Help with scope setup!

[milkyjoe]

Hi all.

I'm trying to set my scope up, but I'm having a spot of bother with it. I have a SWST 102 on an EQ1 mount and I can polar align it by eye, but the problem is that the co-ords from Stellarium for polaris seem way off!? (before you say, I've double checked the co-ords using another piece of software called Cart du Ceil. )

For example, according to Stellarium, last night polaris was at...

RA/DE (j2000): 2h32m49.3s/+89°

RA/DE (of date): 2h44m29s/+89°

Hour angle/DE: 18h32m44s/+89°

Now, when I align my scope the RA dial showed 13h and DEC dial showed about 70°; I'm no rocket scientist but that ain't right! I really don't know what I am doing wrong as I have successfully aligned it previously, but now I can't (no, I wasn't drunk either )?!?

Which RA/DE system should I be using as a reference from Stellarium?... yes, yes, I know I should be using a star chart, but Stellarium should be able to give me the co-ords for pretty much everything I need to look at, yes??

I would really like to be able to find objects to look at on my own but I find myself getting more and more frustrated. If my scope won't even align properly, what hope do I have!?

I'm going to pop along to my local astro club, too for some advice, but if anyone could offer me some short-term help, I would appreciate it.

Thank you.

Richard.

Forgot to mention: I did set the altitude to 52m.

[Capricorn]

I am not going to be much help but you seem to have aligned the mount then read off the RA/Dec.

Aren't you supposed to set your RA and Dec then align the scope?

I am guessing that you set your RA/Dec then lock the dials then polar align. So what is read off is then relative to your position.

P.S Hope that you actually set your Latitude to 52 deg and not the Altitude to 52m.:D:D:D

[milkyjoe]

I am not going to be much help but you seem to have aligned the mount then read off the RA/Dec.

Aren't you supposed to set your RA and Dec then align the scope?

I am guessing that you set your RA/Dec then lock the dials then polar align. So what is read off is then relative to your position.

P.S Hope that you actually set your Latitude to 52 deg and not the Altitude to 52m.:D:D:D

I would of thought when I've aligned the scope and read off the RA/DEC the co-ords should match Stellarium's, but they doesn't!?

I first set the latitude (52 deg ) and lock that into position, then unlock the DEC and azimuth (RA) lock knobs and rotate the tube until it points roughly to polaris. Then I look through the red dot finder, but my problem is that when i lock the RA/DEC knobs, the co-ords don't match-up with the one's Stellarium shows; I've followed the instructions precisely, which is why I do not understand why they are wrong!?

I know this probably doesn't matter, but if I am going to find anything else to look at, I'm going to need to get the co-ords to match! :s

Richard.

[Capricorn]

My thoughts were simply that I would have thought that you would set the RA/Dec dials to match with your position on the planets surface, then align and read off the values as confirmation.

The RA setting I guess relates to your longitude (Local Siderial Time?). Hence my thoughts that you would rotate each dial to be applicable then align. Simply thinking that if not set then the reading from them is meaningless.

Then again I have 2 equitorials and have avoided making use of either so far. (Goto's rule:D)

Only other thought is Astro-Baby Astronomy Website locate her guide to setting up an EQ mount and see what she says. If it supplies an answer then you owe her a bag of Revels

[milkyjoe]

Thanks Capricorn, that really helped.