Celestron powerseeker 114eq help!

[Padraic M]

1 minute ago, Jennifere20 said:

Will not having my scope set to north affect my viewing objects? Because I don’t understand it how you set it to north and then move the telescope around to find things? 

One step at a time!!!! Get used to what you know now for a little while.

The key to 'pointing north' is that it's your mount that points north. Your scope can point in any direction you want. This is the next lesson to learn and it's called Polar Alignment. If your mount is properly polar-aligned, then you only have to manually adjust the RA control to follow an object (or you can use the motor drive if you want). If it's not polar aligned, you will need to use both RA and Dec controls to follow an object, and it's a bit more tricky. It's not a real problem for you immediately, but you will want to learn that trick soon.

 

[DaveL59]

9 minutes ago, Jennifere20 said:

Will not having my scope set to north affect my viewing objects? Because I don’t understand it how you set it to north and then move the telescope around to find things? 

When you set up the EQ mount, you set the angle of the RA axis to match your longitude which I guess is 53.3 . That sets the rotation of the scope to match the way the objects will revolve around the sky for your location, relative to north (well, polaris). So for the mount to be most effective you want the RA axis pointing up toward north, for the EQ2 type mount a compass would get you approximately right. Now when you've locked onto your target, you should only need to adjust the RA sloMo to keep it in view.

Edited May 14, 2020 by DaveL59

[Jennifere20]

8 hours ago, Padraic M said:

One step at a time!!!! Get used to what you know now for a little while.

The key to 'pointing north' is that it's your mount that points north. Your scope can point in any direction you want. This is the next lesson to learn and it's called Polar Alignment. If your mount is properly polar-aligned, then you only have to manually adjust the RA control to follow an object (or you can use the motor drive if you want). If it's not polar aligned, you will need to use both RA and Dec controls to follow an object, and it's a bit more tricky. It's not a real problem for you immediately, but you will want to learn that trick soon.

 

Ahhh right. I might just try and find my way around the sky first before I get into all the technical stuff 😳

[Jennifere20]

8 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

When you set up the EQ mount, you set the angle of the RA axis to match your longitude which I guess is 53.3 . That sets the rotation of the scope to match the way the objects will revolve around the sky for your location, relative to north (well, polaris). So for the mount to be most effective you want the RA axis pointing up toward north, for the EQ2 type mount a compass would get you approximately right. Now when you've locked onto your target, you should only need to adjust the RA sloMo to keep it in view.

Ahhh I get you. So rather than moving it up and down I’d only need to move it left and right? 

[DaveL59]

that's right, the RA would be all you'd need to adjust, assuming you can get the mount lined up to north reasonably well. That's when the motor comes in handy as you then won't need to touch anything once focused on the target. Means you can relax and there's no touch induced wobbles in the scope

Just looking at your userID, after Jennifer Eccles by any chance?

[Jennifere20]

Who’s jennifer Eccles? Ha. Nope. E is my surname. 

[Jennifere20]

Ok so, will I have to align it with Polaris to fix my latitude to 53.3 or does it not Matthew where the scope is when I adjust it? 

[DaveL59]

2 minutes ago, Jennifere20 said:

Who’s jennifer Eccles? Ha. Nope. E is my surname. 

ah just a song that used to play on the radio in the school coach when I used to live up your way, along with the locomotion and several others. A long time ago now lol.

For setting up the mount, this may help
http://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/simple-polar-alignment/

For the EQ2 we don't have a polar scope to get real accuracy but a good near approximate does make things easier in use  

[Jennifere20]

Ok great. Thankyou. You used to live up ‘norf’?haha

[happy-kat]

Think about what the tripod is doing in relation to the earth. Your location has a latitude, that latitude represent what your position is in reference to the angle of the earth's axis. That is what you set up when you have your tripod correctly set up and also so the right bit/leg is North. From that placement the ra slow motion knob then rotates around that axis, and the dec knob places that rotation point at higher or lower points on the axis. The telescope could actually be pointing in any direction on a ball head, it is the tripod mount head that needs to be correct to follow the earth's rotation for where you are.

