Hi FishingLizard,
Ok, lets start this off slow.
Dont worry about the star coordinates from a star map just yet, what you need to do is get the scope and everything set up one step at a time.
Firstly.
Orientation of the scope
1) Align the telescope tube along the mount so that the tube is over and parallel to the angled bit of metal that points up towards the sky.
2) Under the middle of the tripod head is a screw that attaches the head to the tripod, loosen this and rotate the whole telescope head around so that the tube lines up with ONE of the tripod's legs. (you can use the one marked N if you like)
3) When you take the telescope outside, point the tube and the leg underneath it towards the south pole by finding that direction (use a compass away from the scope to find the direction). You will need to adjust the direction slightly based on your location's magnetic declination. Mine is 12 degrees EAST of magnetic south at Sydney, which means I point my telescope to 168 degrees (as south is 180 degrees and 180-12=168!). This means my telescope is slightly pointing towards the eastern horizon to compensate for the magnetic variance.
4) Adjust the ALTITUDE of the telescope (tilt) of the head so that the direction the tube points up into the sky towards the South Celestial Pole is EQUAL to your Latitude (find out what your latitude and longitude is here
http://www.satsig.net/maps/lat-long-finder.htm)
If your Latitude is equal to 33 degrees south then your scope needs to point UP 33 degrees into the air. (this is a scale on the side of the head)
5) Once you have the direction and the altitude set, you should be
fairly close to the South Celestial Pole(SCP). I think the EQ5 has a POLAR scope built into the mounts head which you can look through and sight the SCP. It shouldnt matter too much for visual observation if you are close, but if you want to fine tune the mount, look
here for my guide on lining it up correctly using star hopping.
OK, now, all the above is done to point your German Equatorial Mount towards the SCP so that the Right Ascension (RA) and Declination (DEC) circles marked on your mount can be used for finding stars, but more on that in a minute.
Using the Setting Circles on your mount to find some stars/objects
1) With the scope pointing at the SCP and the DEC circle showing 90 degrees, look into the sky and find a star that you KNOW. e.g. Acrux in the constellation of the Southern Cross.
2) Rotate the scope so that the star that you know the coordinates of is centred in the finderscope and the telescope's eyepiece. Loosen the RA setting circle and spin it around so that the pointer of the dial is lined up with that star's RA coordinates.
3) The declination of the star should be showing correctly on the DEC circle (or near enough not to care) as the DEC is relative to the SCP which you lined up before.
4) By staying in THAT half of the sky that your reference star is in (split the sky into East and West halves based on the scope's starting position) move the scope to point to another star that you can determine the coordinates from your star charts and check that your DEC and RA circles match when you have that star centred. If you do, GREAT, you are ready to find some objects.
Finding some Objects using RA and DEC circles.
1) Point the scope to the half of the sky where the object should be. e.g. Arcturus in Bootes.
2) Set the RA circle to Bootes RA coords based on star charts or Astronomy 2008 magazines tables at the back. (14h16m)
3) To find M3 Globular cluster (RA 13h42m and 28deg23sec DEC.) Move the scope until you are close to these numbers on the circles and you should be in the area of M3.
4) Use a low magnification eyepiece to look for M3 and then increase magnification once you find it in the telescope.
Notes
If you have a drive motor on the RA axis, you can use this to "follow" the star or object in your scope for long periods of time as the earth turns.
If you change to the other HALF of the sky (East or West) of the N-S line, you will need to "set" the RA circle again for a nearby known star before using the circles again to find something.
Make sure you keep setting the RA circles as you go on during the night as they become inaccurate if left too long as the Earth has turned during the night.
Make sure you buy a copy of Astronomy 2008 from a shop and a good quality Planisphere (round circle thingy with stars on it) as these come with tables that show you where the planets and comets etc are going to be at different times of the year.
Also, become familiar on clear, dark nights with star patterns and constellations so that you can find objects easily later on as most interesting things are listed in a constellation and if you dont know what they look like, its hard to get started.
Most importantly, ENJOY yourself. Its fun once you get the hang of a GEM mount and as soon as you find the right spot to point it towards the SCP, MARK THE GROUND with paint or pavers etc where the tripod legs are so that you can quickly set up the next time.
I hope this helps, I am known for writing essays on IIS, so I hope I havent lost you or bored you with the length of this answer.
Cheers
Chris
