HEQ5 Pro Synscan goto help

[agamos]

I've just bought a HEQ5 Pro mount and had my first light with it yesterday. After following all the instructions for 3 star alignment I asked it to find various objects (stars, planets & DSOs) all of which where roughly found but all were out by 1/4 of my finderscope view, needing adjustment in both RA & DEC. After telling it to Park, it more-or-less got spot on back to Polaris.

The stars I initially lined it up on were: Sirius, Rigel & Mizar

I thought it might be something to do with backlash, so checked and found that the previous owners settings where off the default, so I reset both RA & DEC to 10'00". It was still out in both RA & DEC.

I will eventually switch to an EQMOD setup, but would like to get the SynScan working for times when I don't have my laptop handy. Can anyone suggest what I might have done wrong?

[beamish]

Your Polar scope ought to be aligned re Polaris during Polar Alignment, NOT the scope or finderscope. You're effectively aligning the mount when you do this. Your main scope should not be aligned to Polaris ( though you may see it in a long focal length EP )

Try that and see where it gets you and don't forget to co-align your finderscope to your main scope. One other thing sometimes One Star alignment works wonders !! see here,

http://stargazerslounge.com/astro-lounge/98513-heres-novelty.html

[agamos]

Thanks Karlo. I did have the mount Polar aligned with the polar scope but noticed that, when parked after doing the 3-star alignment, the scope was also pretty much aligned with Polaris too.

I'll try the one star alignment and see if that works for me.

[Glider]

I use a 25mm EP on the first star, a 10mm EP on the second and then x2 Barlow and 10mm EP on the third star, each time the alignment gets tighter.

[agamos]

Thanks Glider, I'll give that a try tonight - all being well :-)

[Glider]

And when the 3rd star is aligned I tweak the finder scope.

The 1st star can be far enough out that I don't see it in the EP, the finder scope is usually still well enough aligned from the previous night that I use it to get the 1st star at least in the EP, then continue through the EP.

[Astro_Baby]

I have an illuminated creoss hair finder to make sure each star is spot on. I find the more accurate you make everything, polarscope, star alignment, time, lat/lan etc the better the mount gets.

You could also do a precision area enhancment on an object which I find sometimes gets the mount more accurate.

[agamos]

Thanks for all your help I spent some more time setting things up this evening and it has been a much more pleasurable evening. I think I was being a little lazy last night :-(