What Am I Missing? (Polar Scope Problems Again!)

[fatwoul]

OK, I know it doesn't matter because you can get the alignment right with the drift method, but I can't let this go. Obviously either I am missing something, or my polar scope is just plain wrong.

Through my polar scope, I see the same arrangement of printed stars and lines that are shown on P13 of the instruction manual.

I bring up Stellarium, and switch on Equatorial Grid. Where all the blue lines converge is the North Celestial Pole, right?

So how come the position of Polaris relative to the NCP, Ursa Major and Cassiopeia in Stellarium is 180 degrees different to Polaris's position relative to those same three objects in my polar scope?

I know the polar scope is a refractor, so I understand that the stars should appear 180 degrees out to what I see them in the sky, but I expect to see ALL of them to be out by 180 degrees, not just Polaris OR Ursa Major and Cassiopeia.

If the image in the polar scope is 180 degrees different, then when Polaris is at its lowest (most northerly relative to the horizon), I would expect to see it at its highest in the polar scope, and the marked constellations to be rotated 180 degrees too.

Like I said, I know it doesn't matter, and I know I will be using drift alignment eventually anyway, but it's bugging me because clearly I have missed the point somewhere. It's worrying that something so fundamental and basic is somehow beyond my grasp.

Please can someone help me fill this gap in my understanding!

[solti]

In Stellarium configuration / navigation tab have you tuned on th e flip buttons? This will allow you to turn the sky left/right up/down so you see it the same as through your scoop.

[Cornelius Varley]

Ursa Major and Cassiopeia appear in the polar finder as you see the visually, Polaris as marker in the finder is as it viewed through the finder scope, so it is 180 degress out compared to the other stars marker in the polefinder. You align the pole finder so that Ursa Major and Cassiopeia are in their relative positions and then align the mount so that the star Polaris falls onto the small circle in the polar scope .

Peter

[fatwoul]

Hahahaha wait, wait, WAIT! So I'm not actually supposed to be able to see Polaris and Cassiopeia through the polar scope? I thought it seemed a bit ambitious to be able to see them as they cover such a large area of the sky.

Thank you both. I now feel very silly, but at least I have learned something!

[fatwoul]

...Yep, exactly what it says in the manual. It's official. I am a fool.

[Cornelius Varley]

I am saying nothing.

Peter

[fatwoul]

Haha you don't have to!

At least it's clear tonight, so I can practice.

[Glider]

Goggle for a program called Polarfinder, it shows you what the picture you should see through the polarscope should look like. It makes polar alignment a breeze.

[jgs001]

Also, worth checking out Astro_baby's heq5 polar alignment tutorial... I know it's for the HEQ5 but I can't believe the process would be that much different for the EQ6

[Astro_Baby]

Its not really different on the EQ6 - the setting circles are in a different place is all.