setting up Nexstar 6

[jim d]

Just bought a Celestron Nexstar 6se I can get it to align using the sky align 3 star and then look for moon and it slews perfect.Then I have it slew to Juipter and it goes nowhere near like 100 degrees off this is very frustrating to say the least any help would be appreciated

[sixela]

That suggests the date isn't set correctly.

If it slews to stars correctly (if you align only using stars) but solar system objects aren't OK, always suspect date/time/timezone, with the earlier ones first.

[jim d]

No date and time are set correctly.It will slew to moon but not Jupiter.I used those two because they are out where I live and I wanted to see and make sure if it worked.Am new to all this so those two objects I know where they are moon obviously and Jupiter pretty close to the moon.

[Nexus 6]

Hi Jim.

What are you using to power it? I used to own the 6se, I know from experience that slewing issues were sometimes down to the supply, the batteries option was pretty rubbish so not worth using. I went for a portable power source but had to make sure it was charged up or it would not slew correctly.

Alan

[jim d]

That is what I keep hearing.Power source.I have a plug in for my house coming and am going to buy a power tank for star parties.Although new to all this you would think a company like Celestron would let you know that the batteries are an issue.Sure hope this works.The viewing I have done is amazing.

[Nexus 6]

Jim if you are using a transformer plugged into the mains then its NOT a power issue you have.

Have you checked when you did your 3 star align that the objects you picked were indeed confirmed on the hand set?

Alan

[vulcan]

I had exactly the same problem with my new NextStar 6 last week. I found that I had the latitude and longitude transposed. Also watch out for the USA date format MM/DD/YY ! It was working great last night. (I also got the 7Ah Sky-Watcher power tank, which is very useful).

[Aussie Observer]

The Sky Align feature is not accurate. Try the Two Star Align instead.

[jim d]

Thanks everybody for your answers.It seems to be a power issue.Waiting on mail for my power cord hopefully today.Hopefully will work then,fingers crossed

[E621Keith]

I suspect it might be a power or software issue as I had the same problem last week. The mount lost alignment after this occurred.

[rowan46]

I have a nexstar 5 and to be honest I have always had touble using sky align conequently i use 2star align its quicker and it works just learn a couple of stars and youre away I'm using polaris and deneb at the moment or betelgeuse is easy to find its the orange 1 top left of orion

[Nexus 6]

Rowan46 makes a fair point. The 2 star align worked well compared to the 3 star ,which even when I was certain I had got everything right, would quite often fail.

Alan

[old codger]

I've had my 8SE for a year now and at first could not get correct allignment. The usual causes have been mentioned : correct date/time ( beware MM/DD/YY and BST) and don't confuse Lat. with Long.. I find 'Auto 2 star alignment' works very well, also make sure the base is level - a better spirit level would help. Now thinking about buying a GPS so that I can forget about time and position when setting up.

Old Codger