Tonights first observing gone wrong?

[JamieH]

I setup Synscan in house earlier on. Put in coordinates 001degrees 40; W 53degrees 51' N. I enter Timezone. I enter -00:00. I enter mm.dd.yyyy in correct order 11.23.2010. I enter local time to exacting second as readout on my laptop UTC time. I say No to daylight saving.

I take scope out to front garden & set everything up. I make it level with spirit level on garden path. No luck getting level on grass. I point telescope South. I turn everything on. It's cold & eyepiece quickly gets damp & wet. I run through the SynScan & enter on all the setup settings but when it asked for local time not realizing it was wrong but accepted it.

I had a suspicion that it might be wrong but I thought it should be right because all other setings were remembered & correct & all I had to do was press enter to go to next setting. So then it asked me for a region of the sky.

At this point my telescope was pointing North. I chose Northern region & chose Polaris I'm sure but it said 0.08 degrees out & I didn't know what to do. Polaris wasn't even brighter than any other star I wasn't sure which one Polaris was. It didn't seem bigger than any other I could see just as well. I cancelled alignment & started it again.

This time choosing South West region & Vega was in the list but wasn't sure whether I was looking at Vega. I press enter it shows coordinates press enter again it only slewed to to not even full south & then stopped. It was asking me to re centre or centre or something. huh?

But I couldn't re centre or centre if I didn't know where Vega actually was & it hadn' even slewed to the correct exact directional region where vega should be. Also at this point I tried using the directional buttons but the telescope wouldn't move left right or up down. I don't know why. But everything was a Big failure.

Earlier on when I entered the coordinates, date, time zone, loca time I entered local time properly. Why didn't it remember the local time but everything else was remembered & correct. So I'm not sure what happened. When I looke through the EP it was steamed up, wet & I was cold. It was -5 degrees. I really just wanted to give up.

I got major confused & took it round to the back garden. Here is where I entered the correct local time & tried facing the scope to North West but I didn't level it properly here. doh. I tried the 2 star alignment again & chose Polaris but it didn't have polaris to choose.

I tried 2 star alignment & chose vega & it only moved a bit. I tried pressing the directional buttons again hoping that the telescope would start to move for me, nothing. but it only moved a bit & I can't remember now which direction now or how much. I should of been a bit more observant. I switched everything off SynScan wise & managed to turn tripod round & get the scope pointing at the Moon in the Pure South East.

I managed to focus on Moon but the scope moves too easily up & down on Alt scale when I'm focusing. It's so annoying loosing the Moon from the ep. I was using the 25mm. I got my first focus & views on the Moon at least & so It wasn't a total dissapointment I was determined to achieve something. I should note that even though the tripod & the mount wasn't level it seemed stable & didn't rock or move up o down or side to side it seemed stable. I should have made sure it was level though!

That achievement was pointing & focusing at the Moon with 25mm ep & also I managed to get my red dot finder in the centre of view on the Moon itself. I notice you can not see the red dot through the ep you can only see the red dot through the red dot screen on the moon. doh.

[Chris H]

Polaris ca be easily found just follow the last two stars of the big dipper until you reach a star this is Polaris. See here Finding Polaris, the North Star - McWiki

Stick at it and you'll crack it. Good luck.

[Ant]

There sounds like several things going wrong all at once.

The time needs to be entered correctly (and the date).

If the scope moves enough while focusing for the moon to move out of the eyepiece with the 25mm then it sounds like you have not locked the Alt/Az locking bolts.

It sounds odd to me the scope pointing south at the start of an alignment - but I have never owned a alt/az goto before, so maybe that it right.

Keep at it though - it WILL be worth it!

Ant

[JamieH]

Hi both of you. cheerrs.

There is only one locking bolt which is apart of the side clamp that the OTA's side plate slides into. You screw this anti clockwise for the clampt to close & grab the side plate on the OTA which locks the whole OTA in place Only this fixing is right on the ALT axis causing the tube to easily move up or down. It's not so loose that it moves when put to a set degree. But when I'm focusing in our out with something the touches have to be ever so slight. But this is difficult. It should be stiffer. So that I can handle the focuser & hold the tube without moving the tube up or down.

[Nexus 6]

Hi Jamie, I would advise you to download a free software programme called STELLARIUM, it will be a good aid for you in understanding what you can see from your particular location, should help to get a grip on some of the major stars/constellations.

Not sure what the problem is with your set up but I would double check your settings, I used to get some strange slewing/tracking with my Celestron 6se but it was usually down to myinputting the incorrect data for time etc or low power. What are you using for power?

