Quote:
Originally Posted by Varangian
Okay, so my degree circles run 0 -360 (360 is back to 0) perfectly around the rocker base of my dob, azimuth looks good. My wixey also arrived which I bubble level set to 0, so altitude is good. I set the dob to my solar noon markings taken today with the dial over my degree circle set to 0. I levelled the dob base pretty accurately and then attempted to find M42 as a test using the below azimuth/altitude co-ords from tonights sky at 10.30pm;
22:30 pm
alt: 32° 48´
azi: 230° 36´
Local horizon set to 45?
Using Melbourne co-ords @
Melbourne, Australia 37 47 S 144 58 E
Unfortunately the Dob was nowhere near it, actually I was pointed in the opposite direction looking near crux! Also, the altitude was way too low in the sky to be anywhere near accurate. What am I doing wrong? Are these co-ords right? Is there an offset I am ignorant of?  |
John,"Tonights sky" does not have north south etc, and is decimal, so
the Co-ords for Melb would more likely be Latitude -37.8 {note minus sign]
Longitude 145.0 {positive} (each to the nearest tenth of a degree).
That sounds like it would explain it.
Allan