Scope polar aligned but what now?!

[milkyjoe]

Hi.

I want to track dso's, but i'm not sure which way to move the scope now that I've aligned it to the north star, I was told that you move 180 degrees in the opposite direction and then move the ato towards the object you want to observe, is that right as I've tried this and switched on the ra motor drive, but the object seems to move downwards!?!

How do I track these darn things properly?

Thanks.

Rick.

[Cornelius Varley]

This Animated Equatorial mount tutorial shows which way to slew to mount. Remember to check that the RA drive is set to the correct hemisphere (N).

Peter

[MartinB]

Not quite following you Rick. It is the mount that needs to be aligned rather than the scope. lining the mount up so that it is pointing towards polaris will be ok for an observing session. If you line up the scope with the mount it should be pointing up towards polaris. Where ever you then point the scope it should track with the RA motor turned on

[milkyjoe]

Thanks Peter/Martin.

Martin: What if the scope (when aligned) won't move to the object you want to look at?

[John]

When the mount is aligned you should be able to loosen the axis locks and move the scope to point any place in the sky. The polar axis of the mount remains stationary while the scope rotates around it.

[milkyjoe]

OK. Gotcha. Thanks.