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EQ mount setup help needed

totalamateur

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totalamateur

totalamateur

Posted
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Latitude 36.8000

Longitude -4.7000

Lat (DMS) 36° 47' 60N

Long (DMS) 4° 42' 0W

Altitude (feet) 344

Altitude (meters)104

Hi Guys,

I managed to get the location of where i will be viewing, But don't know how to set up the equatorial mount.

Apparently, I have to set it to a certain degree, but have no idea what that degree is.

I do know that i have to face the mount north.

Any help would be appreciated very much.

Thanks in advance. Ray

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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36° 47' 60N

This cannot be right as 60 seconds = 1 minute ?

Assuming that your Latitude is 36° 48' then you should set your latitude pointer on the mount to around 37° but that is just the start. Time for you to Google 'Polar Alignment' for your specific mount although the instructions for the HEQ5 in this article on my website will tell you all you need to know.

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barkis

barkis

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The EQ6 Mount has a latitude scale on the side. It's accuracy is questionable though, and is dependent somewhat on you having the pier top level. I assume it will be on a pier?

Once levelled, it can be adjusted in Azimuth to get it parallel to your local meridiam ie.North South line. So that the Equatorial head is adjusted via the latitude bolts, to point at the North Celestial pole.

This point is not Polaris. The star is close to the NCP but not quite, it's about half a degree off.

On the subject of your latitude adjusters, If I were you, and like many other EQ6 owners, I would change those bolts for the much stronger stainless ones. The originals have a tendency to bend, and problems arise when trying to remove them should they do so.

When you get to the stage of accurate polar alignment, there are various methods to achieve this. Wait until he mount is in place before tackling that bit.

I would inspect the latitude scale on the mount to make sure it will depress to the latitude you are situated. I'm not sure how far down it will go.

Ron.

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SteveL

SteveL

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The obvious answer is "dont bother", as it will need to be adjusted again when the mount is installed and polar aligned.

Really, it would be a waste of time.

Only once on site do you need to think about adjusting the mount

Leave it as it is, get it shipped and installed, then adjust it as required.

Learn how to polar align using steppenwolf's or Astro_Baby's tutorials.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Astro Baby knows her stuff but one trick that might not be in there is rather cute; if you have a green laser sky pointer (very useful things anyway) you can fire it through the polar scope to get a rough idea of where the mount is pointing. This is very much just a first step and makes sure you are on the right star. Nifty though!

Olly

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brantuk

brantuk

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An equatorial mount needs to point North and be level. Then you need to elevate the tube so it's pointing at the pole star. The angle it makes from level will be your latitiude. Hope that helps :))

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totalamateur

totalamateur

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An equatorial mount needs to point North and be level. Then you need to elevate the tube so it's pointing at the pole star. The angle it makes from level will be your latitiude. Hope that helps :))

I am thinking of buying one of those little Meade circular compass spirit levelers. Will that do?

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totalamateur

totalamateur

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Astro Baby knows her stuff but one trick that might not be in there is rather cute; if you have a green laser sky pointer (very useful things anyway) you can fire it through the polar scope to get a rough idea of where the mount is pointing. This is very much just a first step and makes sure you are on the right star. Nifty though!

Olly

Thanks Olly,

I have printed off the instructions, but if i have any trouble with getting it right in spain, i am meeting up with a member called Lawrie who lives in a town about 10 kilometres from where i will be. I can ask him.

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totalamateur

totalamateur

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Astro Baby knows her stuff but one trick that might not be in there is rather cute; if you have a green laser sky pointer (very useful things anyway) you can fire it through the polar scope to get a rough idea of where the mount is pointing. This is very much just a first step and makes sure you are on the right star. Nifty though!

Olly

Thanks Olly,

I have jUst checked A/Bs reviews on the finder scopes, so I have the Baader sky-surfer V as a potential purchase.

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totalamateur

totalamateur

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An equatorial mount needs to point North and be level. Then you need to elevate the tube so it's pointing at the pole star. The angle it makes from level will be your latitiude. Hope that helps :))

Thanks,

Easy, and makes sense.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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An equatorial mount needs to point North and be level. Then you need to elevate the tube so it's pointing at the pole star. The angle it makes from level will be your latitiude. Hope that helps :))

It does need to point north but actually it does not need to be level. This is a very common but mistaken assumption. The only reason to level an EQ6 mount is to get the polar reticle and Dec scale correctly orientated. In the end you just need the polar axis pointing at the celestial north pole and nothing else. The base of the mount can be well off level. The drift method is the key since the EQ5/6 polar scopes are primitive things.

(Takahashi mounts have no facility for levelling the mount. They don't even have adjustable tripod legs or a bubble level on the mount, just a bubble level on the RA axis to calibrate a Greenwich offset scale. They can be set up on a hill side none the less. It seems counter intuitive but there it is.)

Olly

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totalamateur

totalamateur

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It does need to point north but actually it does not need to be level. This is a very common but mistaken assumption. The only reason to level an EQ6 mount is to get the polar reticle and Dec scale correctly orientated. In the end you just need the polar axis pointing at the celestial north pole and nothing else. The base of the mount can be well off level. The drift method is the key since the EQ5/6 polar scopes are primitive things.

(Takahashi mounts have no facility for levelling the mount. They don't even have adjustable tripod legs or a bubble level on the mount, just a bubble level on the RA axis to calibrate a Greenwich offset scale. They can be set up on a hill side none the less. It seems counter intuitive but there it is.)

Olly

Cheers again Olly, but i'm confused as usual, but i'll work it out in the end. Looks like a bit of trial and error will be involved in this opperation.

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great_bear

great_bear

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It does need to point north but actually it does not need to be level. This is a very common but mistaken assumption.

I think "mistaken" is a bit strong.

There are good reasons to have your mount levelled first:

1) It means that your latitude scale bears some semblance to reality

2) Repeatability of setup (you have less adjustment to do each time if it's level)

3) It stops latitude and azimuth interfering with each other during drift alignment.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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I think "mistaken" is a bit strong.

There are good reasons to have your mount levelled first:

1) It means that your latitude scale bears some semblance to reality

2) Repeatability of setup (you have less adjustment to do each time if it's level)

3) It stops latitude and azimuth interfering with each other during drift alignment.

Yes, it's a fair cop! On 1), Tak just don't bother with a latitude scale. It is not a big deal if you can see Polaris, though. On 2) yes, for a given mount it will help. However, a small deviation from level will never show at the EQ6 level of polarscope precision.

And on 3) I'm not sure. I would have thought that there will still be a slight interference between drift corrections. Losmandy certainly think so and my poor brain just looks at the RA and Dec grid on the sky and then the Alt Az and sees they are not the same. They must interfere. However, I think you will have less interference when level. In any event it won't be much, given that no-one is going to set up their mount at 45 degrees.

I was really just trying to get to the bottom of the problem and have come across a few threads in which folks feel that a super level mount is a very desirable when it simply isn't important. There is universal agreement (always a dangerous claim!) that Tak have the best non-software polar alignment routine and it does not require a level mount.

Olly

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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A truly level equatorial mount is certainly an advantage for repeatability of set-up from portable session to portable session but absolutely not a requirement for the general operation of the mount - it has no effect on GoTo accuracy or tracking ability.

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NGC 1502

NGC 1502

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If you follow some polar alignment insructions you can drive yourself silly getting it spot on. But for casual skygazing you can be a long way off before it matters. You just tweak the declination control every so often, as the object drifts out of the field of view north or south. For astrophotography, you need to get it right however.

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