Polar Aligning. any tips

[Luke]

Hey all. Im not exactly a beginner [been at it for a few years] but just got my first eq mount [eq5pro-skywatcher] I had a lx90 before and as far as polar aligning goes im a newbie and im pretty lost. Got to pick your brains as im all alone out here its slow going.
Im getting my head around finding the scp ie getting it lined up in the pole scope through the mount. But then thats done..ish , I have to go through a three star alignment.. starting from the scopes "home position".. what exactly is that? is that just starting from your polar aligned position? cause that isnt getting me anywhere near the selected alignment stars.
What latitude do i set it at on the mounts latitude scale. as i set it at 28 deg on the latitude scale as i thought that was my lat here in mullumbimby..is that right or should it be set at 90deg?
Ive had experiance with hand controllers before and im pretty sure its all set up fine
Dont expect answers for all that, just thought id throw it out there in case someone was as confused as i am and climbed out of it, maybe someone has a link to a good "polar alignment for dumbies" site or something. Is there anyone around this area [byronbay] thats a polar master? it helps if im just shown something and cuffed on the back of the head, rather than trying to follow the confusing manual
Ive found a bit of stuff online but im hoping you guys have some sort of silver bullet for this one
Thanks for any response
ps gotta work tonight anyway so no rush,

[Zuts]

Hi,

First I am going to assume that you only want a visual setup, so i wont go into the details of how to drift align as you dont need perfect polar alignment just to look.

(0) Park the scope in the home position. The EQ head should be straight up and down, the telescope should be pointing up at an angle.
(1) Move the whole mount and scope physically so the scope is pointing roughly South in the parked position. With a compass find magnetic south for your position. Then adjust for magnetic declination. If you google you will be able to find how far east or west true south is from magnetic south in your location. You need to point the mount and scope at true south, not magnetic south.
(3) Yes, set the declination axis to 28 degrees by adjusting the knobs. This wont be completely accurate as the scales are not accurate, but good enough for visual.
(4) Do a three star align. The first star will be way off, but it should be within at least 10 degrees of where the scope is pointing and be easily recognizeable by being the brightest thing in that direction. You need to have aligned your telrad or finder before doing this, but assuming it is aligned, move the scope using the hand controller until it is in the field of view of your longest FL eyepiece. Use the finder to get it there. Once in the EP field of view, center it and switch to your highest power EP to refine the center position. Repeat with the other two stars and you should be set to go.

Cheers Paul

[Stephen65]

A couple of extra tips:

- using a compass near the hunk of metal that is your telescope and mount will deflect the needle, it's best to first find magnetic and then true south, then use a piece of wood to mark either N-S or E-W and then set up the tripod

- you can use your scope's polar scope for increased accuracy if you are willing to learn to recognise the Octans asterism

- it doesn't matter how far off the first star is in the goto process, if your scope has reasonable polar alignment the mount should be able to get to the second and third stars reasonably accurately after you move it to the first

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Hi Luke,

Here is a guide I drew up to help polar align using star hopping. It helps you recognize what the SCP looks like through binoculars or finderscope.

Having said that, you should only need the scope pointed at the 90 deg declination point, with the tripod pointed towards your true south (Sydney is 168deg rather than 180 deg) and then "learn" it to the alignment process built in to the EQ5 pro.

Hope this helps

Chris

[Luke]

Thanks all
Im heading out again tonight for another go at it and will use your good tips. Trying for some photography [20d arrives today] so hope to get my head around it after a few more goes.
Thanks again for the advice. Will keep you posted

[Luke]

I got it! Just clicked in my head lat night during set-up. Got it pretty aligned to the pole then did a drift alignment. Now i need that camera to arrive.
Thanks for your tips,they got me there in the end.
All the best

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

Use the Force...

sorry, couldnt resist :-)

Bird

[Luke]

Thats it bird.its on now