Goto attachment

[baby_montana (Michelle)]

Beginner alert:

Essentially, I have a genuine interest in space and I got a telescope last Christmas but don't have a clue what I'm doing. I was thinking about buying a Goto attachment this Christmas but I was told that I'd need to align it to the south celestial pole which I cant actually see from my house because of a hill. But are the Goto's actually worth it? And is it possible that a Goto will know where it is using coordinates other than the south celestial pole?

Thanks

[Craig.a.c (Craig)]

I have never used a gotto mount. I have only just got into this hobby (12 months ago) and I prefer to go out with some star charts and have the thrill of the hunt.

[iceman (Mike)]

What scope and mount do you have?

GOTO will make viewing things easier once it's aligned. To align the goto, you need to first align the mount to the south celestial pole.

If you can see the SCP, then you can use a polar scope inside the mount to get it roughly aligned (with some stars in the constellation Octans). If you can't, you can use a compass and a level to align the mount - you don't need to be able to see the SCP (I can't see it from my house either).

Try something like this to make your job easier?
A simple polar alignment jig for a GEM telescope

Once the mount is fairly accurately polar aligned, then you need to align the GOTO by entering the date, time, your lat/long, and then pointing at 2 or 3 alignment stars. The manual has instructions from there on in.

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

I think beginners get too concerned with how accurately they need to set up their mount in order for a goto to work properly, I know I was like that the first few times I set mine up. Provided the mount is facing within several degrees of south (often I just "plonk" it in the backyard!), it is fairly level (most of the time I don't even check for level) and the declination is about what you latitude is (I leave mine the same and don't adjust it) you should be able to use it for visual use quite easily. The software inside the controller will be able to make some compensation for misalignment anyway. The main problem you will see if the scope is not pointing properly south is that stars will drift out of the field quicker, but they will still be in the view for perhaps a minute. If you live in an area of light pollution, and most of us do, a goto will enable you to find things much easier. It depends if you are a person who prefers the hunt or the kill.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

I cant say that i have had the same problem with go to's though I have had the pleasure of using meade ETX and LX200's, they both utilize LNT (Level North Technology) which finds the Tip/Tilt/North/Home all in one foul swoop. put it where ever you have the best view. hit the button, line up on 2 stars it picks and sippedeeedoodarr it can pick out a few things pretty accurately.

[Glenhuon (Bill)]

I fitted the Synscan goto arrangement on my EQ5 about 3 months ago. I like it, and they are quite tolerant of a degree or two of polar misalignment. Having said that, the closer you can get it the better. If you intend going into deep sky photograpy more tweaking of the alignment is required.
For observing from a light polluted backyard they are great.
I use a "Quick and Nasty" guide to do mine, works a treat and not complicated, all explained on one A4 page. I've found some of the other guides overly complex.
It does assume you have leveled the mount and done a rough altitude and azimuth setup with the scale on the mount and a compass. Just make sure you have allowed for the difference between the S magnetic pole and true S. This will vary with your location, about 11 degrees to the East for here. I didn't at first and it caused a lot of head scratching until a couple of friends set me right.

Cheers
Bill

[BerrieK]

Hi all, although I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, I have been thinking of retro-fitting the Synscan goto upgrade to my EQ5 and have a truly gumby question.

If you have a goto mount can you still manually slew by hand (ie. disengage the gears of the motor drive and slew by hand) if you choose to, or are you locked into using the goto and motor drives? ...(yes I am captain of the gumby team).

As I said I really enjoy just going out and having a look at whats there, but would also like the simplicity of a goto so I can goto!

Thanks,
Kerrie

[Glenhuon (Bill)]

With the Eq5 Synscan upgrade you are limited to using the hand controller and motors as there are no clutches on the driven gears. It does have the advantage that you have much faster slewing rates than the 6v RA/Dec drives, up to 800x siderial.
You can set this on the hand controller, anywhere from 1 to 9. A middle (5 or 6) setting is about right for me.

Bill

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

I must say your "Nasty Polar Alignment guide" is just fine, for people like me who are new to the game, need it, the complexitys reveal them self when the user is faced. Understanding of these complexitys are easy once you know the main points.

Thats how you learn the streets around your town, learn the main ones to get you from area to area, then learn the fine detail (where streets are).

Yay for the amature community!!!

[baby_montana (Michelle)]

Originally Posted by iceman

What scope and mount do you have?

GOTO will make viewing things easier once it's aligned. To align the goto, you need to first align the mount to the south celestial pole.

If you can see the SCP, then you can use a polar scope inside the mount to get it roughly aligned (with some stars in the constellation Octans). If you can't, you can use a compass and a level to align the mount - you don't need to be able to see the SCP (I can't see it from my house either).

Try something like this to make your job easier?
A simple polar alignment jig for a GEM telescope

Once the mount is fairly accurately polar aligned, then you need to align the GOTO by entering the date, time, your lat/long, and then pointing at 2 or 3 alignment stars. The manual has instructions from there on in.

Thanks for the help, and sorry for the delayed response. I now (sort of) understand how to align them.

As for what kind of scope and mount I have...

I only have one of those reflector Skywatcher scopes: D = 150, F = 1000 w/ EQ3 mount.

Being a beginner telescope I can see the basics but it’s nothing spectacular. So would a GOTO be worth using with this kind of telescope (keeping in mind the correlation between the cost of the GOTO and what I can actually see with my scope) or should I wait until I’m ready for something a bit more advanced?