centre star alignment

[vicki3462]

:help:
Hi, Purchased a Bushnell North Star Goto maksutov-cassigrain telescope 78-8840 a couple of years ago and am embarrassed to admit I haven't used it as I do not know how to align it.
I get stuck when the instructions say CENTRE STAR - TO CENTRE YOUR GUIDE STAR SIMPLY CHOOSE A STAR THAT YOU KNOW FROM THE LIST ON THE SCREEN
well sadly I don't know any stars, the only thing I know is the moon. (This is so embarrassing).
Is anyone able to give me step-by-step basic instructions what to do?
thanks

[Blue Skies]

I think you're just going to have to do the hard yards and make the effort to learn some stars first. If you haven't already, go and download Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org) or other star chart of choice (check the fixed threads at the top of the Beginners page for some hints on where to go) and get out outside for an hour or so and start to familiarize yourself with the sky. This will pay off in spades later on so it will be worth the effort.

Some of the brighter stars around at this time of year are Sirius (the brightest star in the sky), Regulus in Leo (don't confuse it with Mars nearby), Spica in Virgo (the white star above yellowy Saturn in the east) and the stars of the Southern cross as reasonably high in the south as it gets dark now.

Getting a star chart will also help you find out what is up there to point your scope at once you get it working. While Mars and Saturn are up in the evening sky at the moment Mars wont be much chop to look at but Saturn should give you a nice look at it's rings. But there is heaps more out there to see - star clusters, globular clusters and galaxies - and a chart will help to guide you through the sky. The goto computer might take the physical work out of pointing the scope, but you've still got to know where you want the scope to point in the first place.

Anyway, this is just my opinion and your mileage may vary, as they say. I'm sure someone else will chip in say something completely different now...

[vicki3462]

Hi Blue Skies,
Thank you for your help. You're right I need to put in the time and effort to learn some stars etc first.

I think I fell for the salesman's blurb ie ....just enter a planet / star etc and the telescope will automatically find it, costs a lot of money but so easy to use.

Definitely not as easy as he made it sound, however I am hoping it will be kind of easy once I set it up / know what I am doing.

Again, thanks for taking the time and effort to reply to my question.:thanx:

[Blue Skies]

hmm, sounds like the salesman didn't really know what he was doing, either. I would have pointed out they don't really do everything for you and that you still need to have some passing knowledge of the sky, then tried to sell you some star charts!

Good luck and don't give up just yet. :hi: We all get a bit frustrated with things at some stage when we're learning.

[alexV]

If you have iPhone then you can download some apps
Like pocket universe. This how I learned stars

[tlgerdes]

The first star i learnt for aligning was Rigel Kentaurus ( the "pointer" furthest from the southern cross.

If you can find that, then you should be able to use your telescope to find a few other alignement stars. It doesnt take long to figure out Canopus, Sirius, Spica, A-Crux and a few others at different times of the year. But yes, to get the most out of it you will need to learn a few of them.

Remember though that these are the brightest stars in the sky. If you get you scope leveled and roughly pointed to north, your scope will take close to these bright stars by default as part of its alignment routine.

[casstony]

Hi Vicki, since you're in Sydney why not drop into Bintel to buy a planisphere and ask the guys to show you how to use it. It's a simple and quick way to find the locations of the brighter stars at different times of the year.

[vicki3462]

Hi, really appreciate all your helpful advice. I am sure to have some more questions after a do a bit of study and probably drop in at Bintel (I'll search on the net to find it).
Thanks again,:)