Alan

[JamieH]

Hi everyone. Heres the deal

There is only one locking bolt which is apart of the side clamp that the OTA's side plate slides into. You screw this anti clockwise for the clampt to close & grab the side plate on the OTA which locks the whole OTA in place Only this fixing is right on the ALT axis causing the tube to easily move up or down. It's not so loose that it moves when put to a set degree, because it was designed to allow free manual hand movement on the ALT axis. But when I'm focusing in or out with say an object like the Moon. i move the ALT axis to the required degree scale, but the touches have to be ever so slight, I did not try to mvoe it in Azimuth because I know NOT to break the motors. But this is difficult. It should be stiffer. Tube should move a little less freely So that I can handle the focuser & hold the tube without moving the tube up or down. I already handle it very lightly but seemingly it ends up moving up or down! vHowever this is not the big issue I started this thread for. So I start in a new POST.

[Glider]

My handset only remembers my coordinates, time zone and daylight saving. I have to enter date and time every power on. The time always comes up as 20:00, the date is as per the last time I used the mount. I think this is normal.

I'm not sure about your mount but on my EQ it always starts pointing north.

I'm confused about what you describe as the OTA moving when you focus, it sounds like something is loose. Can you post a pic of you mount and OTA?

[JamieH]

I set up all settings for SynScan in my bedroom inc the time which was correct. You could be right, but why didn't the Synscan save the proper local time parameters when it should have been 19:** when it said 20:** something. Also did I set the Timezone correctly because I set it to -00:00? I said NO to DS (Daylight Saving) Also I have been told that the coordinates I chose from a set marked spot in my front garden in itouchmaps. How could I be way off here?

So I'll go through this with you now in my bedroom.

I have the mount & telescope level with the spirit level.

I power up Mount & SynScan ver.03.03. I press Enter.

I press Enter again to prompt Warning about the Sun.

I press Enter again to promt Coordinates input. They are in correctly like this

001degrees 40' W 53degrees 51' N.

I press Enter again, it prompts Set Time Zone. I enter -00:00 but also have tried +00:00. It Press Enter again.

It prompts for mm.dd.yyyy. I entered 11.23.2010. I Press Enter again.

It prompt for Time. I enter the time from my laptop. It is 00:22 o exact second. I press Enter again.

It prompts for Daylight Saving. I say No & Press Enter.

It prompts for Begin Alignment. I press button 1 for YES. I Press Enter.

It prompts for Align Method. Birghtes Star. I use the Up DOWN arros at bottom of handset. I press Down arrow to choose two Star Alignment & Press Enter.

It prompts to choose First Star. I pick through the list & Look for Polaris. I Press Enter on Polaris.

Slew scope coordinates appear. This is what they say. 359degrees 24' +54degrees 29'. I press Enter.

CTR. Polaris. Earlier on outside I think I recoginise my error. I pressed Enter here again & missed reading the control. It tells me to use the directional keys to slew the, I am slewing it now but it's WAY too slow. It's slug slow?

[Nexus 6]

My thoughts exactly Glider, does sound like it may be damaged. Although I am not familiar with this scope. How many times have you used it?

Alan

[JamieH]

Hi glider. The AZ GOTO is designed to be manually moved freely by hand on the UP/DOWN axis. Now it isn't loose as such it just could be stiffer. Because when I am pointing it up at the Moon. It stays where it should at any degree on the ALT scale. It just moves when I have to touch the tube to focus on something. That's all then I loose what is in the EP!

Thanks for telling me about the timezone & time. I thought it saved them so now I understand there is nothing wrong with mine & I just didn't realize 7 hit Enter so the first time i used it in front garden it probably had 20:00 hours in it. However the only problem now is when Slew the scope to an object it moves a slug speed. This is set to way too slow from the factory? In my last post I have mentioned that I am running through the setup & alignment with you here & now. But now I'm trying to move the scope to point at Polaris in my bedroom. It's just taking too long to move. Does anyone know how to make it faster pls?

Thanks Kriss77, ANT, Nexus 6, & Glider. This is a promo pic as I still haven't been able to take a photo 7 get it posted yet, sorry .

[Nexus 6]

Jamie, is it being powered from the mains?

[JamieH]

Oh Yes. it is Nexus 6.

[JamieH]

It's now asking me to ctr Polaris. But it is moving too slow. These were the coordinates it gave me for Polaris. It's now asking me to move it to Polaris - How on earth do I know when I have it pointing at Polaris. This is what they say. 359degrees 24' +54degrees 29'. I mean I could go too far left right up or down to get it centred on Polaris? Is this like trying to find a needle in a haystack I have no idea how much to move it left right Azimuth & up down ALT axis. I don't know how to follow the coordinates?

Thanks Guys

Jamie

[Glider]

On my handset if I press the '2' key I can set the Slew Speed, 2 is the slowest and it is the default, 9 is the fastest.

