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I've got the astro blues :(


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Hey all,

Recently I have been having a bad time with my scope and mount. I have been trying to get the goto to work time and time again. I am getting really fed up of programming in the information (which I have checked and double checked) and always having to find objects manually.

So I bought a polar aligner, okay I thought this should really help things out and make everything more precise. Wrong... I spend a lot of money (in my terms) for this piece of equipment which I have since learned comes as a standard on Skywatchers!? Also it isn't illuminated so you couldn't see anything even if I was to magically get it right. It comes with no instructions so I check my telescope and mount instructions. They say that there is a special mode called polar align available on the goto. So after going out and setting everything up maybe 5 times without any sort of accurate success, I am rather running out of all patience.

I have tried the online guides about polar aligning, I still cannot manage to get my head around it. Why is such a key factor of astronomy so hard to design and implement... Wow oh boy don't even get me started about collimation and the headaches there. Sometimes I think I should have just bought a good refractor and HEQ5 from skywatcher instead of this hunk of junk ;)

Myself keeps doubting the purchase and thinking I should have bought a dob for the great ease of setting up or perhaps a skywatcher HEQ5 and refractor. Some of us do not have the luxury of a back garden that isn't filled with the next door neighbours security. So I have a fair old drive and setting up session, before I can even think about looking at some targets, let alone having a go at astrophotography.

I have so much more I want to mention but I fear people might think I am a complainer. Far from it, the more promising breakthroughs I seem to have, the more my equipment seems to hamper my progress.

Rant over sorry, please help,

Adam

ps. I saw the Crab Nebula for the first time last night and it made my evening even more thought provoking about things so I decided to start this thread.

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Adam

What mount are to use and where are you ? You mnight be able to arrange assistance. You say you are setting it up but not getting gotos successful. What are the symptoms ?

Mike

Thanks Mike, I am based near Cambridge. My mount is a Celestron advanced GT motorised. AKA 'the coffee grinder'. I am thinking about selling it just for that point alone...

The symptoms are that it can always get close, but never spot on to objects. Even after I have calibrated and aligned in the finderscope and eyepiece over and over in one session.

I end up figuring I am wasting my time, unlocking the clamps, jumping to an area of sky I know I want to search in and then using the motors to get precisely where I want.

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Hi Adam,

I don't know if this will help you much or not, but I'd check that your mount is nice and level using a spirit level, and if poss try and focus your viewing on one part of the sky, and use three stars for your alignment that form a nice triangle around your targets in that area.

I used to pick three stars miles apart and then slew over to targets nowhere near them. Since I've got into imaging I sometimes do two or three alignments in the night as I switch to different parts of the sky, each time picking a triangle close to the targets, and for me that gets it bang on.

Apologies if this is useless advice for your situation, I'm no great expert but this works for me.

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Hi Adz

I had similar issues with another goto mount.

My solution was to turn off the electronics. For me, finding objects was much quicker with a chart and a rough polar alignment.

Much more relaxing!

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I'm having some similar problems where I go-to align but it's never in the eyepiece. I've aligned a red dot finder to the scope and think am going to try to polar align the 'cheats' way. Which is to get the red dot finder onto polaris, by moving the mount and leveling the latitude etc. So basically you align the mount with the red dot finder onto polaris, then try the go-to astar align. Hope this makes sense. But I have yet to prove this works lol, will try it next time there are clear skies here.

Allie

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So are you doing a three star align?

Are you absolutely convinced that when you align on the alignment stars that they are all the correct stars... I lost M1 a few weekends ago because I was doing a star alignment on the wrong star!

Have you entered the date correctly?

Cheers

Ant

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I will check over and over your points thanks guys. I will update as soon as I get some clear sky. It is a shame it has never worked for me. With regards to polar aligning, would removing the aligner and just centring polaring in the middle of what I can see through the axis be sufficient for observational goto use?

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Hi Adz,

I had a few issues with my mount when I started. After some help here are the steps I take now.

