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I’ve had a Skywatcher 12” Goto for 4 years
Have your laptop nearby with a planetarium software like “Stellarium” opened so you can easily identify and select 2 bright stars ( your alignment stars ) in the night sky in your field of view
You will need either a finder scope or laser dot finder to find your Stars and also a centering eye piece for fine tuning your centering. I use an Orion 20mm 70 degree illuminated centering eye piece which is fantastic for centering
To enable Goto and tracking
Enter all your location details into the Synscan Handcontroller like Date and time , elevation from sea level , latitude , longitude etc…. Remember date is Month / Day / Year in that order not Day / Month / Year
Identify and select 2 bright stars in the night sky which are in view ( ideally they should be between 35 degrees to 75 degrees in Altitude and 30 degrees to 60 degrees in Azimuth. It doesn’t matter about which side of the meridian they are situated
Level base of mount with a spirit level on all sides ( I use furniture feet adjusters on 4 sides )
Release clutches and tilt scope down to horizontal position with front facing “True North” not magnetic north ( and not True South , don’t ask me why mine is more accurate using True North ) There is a marker gauge on the inside of the clutch panel , level the scope to “0” but also check it with a spirit level , mine is always 2 or 3 degrees out
Plug in Synscan Handcontroller and power up mount
Select Az Alt mode not EQ mode
Go through the instructions for Alignment , choose 2 Star Alignment
Choose 1st pre selected Star , you must use the Handcontroller joystick buttons to move the scope up and across to the first Star. Center the first Star accurately and press enter
Handcontroller will ask you to choose 2nd pre selected Star , press ok , scope will slew to close that Star but not exactly Center, you must use the joy stick buttons to carefully Center that Star , then press ok or
You are now aligned and can select objects across the night sky to observe
Important: Read the Synscan manual to identify all the settings and controls
Important: In Synscan Menu under Alignment make sure you switch off the Star Alignment Filter as this will enable more choice of stars to be selected as your alignment Stars
I might have missed a few points but the above is generally how to get your Goto and alignment up and running
The Star centering is very important and also the more accurate you level and set your mount in the home or start position the more accurate your Goto will be
Hope the above is helpful
Cheers
Martin
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