Am I Crazy!!!!!

[Neil McRae]

Was looking at the polar scope on my eq5 mount and I am toatally perplexed.

According to my polar finder chart tonight at 2100 hrs polaris should be in the 3 o'clock position.

When I look through the polar scope it is 180 deg out i.e polaris is in the 9 o'clock position. Casiopeia is on the right hand side and the big dipper on the LHS.

HNSKY shows that at 2100hrs Casiopeia should be at az 345 deg and 30 deg elev which is completely opposite from what the polar scope shows.

I got the mount 2nd hand. Is it possible that the reticle is flipped around or am I making a basic mistake because if I take the scope out and look back to front everything as I understand it appears ok

Neil

[iamjulian]

Sure someone else will answer it better than me, but in the few times I used one on the EQ5, I think you rotate the polar scope so that the little circle is where Polaris should be (3 o'clock), then you put Polaris in that little circle by moving your mount, and the scope will be pointing directly at the NCP... I could be completely wrong though so don't take my word for it. It's been a while, and polar scopes are a black art

[RogerTheDodger]

Just rotate 180 deg through RA and all will be OK then - the actual position is irrelevent as long as it lines up when yo0u perform the PA.

[brantuk]

As I understand it you turn the ra through 180 till the plough and cass match up then use alt/az bolts to center polaris in the small circle on the edge of the big central circle. Then you're aligned

Don't quote me though cos I heard it from someone who heard it from someone else lol.

[RogerTheDodger]

Oh yeah, make sure the reticule is aligned as in Mel's guide Astro Babys HEQ5 Polar Alignment

[Neil McRae]

Guys

Thanks for your replies but, if as I have just done turn RA thru 180 then the counter weights are pointing at the sky. It must be I have done something wrong or should live in the Southern hemisphere.

Neil

[brantuk]

You can take the weights and ota off for polar aligning the mount. So long as you're on concrete or very hard ground it shouldn't alter when you load up again

[Cornelius Varley]

Was looking at the polar scope on my eq5 mount and I am toatally perplexed.

According to my polar finder chart tonight at 2100 hrs polaris should be in the 3 o'clock position.

When I look through the polar scope it is 180 deg out i.e polaris is in the 9 o'clock position. Casiopeia is on the right hand side and the big dipper on the LHS.

HNSKY shows that at 2100hrs Casiopeia should be at az 345 deg and 30 deg elev which is completely opposite from what the polar scope shows.

I got the mount 2nd hand. Is it possible that the reticle is flipped around or am I making a basic mistake because if I take the scope out and look back to front everything as I understand it appears ok

Neil

The small circle appears to be 180 degrees out, but the pole finderscope reverses the position of Polaris in the scope. The small circle is correctly placed to account for this.

Peter

[RogerTheDodger]

Guys

Thanks for your replies but, if as I have just done turn RA thru 180 then the counter weights are pointing at the sky. It must be I have done something wrong or should live in the Southern hemisphere.

Neil

That's right, you turn it to the correct position while you do the alignment. After that, you can turn them back and the axis is still aligned.

[carpman]

You can take the weights and ota off for polar aligning the mount. So long as you're on concrete or very hard ground it shouldn't alter when you load up again

i agree thats how i do mine on eq3-2 ( if i need to take counter balance then so b it )

i use pole finder to find out where ncp should be , i then rotate in ra to line up then make any adjustments till its in Little circle on the edge of the big circle thats it job done

[Neil McRae]

Thanks Guys

For a while I thought I had gone crazy.

Neil