Frustration :| Polar Alignment

[Earl]

I tried to get some for of Alignment on my LX10 last night.

Oh What a PIG !

It is actually impossible to point the scope at Polaris and view it due to the position of the scope and where this leaves the eyepiece :| (Scope on an equatorial Wedge).

There has to be a few tricks to get this right.

With my current location its not a huge issue as I cant realistically do any DSO work due to light pollution and all my viewing is Planetary or Luna, but it would make my life far easier doing CCD work if I could track.

I can see myself having to go down the route of getting a good German Equatorial Mount with computer interface capability's (to feed the inner geek).

But if I could get some decent alignment I could skip buying a Mount for a while.

[Psychobilly]

Should be ok with a diagonal in its not easy but should get a view....

[Earl]

Even with the diagonal its really hard to get my eye to the eyepiece.

[barkis]

Why not adjust your mount to get Polaris in the FOV of a low power eyepiece. Point the scope in the direction of Polaris, then adjust the latitude until the star is in the centre of the eyepiece.

This will suffice for Observational purposes.

Fork mounts are awkward to say the least, but you will soon get used to it, and not have to fight with it all the time. If you are having difficulty getting your head in place. fit your diagonal, the put an extension tube into that. It will help you get your eye in place. You will need to wind your mirror focuser up a bit towards the corrector to acommodate the length of the extension tube.

Once you have it in place though, make sure the tube can clear the forks as it swings through. Just to be safe. Don't want any damage.

Ron.

[Earl]

That was what i was trying to do but to no avail.

Ill see how it goes tonight. Practise make perfect

[Jamie]

There is a polar alignment scope you can buy for an SCT. (i used one for my LX10)

Below are some examples of what i am on about (just google "SCT polar alignment scope") I had the top one.

[Psychobilly]

I use a cam it's much easier... do you have access to a webcam and adaptor or better still a DMK or the like...

Celastron now have the ability to polar align a wedge using any star in the latest firmware... much easier...

Peter...

[ollypenrice]

...but if you are wanting to align in the field for CCD imaging I would just say 'forget it' and throw no money or mental energy at it. Wedges are pigs to align and since SCTs have such monster focal lengths the alignment has to be right as in right.

If you are not yet CCD imaging then I would either forget the SCT altogether (my heartelt but strictly personal advice) or get a small refractor to piggyback on it, and certainly on a GEM.

Olly

[Psychobilly]

Which is exactly what mine spends most of it time doing... Over (at the time) £2k's worth of Fork mounted SCT being used as a mount... for a Megrez 72 and a 500mm f8 teleguider...

I think it was the luke skywatcher moment - "look at the size of that thing" which sold me on the CPC800 in the shop... and it was the day before crimbo eve and in stock...

Peter...

[Earl]

Looking at the second down with the alighnment scope on the Fork, this looks like an easy fix, but under the assumption the the scope is aligned to the forks?

[barkis]

Yeah!!. When one thinks about the huge mass of the Earth, accurately pointing at that point in space, and not deviating from it, at least not for many many years.

"26,000? to complete a cycle (Precessional Cycle) " Quote from Wiki. And we mortals have such a job getting a lump of metal to emulate that. So, I agree Olly. I wrestle with my Meade too. I love the Optics, but I'm not enamoured with the engineering. And such a noisy beggar too.. I think I'll sell it, and concentrate on the EQ6 and Mak/Newt and fracs. before I get too much older.