liverpool south needs help!

[Daniel-K]

any one in liverpool south area i need help setting up my meade 114mm goto please having so much trouble!

[Ollienttm]

Have you searched for a local astronomy society near you? I have just joined mine and they are unbelievablely helpful to noobs I am sure if you can find one and give them a ring they'll help you set it up

[Ollienttm]

Just did a quick search and found this

The Liverpool Astronomical Society - Home

Thay have a got a forum like this one to with a help section I would register and see if you can pop down to their meeting place and get a hand you might even want to join when you've been down, good luck.

[Capricorn]

As the Liverpool club may not meet for some time, exactly what is the problem and exactly what are you doing and setting?

Meades tend to be fairly easy to set up and align so I suspect that the problem is simple but fundimental.

One thing I have read for the 114 is "Make sure that it is level and pointing north acurately".

[Daniel-K]

As the Liverpool club may not meet for some time, exactly what is the problem and exactly what are you doing and setting?

Meades tend to be fairly easy to set up and align so I suspect that the problem is simple but fundimental.

One thing I have read for the 114 is "Make sure that it is level and pointing north acurately".

it just doesnt seem to alignt correctly after alignment then i select goto moon its out about 27 degrees ??

[pvaz]

I don't own one of this but, for that kind of error I suspect you either have input the date, time, timezone (dayight savings) or location incorrectly.

[Daniel-K]

i hvae put daylight savings as yes is this correct??

[Capricorn]

The other several bits as well.

Is the time zone GMT?

What Lat Long have you entered?

What town are you in - double check on Lat+Long.

Have you first levelled the base?

Have you then levelled the tube?

Is it pointing North?

As well as DST it asks the time.

If you haven't entered these then the autostar will use some of the preset values that are I suspect based on the west coast of America.

Which eyepiece did you use for the alignment?

Sorry to throw the lot at you but the Meade autostar requires at least the above to be set up. After entering the data it will ask for DST and Time only.

I should read, you are S Liverpool.

So that is about 53.5 N, 3 W I would guess.

[brantuk]

Just a couple of additional ideas:

Make sure you're in the correct mode for the scope (Alt/Az or Equatorial). Alternatively double check the stars you are aligning on - it's easy to get them wrong when you're new to the hobby.

Welcome to the group

[Daniel-K]

The other several bits as well.

Is the time zone GMT?

What Lat Long have you entered?

What town are you in - double check on Lat+Long.

Have you first levelled the base?

Have you then levelled the tube?

Is it pointing North?

As well as DST it asks the time.

If you haven't entered these then the autostar will use some of the preset values that are I suspect based on the west coast of America.

Which eyepiece did you use for the alignment?

Sorry to throw the lot at you but the Meade autostar requires at least the above to be set up. After entering the data it will ask for DST and Time only.

I should read, you are S Liverpool.

So that is about 53.5 N, 3 W I would guess.

from setup i enter english time and date my town liverpool thats all it ask's for i didnt think i needed to do anything else.

doesnt it point north automaticly?

[Capricorn]

As best I recall it doesn't point anywhere automatically.

In the autostar setup it will (95% sure) have asked for the time zone. Once entered or ignored it will not ask again. If ignored it will assume PST.

For some odd reason you can enter your Lat and Long but some ignorant bit of the software still uses the timezone. It does not work it out from the Lat+Long. Quite how it overlays Liverpool co-ordinates to West Coast America I have no idea. But I am damn sure it does.

To the "pointing": With the data entered, you level the base via the tripod legs, then level the tube via the handset, then drive the levelled tube to due north. Then you tell it to Align.

From the information entered the autostar will work out 2 nice bright easy stars and will slew to the first. You centre this first star and press OK. The autostar will then slew to a second star elsewhere. You then centre that second star and it says it is aligned.

It ASSUMES starting at level and due north to determine where the first alignment star is. So if not level and North it will have no chance.

The stars that it selects will depend on the time AND your position on the planet. I am guessing that a time offset is determined from the timezone and DST. So you could be in Liverpool but with a nine hour time offset not just one for DST.

