How To Set The Equatorial Home Position
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- The Equatorial Home Position (EQ Home Position) is a starting point for your mount. Having a good EQ home position improves Go-To Accuracy to make visual and photographic observations. In this video I'll show you from a previously shot video.
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Why on earth can't the basic instructions be as easy to follow as this video? Thank you. I've never bothered with the setting circles at all - now I will!
Yours is best explanation on RUclips. I watched a few videos and eventually worked this out but it twisted my melon... I needed this six months ago when I first got my EQ mount 😂
Ah thanks mate I'm so happy to hear that it's the "best explanation" :) haha shame I didn't make this 6 months sooner but I hope it just validates the way you performed your EQ Home position!
Very true indeed. I just upgraded my Sky-Watcher EQ5 with the motor drive set, so that I have to get to grips with the polar alignment issue one way or another, after having done everything with manual "tracking" up until now (which still enabled me to image M42 quite well with my Sky-Watcher 190/1000 Mak-Newt, thanks to SharpCap and short exposures in a series of a thousand or so).
I start to understand the polar alignment task slowly but surely. However, I still did not see how to prepare my mount properly so as to match the polar view in the polar scope with the view that software aids offer, or the Local Hour Angle method (which seems to be the only proper one in conjunction with a polar scope, I guess).
This video appears to have answered by question. At least, I hope this was the question that I ought to have in my stage of self-teaching.
Thank you! The only thing I would add is your tripod MUST be level for this to work as the Dec & RA are based on tripod level at the spot you are pointing towards the pole. What I did was to get 2 small bubble levels and used dbl stick tape and stuck them on the DEC & RA so while setting up the tripod then I can really fast adjust the DEC & RA at perfectly level. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS Ruzeen and glad you are posting videos.
Thank you so much!
Just got my EQ6-R a few days ago and a bunch of your videos helped :D
You even got me into getting the mount
As someone just now getting a goto mount, this was extremely helpful, thank you!
Also absolutely cackled at the level falling 🤣, but I need to get one
Really appreciate your time and patience in putting together this superb how-to guide.
Thanks Prabhakar! Glad you enjoyed it
Great and simple explanation for something, that can be quite troublesome when you haven't figured it out! Superb how-to...
Another excellent video tutorial demonstrated in simple terms without any complication. Massive thanks to you.
It's stuff like this that no one ever talks about, but is imperative in order to get razor sharp accuracy with PA. I calibrate my Skyguider Pro every time before a run. My EQ6-R is on the way, I plan to do the same.
Simple, straightforward and accurate information. Thank you.
Here is the basic weakness of Celestron mounts. No setting circles. 😖 I’m going to see if there’s an alternate method to achieve this setup. Great video!
very hard to find a quick straight forward explanation. Good job. Thanks
This video explains this process perfectly. Thank you and Clear Skies🔭
Thanks for this, was only video could find that explained this properly and best of all understandably!! Can’t wait to see what difference this makes.... as soon as clouds go away.
Appreciate you sharing this - Definitely going into my procedures book!
Thanks Ruzeen, this was really clear and helpful.
Thank you Ray! Glad it was helpful
Thank you Ruzeen. I just got this mount and was wondering how to do this!
Ah timely video for you then! Good luck. Enjoy, it's a wonderful mount to use
Nice, simple and easy. I used your method on my EQ5.👍
Great video, clear and concise as always, thank you 👍
Nice Video you are one of the few who can explain things very well!
Very nicely explained Ruz, great advice! and it looks like managed to get a hair cut in before lock down too!
Thanks mate! Glad it's clearly explained 😁 actually this is a partner special haircut. She's no barber but she's handy enough with some scissors and shears 😂
@@AstroFarsography lol No that's good man, my wife wont take the responsibility of cutting my hair at all, I have to do it myself using an array of mirrors lol
Thanks Ruzeen, I have an EQM 35 so this is very useful 👍
Happy to help! Nice mount, enjoy it!
Thank you
Thank you Ruz 👏😉
Excellent video! Very helpful.
