reticule eyepiece

[Johnboy]

Hi folks,

I have a CPC 1100 and to help with alignment I have bought a 12.5 mm illuminated reticule eyepiece. My scope has a FL of 2800 so this eyepiece gives me a mag of 224x. I have found that at this mag any star I use for alignment speeds quickly across the FOV and is very difficult to centre on the cross hairs. Hitting the align button at the correct moment as the star crosses the hairs is very bit and miss. Polaris is OK but all others are difficult. Before I send the eyepiece back has anyone got any ideas? I'm guessing a lower mag is the only way or are there any techniques?

Thanks everyone.

John

[astroimpulse]

I don't know the CPC but does it have tracking?

If you are properly polar aligned, I would have thought, you could track the star decently while you do the star alignment for your goto?

[Johnboy]

I don't know the CPC but does it have tracking?

If you are properly polar aligned, I would have thought, you could track the star decently while you do the star alignment for your goto?

Hi,

With the CPC you don't have to polar align when it is mounted on a tripod. All you have to do is point the scope at any bright star, centre it in the eyepiece and press 'Align' on the handset. Do this 3 times in total and the scope is ready to Goto. It's centreing the alignment stars on the cross hairs at 224x is what I'm finding troublesome.

Thanks

John

[barkis]

Do you have a 6.3 focal reducer by any chance? I think if imaging is in your plans, then the reducer would possibly be a thing to have.

If you have one, it might allow you to carry out alignment procedures a bit easier. I don't thing using such a long focal length is necessary to achieve a good alignment.

Are you in an Obsy. with a pier mount, or will you be aligning each time you go out in the garden.

I thought perhaps you were doing Polar alignment at first, in which case there would be no need to have the scope tracking at all.

Ron.

[brantuk]

Once you've done a low power alignment on three stars the scope will track any object you goto. Use a 25mm to do the initial alignments.

Next you can pop a slightly higher power in (perhaps a 20mm or 15mm) - goto an alignment star and choose "Re-align". Because it's tracking the object wont move across the ep and you won't have to chase it. Repeat for the other two.

I find it useful to use a zoom lense to get the refinement as fine as required - saves changing ep's and much quicker.

[barkis]

Hi,

With the CPC you don't have to polar align when it is mounted on a tripod. All you have to do is point the scope at any bright star, centre it in the eyepiece and press 'Align' on the handset. Do this 3 times in total and the scope is ready to Goto. It's centreing the alignment stars on the cross hairs at 224x is what I'm finding troublesome.

Thanks

John

I take it the scope is on a wedge, or is it an Alt Az. config.?

[astroimpulse]

Hi,

With the CPC you don't have to polar align when it is mounted on a tripod. All you have to do is point the scope at any bright star, centre it in the eyepiece and press 'Align' on the handset. Do this 3 times in total and the scope is ready to Goto. It's centreing the alignment stars on the cross hairs at 224x is what I'm finding troublesome.

Thanks

John

Hi, yeh, I understood the problem. But looking at the mount my theory was really for a GEM type which yours isn't. Apologies for that

Just about to offer a way but see Bran has pretty much covered what I was going to suggest (but probably more eloquently ) *thumbs up*

[Johnboy]

I take it the scope is on a wedge, or is it an Alt Az. config.?

Hi Ron,

Thanks for your reply.

The scope is on a tripod and is in ALt.Az mode. I have to wheel the scope into the garden each time which means realigning. I only received the reticule eyepiece a couple of days ago as I thought it would help with alignment but it is so powerful it is very difficult to use.

Brantuk's idea of initially using a low power eyepiece to align then realign to 'tighten things up' when the scope starts to track is an excellent one. The reticule really seems a waste of time and may as well go back to the shop I think.

Thanks again,

John

[Johnboy]

Hi, yeh, I understood the problem. But looking at the mount my theory was really for a GEM type which yours isn't. Apologies for that

Just about to offer a way but see Bran has pretty much covered what I was going to suggest (but probably more eloquently ) *thumbs up*

Cheers and thanks for your thoughts and help.

Regards

John

[Johnboy]

Once you've done a low power alignment on three stars the scope will track any object you goto. Use a 25mm to do the initial alignments.

Next you can pop a slightly higher power in (perhaps a 20mm or 15mm) - goto an alignment star and choose "Re-align". Because it's tracking the object wont move across the ep and you won't have to chase it. Repeat for the other two.

I find it useful to use a zoom lense to get the refinement as fine as required - saves changing ep's and much quicker.

