Help aligning CGEM

[Keith1]

Hello,

Can anyone assist me with problems aligning my CGEM mount please...

The steps that I am taking are as follows...

1). I setup the CGEM on my patio with the counterweight bar pointing to the North. I have used a compass to determine North and I sight down the counterweight bar to check the bar is pointing in the same direction as the compass.

2). I then add the counterweights and telescope.

3). I then start the 2 star alignment of the mount. Entering the time and date when prompted.

4). The first star the mount points to is Deneb. However, I can see no bright star in the finderscope, everything looks the same brightness.

I had a Meade ETX before this current telescope, when aligning this, it was obvious which star to point to as it was the brightest star in that area of the sky.

There is a bright star a little way off where the telescope is pointing, but surely if I have the scope pointing North to begin with, then the star I am looking for shoud be within the finderscope FoV.

Am I correct in that the CGEM when it starts off assumes it is polar aligned correctly?

any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

regards

Keith

[red dwalf]

don`t forget it`s the month, day, year and turn daylight saving to off, also the mount needs to be level, i`m in the process of trying to understand how to do a proper polar alignment with my new polar scope but i`m finding it had to work how to set it up fully

[Cornelius Varley]

The mount does need to be polar aligned before you start the star alignment procedure. Unlike an ETX which start level and pointing North an equatorial mount needs to be polar aligned aswell.

Peter

[Keith1]

Thanks,

I noticed the date is entered in the odd format. I have this correctly set.

I also set the Time to Standard Time, hence daylight saving is off.

I next select Universal Time which is the timezone I believe.

[Keith1]

Does the CGEM assume you have a reasonable polar alignment when you start the 2 star alignment process?

Am I correct that if you have the mount polar aligned correctly to begin with, then the 2 star alignment should place the alignment star in the eyepiece without any adjustments being required (theoretically that is)?

[red dwalf]

also make sure that the mount is set for EQ north if you are in the northern hemisphere

[red dwalf]

what i tend to do is line up all the marks on the mount, the little arrows on the dec and alt, and try to get polaris in the middle of the eyepiece and then do a solar or two star alignment and it seems to be fairly good for a rough alignment.

[red dwalf]

forgot the most important bit, have you put in the longitude and latitude settings into the handset for you position, do a google map search and get the exact coordinates

[Keith1]

Many thanks for your comments.

I have entered my Lat and Long.

Date and Time are correct.

Is it normal for the alignment stars to be out of the finderscope when performing a 2 star align?

The scope is pointing roughly in the right direction towards Deneb, it's just not showing up in the finderscope, I have to slew a considerable distance to get it.

[red dwalf]

if i use a 32mm eyepiece the star is mostly in the field of view, but you don`t have to be far out with the polar align for it to be miles off

[red dwalf]

as for the finderscope i wouldn`t worry to much about it, use the eyepiece and get it align star centered in it

[red dwalf]

have you aligned your finderscope with your telescope ?

just a thought as sometimes if i catch mine you need to align it again

[Keith1]

many thanks,

That is what I suspected.

I had the alignment with my Meade ETX sorted, it was nice any easy. (But this did take me quite some time to get slick and quick at it) The CGEM is a whole new learnig experience.

I must have my initial polar alignment off by quite a bit. Guess I have some more playing to do here.

My latitude is 52 according to Multimap. Is the pointer on the CGEM reasonably accurate? I.e. if I set this to 52 degrees is it reasonably accurate? or can the vary by several degrees?

[red dwalf]

do not trust the altitude settings on the mount, although the cgem might be better than the cg5 gt but i dont use it at all,

if you get or have a polar scope fitted to the mount this will allow you to get the altitude setting bang on or use a smaller and smaller eyepiece and keep centering it on polaris to get a better setting

[Keith1]

Many thanks,

This could explain a lot. Next time the clouds clear I'll align on Polaris and try again.

If only the skies would clear for longer than a couple of hours!