Telescope Alignment - Info for a couple of Newbies

Davekyn (David) · #1 05-09-2018, 08:41 PM

Intro - It's good to be back after so many years. I am starting from scratch all over again. In fact I am just helping out a new friend I met in a new town I moved to some time ago. He purchased a:

celestron nexstar 130 SLT
https://image.ibb.co/fr4gaK/scope.png

I only have experience with a dobsonian and most likely going back to that. However I would like to assist this new friend of mine and suggested to him that I would perhaps ask some people in the know, that might at the very least guide us to some links. In the mean time I have been reading, however confused with most guides talking in reference to the northern hemisphere.

___________________________________ _____

Actually the more I am reading on this scope and others struggling with alignment, the more I don't want to get a goto scope.

I'll let the post go ahead in the hope someone might know a good link for those of us less apt with such things. I now regret offering to help.

Something like this ... but for the southern hemisphere would be a good start:

I love the opening sentence. He is spot on.

Click here to load the video

Looks like it's back to the dob for me - minus the gearing. Hell I don't even have binos anymore.

morls (Stephen) · #2 05-09-2018, 09:40 PM

Hi David,

I'm quite new to German Equatorial Mounts, but have had some success with a basic alignment. I set one leg of the tripod facing true south, using my phone compass. I then set up with the right ascension axis on this line. It's pretty rough, but good enough to keep objects in the eyepiece with my RA motor. I adjust the DEC axis manually as I go.

Stephen

OuterObsession (Jameson) · #3 05-09-2018, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morls

I'm quite new to German Equatorial Mounts

The scope he linked was on a alt az mount unless I'm confused.

If you follow what it says on the hand controller you shouldn't have an issue with star alignment.

I don't have experience with Celestron mounts in particular but here are some tips:

- Use a reticle eyepiece to help more accurately align the telescope with alignment stars.

- You can use any modern smartphone to grab lat/long cords for setup.

- If you have trouble identifying the alignment star you can use something like google sky maps or skysafari to help you locate the correct one.

- Also worth checking that your handset is running the latest firmware.

morls (Stephen) · #4 06-09-2018, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OuterObsession

The scope he linked was on a alt az mount unless I'm confused.

I guess my point was to describe a simple method of alignment that suits my purpose, seeing as the OP was expressing frustration. I don't know if there is an equivalent "rough-and-ready-but-will-get-you-up-and-running" method with the setup described, but if there was it might be a good way to dip the toes and actually do some observation of planets etc while getting used to the gear, before honing the techniques needed to use go-to.

I have to say that I have zero experience with alt-az mounts!

mental4astro (Alexander) · #5 06-09-2018, 09:40 AM

Hi Dave!

Great to see you here again

Following on from Jameson's point of a reticle eyepiece, and a fantastic alternative to these, I use a high power eyepiece and de-focus the star's image so that it appears a HUGE donut (or disc in the case of refractors) so that it almost fills the whole field of view. This donut is not only much easier to centre, but also extremely accurate. EPs with ultrawide AFOV are not the best for this, but modest plossls or other EPs with no more than a 60° AFOV are excellent. I use this method with my push-to dobs and my EQ6 mount.

Alex.

PS - as Jameson also says, Sky Safari is EXCELLENT for locating named stars! Even though I've been doing astro for more than 35 years, the names of all those wee little stars is not one of my strengths...

So Sky Safari is a great tool to help me identify named stars and locate them in the sky. Makes things very much easier!

Alex.

Wavytone · #6 06-09-2018, 01:17 PM

Something else to be aware of - in the Synscan handset some objects are incorrectly named - including some of the bright stars it picks for alignment. Had me very confused a month ago.

Davekyn (David) · #7 07-09-2018, 06:57 PM

Hey there Alex. Also nice to cross paths with you also.

Thanks for all the replies.

The issue with the Syncscan as mentioned by Nick is a worry. We'll check the firmware as suggested. Will also look into the tips mentioned as well.

Agreed ... getting the feet wet is best way. Both the owner of the scope and I are more visual learners and struggle with text. Also need to brush up on the abbreviations and terms to understand some of the replies or information on the web. Nevertheless ... all great info.

Yes the scope is Alt Azimuth. There are 5 ways to listed in the manual to align the scope. We'll persist and learn through the doing.

Thanks for the direction. Much appreciated.

~ Dave.