Movement Issues

[Mike9788]

Hi Everyone 

Long time viewer, first time poster - I took the plunge and got a Skywatcher 130 EQ2 the other day. It’s a new from the box one (thanks FLO). 
 

To give an indicator of how experienced I am - I spent about an hour last night thinking “god, it’s dark” before realising the dust cap is on....

My plea for support is that I can’t really move my telescope- I can’t tilt it up, for example, which seems an issue when it comes to observing, you know, the sky. It feels like a counterweight/hoops issue but would really appreciate some wiser hands taking a look at the pics below and pointing me in the right direction as I’m sure it’s something obvious!

 

Really appreciate any help - me and mrs mike are going to South Wales for a Dark Sky trip next week for our wedding anniversary (it’s our second) so in dire need of those who have walked the walk trying to help out!

 

Appreciation in advance,

 

 

Mike

[Waldemar]

This will help you: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+to+set+up+aequatorial+mount&qpvt=how+to+set+up+aequatorial+mount&FORM=VDRE

[CraigT82]

That mount is an equatorial, which means that it needs to be tilted up a bit on it's Alt axis. 

Loosen the red arrowed fastener and tilt the whole head up until the little gauge behind the fastener reads 51 (or whatever your latitude is).

You then need to place the mount down on the ground so that RA axis (blue arrow) points northwards, towards Polaris.

Once that is done you will be able to rotate just the RA axis to keep an obkect in the field of view 

 

Edited September 3, 2020 by CraigT82

[PeterCPC]

Have a look here

Peter

[Guest]

@Mike9788This is the video that I found most helpful...

https://youtu.be/TdkB5NCnFps

[igorigs]

@Mike9788 Hey mate, welcome to beautiful hobby of ours. 

I had the same problem and this video helped me a lot

Don’t be afraid once you figure it out to dissamble it and do it all over again. That’s how I practiced.

It’s quite easy actually. Now I can do it in complete dark surrounding 😁 

Clear skies!

[DaveL59]

Hi Mike and welcome. I have that exact same telescope and as others have mentioned, you need to set the RA axis at a tilt to match your latitude. Set as shown in your photo you'll find the counterweight & bar will hit the tripod and limit range of movement.

If instead you'd rather use it as alt-az rather than EQ then you'd need to set it to 90 degrees such that the counterweight bar is horizontal. You may still find that the scope itself then starts to become limited by the tripod legs.

Does yours come with the RA clockwork drive too? I've found that this works ok but it can occasionally get in the way of the tube at certain angles when aiming very high, the cable connector sticks out and the tube catches. Not a major problem and using it makes for more relaxed viewing having the mount track objects, especially if sharing the view with others.

Good luck and enjoy! 🙂 

[AstroMuni]

3 hours ago, Mike9788 said:

My plea for support is that I can’t really move my telescope- I can’t tilt it up, for example, which seems an issue when it comes to observing, you know, the sky. It feels like a counterweight/hoops issue but would really appreciate some wiser hands taking a look at the pics below and pointing me in the right direction as I’m sure it’s something obvious!

Welcome to the hobby. 🙂

One thing that stood out for me from your image was that your scope seems to be mounted back to front. Normally the cable you see sticking out to the left is in same direction as the back of the scope. Once you watch the videos that have been posted, I am sure you will enjoy the scope.

One important aspect is aligning the finder scope. See this link to Celestron's finder scope which looks similar to yours. At the bottom of the page it explains how to align. Do this first, otherwise it can be a challenge (read nightmare 🙂 ) trying to get your scope to look at the object which you want to see.

https://www.celestron.com/products/starpointer-finderscope

[Mike9788]

Everyone - thanks so much for the help, my scope is turning on both axes now and working well

All I see when looking through the tube is different coloured blurs, no matter how I focus. I think this is because I live in deepest suburbia and haven’t had chance to focus on a big expanse yet so can’t align the eyefinder. I’ve tried on trees but they’re on the other block - only a few hundred yards away, and so the blur persists.

Im going to try it in Wales with much further objects - just want to check it makes sense to have this blur until there’s an alignment and there’s nothing else to worry about? I’ve graduated to removing the lens cap and I can see my eye in perfect alignment down the eyepiece and it’s new so think collimation is okay. Just want to check I’ve not done anything foolish before setting off!

thanks so much for all the help everyone!

 

mike

 

[John]

You should see sharply focused views of distant objects (ie: hundreds of metres or more away) regardless of where you are observing from.

Make sure you are using our lowest power eyepiece for this, ie: the one with the longer focal length in mm marked on it, eg: 20mm or 25mm.

 

[Mike9788]

Thanks John - I’m using 10mm but still blurry - but hundreds of metres is the most I can get in current arrangements - is there anything else it could be?

[igorigs]

900/10 gives you magnification of 90 times, you should use your lowest powered eyepiece which I assume is 25mm. Target objects at least 100-200m away.. Or simply you could target Moon now 😁

[Mike9788]

It’s tricky this astronomy lark - taking lens caps off and basic maths!

will try with 25 mm later on - thanks all

[igorigs]

Just remember focal length/ eyepiece = magnification 

[Waldemar]

Lenscaps are deceiving creatures. I had some confrontations, too...

[DaveL59]

On 03/09/2020 at 11:42, AstroMuni said:

 

One thing that stood out for me from your image was that your scope seems to be mounted back to front. Normally the cable you see sticking out to the left is in same direction as the back of the scope. Once you watch the videos that have been posted, I am sure you will enjoy the scope.

 

Funny because I have mine set up exactly the same, so the SloMo cable is near the focuser. Far more convenient in use so you can make fine adjustments and see the effect in the eyepiece. For a Frac I do the same so the SloMo is near the focuser, doesn't affect the mount operation at all so is a personal preference.

[AstroMuni]

On 05/09/2020 at 09:08, DaveL59 said:

Funny because I have mine set up exactly the same, so the SloMo cable is near the focuser. Far more convenient in use so you can make fine adjustments and see the effect in the eyepiece. For a Frac I do the same so the SloMo is near the focuser, doesn't affect the mount operation at all so is a personal preference.

The reason I mentioned is for a new user who is unfamiliar with how to use the scope and is learning from videos, I personally found it easier to copy what was being done in a video rather than figure out what is convenient for me. Once you have learnt the techniques each of us tends to make our own changes to suit us.