NEQ6 Polar alignment and collimation on new scope

[guggle (Michael)]

Hi everyone,

I picked up my brand new NEQ6 Pro and BT200 scope on the weekend and have had some fun learning about it all. I bought the mount and scope because I want to get into astrophotography in the near future, but for the time being, I just want to get to know them both and have some fun.

After reading Trevor Hand's excellent article about setting up GEM mounts, I have a question about them, in particular, precise polar alignment. The manual that came with it goes into great detail about how to set it up if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, but there's only a short paragraph for those of us down south. Is it necessary for just general star gazing? Will the Goto function work ok without it precisely aligned?

I have another question about the scope. I set it up tonight for its first run and found that everything was horribly out of focus - and I mean horribly!! No matter how far I moved the focuser in each direction and regardless of which lens I used, all I got was a big white blob with a smaller black blob in the middle. I assume that this is a collimation error. The question is, would you reasonably expect this to happen straight out of the box?

Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated on both issue.

Cheers, Michael.

[Astro_Bot]

Check out this thread - many comments, but in particular I provided an basic answer to one of your questions at post #17 and a procedure that may be helpful at post #19:

Synscan alignment

I general, a 3-star alignment will provide more benefit for visual use than polar alignment, but polar alignment is (probably) of at least some benefit even then. Polar alignment will be more beneficial if you only do 2-star alignment.

As for the focus problem, I'm not really sure. I don't currently use a Newtonian, but a "trap for young players" that I recall is not using the provided eyepiece adapter.

[2stroke (Jay)]

Hi Micheal if you come out to MPAS http://www.mpas.asn.au/ the guys will quickly have you up and running in next to no time. Astro bot is right on the money, if your not getting focus you have removed something or have the focuser lock engaged, is the focuser draw tube moving in and out?

[guggle (Michael)]

Hi all,

This morning, I discovered an extension tube in the box that the scope came in. Looks like clear skies tonight, so I think I'm in luck for a stargazing session.

@2stroke, thanks for the invitation. I've been there once before on a public night and was thinking the same thing. Would I have wait for the next public night to come down?

Cheers, Michael.

[2stroke (Jay)]

Originally Posted by guggle

Hi all,

This morning, I discovered an extension tube in the box that the scope came in. Looks like clear skies tonight, so I think I'm in luck for a stargazing session.

@2stroke, thanks for the invitation. I've been there once before on a public night and was thinking the same thing. Would I have wait for the next public night to come down?

Cheers, Michael.

It's about $50 a year for membership, it would be the best thing to do then you can head down anytime you wish, plus theirs always a bbq members nights and one hell of a xmas party It's a great site for imaging as well and its where i go to do most of mine, 240volt points and nice sky's which are pretty dark