Celestron Nexstar 8SE alignment help please!

[Dodger3k]

Hi all, looking for some help please! 🙏 I have a wedge for my 8SE and when using EQ North to align it, it says it is slewing to Vega but ends up all the way over at Polaris!?  Any ideas? 🤞🏻 Thanks in advance! 😊

 

I have updated the firmware, Mount is pointing at north, have inputted my latitude and longitude, I have tried picking the nearest city too and nothing seems to work! 😟

[joe aguiar]

hum I have never used my nextar 8 or nextar8se with wedge...

have u just tried to to slew to vega push alaign? then do 2nd star see if it gets successful and put objects in the ep. that's what really matters

also do u know most gotos when slewing to alignment stars can be off by 5 degree up to 15 or 20 degree?

joejaguar

[joe aguiar]

also on the hand controller since you have a wedge put it on eq mode see if that fixes it

Joejaguar

[Cosmic Geoff]

Does it work properly in alt-az mode (without the wedge)? If it does not, you need to sort that first.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? I am guessing you have astrophotography in mind, as you certainly do not need the wedge for visual. I have this scope and mount and have found that while the SE is fine as a portable visual mount, it is a pain to use for planetary astrophotography, and as for deep space long exposure astrophotography I think it's about as much use as a three-legged dog (and I don't think a wedge will make it any more suitable).

If you want to do ANY kind of astrophotography with the C8 I strongly recommend you get the right kind of mount for the job - for planetary astrophotography a solid and well-behaved alt-azimuth GoTo, or driven or GoTo equatorial.   For deep-space astrophotography you'd want a solid equatorial mount, but a small refractor and a big equatorial GoTo mount like the HEQ5 or EQ6 would be a better setup.

[KS - Norway]

Maybe you have the wrong GPS coordinates in the hand control. I use wedge and follow these procedures.

1) Turn on the telescope
2) Press "ENTER" to get started
3) Select EQ-North
4) Select "two star autoalign"
5) Press BACK to change GPS coordinates
6) Enter coordinates, clock, date  ENTER between each.
7) When asked if you have "daylight saving", select the default time

😎 The hand control asks you to drive to the index mark (on the arm of the telescope)  ENTER

9) The hand control asks you to drive to the meredian (Sideways until it points north)  ENTER
10) The controller selects a star  ENTER and the telescope runs to it
11) Fine tune ENTER fine tune ALIGN
12) The controller selects another star  ENTER and the telescope runs to it
13) Fine tune ENTER fine tune ALIGN

KS - Norway

 

[noah4x4]

Wrong procedure is the culprit. I also suspect that KS's procedure is for an older or different model. Below is correct for a recent SE model.

The original 'wedge align' instructions in older SE manuals are wrong! Today, the NEW routine is known as an All Star Polar Alignment (ASPA).

Do this if using Nexstar + HC or Starsense HC.....

1. Set OTA at its index marks.

2. Set wedge to your latitude.

3. Move tripod to aim OTA South (if in the Northern Hemisphere). Next time do this first, but it is easier to describe this way around!

This is where your error is occuring.  You should be aiming OTA at its Index Marks at the SOUTH Celestial Equator and not North/Polaris. This fools everybody that has an older instruction manual or look it up on line.  Your mount arm is now leaning North.

If using Starsense HC via <menu> set wedge = yes. To be honest, I can't remember if this step is necessary in the Nexstar + HC. I think not. But I know the rest is correct!

4. Do an EQNorth Align with Nexstar + HC (or Starsense autoalign)

5. Do an All Star Polar Align. All instructions are in HC scrolling window.

This will entail turning wedge knobs to eliminate the Polar Alignment Error (PAE)

6. Repeat EQNorth Align (or Starsense auto-align).

7. You might need to repeat to further converge PAE.

Note that if using CPWI the procedure does differ, follow on screen instructions.

Note also that it is vital your HC and mount firmware is later than December 2018 when the ASPA routine was rewritten from the bottom up. Even if your scope was delivered after that date, it is quite common that firmware might be out of date. 

 

[Marty1012]

I agree with Noah4x4 which is the latest method and it works fine for me and my Nexstar 6SE. when taking long exposure imaging with my DSLR, typically around 90seconds for closer Deep sky nebula, I normally repeat the process a couple of times to fine tune. I totally disagree with Cosmic Geoff who claims the alt/az setup is unsuitable as I have had very acceptable results without spending £ thousands on top end EQ mounts. my mature advice is to spend time on the set up.. Accurately level mount before carefully going through alignment. My first attempt at deep sky on my new wedge was the Whirlpool galaxy, image attached.

cheers

Marty