Go-To Telescope Leveled ?

[Ariel]

Hello,

I have a new Celestron SE8. Do I need to Bubble Level the Telescope before I Star Align for it to be accurate ?

Naturally in dark sites the ground is not that leveled. 

Thank you for your advice,

Ariel

[Cornelius Varley]

Alt-az goto mounts should be levelled up, this will aid tracking. EQ mounts don't need to be.

[Cosmic Geoff]

It definitely helps to level the mount accurately. You have to remove the mount/OTA assembly and put the bubble level on the top surface of the tripod. If working in the dark, remember to remove the bubble level before re-fitting the mount/OTA assembly.

With the Nexstar SLT, accurately leveling the mount bowl with a proper spirit level makes solar system align work much more accurately, and on a two-star auto align the second star drops right into the main telescope field of view.

A benefit of using Starsense is that you can skip the mount leveling.

[Ariel]

Thank you Peter and Geoff for the fast answer.

Ariel

[Peter Drew]

I have to disagree.  . I have a C8se and never bother to level it and provided the alignment stars are accurately centered and the final movements to do this are the same, the GOTO is accurate. The "Nextstar Users Guide" emphatically states that levelling for this system is a myth. However, no harm in levelling if you have the time. 

[ronin]

By rights they do not need to be but that means they then have to determine and apply the amount of non-level error to correct for. If that is within range/tolerance then they should take care of it however it is probably better to get one as level as reasonable and make life easier all round.

Bit like cars they will work if not 100% ideal but it is easier if things are as good as reasonable. Tyre pressure need not all be correct nor the same but the trip is better if they are.

[Geoff Lister]

I use Synscan on tripod Az/Alt and Dob. mounts, and by starting with the mount level, when the handset asks me to slew to a star at xx.x degrees altitude, I can set this altitude, using the mount's altitude scale, use a compass for rough azimuth, and the star should be visible in my finder.

I have added a 1.5" dia. bubble level to my Skyliner 250PX, and I can level the base by using a small wedge under one of the feet.

Intuitively, the alignment software does not have to correct for an azimuth error in the altitude calculation, and vice versa.

[ollypenrice]

My fork SCT has the ability to correct for being out of level but like all software it works when it feels like it, so I level this mount but don't bother with our EQ mounts.

Olly

[Mr Spock]

I never bother with my EQ-6. Near enough seems to be good enough.

Modern mounts can hide a multitude of sins 

[Owmuchonomy]

My practical experience of this is that for an Alt-Az set up if I take the trouble to level then the 2 star align works first time.  If I don't bother to level it can take a few iterations.  I am talking about Synscan by the way and like Olly says I often feel the software just likes to wind me up sometimes and not others.

[JOC]

The time I had best success with my goto I had not bothered to get it any more level than by eye.

[Peter Drew]

A classic case of YMMV.