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Roy@Aldermaston

By Roy@Aldermaston
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Roy@Aldermaston

Roy@Aldermaston

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Hello to all.

I've just joined the forum having bought my first telescope - a Celestron Nexstar 4SE. I would have preferred a larger aperture, but with a few extras that's as far as the budget would stretch! I've noticed in one post the suggestion that when setting up, and after levelling the tripod, it's a good idea to point the scope to the north with the OTA horizontal before entering the date and time. I think that was for a Meade, but I wondered if it applied to the Nexstar as well?

Roy

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cgarry

cgarry

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Welcome.

I've noticed in one post the suggestion that when setting up, and after levelling the tripod, it's a good idea to point the scope to the north with the OTA horizontal before entering the date and time. I think that was for a Meade, but I wondered if it applied to the Nexstar as well?

Roy

From my experience, the simple answer is no, you do not need to do that.

To get the sky align to work correctly I would suggest entering the details very carefully, especially the long/lat values (it is easy to put them in the wrong way round and the scope does not ask for them again). Also use an external power supply, not AA batteries.

Chris

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E621Keith

E621Keith

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Hi Roy. Welcome to SGL.

As a fellow user of the Nexstar SE system, I can assure you there is no need to level the scope and point it North, only the tripod need levelling. Assuming you use the 3 star alignment, the alignment process start with you giving the scope your location and time, then pointing it at three random objects across the night sky. The software will then work out its orientation and complete the operation.

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Roy@Aldermaston

Roy@Aldermaston

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Thanks for the welcome.

I've been using the skyalign method with varying degrees of success, but I think the failures are down to my inexperience rather than anything else. We've had poor seeing conditions ever since I bought the scope, so I'm short on practice. Freezing fingers and light pollution don't help, but with time I'm hoping to find out what this little scope can do.

Roy

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