Alignment

[bluescope]

I read a comment somewhere on IIS about improving the pointing accuracy of the EQ6 gotto mounts " the better you centre the alignment stars the better the pointing ". Having used my Reticle eyepiece for the first time last night to align my scope I find this to be very true. Being able to perfectly centre the stars for the first time the EQ6 slewed to and perfectly centred objects time after time. Ofcourse having your mount level is also a must.

Moral to this thread :

If you don't already have a Illuminated Reticle Eyepiece but you do own an EQ6 gotto mount ...... spend $99 ( Orion 12.5mm wireless ) at Bintel or other dealer and improve your pointing.

:thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

$99 I am sure I paid double that???
Can you adjust the cross hairs?
Anyways not withstanding I have had my eq6 since November I have yet to use goto:eyepop:

but when I get home..any day now.. and I get a night where I can see 3 stars between the cloud its the next thing on the list.

I will take your advice..

At least it has been trained and that made tracking very sweet... so sweet auto guiding is not the priority it once was.. 200 secs with 750mm f/l no problem.. great unit in my view.
alex

[xelasnave]

And having the mount level is sortta not exactly necessary in the context of if you are correctly polar aligned but best practice for sure.
good luck
alex

[bluescope]

Hi Alex

If you mean can you adjust the brightness and focus of the crosshairs ... YES ! It's a very neat little eyepiece.

My next job is to do a PEC run. Then I have to practice drift alinging and setup my auto guiding, should be getting my Lumicon OAG and Baader UV/IR filter in todays mail ... always something to do ay !

Cheers

:thumbsup: