A version of Twister!

[Stu1smartcookie]

So, my first light with my new set up was last night .. a very still , clear evening ( although cold) . I did all the preliminaries ie levelled the mount , did a polar alignment ( although the EQ 5 isn’t driven ) .. I then rather clumsily mounted my skywatcher 200p onto the mount ! I will put the rings on the mount first next time .... a lesson learnt straight away . I balanced and collimated  the scope , just a few mins later it was ready to go ! So , everything was great .. nice views of the Plaides and the moon . But ( there is always one ) .. some of the positions the focusser ended up in were nothing short of bizarre . I ended up  stretching, crouching ,bending , leaning .. a full work out in fact ! So I finally realised I can loosen the rings and swivel the tube . For viewing , with no tracking that’s no problem but what happens if I had a goto system or just after market  motors installed .. would twisting the tube have an impact on polar alignment? 
sorry for the long post for just one question , but I do like to set the scene lol

Stu 

[KP82]

As long as you haven't adjusted the altitude/azimuth knobs nor moved the tripod legs, polar alignment will not be affected. One trick to use when observing with a newt on an EQ mount is to have its focuser pointing upwards when it's in the parked position. Doing so would ensure the eyepiece will always be in a fairly comfortable angle except when looking at any objects in the vicinity of the NCP.

[Jiggy 67]

If you had GoTo it wouldn’t affect PA but it would affect star alignment as twisting the tube in the rings always results in movement of the dec and RA axis. This is a a big downside to newts on EQ mounts and there is no real solution. Unlike KP82 I start with the focuser pointing down which does help but still involves some awkward positions.....maybe I’ll try his way next time.

 I believe there is a routine in Synscan for correcting for any loss of star alignment but I’ve never tried it 

[Stu1smartcookie]

It seems that this is a problem that has no definite conclusion , some say that the focuser should be directly opposite the dovetail bar , which I did try but as KP said the stars near the zenith require you   to grow 0.5mtrs in height .. or stand on something .. not ideal . But , the positives outweigh the negatives , and at least I’m getting a work out whilst observing lol