Nervous breakdown over setting circles!!!!!!!

[Andymack]

Hello again,

Well just as I was starting to enjoy my new found hobby, I found yet another way to make me tear my hair out in frustration. Yes I'm talking about setting circles. I've read countless articles,watched a couple of videos, and it still seems as understandable to me as Chinese. Here's what I do.

1) I find Polaris

2) I turn the RA dial till it reads 2h 31m Dec is at 89o

3) I unlock and swing the scope round to Altair, and change my RA to 19h 51m (or as near as I can)

Right so now I think,job done now I can get on with some stargazing. I think I'll look at Arcturus. And this Ladies and Gentlemen is where the fun begins.

4) I unlock and swing the scope round till my RA reads 14h 16m. Which according to the book is Arcturus. Instead of a bright star, my telescope is now facing downwards,with a lovely view of my lawn.

5) I am now about to kick a Celestron telescope into orbit.

6) I calm down a little and have a Chocolate Homewheat and a cup of tea, and tap in my woes on my PC.

Now I like to think I'm reasonably bright, but I honestly cannot make head nor tail of this.

It's clouded over here now,so I'm going to turn in. While I'm gone can anyone please tell me where I am going wrong, because it's driving me round the bend!

Thanks in advance, as I know I can rely on you guys:icon_salut:

[themos]

Kaptain Klevtsov used to call them the up-setting circles. Now you know why.

[ZOG]

Have you got the circles set for the Southern hemisphere by any chance ?

[Andymack]

Northern Hemisphere numbers as far as I know (The outer ones?)

[John]

To be honest many folk simply don't use setting circles because it's less hassle to use "star hopping" or other methods to find what you want to look at.

John

[bish]

Have to say that in 2 years of owning my scope I've never used the setting circles and always found what I want by star hopping.

[barkis]

Andy,

You make no mention of changing the declination of the scope to that of the new target. Although I suspect you must be.

Once the dec. is set, there should be no need to alter the circle, as you have already set it correctly to the known declination of polaris.

So the dec. remains fixed throughout your observing session.

However, the RA circle will move with the lelescope drive, and therefore must be reset to the RA of the target you are observing, before moving on to the next target. Before moving in RA, unlock the dec clutch, and position the scope to the correct declination of your next target, before turning the scope in RA to the RA coordinate of your new target.

Just remember to reset the RA of the star you are observing on the pointer, before moving on to your next target, having set it's declination first.

Bit drawn out, but it's one of those subjects that is better demonstrated, than explained.

Ron.

[brianb]

To be honest many folk simply don't use setting circles

A dying art, perhaps, like using a slide rule.

What you have to remember is that the sidereal time is constantly changing.

I know of someone who used to use setting circles to find the Sun - no, really, he'd set the scope up then open the observatory slit, and when he hadn't made a mistake with interpolation from the tables of the Sun's position or calculating the sidereal time (99% of the time at least) the Sun would be smack in the middle of the field of view.

I was never that good but then my (portable) mount wasn't aligned as accurately. Still I could get a hit inside a 1 degree field 9 times out of 10. When I relied on this method I had an old mechanical wrist watch adjusted so it kept sidereal time i.e. gained approx. 4 mins per day. That makes life much easier as the conversion from mean time to sidereal rtime only has to be done once per session.

[Doc]

My TAL Eq mount setting circles were numbered back to front so I stuck sticky numbers over the originals.

Even then I gave up as it was a pita to set up and they were not accurate anyway.

[Jarndyce]

I only use setting circles to mark a particular point, and then quickly return to it.

However, as Doc mentions, on my CG5 mount, they are not really accurate.

Not sure what is going wrong with your attempts, but when you are looking for Arcturus, is the scope pointing randomly at the ground, or at increments of 90 degrees away from the target?

[crovax]

Aaaah, those little d*mn circles. I remember struggling for around a month with them. In the end, thanks to the people at this forum, I simply gave up on those circles. I've already found quite some targets without them and the more constellations and stars I was getting familiar with the faster I was able to find what I want.

[Macavity]

I think the real problem is with the DESIGN of setting circles. I sense e.g. Skywatcher's "dodgy friction" methodology epitomises this? <G> But it's almost a vicious circle (no pun intended!) - I.E. "not used" equals badly designed and/or neglected... Sad really! For me anyway, there is no good reason why setting circles cannot place an object WELL within e.g. a finder field of view. As I have done so myself...

That said, I cannot wait for the arrival (Later Today!) of my "Skyscan" Az Go-To!

[Vega]

I attempted settings circles probably twice... then came to the realisation that my mental health is at stake here lol. There are plenty more pleasing methods like Star hopping or dare I say it GOTO.

Matt

[brianb]

I think the real problem is with the DESIGN of setting circles. I sense e.g. Skywatcher's "dodgy friction" methodology epitomises this?

But the slipping circle is doing arithmetic for you ... what you actually want to set is the hour angle, which is the difference between the sidereal time and the right ascension of the object. So you set the RA on the "sticky" pointer & rotate the RA axis till the sidereal time shows against the other one. Simples....

[Andymack]

Thanks for all the advice. Previously I was doing a bit of basic star hopping and found this much more enjoyable, and at the end of the day a hobby is supposed to bring enjoyment. I'll take the info on board and perhaps come back to the circles another day. If not, keep an eye on the West Hertfordshire skyline, you may see a Celestron 114 booted into orbit!

[John]

.....and at the end of the day a hobby is supposed to bring enjoyment....

Spot on

John