Orion Atlas a.k.a EQ6 Mount GoTo Mount help

[AstroSteve]

Hi Everyone -

I have a dear friend that recently moved from the United States to Sao Paulo, Brasil. We here in the States have the Orion Atlas (synta) mount which is from my understanding identical to the EQ6 which is more popular to most of the market on this forums.

The situation is we use Polaris and different alignment stars than those of you south of the Equator. He will need to somehow get a southern hemisphere kit that is not available here in the United States.

Im thinking perhaps he may not need to get a new hand controller if he inputs his new southern hemisphere location, but a different polarrscope, and new alignment star is certainly a must.

By the way, what is the southern hemisphere polar alignment star???

This is so strange to ask these questions but obviously we are opposite each other in the night sky...:lol:

"Thanks for your help with my friends problem."

[peter_4059]

You can certainly get the southern hemisphere polar scopes:

http://www.yorkoptical.com.au/Home/tabid/36/txtSearch/polar/Default.aspx

There is no need to change the hand controller - just input the correct location, GMT offset and time.

The southern pole is near Octans - I've attached an image of what our polar finder scope reticle looks like.

[bojan]

You can still use northern polar scope. Just you have to know where the pole is..
Later I will post some orientation charts for you..

However. I am in a process of making a reticle for Southern hemisphere.. for myself :-)
So just hang on for a while, and I may be able to help

[AstroSteve]

Great "Thanks" ...am i correct the polar star would be Omega somthing or other??? I forget....lol sorry.:shrug:

[iceman]

Hi Steve, :welcome: to IIS!

We don't have a "pole star" in the Southern Hemisphere like you do with Polaris in the North.

The polar scopes down here use the constellation "Octans" as a guide, but the stars in Octans are quite dim which make using polar scopes quite difficult - especially in light polluted areas. It's also just not a very well known constellation because there's not much of interest in it.

[TheDecepticon]

Hi!
A lot of us "southerners" actually use a compass to dial the mount/tripod into the general area for casual viewing and then do a drift align for imaging if required. As stated already, for a lot of us, the pole star and the constellation eluding to its location is very dim.
But wait to see what Bojan comes up with for you.:)

[AstroSteve]

Gee, I guess we got lucky with that bright star in the North called Polaris. I can assure you as fortunate as we are to auctually have a polar star, it's still tricky at times to get a great alignment. Thanks for your post and I look for to getting more information when availaible.:cheers:

[Barrykgerdes]

I always line up on the south pole. It is easy to find once you have seen it a couple of times. With my LX200 I find Sigma Octans (Star 351) and using the 26mm eyepiece (33 arc seconds FOV) I just slew a little towards the south until I see the star pattern in the pix. I do the same with the ETX125 which is easier because I can use a 32mm eyepiece and get a FOV of over 40 arc minutes.

The picture on the left is a view from the DSS (inverted). The one on the right has been touched up to look more like what I see through the eyepiece on the LX200. The south pole is marked with a cross. Don't forget the orientation will revolve around the south pole depending on the date time and it will be mirrored if you are using a diagonal. The brightest star (on the top left) is HP71348

Barry