Setting Latitude

[stikflote]

Hello i have Celestron Astromaster130-MD 31051

,ive done it all wrong,got the telescope  as a present  as im locked down as a old man,

Hello to all, can some one tell me how to set latitude ,my latitude in Derby is 52 ,when i set it at 50 Ish the telescope is pointing so high i cant see thru Eyepiece??

i have managed to get it balanced ,still need to set the finder scope

help please,

Keith

 

[Cornelius Varley]

43 minutes ago, stikflote said:

Hello i have Celestron Astromaster130-MD 31051

,ive done it all wrong,got the telescope  as a present  as im locked down as a old man,

Hello to all, can some one tell me how to set latitude ,my latitude in Derby is 52 ,when i set it at 50 Ish the telescope is pointing so high i cant see thru Eyepiece??

i have managed to get it balanced ,still need to set the finder scope

help please,

Keith

 

Hello and welcome to SGL. Have you tried adjusting the height of the mount by not extending the lower tripod legs so that the telescope isn't quite as high ?

[PEMS]

Looking at the adverts it is a reflector on an Eq mount. So in a way a high eyepiece sounds and looks right, at least right in assembly terms. Have you set the tripod legs up as short as possible as in fully retracted? That seems about all that could be suggested.

The eyepiece will be the tripod height plus the EQ head height plus around half the scope OTA length. That all adds up.

If when the legs are fully retracted, fully spread to lower a little more then if eyepiece still remains too high I cannot think of a great deal that can be done to reduce the final height.

An alternative tripod comes to mind but most would have a similar problem. The Skywatcher Az GTi tripod is short but I have no idea if the Eq head you have would be a straight and simple swap.

[stikflote]

Thank you for replies i will shorten the tripod legs, the scope was a surprise gift ,a after looking at the sky at night thru binoculars

i said to daughter it might be good through a telescope 

Couple days later it appeared ,

Keith

[michael8554]

I've been searching for an image of the scope in a normal viewing position.

Would you believe it, every image is of the scope in the "Weights Down" lineup position ?

Keith, if the scope is balanced you should be able to release the clutches and twist the scope around on its pivots, to get the scope pointing where you want, with the viewing hole at a reasonable height.

Michael

 

[John]

This video might help. It covers basic functions of a similar scope on a similar mount. You can see how the scope moves around the 2 axis of the mount when observing in the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV_2nl8VHwg

 

[stikflote]

Ive been looking at a you tube video ,when set his latitude 

he the rotated his scope  so he could use his eyepiece,can i do that, or is some thing you dont do??

Keith

[michael8554]

Yes you can rotate the scope in the loosened securing rings to place the eyepiece in a comfortable position (tighten afterwards). 

Michael