#1  
Old 20-04-2019, 06:35 PM
Nutkaze (Glenn)
Registered User

Nutkaze is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Quakers Hill, NSW, Australia
Posts: 2
Celestron wedge setup

I'm relatively new to all of this and struggling with this wedge for the Nexstar 6SE. I'm planning on using it for astrophotography, but does anyone know much about initial setup for the southern hemisphere as most info is about Northern Hemisphere? This is how I'm doing it now...

Currently set up at 33.7 degrees latitude i.e. Sydney. Does it need to be 56.3 (90 minus 33.7)

Wedge base facing south
Optical tube facing south (is it supposed to be towards the southern meridian?)

Equipment
Nexstar 6SE with HC AND ALT-AZ mount
Celestron wedge
Zwo asi 224 camera
Dew shield

Equipment yet to be set up is

SVBONY 50mm guidescope with helical focuser
Datyson Astro T7 camera for the guidescope
Celestron Starsense AutoAlign
(Mounted simultaneously on an Orion dual finder bracket)


Thanks in advance

Glenn
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (IMG_20190420_173947.jpg)
204.3 KB201 views
Click for full-size image (IMG_20190420_193651.jpg)
148.3 KB133 views
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 23-04-2019, 03:56 AM
mental4astro's Avatar
mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,979
Hi Glenn,

I see where you are having difficulties - you have the orientation of the wedge wrong by 180°. From your first pic, it means turning the whole set up from in the opposite orientation.

The pivot of the RA (azimuth) needs to pointing towards the south celestial pole. As you have it set up, it is pointing in the wrong direction. So what you have pointing North should actually be pointing South.

Alex.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 23-04-2019, 07:57 AM
Nutkaze (Glenn)
Registered User

Nutkaze is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Quakers Hill, NSW, Australia
Posts: 2
Thanks so much John!

I'll give it a go and let you know how it turns out.

Glenn
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 23-04-2019, 08:12 AM
The_bluester's Avatar
The_bluester (Paul)
Registered User

The_bluester is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Kilmore, Australia
Posts: 3,342
What Alex said. If you aim the OTA what would be straight up if it was not on the wedge it should be pointed at the south celestial pole. If you point of the other way apart from following the wrong arc to track the stars it will also be tracking west to east not east to west.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 23-04-2019, 08:40 AM
xelasnave's Avatar
xelasnave
Gravity does not Suck

xelasnave is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tabulam
Posts: 16,866
Welcome Glenn nice to have you aboard.

When you turn it around and with the mount not tracking ie switched off and the scope pointing in exactly the same direction as the axis..the scope should be pointing at the CSP at that point you could take a long exposure say 10 minutes with the gain set low and the stars will trail showing little arcs and you will see that they all have a common center which is the CSP and that center should be the center of your field of view (on the assumption that your scope is pointing at the dame spot that your axis points...you can adjust things to bring that center into the center of your frame which should get you a reasonable polar alignment. At first you may find that it is actually out of frame but adjust the mount and not the scope to bring it into the center of the frame. It can take a while but be patient ...and you will get a geel for the camera gain settings etc.

When the star trail center is in the venter of frame and you feel you cant get it any better switch the mount on and get it tracking and select a star or object and take a short exposure..
say 30 seconds and check it ..the stars should be round ..if they are try a slightly longer exposure..you will reach a point whete they start to trail so bsck off exposure time and then take a series of subs say 40 or more and stack them in Deep Sky Stacker and see how it turns out. If 30 seconds shows oval stars try 20 seconds...if you still have trails we will need to review polar alignment☺

Good luck please post photos of your progress and results.
Alex
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 23-04-2019, 09:50 AM
RyanJones
Registered User

RyanJones is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Melbourne,Australia
Posts: 1,439
Hi Glenn,

I used to use a nexstar alt az mount on a wedge and after working out how to set it up I wrote the process up for anyone that needs to use it in the future. I understand that the way the manual is written is very northern hemisphere targeted and doesn't explain the differences when using in the south very well. The write up is at home on my iPad. I'll PM it to you when I get home.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 25-06-2022, 07:18 AM
EvolutionaryPS's Avatar
EvolutionaryPS (Paul)
Registered User

EvolutionaryPS is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 33
Hey RyanJones, I've just got a wedge and am having difficulties with it. If you have those instructions available that would be appreciated, thanks.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 08:03 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement