Sky-Watcher StarQuest-102R

[JMarkJ]

Hi, so ive a question with the new scope. I polar aligned, balanced, set up as per all the advice and videos. Saturn rises South east and i undo clutches, spin the scope, line up, tighten the clutches, turn on the Sky-Watcher RA Motor Drive which is set to North but which doesn't track.....is this because i had to spin the scope (not the tripod)? bit confused how this is getting out of alignment as by the time id finished i was upside down and inside out......

 

its almost like im restricted to everything facing north and if i turn the scope on its mount 180 im out ....

 

 

whats going wrong?

 

 

thanks

[lenscap]

Hi Mark,

Once you have Polar Aligned the mount by setting it to your local  latitude & pointed the RA axis to the North, you should not move or rotate the tripod, and you should not rotate the mount-head on the tripod. The RA axis needs to stay pointed ( at least, approximately ) at the North Celestial Pole for the tracking to work properly.

You can then point the scope at any target, anywhere in the sky by rotating the scope around the RA and Dec axes by the appropriate amount.

For example to point at Saturn in the SE tonight you will need to rotate the scope until the counterweight bar points approximately NE then rotate it about the Dec axis to put Saturn in your finder. Then lock the clutches, centre it in the eyepiece and switch on the tracking.

EQ mounts take a bit of getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it after a while.

Clear skies!

[JMarkJ]

12 hours ago, lenscap said:

Hi Mark,

Once you have Polar Aligned the mount by setting it to your local  latitude & pointed the RA axis to the North, you should not move or rotate the tripod, and you should not rotate the mount-head on the tripod. The RA axis needs to stay pointed ( at least, approximately ) at the North Celestial Pole for the tracking to work properly.

You can then point the scope at any target, anywhere in the sky by rotating the scope around the RA and Dec axes by the appropriate amount.

For example to point at Saturn in the SE tonight you will need to rotate the scope until the counterweight bar points approximately NE then rotate it about the Dec axis to put Saturn in your finder. Then lock the clutches, centre it in the eyepiece and switch on the tracking.

EQ mounts take a bit of getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it after a while.

Clear skies!

ok, thank you... will give it a try

[Aramcheck]

If your mount is something like an EQ2-M then you can only get a rough polar alignment (as the mount doesn't have a polar scope) & there will still be some drift with the RA motor engaged, but much less than if it was disengaged.

Worth also checking that the gear has engaged properly. When we had an EQ2-M the spring-loaded clutch didn't always work as expected.

Cheers
Ivor

[Nerf_Caching]

Think of the RA axis as the azimuth axis on an alt-az mount but tilted on its side. This is what my rig looks like when my scope is pointed high in the sky. The mount is polar aligned with the RA axis facing North and stays this way. You have to move the scope using both the RA and Declination axis.

[JMarkJ]

16 hours ago, Nerf_Caching said:

Think of the RA axis as the azimuth axis on an alt-az mount but tilted on its side. This is what my rig looks like when my scope is pointed high in the sky. The mount is polar aligned with the RA axis facing North and stays this way. You have to move the scope using both the RA and Declination axis.

thanks, yes thats how i set mine up and the rotate on the RA/DEC axis. will try again on the next clear night

 

[Cornelius Varley]

A short tutorial on how to move the telescope to point is different directions http://www.astronomyboy.com/eq/

[bomberbaz]

Or try this http://www.eyesonthesky.com/Videos/TelescopeBasics.aspx

There are two videos near the bottom of the page. One called "how to align an equatorial mount" and one called "learn how to use an equatorial mount". 

Very cheesy, a bit janet and john but also very easy to understand. 

Steve

[Gmx76]

Those videos are cheesey but also helpful. I have the Starquest 130p and I've had similar tracking issues. To begin with I made a couple of newbie errors such as using the slowmo controls to get to where I want to, then turning on the motor.  Only to realise after a while I hadn't engaged the clutch.  Also when you get that bit right,  remove the RA slow-mo cable or the thumb screw can rub on the motor. Seems to be a design issue  could do with just a couple mm gap. After I got all that right it seemed to work fine, for a while.  But started to slip or jump and did some weird things.  Seem to have a dodgy motor so requested a swap.