3 Star ALighnment Issues

[DronJes]

Howdy all..

Once again this probably a stupid question..

I am having trouble using the 3 star alignment option on my nexstar 114 slt. I align 3 star.. As bright and far apart as I can considering I am in Inglewood Perth. I center the stars, and ebery time the 3rd one is aligned the system comes back and says alignment failed.. Click undo start again. It also mentions my starpointer is off..

Any tips..

[MikeyB (Michael)]

Did you align the Star Pointer before trying to use it to align the scope? Have you confirmed that the location, date and time settings are all correct?

If alignment fails, UNDO probably isn't enough before trying again. I'd suggest you switch off and start afresh each time.

The Star Pointer message is just to ensure that users don't forget to turn off the LED light after aligning the scope.

Try not to get frustrated while you're on the learning curve, David, I'm sure you'll master it soon enough. If it's any comfort to you, Meade scopes are no easier!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

I am wondering if you are not actually aligning on the star it wants to align on.

If it believes you have the wrong star it may spit the dummy. It knows how far apart stars are meant to be. Make sure you are aligning on the correct stars.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Example - For 3 star alignment:
(N/A for 1 or 2 star alignments)

If you align 1st on Star 'A', it will lock in. It believes you have located 'A'.

Then the 2nd star is Star 'B'. You lock it in and it believes you again.

Then Lock in Star 'Z' accidently, instead of Star 'C', it will use trigonometric parallax (triangulation) and know that the distance between 'Z' and 'A' is too far apart. Goto's will allow for a small amount of error but if the distances don't 'compute' after triangulation, they spit it.

The 3 stars don't have to be an equalateral triangle. Just be the right ones selected.

[g__day (Matthew)]

I had that same problem at first, not beingsure which star was which. You need to learn the brightest 16 stars in the night sky, so a freeware program like Nebulosity or Cartes du Ciel helps alot!

[glasseyes (John)]

G__day,
If you could name those 16 bright stars it would be helpful, especially for those of us still learning.

[glasseyes (John)]

Hi DronJes,
I am not familiar with your mount, but I have seen the same "alignment failed" message on my own early alignment attempts. Sorry to nag back to basics, but as mentioned by MikeyB and Ken, make sure the date, time, timezone, lat/lon and daylight saving etc are entered correctly. Then follow the directions to centre each of the stars. As mentioned, you need to get to know the stars which takes a little time. Maybe you should try to do your first few alignments with a friend who is more familiar with the position of the stars. To help you find your way around, you can download a free skymap from this website http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html
The attached file is a list of some of the brightest stars, which I assume is the list referred to by the "tech guru".
I hope this helps you.
PS. No questions are "stupid", that's how we all learn, just ask away.

[JohnH]

Antares is not listed? Shaula? Betelgeuse? Rigel? etc..
This list is odd not the brightest or easiest to recognise..is it perhaps a lits of alignment stars selected to give good sky coverage?

[glasseyes (John)]

Thanks John, I did indeed make an error with the file by omiting a few of the key stars.
Hopefully this one is better.