I disagree; it is not so crucial. I carefully level the tripod, do Polar alignment (is crucial), but there isn't even a means of setting the home position to "home". There is no HOME position; only a home area. I set it up on my EQ6R Pro by adjusting the weights until they SEEM to be pointing down (RA). Then, I adjust the scope so it is pointing in the same direction (dec) approximately. How can something for which there is no ability to make a quantitive measurement be crucial. It's not. I still love your videos and share your enthusiam. Once I finish my polar alignment I goto straight from the 60 degree rotated position to a star to chech focus. It usually takes one readjustment after a plate solve to get a "TARGET IS CENTERED"report. I use ASIair. I dumped the hand controller. It was good for a beginner only.
Thanks For The Video. I was just Wondering What Can Be Done With This Mount 😅😅 good One Clear Skies 🌌🌙🔭
You're welcome 😊 Clear skies to you too
Nice! Hugs from Boston!
Thanks my man 😊
I get caught out with the spirit level falling on the floor every time 😂
It was such an amusing moment I just had to leave it in 😂
Level the mount base/tripod first thing. Then do this. Use a bubble level on the base with mount removed, in two directions 90 deg apart. When both level views show level, note if the mount's own bubble level also shows level. Worth knowing it it's off.
Very informative, thank you for this !
Why do you have the weight between the legs? The mount gives both options either over leg or between legs. Over leg would be steadier and thd mount will be top heavy. Also another advantage of over the leg is rear altitude bolt easy to use as well as polar scope.
Quite simply it's because that's how it was out the box and I'm too lazy to change it 😂 it works fine as is in a "it ain't broke don't fix it" sort of way!
@@AstroFarsography will change mine
wow much improved image quality on video, nice!
Thanks mate! :D Good ot hear it's noticeable
@@AstroFarsography Haha yeah I've watched tons of your videos and the recent video is a huge ton better on image quality now, this can win you a lot new subscribers I think!
Good clear explanation. But my AVX mount has no setting circles, so how does one get a good home position? I just set mine to the index marks, but the first slew is always well off target, I presume because the home position isn't good. Luckily I use Asiair, so it immediately plate-solves and autocenters despite initially pointing rather wrong.
Even with a good home position the first slew might be off. What we would usually do is a star alignment routine to teach the mount its errors. But plate solving will negate that.
Without setting circles I would use the information on the hand controller or the ASIAIR readouts where it tells you the mount position. Similar principle really, read off 90° on the declination as you slew it, and read off 6hrs in RA as you slew it in app :) hope that helps and I am aware your comment is from 2months ago 😅
Excellent tutorial
I think, the very first thing would be leveling the head first? Then attaching the mount and start leveling the whole thing?
Nice video bud. Nifty routine for setting an accurate home position.
Thanks mate. All for making routine/monotonous takes as easy and streamlined as possible!
Not sure if I'm being overly picky but the "arrows" that we see on the mounts have so much relief that they are anything but helpful in trying to be super accurate. Everything being white does not help. Even worst is the fact that the point of the arrow is far from the rings. Not being an expert, is any error at this stage somehow compensated by the further mount tunning to the actual Polar Star position and time at which it is done using the mount software ?
Now that I think about it, I believe it would be better to place a permanent black mark right next to the rings and not use the "arrows" as a reference point of where is 1800 or 90 degrees.
Hi, not quite right. True, you have set the mount to it's home position but that does not mean it is pointing at the Celestial pole. I suspect you accidentally mis-spoke at that point and that this is really the second part of a two stage process. Celestial pole alignment of the home position you have set is a separate problem. You can use an angle indicating 'level' on the counterbalance arm to set the altitude latitude reasonably accurately - to within +/- 0.1 degrees, but getting the True North azimuth alignment is trickier if you do not have a view of the Northern sky. There are ways round that of course. BobUK.
Hi Rob
Yeah sounds like a misspeak since pointing at the pole isn't the same correct. Asking the mount to go-to Polaris from Home definitely puts it in a funky way 😬
Very helpful, thanks!
OMG. Thank you sooooo much now I know why my cgemll was off when I lined up the arrows. And best of all I sold the cgemll and just bought a EQ R 6 pro . Why am I only fingering this out now ?
Love the video. Totally new to all this, Just got the HEQ5 PRO. I have a question. Does one first do Polar Align, and then set up the Home Position, or first do the Home Posn, and then do the Polar Align ?
Thanks. Home position is something you can set at any time. I'd do it during the day. Then I'd polar align from the home position. So set it home, then polar align
Worts best video
THANK YOU SIR🎉🎉🎉
This is a great video! But I’m surprised that you made no mention of how to set the mount to the proper Latitude.
Thanks man
Very helpful!
