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Old 08-01-2011, 06:35 PM
Rob_K
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Rob_K is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Bright, Vic, Australia
Posts: 2,187
This might help Glenn:

"Telescopes with an equatorial mount uses both azimuth circle axes. They are then a must for find deep sky objects. The procedure is as follows:
First, put the telescope in station, which means to align it so that its right ascension axis is perfectly parallel to the axis of rotation of the Earth. This step is necessary to reduce future coordinate errors.
Next, look for a reference star with precisely known coordinates. Generally this is a bright star which is located close to the object to locate. Center this star in the telescope and to write down the values of the right ascension and declination showned on the azimuthal circles.
Subtract the object right ascension from the reference star ones (both should be from similar catalogues). The difference gives the path lenght from the star to the object.
Move the telescope around its axes carefully and watch the declination circles so that the right ascension and declination increase equal those previously calculated. "

From:
http://www.deepskyobserving.com/How-...-telescope.htm

I find it easier to star hop using charts, and then plonking the red dot finder on the right area!

EDIT: The article's not so great on English LOL, but the point is you don't just turn scope to the given co-ords (as originally asked) - otherwise you'd always point to exactly the same place in the sky, while the object obviously continuously tracks across the sky.

Cheers -

Last edited by Rob_K; 09-01-2011 at 11:57 AM.
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