gotto

[john guy (John)]

I have a meade sct 14'' and when ever the gotto is used the object selected only comes into view of spotting scope. I then have to centre in eyepiece, polar alignment done, drive train down and pec also. am I to critical or is this just the norm, any advise would be most appreciated

[tonybarry (Tony)]

Hi John,

My experience with a Meade LX90-10" is for Alt-az mounting, but in this situation it performs its pointing very well.

For Venus, it can be "off" by a degree, but for other planets or anything celestial it is generally within the field of view of the camera (about 20 arc minutes).

The initial pointing must be quite exact. It is not enough to "rough centre" - I use the camera and point the alignment stars to exact screen centre.

If your mount has flexure, then performing the SmartMount (? think that's what it's called) may improve the performance.

Also track an object (if you can) over a few hours, from one side of the meridian to the other. This will help you work out if it's pointing or flexure. Flexure will cause the object to drift after passing meridian.

Regards,
Tony Barry
WSAAG

[redbeard (Damien)]

Originally Posted by john guy

I have a meade sct 14'' and when ever the gotto is used the object selected only comes into view of spotting scope. I then have to centre in eyepiece, polar alignment done, drive train down and pec also. am I to critical or is this just the norm, any advise would be most appreciated

Hi John,

Is your scope equatorial mounted or are you using alt/az?

Is this the classic or GPS?

Did you do the drive training and PEC yourself and what method did you use.

What procedure do you use to setup/align, (in detail).

I ask these questions to get an idea of exactly how you have setup your scope as it will be easier to help with this information.

For example, you need to ensure your location and time/date settings are accurate in the settings etc. If GPS then when did you last change the internal battery...

Cheers,

Damien.