Cheers Kim,

That's very helpful advice which I will try.

I have a zoom eyepiece which I think will help be more useful than the reticule.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,

John

[barkis]

Hi Ron,

Thanks for your reply.

The scope is on a tripod and is in ALt.Az mode. I have to wheel the scope into the garden each time which means realigning. I only received the reticule eyepiece a couple of days ago as I thought it would help with alignment but it is so powerful it is very difficult to use.

Brantuk's idea of initially using a low power eyepiece to align then realign to 'tighten things up' when the scope starts to track is an excellent one. The reticule really seems a waste of time and may as well go back to the shop I think.

Thanks again,

John

You're welcome John, I'm just pleased Kim has helped you overcome the difficulty you were having. I hope you can get you money back on the Reticule EP.

Best Wishes.

Ron.

[Dave-Ryan]

Have you got tracking turned on? Surely the star shouldn't speed accross the FOV.

[Oldfort]

I wouldn't be too hasty in sending the reticule back. I find it quite difficult to get the centre of the fov accurately and, at least with some systems, that accuracy is really important if you head off a long way from the alignment stars.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I got this EP

AstroShop - Product Details

from down under. You can always barlow it if needed.

[Johnboy]

Have you got tracking turned on? Surely the star shouldn't speed accross the FOV.

Hi Dave,

I'm fairly new to the CPC but as far as I know it only starts to track once the alignment is complete.

Cheers,

John

[Johnboy]

I wouldn't be too hasty in sending the reticule back. I find it quite difficult to get the centre of the fov accurately and, at least with some systems, that accuracy is really important if you head off a long way from the alignment stars.

Hi,

I must admit I'm still in two minds about returning the reticule. I think the idea of doing an initial aligninment with a lower power then realigning with a high power reticule in place to get thinks 'tighter' sounds like a good one.

Regards,

John

[Johnboy]

I got this EP

AstroShop - Product Details

from down under. You can always barlow it if needed.

Hi,

That reticule looks good. I'll contact them and get a price.

Thanks for your suggestion.

John.

[Bigwings]

If its like my Nexstar SE8 you motor using the cursors till the object star is in the field of view. You then hit enter not allign....... this slows the tracking down so that you can move the star into the cross wires in the same direction as the scope approaches on goto (normaly up and to rt as seen in ep) when in the cross hairs hit align on the handset.

My SE8 is f10 like yours but a bit smaller lol.

Hope this helps

I use a 12.5mm reticule with no problem.

[Johnboy]

If its like my Nexstar SE8 you motor using the cursors till the object star is in the field of view. You then hit enter not allign....... this slows the tracking down so that you can move the star into the cross wires in the same direction as the scope approaches on goto (normaly up and to rt as seen in ep) when in the cross hairs hit align on the handset.

My SE8 is f10 like yours but a bit smaller lol.

Hope this helps

I use a 12.5mm reticule with no problem.

Hi Bigwings,

Your alignment procedure sounds the same as on my scope but the problem I'm having is at 224x the alignment star is moving quickly across the FOV and is moving too fast for me to centre it accurately. (It's like a moving target and I'm having trouble hitting 'Align' before it's moved off centre! )

Cheers for your help,

John

[E621Keith]

Start with a long focal length eyepiece, say 32mm, approximately centre it, then use a shorter ep and work your way down to your 12.5 reticule eyepiece. A focal reducer will also help.

There are a couple of longer focal length reticule eyepiece, Antares 27mm and Orion 20mm ICE, but they generally cost more and the magnification is still a bit high (x104, x140 respectively). It might worth piggyback a 80mm for alignment / high power finder.

[Bigwings]

Mine is only about x169....

If your using 3 star align the third star is only used to confirm the identity of the others which it uses . you could try a one star align on Polaris to give you time to sort it out.

[Psychobilly]

I'm not convinced that one star align on polaris is a good idea... just can't remember why....

I use a 12mm illuminated reticule EP on the CPC800... before i had it one trick I used to use was to use an out of focus donut mode image as I used to find it easier to estimate when this was centered in the EP than a small pinpoint of light... I used to use a cheap 8-24mm zoom EP...

Billy...

[Johnboy]

Thanks for all your tips everybody. You have all come up with quite a few techniques and ideas for me to try which will help me for sure.

Cheers folks.

John

[Dave-Ryan]

It sounds like they have made it hard work to get alignment.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

It sounds like they have made it hard work to get alignment.

That's why I like my equatorial mount so much:D