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Old 12-04-2020, 07:47 PM
highlander2287 (Brett)
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Goto star alignment

Used my 10" goto skywatcher for the first time tonight just to start getting used to the whole setup etc and to make sure things worked ok. Had a go at 2 star alignment but did not finish setup. I wanted to ask, I used sirius for the first star since I know it well and it is bright, however in the setup it came up in the list for the south east part of the sky when it is in the west. This was about 8:30pm. What have I done wrong. Did I have the telescope facing the wrong way, or is it set for the wrong time zone perhaps.
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Old 12-04-2020, 09:23 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Brett
I have the Skywatcher 12” Goto dob
A couple of procedures to check in regard to 2 star alignment
1/ Turn off the advanced Star filter in the hand controller, go to Set Up >Alignment Stars>Adv Filter . This may help with having more alignment stars to choose from in the list
2/ Ensure your base and OTA tube are level. Use a builders float level ( very important)
3/ Point your scope with OTA horizontally level roughly to either true south or true north ( not magnetic north of south )
4/ I usually pick 2 bright Alignment stars on the same side of the meridian at least 60 degrees or more apart in Azimuth and at least 30 to 60 degrees in Altitude
5/ Start 2 star alignment and select first star say Hadar and manually slew the scope around and up to this star. Centre star and press enter
6/ Choose second star
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Old 12-04-2020, 09:34 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Brett,
Oops press send before I finished

6/ Choose second alignment star say Spica or Arcturus and press enter , scope should slew close to this star. Centre star in eye piece and press enter
7/ Hand controller should say “Alignment Successful “

That it !!

NB: Base and scope must be horizontally level at start or home position, don’t rely on Altitude scale on one side of base support which starts at “0” . Mine is usually a couple of degrees out on this scale when I’m levelled

On hand controller Time zone should be +10 ( NSW , QLD , TAS and VIC ) and daylight savings should be No

Date in hand controller should be Month / Day / Year in that order

Good luck !!
Martin
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Old 12-04-2020, 10:04 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Brett
3 more pieces of advice

1/ For more accurate alignment I replaced the existing straight through finderscope with an Orion 9x50 illuminated reticle right angle Finderscope and bought an Orion 20mm 70 degree wide field illuminated reticle wide centering eye piece. So much more accurate and easier to find and centre your alignment stars with the hand controller
2/ Make sure your finderscope is aligned with your main OTA ( eye piece ) once again for accurate centering and alignment
3/ If not already , download a free copy of Stellarium to your laptop or home PC
It’s a fantastic planetarium which gives you a map of the night sky in actual real time , night by night , year by year
A great resource to select the appropriate alignment stars before you set up your scope

Cheers
Martin
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Old 13-04-2020, 12:11 AM
highlander2287 (Brett)
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Martin, Thanks for all that info. Very helpful. I will go in and change the menu settings. I have a right angle finder scope and illuminated eyepiece already on their way. I used +10 time zone but I had month and day around the wrong way (don't know if that causes any issues). Also have stellarium on phone.
Will give it another go tonight and see if I can get through the alignment successfully.
Thanks again for the tips.
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Old 13-04-2020, 05:00 AM
Malcolm
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To make leveling the base easier get leveling feet from Bunnings. Glue and screw three hardwood 19mm blocks in place of the rubber feet to accept the long thread on the leveling feet. In place of the handset I recommend the SynScan wifi dongle and the SynScan app for initial setup, then connect to SkySafari Pro to navigate direct from the sky map.
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Old 13-04-2020, 06:08 AM
rrussell1962
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Is it worth double checking that you have entered the date in the correct format? If the telescope "thought" it was 4 December and not 12 April then in mid evening Sirius WOULD be rising in the East. Fairly low admittedly, but it would be getting above the horizon. Just a thought.
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Old 13-04-2020, 11:33 AM
highlander2287 (Brett)
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Yes I wondered something like this myself. Will make sure correct date format is entered tonight.



Quote:
Originally Posted by rrussell1962 View Post
Is it worth double checking that you have entered the date in the correct format? If the telescope "thought" it was 4 December and not 12 April then in mid evening Sirius WOULD be rising in the East. Fairly low admittedly, but it would be getting above the horizon. Just a thought.
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Old 13-04-2020, 04:35 PM
rrussell1962
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From memory the format skywatcher uses is mm/dd/yyyy. Please let us know how you get on .
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Old 13-04-2020, 07:06 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Russell
I mentioned the date format ( month/ day/ year ) for the hand controller in my post to Brett
Thanks for mentioning that again ( often overlooked)
Cheers
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Old 13-04-2020, 07:11 PM
highlander2287 (Brett)
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Had another go tonight, changing the date format and using sirius and canopus. Found sirius in the correct position this time, so incorrect date format must of played a part last night. It told me alignment was successful so I assume it worked. I had a bit of a go using it to look at a couple of areas of the sky. I wasn't too sure that it was pointing in the correct position according to stellarium for a couple of locations. Told it to go to the orion nebula and it pointed in the basic correct position, however wasn't found through the eyepiece. I could then find it manually. Not sure if there are any issues with collimation yet. Things seem ok and clear enough. Bought the scope through a local supplier for skywatcher. I'm still waiting on some accessories to arrive in the mail due to the long weekend. But overall I am happy with what I have seen so far. Plenty of time to learn and fine tune things. I am happy with the procedure and understanding of the alignment process though, so that was a win.
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Old 13-04-2020, 08:49 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Brett
Great news your getting somewhere now
Your choice of alignment stars ( Canopus and Sirius) are not ideal for the accuracy of Goto and the prerequisites in the Synscan manual
As I mentioned in my post, your 2 alignment stars should be at least 60 degrees apart or more in Azimuth and between 30 and 60 degrees in Altitude
Canopus and Sirius at 8.30pm we’re only 40 degrees apart
I would have selected Hadar and Spica on the eastern side of the meridian which are nearly 70 degrees apart. Your alignment using these 2 stars would be very accurate
Try and find alignment stars in the handcontroller menu that are at least 60 degrees apart after checking Stellarium. This gives the scope a wider span of the sky to use the necessary algorithms in its pointing model for more accurate Goto
Well done so far !!
Cheers
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Old 14-04-2020, 06:04 PM
highlander2287 (Brett)
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Ok will give that a go next setup. Being a newbie I didn't give this sort of stuff enough attention. Thanks for the ongoing help.
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Old 14-04-2020, 06:31 PM
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Outcast (Carlton)
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Also, try & be as precise as you can with centering your alignment stars...

The more precise you are the better your goto's will be...

Not sure what eyepieces you have at hand but, if you have something around 12mm that will work fairly well.

If you have an EP with a crosshair reticule, even better otherwise, choose a moderately high magnification & then defocus the star til you see a donut shape, it's easier to centre the unfocused donut shape in the centre of your field of view than it is to centre a pinpoint...

If you are somewhat anally retentive about your setup, the small amount of extra time that takes will reward you in spades during your viewing session.
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Old 14-04-2020, 06:53 PM
highlander2287 (Brett)
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At this stage I only have the standard eyepieces that came with the telescope. 10mm and 25mm plossl. I have an illuminated reticule eyepiece on the way. Also, I was curious, it asks for elevation. I assume that is about where I live. According to google it is 8.22m. Im not sure if I am putting it in correctly in the setup or even if this is actually required?
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Old 14-04-2020, 07:06 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Brett
Enter all information correctly into the set up section of the Synscan
Your altitude can be found on the web
Martin
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