Can never remember RA and DEC...is there some tips to help?

[dazzystar]

Hi All,

I've got one of those mental blockages where for whatever reason I'm unable to remember which is which with reference to RA & DEC. Is there some tips / rhyme or something that can help me remember?

Cheers
Daz

[adyj1]

No clever mnemonic, but I noticed it is always said "RA and DEC", and the RA axis is the 'first' one (the lowest on the mount) and the DEC axis is the second one (the higher one on the mount).

Works for me, but obvs a personal thing.

How about "R you pointing to polaris?" to remember the RA axis points at the celestial pole, and also a perhaps unnecessary reminder to Polar align 😉 

Edited February 22, 2022 by adyj1

[vlaiv]

Never thought of it

Here are some possible ways to remember things by - Ra is Egyptian sun god - and sun moves across the sky as does mount track in RA?

RA is right ascension - mount can rotate left/right in axis that tracks earth rotation?

Deck - or platform is something stable that does not move - DEC axis does not move when mount is tracking normally?

 

[Same old newbie alert]

Dec axis is where your scope is fixed to with the dovetail and moves the scope up/down

Ra tracks the sky

[jjohnson3803]

How about RA is measured in hours and time is measured by the apparent movement of the sun across the sky from left to right (when facing south in the northern hemisphere).

Or maybe "You decline to look up at Polaris"?

But somebody also said that very small rocks float...

Being an Egyptophile, I have to say I like the Ra (Re) one best.

Edited February 22, 2022 by jjohnson3803

[michael8554]

Dec is short for Declination.

So remember  Declination / Inclination / incline / up and down 

Michael

[dweller25]

“R”ight Ascension - “R”ight Left

“D”eclination - up “D”own

Edited February 22, 2022 by dweller25

[dazzystar]

I should have added guys (and thanks for the replies by the way) that I know what RA & DEC mean I just can't remember what axis they're on!

[Stu]

How about remembering you need R_eally A_ccurate polar alignment?

[dazzystar]

Thanks @Stu but not sticking. Putting it down to the fact I have covid...

[vlaiv]

12 minutes ago, Stu said:

How about remembering you need R_eally A_ccurate polar alignment?

I don't follow. How it is supposed to work?

Really accurate polar alignment is supposed to keep DEC from "discretely eventually creep" away from fixed position

 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

7 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Never thought of it

Here are some possible ways to remember things by - Ra is Egyptian sun god - and sun moves across the sky as does mount track in RA?

RA is right ascension - mount can rotate left/right in axis that tracks earth rotation?

Deck - or platform is something stable that does not move - DEC axis does not move when mount is tracking normally?

 

Now, I like that one 🙂 

Steve

[Robindonne]

The dec/deck/top is gonna help me a lot.  Ra  will automatically be the other one

[Jonny_H]

What about Ant & Dec.... Dec is the smallest one out of the two and so is the Dec axis on the mount visually? 

i havent figured out yet how to bring Ant into it. Maybe 'R'ant about Ant 😉

Edited February 23, 2022 by Jonny_H

[Mr Spock]

RA = Right Across the sky

 

[Ags]

RA: it is Really Annoying that stars drift out of view as they move through Right Ascension.

[7170]

How about when you think about pointing the scope on the equatorial grid:

Ra = round and round
Dec = down and up

[Scooot]

For RA think of a roundabout. 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

2 hours ago, Jonny_H said:

What about Ant & Dec.... Dec is the smallest one out of the two and so is the Dec axis on the mount visually? 

i havent figured out yet how to bring Ant into it. Maybe 'R'ant about Ant 😉

Great idea, problem is I can never remember which one is Ant or which one is Dec 🙂 

But after this thread I can now reverse engineer it and because I know my RA and Dec and can use that to remember Ant and Dec 🙂 

Steve

Edited February 23, 2022 by teoria_del_big_bang

[Mr Spock]

I use mnemonics for a lot of things.

Red is right, left is white - left and right connections for hi-fi

Y to the sky - X and Y on a diagram

WUS - for remembering crown and regions in ancient Egypt. White crown = Upper Egypt = South Egypt. (yes, I'm an Egyptologist too 😜 ). So by definition, Red crown = Lower Egypt = North Egypt.

So, RAS Right AScension, Right Across the Sky fits with that, for me anyway.