please help

[aaronkmk (Aaron)]

Hey all me AGAIN. Sorry for all the questions but I do appreciate your input..
Ok so I'm having trouble aligning my c8 Sgt equatorial go-to mount ..
I've entered the lat and long of mackay.set the time and date but when I Try to do a 2 star align I pick the first star and it slews to a totally random position.. I've tried the solar system alignment to the moon and same thing ...

Any ideas much appreciated
Thanks again Aaron

[pw (Peter)]

Is the mount aligned to the south celestial pole.
Right ascension axis pointing south and angle set to match your latitude.

[aaronkmk (Aaron)]

No I don't think it was.. do I align it due south or to the pole???
Also our latitude is 21 degrees but the mount only goes to about 26 befor it hits and won't go further

[Amaranthus (Barry)]

You need to set the altitude of your mount to your latitude (it should go lower than 26, maybe there is a step function?), and the azimuth pointing towards the south celestial pole. You don't need to get it exactly right for visual - just approximately, then alignment should take care of any errors that you'd notice in the eyepiece. This is not an alt-az mount, remember, it's an EQ!

[Steffen]

You will need to get the RA axis down, at 26 degrees you'll still be too far off for most purposes. You can do that by extending the South leg less (or the North leg more) than the other two and using a clinometer along the counterweight rod.

Another common trap is the date entry format. If the Celestron hand controller software is anything like the Skywatcher one the date format is month/day/year.

Cheers
Steffen.

[raymo]

Just a word of warning. Conventional EQ mounts are inherently
unbalanced, with the bulk of the mount, and the counterweights,
and the scope, being well offset from the centre of gravity, so shortening
the Southern leg will make it more unbalanced, and therefore easier to
tip over if you bump into it heavily.
raymo

[aaronkmk (Aaron)]

Thanks for the tips.. I had to remove this lil bracket thingy( technical term) to allow it to go to 21 degrees I pointed the azimuth peg that holds the mount to the stand in the general direction of the colestual pole...then tried solar system alignment to the moon .came a lot closer so I aligned it into view.it tracks it but is a lil bit to slow as the moon slowly moves out of view.. if I align it to the pole correctly should this fix the problem..

[Amaranthus (Barry)]

You will need to turn the tracking rate to "Lunar" - this is different than the sidereal (star) tracking rate as the moon is regressing in the sky by about half a degree an hour.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Aaron, like Barry says the Moon does not move at sidereal rate. You have to change the tracking to Lunar. (At least that's how I remember it. I haven't used my CG5-ASGT for ages.)
You should have one leg pointing true south. (This is so the counterweight shaft is over a leg.) If you don't, move the alignment peg at the top of the tripod to the other side so one leg is south.
I would not have thought you needed to shorten the south leg much to get to 21 deg. Keep all three legs as long as possible.

[raymo]

The better your polar alignment, the longer the moon will stay in view.
It won't be too slow, the motor speed is easy for the manufacturer to get right. The altitude markings on the mount should be taken as a guide only, as they are often out by a degree or two. Your mount will have
different tracking rates, so make sure it is set to Lunar rate when viewing
the moon.
raymo

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Here's my simple guide for polar alignment using your smartphone:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...9&postcount=19

Using the compass and accelerometers in your smart phone, you can very easily and quickly get a polar alignment to within about 1 degree on both axes.

Hope this helps!