Legend!
You say your advice applies to any Eq mount but my AVX mount doesn't appear to have "setting circles". So I'm flummoxed right from the start.
I have an ignorant question, so I apologize. But what is the purpose of "homing" the telescope? If I am polar aligned well, why does the home position matter ?
If I am using a "go-to" system, the system doesn't know or care about a perfect home, so long as it is polar aligned ? I suppose if I am using the setting circles on the mount and manually dialing an object's coordinates in Ra and DEC, then I might see the purpose.
Can you please explain ? I am very new to this hobby .
Thank you!
Sorry for the late reply I hope you've either found the answer or I can still help.
Go-to mounts use a database in them to know where the objects are. It uses your location and time/date for this. However in order for go-to to be accurate 3 things need to be set:
1) the mount must be polar aligned
2) the home position has been set, stored to memory and actually positioned
3) thr tripod is levelled. This is optional to many people but certainly at the start it makes life easier
Say you had your home position set the way I had my mount at the very beginning. When you choose an object to go-to, the mount 99% of the time will assume its pointing to the home position.
This will cause the goto to be extremely out and miss the target completely. Or, worse, the telescope could hit the tripod.
As for setting circles: even those need calibrating. Every object has a Right Ascension and Declination. And as you can see those circles can be moved about.
To use setting circles accurately they need calibrating also. I'd point to a very bright star that is easily visible, centre the telescope on that. Then manually set your setting circles to that stars RA/Declination. Now that's calibrated and will actually help
Hope this has been useful
This requires the mount to be level initially right? Another solution is to plate solve, park, and then set the settings circles to 0 (or mark).
Yeah I would level the mount initially. As levelling the mount is sort of a basic setup step I didn't decide to include it. You could do that I think. Another solution also is to park the mount, then turn it off. Undo the clutches, perform the EQ home position setup and then your park position will be set to EQ home.
Cool! Thank you!
Ok I have a few questions, do you stand to the rear or front of the mount when doing this, do you use the lower or upper set of numbers on the ra dial, do you do this before or after balancing, and before or after polar alignment? Also, my dec dial is fixed and doesn't move separately, so what's going on there? So sorry for such newbie questions, I just got my first telescope, it has an eq mount and i'm losing my mind trying to set this thing up in Australia. Or is this all purely for motorised mounts? I've watched dozens of videos on how to set my telescope up and can't figure anything out beyond the balancing.
Hello. I have an EQ3 mount that I have motirized with OnStep system interfaced with Kstars and Ekos. Please can you tell me the coordinates i have to indicate in Ekos for this home position?
Thank you!
Good and simple explanation but there's a mistake : the so called "RA graduation circle" are NOT right ascensions, these are HOUR ANGLES !
Think about it a second : as you follow a star, that hour angle rises with time but the star RA is still the same ! So, those graduations are obviously NOT right ascensions !
Once fixed, that graduations circle shouldn't never be moved again (ideally they should be engraved in the mount...)
Hour angle of any celestial body is defined by : HA(body) = LST - RA(body), LST beeing YOUR Local Sidereal Time
If its HA is 00H it means that YOUR LST equals the RA of the body and the body is due South (or North for those who walk upside down...)
The angle hour of the vernal point (RA = 00:00:00) is always equal to YOUR LST. That means that if you use your Goto to point 00:00:00/0.0, your graduations gives YOUR Local Sidreal Time !
Now those circles are set up, you can VERY EASILY find any object QUICKLY : first know its HA/DEC, not its RA/DEC.
Stellarium gives you those numbers : for HA/DEC, you have to check it in General configuration | Information
1) If the hour angle is between 00H and 12H (body is somewhere in the West part of your sky), move the main axis to that value.
2) if the hour angle is between 12H and 24H (body is somewhere in the East part of your sky), and in order TO RESPECT MERIDIAN FLIP, move the main axis to that value minus 12H, then move the tube in declination so it points with the right declination in the East part of your sky) . Moving the tube in declination from the West part to the East part, passes through the celestial pole and adds automatically 12H to the hour angle.
If you respect meridian flip, your index should ALWAYS be between 00H and 12H...
If you have well understood what the hour angle is, you'll realize that you can use ANY star to roughly polar align your mount without the need of a polar scope, preferably one that is close to the celestial equator, while your mount rotates at sidereal rate...
