[Starman73]

Hello all,

I have recently bought an Skywatcher EQ6 Pro mount to put with my Meade LX200 10" OTA. I have a couple of questions regarding Cone Error.

1. How much of a problem is cone error. Is it something that I really need to worry about?

2. With cone error correction that the EQ6 Pro mount factors into its startup when doing a 3 star alignment, is this enough to cater for long exposure astrophotography or is it only good enough for obervations?

3. When adjusting the dovetail bar to correct for the cone error, we don't have Polaris to look at, as in the method in the SynScan manual, so would it be sufficient to use a star close to the South Celestial Pole? Or alternatively could we do the adjustment during the day, focusing on a distant object similar to aligning a finderscope? Would you need to use an object at a great distance, being km's away?

3. I was told (by a telescope shop) that Cone Error can be corrected for by the way the telescope and dovetail bar is put onto the mount, can someone confirm or deny this, and if its true tell me how to do it.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Paul