Dec and RA

[al55]

Hi,

Now I have introduced myself on the welcome forum I feel i can post a few questions on here.

I purchased a 2nd hand Celstron powerseeker 127 recently, i have bought myself a telrad with makes finding stars a breeze, the finderscope provided not very good. So i can find stars quite easily (without coordinate using) and even managed a look at M31, however woulld also like to get the hang of using the Dec and RA.

I know how to polaris my mount, even easier with Telrad, with the Dec degrees that from behing the telscope the 90 degrees will be pointing to polaris and one to me and the noughts pointing east and west.

So i think im right in saying i would next align my scope onto an easy to see star and set the RA to equate to the star i am viewing.

Anyway the question is when i set the coordinates of my next star how do i know which side to put the dec indicator to because both sides go down from 90 to 0: or when i have loosened the dec *** do i go right or left? Is it just a case of knowing which part of the sky the star is in? or is there another way of telling.

Hope you all understand my ramble many thanks

al55

[themos]

Hello, my advice is to forget about using these "setting circles" as the dials are really too small to be useful. But if you want to find that out by yourself, you are welcome to!

Now, if the star you want to point to is in the eastern half of the sky, you would position your scope tube to the west of the tripod so that the weights are to the east. You would then rotate in DEC clockwise (as viewed from the top), away from 90, and use the markings on that side.

If the star is in the western half, your scope tube is east of the tripod and you'd rotate in DEC counter-clockwise, away from 90, using the markings on the other side.

[al55]

Thank you for the reply and the answer is probably is what i expected but wanted to make sure. I'm sure youre right about the dials, they do seem a little small and probaby inaccurate enough to throw you out a good way, but just wanted to learn how the system works. I assume the minus dec coordinates are the ones the other side of the noughts.

thanks again.