Edited May 15, 2020 by happy-kat

[DaveL59]

yeah, Warrington back when it was in Lancs. Lived there twice in fact though only a year or so each time before heading off elsewhere. Army brat so we went where we got posted so was lucky to grow up around the world  

[Jennifere20]

Thankyou! I will attempt it later! Too cold to go out yet lol

[Jennifere20]

1 minute ago, DaveL59 said:

yeah, Warrington back when it was in Lancs. Lived there twice in fact though only a year or so each time before heading off elsewhere. Army brat so we went where we got posted so was lucky to grow up around the world  

Wow! Cool! Bet you’ve seen some good sights! I’m only 10 mins from warrington! 

[Nerf_Caching]

13 hours ago, John said:

There should be a rubber ring around the finder tube which holds it into the front end of the finder mount. If this is missing, the finder flops around and will not hold it's position at all. I've put some red arrows on the pic of your scope where this rubber ring should go.

As you adjust the 3 screws at the rear of the mount the finder then tilts gently being held in the mount by the rubber ring. The benefit is that once pointed and aligned it generally should stay aligned.

You may have this already in place but I thought it worth checking.

I don't think these finderscopes have the rubber ring. I know skywatcher 6x30 finderscopes do but these don't based on experience.

[Jennifere20]

2 minutes ago, Nerf_Caching said:

I don't think these finderscopes have the rubber ring. I know skywatcher 6x30 finderscopes do but these don't based on experience.

No I don’t think they do. I checked all photos on google and couldn’t see any

[DaveL59]

Upside was living on other countries and enjoying the adventures and opportunities that offered. Downside is you (well I did) develop a 2-year itch and then when you finally return for the last time you're subconscious clock it telling you it's time to move, which played havoc where it coincided with the exam cycle. Wouldn't trade that for anything though  

 

[Jennifere20]

Well hope your settled now anyway. 

[Jennifere20]

I always said I was going to love to America when I got my degree. Think il Give that a miss now though 

[John]

1 hour ago, Nerf_Caching said:

I don't think these finderscopes have the rubber ring. I know skywatcher 6x30 finderscopes do but these don't based on experience.

That might be why they are awkward to use then !

I had a very similar finder on my old (very old) 60mm Tasco and I found that adding some tape around the finder body, where it is held by the front end of the holder, helped a lot in making sure that it stayed aimed where I aimed it. I was hoping that they might have improved the design 50 years on but obviously not

It's still not a good finder by any standards - just about adequate for the brighter targets. If I used the scope more than very occasionally, I would replace the finder with something better.

 

[DaveL59]

Which science degree do you have out of interest?

I started with engineering, switched to math and got bored with that so finally did computing, probably only attended about half of that one but did walk away with a degree at the end  

[Jennifere20]

11 minutes ago, John said:

That might be why they are awkward to use then !

I had a very similar finder on my old (very old) 60mm Tasco and I found that adding some tape around the finder body, where it is held by the front end of the holder, helped a lot in making sure that it stayed aimed where I aimed it. I was hoping that they might have improved the design 50 years on but obviously not

It's still not a good finder by any standards - just about adequate for the brighter targets. If I used the scope more than very occasionally, I would replace the finder with something better.

 

I’m going to look into buying more expensive bits and bobs if I can get into it properly. I’m not

giving up yet

[Jennifere20]

11 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Which science degree do you have out of interest?

I started with engineering, switched to math and got bored with that so finally did computing, probably only attended about half of that one but did walk away with a degree at the end  

Haha. Forensic science

[Adam J]

I think your best bet is to join your local club and take the scope to a meeting but at the moment that may not be possible. 

[DaveL59]

14 minutes ago, Jennifere20 said:

Haha. Forensic science

an interesting field, lot of demand for it too I expect  

re more expensive bits, you might be better with an RDF or telrad which is the more highly regarded of the two.

When you're happy you know your way around the scope and eyepieces a good upgrade would be better eyepieces and barlow. The BST starguiders are oft recommended here as a step up. The barlow in your pic is pretty poor to be honest so a Celestron Omni or similar would be much better. But best to get familiar with what you have and then decide if its a hobby you'd like to stick with before sinking too much into it or it quickly becomes a money pit chasing more aperture etc  

[Jennifere20]

Haha. Okay thankyou! I am not sure if the do local clubs around where I live?