Hello from the Wirral UK

[Hefty_Texas]

Hi all. Wanted to say hello and Introduce myself.

I've been star gazing on and off for a few years now and have recently decided to get back into the hobby. 

My first telescope was a 5 inch reflector on a EQ mount. Looking at Jupiter for the first time made me fall in love with this hobby that and my big flask of coffee or whiskey if it's a weekend. I soon got buyers remorse as I wanted a bigger a better scope. Something I would later regret.

I came into a little money and went all out and bought a skywatcher 200p on a goto mount. The views of Jupiter made it worth the money that I paid that and hunting for nebular and star clusters. I sadly gave away my smaller scope.

This is where the regret comes in, I've always found it very hard aligning my goto as I've never been able to truly polar align it as the trees in my garden obscure my north view. That and the software needs updating, it thinks the position of stars are about 23 mins further along then it actually is.(I have a digital watch with the time set 23 mins slower) Much to my dismay. I've had it working properly a few times but the amount of time it takes to set up has pretty much destroyed my motivation for the hobby, on the nights I fail and fail again to compete a 2-3 star alignment I have used it in a kind of semi automatic way. I'm pretty sure I'm not doing the mount much good by using it this way. (I need to buy the correct cable to update. Sadly lost the original as I have moved house about 5 times since buying it)

Anyway, today I had a few extra pounds in my bank and thought I would buy something to get me back into stargazing.

I picked up a 3 inch reflector quite cheap and have it assembled in my front room. My weather app tells me I have a 3 hour window in the current onslaught of clouds on Tuesday night. The plan is to fall back in love with this amazing hobby

[Mr Spock]

Hi, welcome to SGL 

I never bother with star alignment on my EQ-6. I just point it in the general direction of Polaris and let it track. Works good enough for what I need.

[Hefty_Texas]

Yeah that's pretty much what I've been doing, do you just use the controller to move yours or do you manually move the tube then use the controller to pin point? I bought the l new reflector so I can just go out after work and set up quickly. If I'm off in the day I don't mind setting up the big one but I have no motivation to do it if I've been in work all day.

[Dave In Vermont]

Well hello Hefty(?) and welcome to SGL - It's good of you to join us here!

Sounds like you're already well on the way into our wonderful lifestyle, and the peril of 'Aperture-Fever.' Please feel free to ask any questions in these many forums - we love helping to find their answers.

Starry Skies!

Dave

 

[Charic]

Welcome to the SGL.
See how you fare with the 3" but I'm not sure the images will be anywhere near the 200's capability, and going manual on the EQ mount or making a Dob base to get the 200 back into swing is another option?

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

Peter

[Hefty_Texas]

Sadly I'm well aware of the image difference between the 3" and the 8" I'll miss those deep purple lines across Jupiter. As far as the goto mount goes. I have used it kind of manually. Moving the tube by hand and then the controls in place of manual slow motion controls. It worked very well. I just worry about damaging the motors moving it by hand. Wouldn't know we're to start in constructing a dob base. I'll look into it though. Thanks.

The main reason I bought the smaller one is the much shorter set up time. I want to get home from work and just take it out. The 200p weighs considerably more and the thought of setting it up in the dark on a winter's night really puts me off.

Thanks for your advice 

[hippie]

Welcome to SGL.

[Stu]

Welcome Hefty. Sorry to hear the scope is causing you to lose interest.

For visual, put the tripod down with North peg facing as accurately north as you can, then adjust the tripod so that the top is level. Pop the mount on and check that the azimuth adjustment is centred so it will still be pointing North. Then just set the altitude to your local latitude (53.3) and you should be accurate enough for alignment and visual.

Not entirely sure what you mean about the handset being 23 mins out, is that not just a matter of setting the time correctly? No need for a software update (and cable) to do that.

Maybe worth posting this in the equipment section too, you will get lots of welcomes here but perhaps more advice there  

Good luck.

[Floater]

Welcome to the forum. Have fun doing what you’re doing.

[Hefty_Texas]

Sorry I mean that after i put in all my details it tells me the RA position of Polaris, I have app on my phone  that also tells me the position and they do not match  match, I found  if I set the time on the goto mount back 23 mins then it actually is they kind of matched. I'll open a thread in equipment though, thanks 

[ronl]

Hello and welcome to the community, hope you enjoy your time with us,

see you around the forums.

Clear Sky's.

[newtyng5]

Welcome to SGL. More the merrier ?

[JamesM]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Clear skies

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi there, welcome.

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire :-) 

[Hefty_Texas]

Thanks for the welcome guys, managed to get my new 3 inch reflector out for about 15 mins of very patchy sky on Tuesday night, wanted to align my spotter (red dot) anyway, had a look at the moon, Vega and Altair were peeking through the clouds so I decided to see how easy or hard it would be to get them in my view. Super easy, I remember when I got my first telescope. The levels of frustration I had trying to do exactly the same thing were very high. Sadly it looks like it's going to be cloudy for a week or 2. But that gives me time to buy some more accessories and a book and pencils for my log

[Charon]

Welcome aboard.