IT'S A LONGITUDE/LATITUDE THING!

[cabba]

hi all!!!

as you are about to relise i am a total newbie to something that has facinated me since childhood and have finnally at the tender age of 33 decided to stop just laying in the garden staring at the stars at get a bit closer and am now the proud owner of a SkyWatcher Explorer 130P SynScan AZ GOTO 130mm Reflector Telescope.

But heres the snag!

And i'm probably being a prat so sorry,it seems i can program a 100+ channel lighting desk at work but not a chinese telescope.

where i live in the uk postcode KT20 my coordinate is

lat 51

lon -0

the scope won't have any of it,the display on the synscan reads like this 123 04'w 49 09'n do i need to convert it somehow?

your help would make me and the kids very happy and please feel free to laugh as much as you like as i have a sneaky suspition i'm being a thickie.

[Psychobilly]

try this...

Convert Latitude / Longitude in Degrees/Minutes/Seconds to/from Decimal (FCC) USA

51d xxm yy.yyyys 0d xxm z.zzzs

[Bizibilder]

You need to convert to ° (degrees) ' (minutes) and " (seconds). You may not need seconds!

Latitude And Longitude Lookup

This site (among others does the conversion.

On Google maps find your location and zoom in. Right click your location and click "whats here?" the decimal Long and Lat will appear in the search bar. Copy and paste these into the converter and job done!

[jurassicreps]

i have the same confusion with mine too.

[Midpoint]

Just from a privacy point of view, you might want to edit this post so that it doesn't precisely pin point your house, especially if you're planning on going away for the weekend any time soon

[steveangel]

Let me be the first to say congrats on the new scope. Im sure you'll really enjoy using it once you can set it up.

you should be fine if you follow the above advice.

Good luck and i hope the skies stay clear for you

[TopHouse]

i can program a 100+ channel lighting desk at work but not a chinese telescope.

DMX is easy! Telescopes, now thats where all the head scratching comes in

[Cornelius Varley]

Enter your longitude first (000 00 W) and then latitude (51 00 N)

Peter

[TheThing]

For a more precise Lon/Lat use Google Earth. It'll give you it pretty exactly down to your doorstep.