So my first Telescope and Mount arrived yesterday in the middle of what seemed like a typhoon. All hopes of using her left me, given the weather reports. So I did what I assume any of you would have done. I set it up in my lounge room
Following the great instructions I found on here in Begginer's Guides, namely Trevor Hand's article on the "Basic setup procedure for a GEM", I went about learning the ropes. I assembled the scope, set the latitude, balanced everything and prepared myself for "first light" (I believe that is the expression?). Then I found something peculiar. A small cap revealing a scope within the mount itself. I looked into this online and have come to the vague conclusion that it has something to do with aligning a GEM with Polaris in the Northern Hemisphere?
This leads me to my actual question - do I, in the southern hemisphere, need to perform any alignment steps with this little scope? I.e. do I need to bring a certain star into view to obtain a southern celestial allignment?
And secondly - what role do setting circles play in aligning a GEM Goto mount?
I hope this isn't a stupid question.
My scope is goto (obviously) so I assume I'll need everything bang on to get any use from it?
Thanks in advance to any and all advice.
Will.