setting up

[swag72]

Have you looked at the youtube video's posted? They clearly show where you can find the polar scope on the HEQ5.

[NickK]

If helps.. it took me a while to get used to the EQ6..

Night 1 - just used the mount without power.

Night 2 - attempted to polar align only then use the slewing to move around.

Night 3 - 2nd attempt at polar alignment.. this time a bit more of a success!

Night 4 - 3rd polar alignment and then a 3 star GOTO alignment

..

The setup for polar with the setting circles still confuses me! It doesn't help that the circle digits for the northern hemisphere are clockwise but many guides have the reversed setting circles plus there's a +1 thing with EQ6 mounts :/

The earth rotates, as it does the objects move across the sky. Polar alignment means that your mount will point to the north and then as the earth rotates, the mount will turn the RA axis in the opposite direction so the object appears stationary (the mount appears to 'track' the object even though it appears to move in an arc against the horizon).

Then to look at an object, all that is needed is scope to be pointed (RA&DEC) at it and the mount then continues to rotate the RA and thus track the object - in an ideal world!

In short, alignment is in three steps - the first two you only need todo once.

Step 1 - centring the polar scope. This means when you rotate the RA axis (ie move the weight bar around like a clock hand) that the centre of the polar scope's circle stays dead centre and isn't offset as the RA rotates. You'll need a screw driver for this for the 3 setting screws.

Step 2 - setting the date index marker. This is the confusing bit which involves sliding the setting circles, mount RA axis and date index marker according to the longitude, date & time of transition of polaris. You'll need a screw driver for the single date index marker locking screw.

Step 3 - at the start of each night, this is the actual polar alignment. Basically you setup the current time and date which then rotates the RA axis correctly so when you put Polaris into the little circle, the NCP cross is then pointing north and the mount is aligned.

Once those are done, you will be crudely aligned and the mount should track with some error in RA and DEC axes. This error causes the stars to drift over time when you're looking through the scope. This isn't a major problem with visual observation but causes star streaks when imaging.

There are ways to increase the accuracy of alignment (drift alignment, applications for alignment etc) but concentrate on getting a manual crude alignment first. It will feel alien enough to start with without worrying about additional technology!