New Scope Day! Skywatcher 130p Synscan

[Cashman]

Got it all home and assembled. Was about to nip out and get something for tea and some batteries to run it with.

...then the cloud has rolled in.

[rowan46]

welcome to the joys of astronomy in britain:rolleyes:

[ItIsOnlyMe]

What we need is one day where no one gets a new telescope....that is the day we will have no cloud :-) and we can all get out and wonder at the universe.

[stick]

nice

enjoy the scope .... once the cloud clears !

[Cashman]

Cloud has cleared now. Got an awesome view of Saturn. It really does blow the travelscope i have out if the water.

Havent really got the synscan working particularly well. im not sure I've got my coordinates right. Also I should enter yes for daylight savings right??

Does coordinates 52*35N and 00*16W sound about right for Peterborough?

[Neil McRae]

Cashman

Use "getlatlon.com" on internet and zoom in to your position. You can mix the map with a satellite picture of where you are and get you position very accurately. You are in the "ballpark" with your coordinates. We are still in daylight saving time so yes is the answer. I use the synscan system so providing you have

Levelled the scope

Pointed leg to North

Polar aligned

Enter your lat / lon date and time

3 star alignment

Get the message "Alignment successful"

You are ready to enjoy

Hope this helped

Neil

[Cashman]

Pointing leg to north? Aha. That and levelling it are probably the trouble. i was literally doing it in the dark for the first time!

Will try properly tomorrow. Seen enough good stuff tonight to keep me happy!

thanks for input. ill let you know how i get on.

[Nexus 6]

Hi Cashman, great the cloud parted so you could test out the new scope and to see Saturn itself is worth it all just for that alone

looks like your in good hands with Neil on tips for how to set it up too

[zcapp96]

Cashman

Use "getlatlon.com" on internet and zoom in to your position. You can mix the map with a satellite picture of where you are and get you position very accurately. You are in the "ballpark" with your coordinates. We are still in daylight saving time so yes is the answer. I use the synscan system so providing you have

Levelled the scope

Pointed leg to North

Polar aligned

Enter your lat / lon date and time

3 star alignment

Get the message "Alignment successful"

You are ready to enjoy

Hope this helped

Neil

We are NOT in daylight saving time, our time is currently the same as GMT (or UT for astronomers!) Daylight saving runs from last weekend in march to last weekend in october.

[Nexus 6]

We are NOT in daylight saving time, our time is currently the same as GMT (or UT for astronomers!) Daylight saving runs from last weekend in march to last weekend in october.

well I did'nt notice that myself but had I done I would have replied with a bit more humility for what was a basic mistake which we all make from time to time don't we?

[stolenfeather]

Congratulations on the new scope but that is always the case isn't it? You get something new and the clouds roll in! I ordered a new telescope nearly 5 weeks ago for my camping trips and I still haven't received it. I'd cancel the order but my credit card has already been charged!

Isabelle

[Doug]

Congratulations on your new scope, It's clear here tonight happy hunting

Doug

Essex

[Cashman]

To be honest, I didn't have a clue if daylight saving was a yes or no answer. I always assumed in winter we would be in daylight saving because theres not enough hours of daylight. It's not like we can stock up on daylight in summer. Hehe. Put it in a store cupboard.

[Cashman]

I'm posting from my iPhone at the moment. Tapatalk works really well with this forum!

As I have no manual with me at present, could somebody please explain the pointing leg facing north? I thought all the tripod legs looked the same to me!

[mylatestwhim]

Got it all home and assembled. Was about to nip out and get something for tea and some batteries to run it with.

...then the cloud has rolled in.

Take up nightfishing as it's better with cloud cover! That way you'll have something to do in all weathers.

Enjoy your scope thats the kind of thing i'm going to get first

[Cashman]

Also, the scope did not come with a list of what the accessories are all for.

There is a ring that replaces the the ring that the eyepiece sits in but with a bigger hole in it. What's this for? Bigger eyepieces?? A camera?

[Astro Imp]

I would strongly advise you set your scope up in daylight the first few times if you can.

Then when you are set up have a play to see how it all works.

Have fun, looking good for to-night.

[Cashman]

There's no mention of having to point a leg north in the manual. I can't see what effect that would have on a goto telescope anyway.

[ItIsOnlyMe]

Also, the scope did not come with a list of what the accessories are all for.

There is a ring that replaces the ring that the eyepiece sits in but with a bigger hole in it. What's this for? Bigger eyepieces?? A camera?

Sounds like the 2" focuser adapter for use with 2" rather than 1.25" eyepieces. The instructions were not great.

[ItIsOnlyMe]

There's no mention of having to point a leg north in the manual. I can't see what effect that would have on a goto telescope anyway.

I think pointing a leg north is more of an EQ mount thing.

Pointing the scope tube North and level is a good starting point for an AZ synscan scope. I think it is required with all but the latest firmware (3.08)

[Cashman]

I had a lot better goto results last night, but it was always the case that the new object was always in the edge of the lowest magnification eyepieces field of vision.

The scope tripod was level. I'm pretty sure the spotter scope was aligned very well and the two star alignment was done properly. Will this be as acurate as it gets?

I managed to see m91 and m104 (I think it was those two. Going to need to get a note book) but it was kind of ruined by the light pollution and they were only feint.

[ItIsOnlyMe]

Will this be as accurate as it gets?

You can use the PAE (pointing accuracy enhancement) function to get more and more accurate, though I haven't used it yet so can't comment on it's effectiveness.