Hate to say it but I suspect that clearing everything and starting from a clear memory will be simplest. At least it should/will ask for everything again. Having some information in the handset but not all, and not sure what is in, is probably a recipe for disaster.

[David Galvin]

it just doesnt seem to alignt correctly after alignment then i select goto moon its out about 27 degrees ??

Hi Danny, I am a member of the Liverpool Astronomical Society and would suggest that you come along to our regular Wednesday meeting at our observatory. We are open from 19:00 until late, regardless of the weather and perhaps we can help to sort out your problem for you. Did you manage to come along to Pickerings Pasture star party?

regards from Dave Galvin.

[sn00p]

make sure you train the drives also ;-) and as posted you need tripod level, scope tube pointed north and tube level.

[Daniel-K]

Hi Danny, I am a member of the Liverpool Astronomical Society and would suggest that you come along to our regular Wednesday meeting at our observatory. We are open from 19:00 until late, regardless of the weather and perhaps we can help to sort out your problem for you. Did you manage to come along to Pickerings Pasture star party?

regards from Dave Galvin.

hi thanks for the info im a bit stuck because i dont have a car at the miniute i was going to go to pickerings pasture but i had to sell my car were abouts is the obervatory please??

[Capricorn]

Did you get this new or used?

[crowlord]

I got totally confused by time zones etc so I ONLY use GMT. As we are on BST now i set it to be 1hr less and that solves any time issues. eg if i set up at 9pm i will tell the scope it is 8pm (as under GMT it is)

Thats assuming it is a time problem of course.

[David Galvin]

hi thanks for the info im a bit stuck because i dont have a car at the miniute i was going to go to pickerings pasture but i had to sell my car were abouts is the obervatory please??

Hi Danny, the observatory is out in Cronton, not to far from junction 6 off the M62. The observatory is on the A5080. Full details can be found here.

Don't give up on your scope as nine time out of ten it will be the user making a simple error. This is usually setting the date in the wrong format ie dd,mm,yyyy (U.K version) instaed of mm,dd,yyyy which is the U.S version.

SGL member Noel had the same problem, came to the obs and is now churning out deep sky objects with no problems.

What area of Liverpool do you live in? I am in West Derby, near Alder Hey Hospital.

[sn00p]

from memory use BST and tell it YES to daylight saving... when the clocks change back use GMT say NO to daylight saving.

someone correct me if im wrong? but thats how i used mine from memory.

MAke sure you set it up in the day and calibrate motors and train the drive 1st.... you only need to do this once every so often. same with long and lat make sure you have selected E and N not S and W...

In the evening level the tripod then mount scope. then point scope north and finally level the tube. now set this as your home position or turn off and back on again... Now try aligning 2 stars.... if its slightly off centre then manually adjust using the direction buttons and get DEAD centre.... after aligning 2 stars head for saturn or mars as an easy object. if it its not dead centre just hold down the ENTER key for 2 seconds then let go it will ask to re-centre then hit enter and this will re- set your alignment for you ;-)

Perhaps you should take a look here its FULL of good info

Weasner's Mighty ETX Site

[Daniel-K]

Hi Danny, the observatory is out in Cronton, not to far from junction 6 off the M62. The observatory is on the A5080. Full details can be found here.

Don't give up on your scope as nine time out of ten it will be the user making a simple error. This is usually setting the date in the wrong format ie dd,mm,yyyy (U.K version) instaed of mm,dd,yyyy which is the U.S version.

SGL member Noel had the same problem, came to the obs and is now churning out deep sky objects with no problems.

What area of Liverpool do you live in? I am in West Derby, near Alder Hey Hospital.

i ilive in hunts cross around 15 min from alder hay

i just cant see were am going wrong ive reset it imputted everything in again and it was out by about 20 degrees agaiin on the alingment of castor im not going to give i just using it manualy

[David Galvin]

I am sure we can sort this for you. P.m me with a contact phone number, if you wish, and we can arrange something.

[Capricorn]

One thought: are you using a compass or polaris to determine north?

If polaris are you sure it is polaris?

Seems stupid to ask but if you pick the wrong star then it will be out and if you are light poluted and with the light evenings polaris isn't all that easy to see. Polaris isn't all that bright to start with.