Download Polarfinder Free Polar Alignment Software Download Polar FinderScope by Dr. Dale Jason Version 2.04

Input your lat and long into the software. This will give you a quick way to align your polarscope to the correct date and time. If you cant see anything when looking through it, shine a red torch across the top and you will see the markings to help you get polaris into the ring.

Ensure the date and time are correct (Not daylight saving time)

Do a 2 star alignment as accurately as you can then choose at least 2 more calibration stars. The extra time spent with these calibration stars make all the difference.

Now with a lower power EP the target chosen should be within your FOV and you can make any minor adjustments before upping the magnification.

Hope this helps

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Adz, If I were you I would take a deep breath and start from the beginning. When you get the toys and everything seems possible, great expectations soon start to build which if not realised, create a great deal of disappointment and if its any comfort to you - we've ALL been there in some form or other. I don't subscribe to the notion that you would do better not to bother and go manual. For me, I would rather grind at it till I got it right, ask a thousand questions here if you like ;) but do what you must to sort it - and you will.

All the advice above is sound, even choosing your stars in one half of the sky and then to choose a target in that part to test to make sure you've not got a lemon. But here's the thing, polar alignment in my opinion seems to have accrued this mythical status of perfection, I mean anyone looking on would think that we were preparing precise calculations to slingshot a small probe off of Jupiter's gravitational limb to take it to Saturn. For example, when polar aligning, most people have already accurately set the latitude for where they are, but I bet they will have to adjust this again to get the scope up level with polaris and then fine tune it into position with the azimuth adjusters. The point here is that the equipment be it the dials, the gears, motors etc have been well engineered but you would never mistake them for a Swiss watch.

For observational use, you don't need to get your micrometer out and it is only when you are performing imaging, that any real accuracy is called for in order to track for long periods at a time. Go through the start up procedure again, take on board the suggestions made by other members and take your time and see how you get on. Rather than 'Stargazing Live' we could instead have 'Polar Aligning Live' where you can go outside to set it up and then keep coming back inside to update us or ask the next question as you go along.

Keep it going and clear skies soon!

James

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Adz,

It can be frustrating at firts. Believe me the polar alignment routine with an HEQ5 is not easy if you use the setting cricles methid and lots of people cant handle it even using Synscans polar position data.

It is a fundamental of an EQ mount though, you have to recognise that astronomy is never a quick fix and you do have to have a lot of patience to get your head round the technicalities.

Theres no reason a CG5 mount wont align accurately though so you have to get back to baics and find out whats going wrong. Ignore the advice from people who say they culdnt get on with GoTo - it just tells you they couldnt make it work - it doesnt help you get it going.

It can work and it does work for a great many people. I would suggest two things...

1/ Work out how to use it home - you dont need anything to work out how to use polar alignment except a view of polaris.

Play with the gear in your backgarden to get the hang of it at first - whenever I get a new bit of kit it doesnt go anywhere near a dark field until I have sure I can operate it in a well lit room, then in a dark room and only then does it go out in the field.

2/ Try and find a CG5 owner who lives near to you who could advise - someone on this board must be near where you live and using a similar set-up.

3/ Failing all of that if you wanted to drive down my end of the country I would be glad to help out. I am near Gatwick airport.

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What size EP are you using? You should have a 35mm/40mm EP for aligning going down to a 15mm for the final adjustment before you click align.

What ever you are trying to align to will not be dead center in a 15mm

So put the 35/40mm bck in and you should be able to see what you are Going to. Then it is just a matter of adjusting with the arrows and it will stay tracking.

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What data are you entering during the setup?

As stated a nice long focal length eyepiece is essential, simply for a wide field of view in which to capture as much as possible.

Could be something simple.

Just need to know as much as possible.

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With my ETX,after it slews to the first star it has to be nudged into the centre of the eye piece with the hand set,and when centered I press enter,the mount then knows how far it was out,

After the 2nd star is found the same way its ready to use,

Im not sure if that's the same with your Celestron or not ?

JJ..;)

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