SkyAlign with NextStar 6se

[vulcan]

Okay, this is all new to me but I have been out two nights running and I've followed all the instructions but when I do a three star SkyAlign and then ask it to GOTO Jupiter, it points in the opposite direction. I have sussed that the date is mm/dd/yy, I have put in my Longitude and Latitude coordinates given by my iPhone and double checked with streetview. Anybody offer any tips?

[mark7331]

How are you mounting the scope. You should have the fixing bolt down and start the alignment proceedure when the scope is horizontal with the startup position arrows (on the arm head) pointing at each other (they are two triangles). Unless you get this right the scope doesn't know where it is.

Mark

ALSO: Just wondered if you're using batteries to power the scope. This can cause really strange behaviour. Better to get a power tank (I think maplins do one).

[vulcan]

As far as I can see from the manual, the position arrows are only used in the EQ North/ EQ South Alignment procedure. They are not mentioned in the three star alignment nor any other.

I am using batteries at the moment but I have a SkyWatcher tank on its way. Maplin do several but my opionion of Maplin products is unprintable ;?(

[Demonperformer]

Probably a stupid suggestion on my part, but if the scope slews the wrong way when using GOTO, you have not by any chance got either E/W or N/S wrong on your input? I was always having probs with the 3-star align (others on the forum have no difficulty) so now I use a 2-star align (but you need to know which star is which).

Another problem can sometimes be when you use the moon as one of your objects, as if the time is not entered accurately, the computer might think it is something else due to its speed of movement.

[mark7331]

As far as I can see from the manual, the position arrows are only used in the EQ North/ EQ South Alignment procedure. They are not mentioned in the three star alignment nor any other.

No you do have to set the scope into the correct start position before attempting any alignment otherwise the results will be random.

You can powertanks from FLO too.

I've been doing 3 star alignments for about 2 years now and after a few issues [such as: pointing in the wrong direction (startup pos), being 15 degrees out (daylight savings/time) ] I found it quick and easy to get going. When aligning use something like a 25mm eyepiece to roughy align then swap for a shorter focal length (12mm) to get it dead centre.

Start off with the arrows in the right position and make sure the batteries are not moving around. It may take a couple of goes - in fact why not dedicate an evening to trying to align. Do it again and again until you get it off perfectly?

Hope it helps

Mark

[cgarry]

No you do have to set the scope into the correct start position before attempting any alignment otherwise the results will be random.

Really? I have never done that and the align always works perfectly. I have just looked at the manual and that says the arrows only have to be aligned for polar alignment so you do not need to bother with this. On the other hand, it wont hurt!

My guess would be you have a problem with the long/lat you have entered, since this is only asked for once by default. It is worth checking what you have actually entered. This is where I went wrong on the first night I tried mine. I think you have to press UNDO at the star align prompt to re-enter your long/lat values.

Having said that, it sounds like the star align does complete for you. Whenever I have had any of the usual problems the star align failed.

For what it is worth, these are my checks for getting my 6SE to align correctly:

* Use a power tank (Maplin's 3 in 1 jumpstarter type thing) rather than AA batteries, AA batteries are not up to it.

* Ensure long and lat are entered correctly, correct way round and N/S and E/W selected correctly.

* Make sure the that tripod is level. I stuck the little bubble level on top of the battery compartment to make this easier.

* Enter the time accurately. I try to get it to within a few seconds of the actual time.

* Ensure daylight saving time and time zone entries are correct.

* Make sure the date is correct, in the US format.

* Choose 3 stars in different parts of the sky for star align.

* Centre each star accurately.

One thing worth trying is doing a solar system align to Jupiter, then selecting planet->Jupiter from the menu to see if it goes flying off in the wrong direction. This is more for debug than an actual fix.

Good luck,

Chris

[vulcan]

Thanks for the help folks. I have a tank on its way from FLO. I have double checked everything as suggested but I might have my longitude wrong as I notice that I am at -1°. I wouldn't expect a 2° error to point me in the opposite direction though. Solar System align to Jupiter did work as expected, it's the three star alignment that is giving problems. AA batteries are suspect when the ambient temperature is near zero.

