Aligning NexStar 5SE

[RogerB (Roger)]

Hi there,
I have purchased a NexStar 5SE telescope and I am having trouble aligning it. I have used both Sky Align and Auto 2 Star methods but, although it tells me alignment is successful, when I drive it to an object in its library it is always a fair way off.
I'm wondering if it is because of where I live. I'm at Victor Harbor in SA and I am inputting the coordinates for my location, but when it comes to the time zone the closest option is +9. But Sth Australia is +9.5 and there is no option for that.
So, my question is, when I input the time should I deduct half an hour from the actual time?
Thanks,
Roger

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

Alignment issues are pretty common with this family of scopes, and the search feature might provide some answers. Here is a link to just one thread

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/a.../t-101582.html

[raymo]

It depends upon what you mean by a fair way off, Roger. If the target
is no more than half way to the edge of the field of view in your low
power eyepiece [around 25mm], that would be considered acceptable.
You will probably notice an improvement during a long viewing session if you do another alignment during that session. You will find that the accuracy will be fairly poor if your chosen alignment stars are too close together, in which case the accuracy will drop off the further away from those stars your target is. It also helps a bit if you use an illuminated reticle eyepiece to make sure your alignment stars are dead centre.
raymo

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Originally Posted by RogerB

So, my question is, when I input the time should I deduct half an hour from the actual time?
Thanks,
Roger

YES.
As the earth rotates 360* per day, that is 15* per hour.
If the scope is using GMT + 9 and the time you enter is GMT + 9.5 then I would expect it would be out by over 7* whenever it tries to locate anything.

[doppler (Rick)]

Originally Posted by Allan_L

YES.
As the earth rotates 360* per day, that is 15* per hour.
If the scope is using GMT + 9 and the time you enter is GMT + 9.5 then I would expect it would be out by over 7* whenever it tries to locate anything.

This is interesting. I have noticed that I usually only have to slew the scope in the RA axis when aligning, presumably because the time zone is out by a few minutes.

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Celestron firmware doesn't support half-hour time zones, so you're probably best off to use Victorian time zone.

http://www.celestron.com/support/kno...hat+do+I+do%3F

[RogerB (Roger)]

Thanks to everyone who has helped me out here.
Since my original post I have upgraded the firmware in the handset and what do you know, it now allows a time zone of +9.5.
I haven't had a chance to re-try alignment yet and it's a pretty full moon now anyway. I'll have another go towards the end of this week.

One thing that I find frustrating is that the 'scope doesn't retain the location. Most people would be like me and set up on their back lawn or whatever and then it should only be necessary to input the date and time and the scope should know exactly where it was from the last time. Especially if it was only last night.

Does that make sense or am I expecting too much?

[raymo]

Hi Roger, some Mounts, such as my HEQ5, have a home position that
you can put the scope into at the end of a session, power off, and carry on later from where you left off. I don't know whether the SE series of
mounts have a similar feature. Have a look in the complete online
user manual for your scope.
raymo

[rrussell1962]

Menu Utilty, Option Hibernate. Page 23 of the Manual. However if you mean that the Handset is not retaining your geographical location when you power it down then there is something wrong because it should do.

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Originally Posted by RogerB

One thing that I find frustrating is that the 'scope doesn't retain the location. :

It should do - my 5 SE remembers the location and time zone etc, so all I have to do on each set-up is set the current time and date.

[RogerB (Roger)]

Originally Posted by RogerB

Thanks to everyone who has helped me out here.
Since my original post I have upgraded the firmware in the handset and what do you know, it now allows a time zone of +9.5.
I haven't had a chance to re-try alignment yet and it's a pretty full moon now anyway. I'll have another go towards the end of this week.

I aligned my telescope last night using the Auto 2 star method and worked perfectly. It was the half hour difference between here (SA) and +9 time zone that was the problem.

Thanks again for all your help.