POLAR ALIGNMENT HELP

[LITTLE COL]

ok guys so now i can polar align off polaris for about 3 hours on the clock drive , but unsure what not to touch if i want to go to cassiopeia , which dials can i move and which can i not move , also i know i cannot move the tripod!!!

your help is appreciated as i want to take some pics ( not dslr ) just slr and don't want to go through film without any chance of some pics !!

cheers col

[GordonCopestake]

I dont understand what you are asking. Once you have polar aligned your mount you just point your telescope to whereever you want to look. The polar alignment means that the clock drive will keep whatever you are looking at in the eyepiece (or camera film plane)

There are no dials to move unless you mean setting circles?

[daz]

Hey Col

Once you have polar aligned, you are free to move the mount in both DEC and RA. Polar aligning aligns the DEC axis of the mount itself, not the DEC position.

And no, don't touch the tripod OR the altitude and azimuth dials.

[MartinB]

The reverse of this being that when you are polar aligning the scope without the benefit of a polar scope only use the alt and ax controls on the scope not RA and DEC

[LITTLE COL]

cheers guys that solves that , sorry i am being a bit ignorant but wanted to get a good few answers rather just than the ones you see in manuals

[daz]

No problems, that's what we are here for!!

[Astroman]

Once polar aligned, you need to point at a star of known coordinates. After doing so, make sure your setting circles coincide with those coordinates, then you can find virtually any object using its coordinates, as long as you don't touch the setting circles.

[Ant]

If you have a polar scope then this program is very good.

Called Polar finder...

http://www.polarfinder.co.uk/

Ant