[John Beale]

I have a Nexstar 8SE and it does the same thing. I have had it about 3 weeks and have so far not been able to get the GoTo feature to work correctly. I know that I am setting it up correctly. Time,date,etc. I have used the city method for my location.I do the 3 star alignment but when I try the goto feature it goes in the opposite direction. I want to know what I am doing wrong also. I am reading these replys but I feel that I have done these already. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Helen]

Have you checked the time zone? they can sometimes default to California...

On my (older version) SE mount I need to go into the menu commands and choose scope set up in order to enter date, time, location etc before I align.

Can you try 2 star align and see if that works?

I'm assuming that when you say it goes in the wrong direction you mean it ends up in the wrong place. Sometimes scopes go the long way around to objects to avoid cordwrap of things like dewheaters, cameras etc, so it looks like they are going in the wrong direction, but they end up in the right place.

As others have said, batteries are the most common cause of goto problems though.

Have you found the nexstar site? http://www.nexstarsite.com/ really useful!!

Helen

[Astro_Baby]

Ahhh ok - theres some things here you might want to check out.

1/ You dont need to align the arrows for any star Skyalign BUT looking from the back the tube must be on the right hand side with the supporting arm on the left.

2/ Use the red dot finder to locate three bright stars. Dont be tempted to use the main scope because the Skyalign catalog only works on the big bright ones. DONT use planets or the moon (Skyalign says you can but it seldom works well if you do).

3/ Once you have the red dot on a target get it centred in the main optics and make sure it IS centred as well as possible. When doing this always approach the target from the same dierction - is come to the target from below and left (it doesnt actually matter which you use but make sure its the same for all stars you use for alignment).

4/ Pick stars that are far apart - ie one thats lowish in the East, one thats halfway to the zenit in the west and one thats high in the SOuth for example. Dont use Polaris for this or stars near the celestial pole - Skyscan wont like it.

Try that out and it may work for you -= it did for me.

4/

[vulcan]

Found the problem! There is no city within 50 miles of me in the handset database so I entered the raw latitude and longitude but I got them the wrong way round.

Fixed!

Thanks to everyone who helped. Joe

[moonraker1234]

Agree totally with Demonperformer!

Found the alignment procedure far from easy on the Celestron SE,

and also changed to the 2 star alignment with a different make.

No mention was made of the correct date input - it was only after ringing the U.S did that become apparent!

[vulcan]

I think that the interfaces, both human and electronic, on these telescopes are very long in the tooth.

We are up to USB 3 now but they are still using Serial RS-232 despite the fact that modern computers don't have this interface. How lazy is that?

Why no real time clock? Clock chips cost pennies.

The handset is equally backward looking. When you choose a country it should 'localise' to the appropriate date and time formats.

The concept of 'user friendly' is badly missing here methinks!

[cgarry]

The 3-star align always works fine for me, very easy. Well it has since all the correct data has been entered. I think I will move over to using the 2-star align though, since I know the names of a few stars now and it is that bit quicker.

[E621Keith]

I think that the interfaces, both human and electronic, on these telescopes are very long in the tooth.

We are up to USB 3 now but they are still using Serial RS-232 despite the fact that modern computers don't have this interface. How lazy is that?

Why no real time clock? Clock chips cost pennies.

The handset is equally backward looking. When you choose a country it should 'localise' to the appropriate date and time formats.

The concept of 'user friendly' is badly missing here methinks!

Well, they need a reason to sell you that GPS module.

As for RS232, it's still the standard interface for serious stuff, many business/industrial grade computers support it, but most consumer grade machines no longer have that port externally (often it's still somewhere on the PCB). £30 can get you a PC/Express card with native RS232. USB are really only used for consumer electronics and lack robustness of serial. Anyway you don't really need that bandwidth for controlling a telescope. Parallel port on the other hand ...... lets say I'm glad it's gone.

[Demonperformer]

Found the problem! There is no city within 50 miles of me in the handset database so I entered the raw latitude and longitude but I got them the wrong way round.

That will do it every time:D