4 posts above you say, "It prompts for mm.dd.yyyy. I entered 11.23.2010. I Press Enter again. It prompt for Time. I enter the time from my laptop. It is 00:22 o exact second. I press Enter again."

If the time was really 00:22 the date wasn't 23/11 anymore, it's now the 24/11. You will be a day out!!

It sounds like you are struggling looking through the scope and identying what stars you should be slewing to center. Download the free Stellarium software, then you can get a map of what you are looking at.

[JamieH]

Okay I have just found out by pressing Button 2 Rate. It was set at 4 default, so I have set it to 9. It's a bit faster. Thats okay now but what the fastest it will GO please?

I have a new problem.

Over Slew Limit

Slewing Stop

it stopped at 23degrees when slewing it down axis from 50 degrees?

[Glider]

Also, use a low power eye piece (EP), or I see you have a finder scope aswell. These will give you a bigger filed of view (FOV) and help you orientate the stars against the Stellarium map.

[JamieH]

Ah. Yes. Glider I have read youyr posts. I have stellarium already, but wasn't & didn't want to take my expensive alienware m17x outside. I have a red do finder I managed to centre it on the Moon.... I have read about EP. Do I use the 2omm this is the one I used? The time thing. Yes you are correct for pointing out the mistake which i realized myself with the clock in my bedroom. i set it again to 24:00. LOL Sorry I only made the time mistake 00:00 in the bedroom now, but when i was outside I realized it was wrong. I was also wondering outside why it wasn't moving, it was but now I have found out just before your post to set rate to higher rate. It's now at 9. It was at 4 default mine. So in my bedroom i have set it to 24:00 clock. yes thanks for pointing this out to me Glider.

Now all I need to do is figure out why I have a Slew limit at 23 degrees?

[Nexus 6]

Jamie, do you have any star maps? If you can check out how the plough sits and look for the stars Merak and Dubhe, draw a line from Merak through Dubhe and continue for roughly 3 times the distance between Merak and Dubhe, Polaris is the fairly dullish but only star almost in line them.

Alan

[Glider]

On my mount 9 is the fastest. Try entering a larger number and see if it accepts it or throws it out.

Sounds like the mount has decided that if it keeps slewing there is a chance one end of the optical tube assembly (OTA) could hit the mount and jam.

I still have nights like this and find turning off and turning on again and starting from scratch helps.

[JamieH]

To Nexus 6. Hi nexus I have a Stellarium but don't want to take my expensive alienware m17x outside. I have a philips planisphere but find it difficult finding what i see on plainishere in the sky. i have a hard time finding the plough or Merak or Dubhe to get to Polaris. I'll try find them & match them up preferably on a night not as cold lol! What confuses me is pictures on internet where the plough moves around meaning it's shape changes because the stars are moving. It identifying the change. I read on the something wiki that the upper stars are difficult because they are fainter, but the lower part of the plough are brighter starrs, so trying to find the lower stars & follow it up to a line might help or it might not>

To glider - That's weird I got the Slew limit slewing the tube DOWN. The slew limit should be on the UP axis because that is when it will hit the mount. not the other way? LOL wierd. Thanks both of you for giving me some tipe & for making me realize how stupid I am.

[Glider]

The good news I can't see what you are doing wrong except identify which stars to center on.

The mount doesn't know where it is pointing in space when you turn it on. You've only told it where it is.

So it tells you to line it up on the first alignment star, this could be hugely out of position and need a lot of slewing by you.

Then it slews to where it guesses the second alignment star should be, at which point you fine tune its guess.

Then it slews to the third alignment star and you fine tune it some more.

The fine tuning should get less each time.

Imaging that you are aligning x-y-z axis. Then the mount knows where it is and where it is pointing.

Now if you pick an object it can slew itself to it.

That's how I imagine it works anyway.

[Glider]

Off to bed. Post tomorrow if you don't have any joy and we can try some other stuff.

[JamieH]

Just updated upper post now. I realize when out in the cold I got easily confused & did things wrong losing my concentration. Also the main problem was due to me not being able to identify & find the Alignment stars. Just out of curiosity does anyone know what degrees ALTitude Polaris should be in the sky. I would like to know whether first of all it will be in my view what with the houses over the road & all. I'm happy & can sleep okayy now realizing my mistakes & errors. Thanks for your help everyone. Smuggle into a warm Bed myself now so have a Good Night's sleep, Night!

Jamie

[Nexus 6]

Jamie, looks like your in good hands with Glider as he knows your scope. I'm sure it'll all come together with practice. It would be worth trying a local astronomy society if there's one near to you.

Alan

[Nexus 6]

Polaris will be at the same altitude above the horizon as your own latitude. Example... my latitude is 54 deg so Polaris is 54 deg ABOVE my Northern Horizon.

Alan