HEQ5 Setup

[Guest]

This is my first goto equatorial mount and it's taking a while to get to grips with it. I can see from questions here and other forums that I'm not the only one to find the manual rather poor. So I'd be grateful for some help.

I've adjusted the reticule on the polar scope. That went fine although a little fiddly.

I've done the polar alignment and that went ok too but after that I get a bit mixed up.

At the end of polar aligment you press enter and it gives you a figure for the hour angle for polaris. Should I do something with that figure?

If you then press enter it goes straight into selecting 1,2, or 3 star alignment. This is also according to the manual but I'm pretty sure I should be doing something with the scope between the end of polar alignment and the start of 1/2/3 star aligment. What should I do at that point?

[Jiggy 67]

The hour angle is for polar alignment using the handset, if you’re happy that you are polar aligned via other means just ignore it and press enter. The next stage is star alignment. Polar alignment aligns the mount to the North Celestial Pole and dictates the movement of the mount in RA to keep it on target with the object your viewing. Star alignment tells the mount information so the GoTo can accurately locate objects. Generally one or two star alignment is enough. Give it a go and see how you get on

[Guest]

Thanks, What went wrong is this. During the polar alignment you have to rotate the RA such that the 0 on the reticule is at the top and the dec has been rotated horizontal so that the hole in the shaft  allows the polar scope to be used. So then I wasn't sure if I should put the scope in a particular position before initiating the alignment. The first time I did it I just left the scope as it was and selected one star alignment. The scope automatically  moved to the star I selected except that although it was in roughly the right sector of the sky it was miles off. I mean miles.

Then I found a youtube viseo where the guy said after doing the polar aligment you manually put the scope into the parked position. Not using the handset controls but loosening the screws and manually slewing, if you see what I mean. Then he said to select park scope on the hand set. The scope goes to the park position (except that it's more or less there anyway because I put it there) and then you press enter before doing the alignment.

So I did the whole thing again - polarscope  alignment, park the scope then do the single star alignment. This time it worked much better and the scope was more or less pointing at the right star. But the manual doesn't say anything about parking the scope before doing the star alignment so I wondered what the correct procedure is. Maybe you do have to park the scope, it was just that it didn't say so.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Jiggy 67]

You're confusing "park" with "home" Although they are the same position, they are used for different reasons. "Home Position" is set manual and refers to scope pointing North with counterweights pointing down. This is a good tutorial on setting your home position.......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fO6hyYtPwM

"Park" is to do with the handset. After an observing session, via the utilities menu, you can ask the scope/mount to "Park" if you select this the mount will slew to the "Home" position and then save all the current data, before telling you you can with switch off. This means that, as long as you don't move anything, for your next session, there is no need to do any alignment or anything, just switch on and select your target (after confirming you want to start from park position on the handset and entered time, date etc)

Regarding the polariscope calibration, you did exactly the right thing by rotating in ra, just return to the "home" position after polar alignment.  You return to the home position manually, not by using the handset.

 

Hope all that makes sense

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Jiggy 67

[Guest]

Does that mean if you want to carry out an alignment you must always start with the scope in the home position? Does the handset assume that the scope is in the home position when it kicks off the alignment?

[Jiggy 67]

Basically yes, the home position is the starting point, the scope needs a starting point (others may disagree but that's the rule I go by). Imagine you just manually pointed it to the East, turned on and tried to do a one star alignment, it wouldn't have a clue.

Just to confuse matters.....if you park at the end of the session, you might notice that the park position may be a few degrees different from your pre-marked home position (as per the video) Don't worry about that, it doesn't matter, the handset has stored the data (you can even park it to the East if you want). However, if I'm not utilising the "park" facility, I would manually return it to the pre-marked "home" position before doing a star alignment. Others may have a different routine, but that's the way I do it and it's never let me down. My setup has been out for about 4 weeks (granted, in this weather that only equates to about 4 sessions) and I only polar aligned and star aligned at the beginning of the first session....it is still bang on now when slewing to a target. Bear in mind, when starting from "parked" you still have to enter time and date.

[carastro]

Yes everything that Jiggy has said is correct.  Assuming you have the PA procedure correct.

I must admit, I always tend to do a star alignment even if I am permanently set up, but I then tend just to slew to the closest major star near my target.  I find a 1 star alignment is ample.  

I have never used the PA facility on the handset always having done it looking through the polarscope, and now days I use Polemaster which is even easier as it saves having to kneel down and bend you neck in difficult positions.

Carole 

[Guest]

Thanks for that. It explains why it didn't work correctly the first time I tried to align. You'd think they might have mentioned it in the manual.

Also I realize now that the polar scope alignment and the scope alignment are actually quite separate things. I'm guessing that you could go ahead with the scope alignment with just a very basic polar scope alignment, just done by eye maybe. 

 

[carastro]

Quote

I'm guessing that you could go ahead with the scope alignment with just a very basic polar scope alignment, just done by eye maybe. 

For visual possibly, for imaging NO, needs to be VERY accurate for imaging.

Carole 

[Guest]

Thanks Carole, Yes I realize that. I'm building up to imaging. At the moment I'm just trying to understand how the mount works, what it can do and what it's limitations are.

Cheers

Steve

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Guest

[Jiggy 67]

1 hour ago, woodblock said:

Thanks Carole, Yes I realize that. I'm building up to imaging. At the moment I'm just trying to understand how the mount works, what it can do and what it's limitations are.

Cheers

Steve

 

Believe me you have an excellent mount and, although I don’t image, essential for imaging. Once you get your head around it, they are really good. Don’t know what scope you’ve got but if it’s a newt.....next problem......eyepiece position!!!!!😀

[Guest]

It's a newt and yeah, I already found that one out. sheesh