepost. I find a street light works the best because its easy to centre accurately

 

Edit* sorry didnt read your original post properly, yeah I would try either doing it from an upstairs window or even better what dave recommended below

[Dave In Vermont]

If the nighttime sky is the best you can do, can you at least get a clear look at Polaris - alpha-Ursa Minoris? You can zero-in Polaris in the main-scope, then work on aligning Polaris in your finder. As Polaris doesn't move much due to Earth's rotation, unlike everything else 'up there.'

I wouldn't worry too much regardless though. This as you'll always find that your finder needs the little 'tweak' to adjust the finder during your nighttime excursions. I don't know how or why they end up needing it, but it will anyway. It 'tis the nature of the beast! But here's the trick:

It can be quite frustrating to be needing to make these minor adjustments at the scope in the dark. It seems it always makes the main scope jiggle about - making these little 'tweaks' more of a pain, unless - one (or more) of the finder's alignment-bolts is Nylon, as the Nylon-bolts won't jiggle the main-scope much (or at all) when you adjust it in the dark. This is why I like my GSO 8 X 50mm RACI's - these have Nylon-bolts which will perform the adjustment without sending vibrations to your image in the main-scope. Some people complain that these GSO's are no good as they do seem loose. Those who complain, I believe, are laboring under the untenable premise that if you torque-down the finder hard just once, it should stay perfectly on target. Well, as I said above: " It 'tis the nature of the beast!" They don't stay-put.

So I hope this helps you - you'll soon have the 'finder-dance' on 'auto-pilot!' It becomes a normal activity!

Dave

[acey]

Like the previous post, I use Polaris - cos it doesn't move. I collimate my 12" at the start of every session so need to align the finder too, which takes no time after a bit of practice. As long as an object on the finder crosshairs will be near the centre of field of a high power eyepiece, that's good enough for me. Chasing perfection is a waste of time (same goes for collimation).