Dec and RA Centred

[Peart]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could let me know what RA and Dec coordinate i will need to have the scope perfectly centred for polar alignment i believe the dec will be 90 degrees but just wondering wha the RA will need to be in hr and mins i know it doesnt need to be perfect but im a bit OCD with it haha 

[Merlin66]

Peart,

As the RA coordinates converge at the Pole....similar to latitude here on Earth, your PA could be at any RA......

If the telescope is positioned in a "park" type arrangement - counterweight down, telescope sitting above the mount pointed towards the pole, then the RA at that moment will be the same as the Sidereal time (defined by the RA on the meridian)

You can get your sidereal time from any of the usual planetarium programs (I use Cartes du Ciel)

Hope this helps.

 

[Jiggy 67]

I think you’re talking about getting the perfect home position. Watch this video for the perfect home position 

Other than for purpose’s like this the setting circles are useless so I wouldn’t bother with them

[jambouk]

Did you get this sorted?

[Peart]

Yeah I figured it out. thanks for all the help from everyone I been busy with work so just logged on. Clear skies

 

[B4silio]

A quick and dirty trick for a rough polar alignment if you don't see Polaris and you have set up a perfect "home position" as in the video Jiggy 64 linked to:

• Put the mount in home position, be as precise as possibleturn it on and don't calibrate anything
• Slew to a known star (if you're NOT polar aligned it will get nowhere near that star :D)
• Use the Alt+Az adjustments to align manually the scope to that star
• Repeat for another star somewhere at 90° from the first one
• You should now be roughly polar aligned