Zincberg
01-02-2011, 04:14 PM
Hey guys,
I have been having great fun with my scope, seeing some amazing things and have been stepping into the astrophotography.
I purchased an Ultra wedge for my 10" LX90 ( and the adaptor plate) and finally this week have had a couple of decent clear nights to give it a go.
The first night I nearly smashed the wedge with a brick after 3 hours of unsuccessful alignment:mad2:
The second day, I read up another 3274 pages of peoples definition on how to get a polar alignment, went and bought an "angle finder" (protractor substitute) and a better "level" and tried again.
Firstly, I was surprised that after spending a good 40 minutes setting everything up, to turn on the scope, have it slew to Sigma octantis and have it right there in my viewfinder. I adjusted the mount to bring it dead centre, then decided to do a back up "drift alignment".
(dont worry, the questions are coming):lol:
And thus the frustration of everything I had read became apparant.
There are so many variations of the drift alignment that I had to chose one that made most sense to me.. that may be my first mistake.
Anyways, I got my Azimuth adjustment right, I was so impressed, the star was sitting right in the middle (dec) for a good 1/2 hour.
I went to do the second part of my adjustment (the Alt adjust) and found a real problem, there is a two story house on the eastern side of my house, and I cant get low enough to the horizon and still find a bright enough star with the scope in the "Dec 0" position. (and west is not much better, I have the beautiful glare of Gosford that wipes out a good portion of my western viewing)
So..finally I get around to my question,
When I do the Alt adjustment, how low to the horizon do I have to be? and how far away from Dec0 can I go before it doesnt work properly?
I tried for about an hour and had stars sitting fairly still, but not perfect.. and when I took my first 30 sec photo of Orion, there were small trails appearing.
Any help would be appreciated.
I have been having great fun with my scope, seeing some amazing things and have been stepping into the astrophotography.
I purchased an Ultra wedge for my 10" LX90 ( and the adaptor plate) and finally this week have had a couple of decent clear nights to give it a go.
The first night I nearly smashed the wedge with a brick after 3 hours of unsuccessful alignment:mad2:
The second day, I read up another 3274 pages of peoples definition on how to get a polar alignment, went and bought an "angle finder" (protractor substitute) and a better "level" and tried again.
Firstly, I was surprised that after spending a good 40 minutes setting everything up, to turn on the scope, have it slew to Sigma octantis and have it right there in my viewfinder. I adjusted the mount to bring it dead centre, then decided to do a back up "drift alignment".
(dont worry, the questions are coming):lol:
And thus the frustration of everything I had read became apparant.
There are so many variations of the drift alignment that I had to chose one that made most sense to me.. that may be my first mistake.
Anyways, I got my Azimuth adjustment right, I was so impressed, the star was sitting right in the middle (dec) for a good 1/2 hour.
I went to do the second part of my adjustment (the Alt adjust) and found a real problem, there is a two story house on the eastern side of my house, and I cant get low enough to the horizon and still find a bright enough star with the scope in the "Dec 0" position. (and west is not much better, I have the beautiful glare of Gosford that wipes out a good portion of my western viewing)
So..finally I get around to my question,
When I do the Alt adjustment, how low to the horizon do I have to be? and how far away from Dec0 can I go before it doesnt work properly?
I tried for about an hour and had stars sitting fairly still, but not perfect.. and when I took my first 30 sec photo of Orion, there were small trails appearing.
Any help would be appreciated.