EQ6 Alignment methods? - Point and shoot?

[milan]

Well having purchased an Eq6 and WO megrez 90 quite a while back, life is starting to let us have some free time so we broke all the equipment out on saturday. Had a great nights viewing and got to see some new things (M92 and the dumbell)

Anyway my question is on my wifes nexstar 6SE when you align you just point it at any 3 bright stars. The eq6 3 star alignment (the only we have ever done) asks for you to point at specific stars, which due to my lack of space knowledge is a bit of a problem!

So far i have had to resort to using Starmap pro on the iphone to find those in the list (apart from the likes of vega and Tsih as i know where these are) Is there a alignment method in the EQ6 similar to that of the nexstar so i can speed things up?

Dont get me wrong i know its a good way of improving my knowledge of space but i sometimes find it frustrating.

Thanks in advance.

[Earl]

Im so looking foward to getting mine back from Wayne after its service and tune up

[Psychobilly]

Celestron Skyalign is a beginners or casual observers dream...

Having to recognise named alignment stars can be a PITA - especially if you have restricted views any some directions.... although that's probably regarded as heresy to many...

If you have a reasonable all round view then any of the stars on the list should be visible so after you have roughly polar aligned the mount and have the scope in the "home" position then the selected star should be the brightest star in the area of sky that the scopes been slewed to...

After a while you will get to know enough to get by but with the fact you may only get to see the sky every few months in the UK makes it even more "enjoyable"... I use stellarium on a netbook these days or the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas...

Peter...

[milan]

Thanks. Like you have said we have a limited view of the sky which makes it a PITA. Makes you learn quicker i guess!