I use the hour angle to easily center the Sun and Venus during the day, it works like a charm...Once set up to the right hour angle, you should at least find your target in your finderscope...
In Skywatcher manual, they explain how to target a bogy with that "RA graduation circle" but it's a pain in the ass, and it's a VERY UNEFFECTIVE way of finding an object...
I don't get why the declination setting circle moves with the rotation under motorized control, but not the RA setting circles. So this means when the mount is off on some goofy position, the Declination can easily be set back to the zero home position by releasing the clutch and just moving it until the setting circle shows zero again, but the RA won't work, because the setting circle never moved with the mount, so it's still at zero, even if you've rotated the RA 90 degrees with the motor.
I just found out it has a go to park position in the utility menu, so that helps, but if the setting circle can move with the declination movement, why can't the setting circle move with the RA motorized movement?
Nice vid. Thanks, Could you use the other bubble in the spirit level to see that it is perpendicular to the ground to skip a step?
Thank you. I did test that option but found it unreliable. For the amount of time it takes I found it just more straight forwards to do both axis separately
@@AstroFarsography 👍👍
Hi, my Polar alignment reticule is not quite upright when I look throught it, when the mount is level the zero mark is slightly rotated to one side. So, when I Polar align do I just rotate the mount until it is back at the top, do the alignment and the put the scope back to its level home position before powering up the mount?
Hi Andy. A polar scope not matching the mount is absolutely normal. Yep just rotate the mount until the polar scope is at the bottom (it's an uncorrected refracting telescope basically so down is up). Do your alignment and go back to home. You can use the hand controller to move the mount in RA and Dec to get the polar scope in position. Then when you're done aligning you can just put the mount back to park position :)
@@AstroFarsography Hi, thank you. Do I also need to set the hand controller to the park position of the scope? I have manually set the mount via a bubble level in both axes and set the setting circles. I'm using an EQ6R Pro mount. Andy.
After dropping the level your demo became confusing for a neophyte like me…The setting procedure for RA & DEC should each time start with a full mount view and only then with a detailed setting circle view, my opinion..thanks.
Hi mate, thanks for your comment and suggestions. I apologise that it wasn't clear for you. Can I help explain it at all or have you figured it out?
Thanks Ruzeen
Very helpful. I also have the heq6-r. Mount is balanced, leveled and polar aligned.
Two questions if I may:
1. Do I need to put a sharpee mark on the scope? Wouldn't using the indicator marks built onto the mount be enough if the rig loses power during the night (sometimes happens with my deluxe celestron power tank)?
2. If I figure out the setting circle for the Dec by using the spirit level on top of the OTA (I have a C11 SCT), would that allow me correct for any potential cone error?
Really enjoy your stuff. Entertaining as well as highly accessible.
Doug (in Ontario)
How about a video about par scope alignment? For instance, when I put the 0 of my polar scope up, the weight bar isn't horizontal and I think that's a problem, isn't?
Hey Valter nice suggestion thanks. I'll work on that. As for the horizontal bar, not really. As long as your polar scope is at midnight then that's the critical part. The polar alignment only adjusts the mount in Altitude and Azimuth and not Right Ascension or Declination, so where your C/W bar is doesn't matter.
When I set up my mount, I'll do a polar alignment with the asiair. after that I'll do a 2 star alignment. What is the benefit to set it manually to home position? Doesn't every eq goto mount have home switches ?
I own a Celestron CGE and it automatically goes to home position prior to the 2 star alignment.
I'm a beginner so maybe I'm totally missing the point 😎
I'd say most mounts do not have home switches, or dual encoders for that matter. Mine relies on it being in home position when it gets powered up. Although if you do perform star alignements, plate solves etc. and sync to mount im pretty sure it will discard whatever positional info it had to make it match these measurements. Having an accurate home position does make the initial alignment a lot faster though, and if you "calibrate" the set circles it's really quick and easy to move the mount to home before starting up.
This is great, but am I missing something? I have the HEQ5 Pro btw. When you place the spirit level in the declination clutch why can’t you just use the shorter bubble window which is perpendicular to the one you are using here. That way surely you will not need to do the quarter turn calculation as it will just be aligned straight away Similarly the sides of the HEQ5 pro appear fully flat and perpendicular, so why can’t I just use the ‘sideways’ horizontal bubble readout in the vertical position rather than having to do the quarter turn afterwards? Surely they equate to the same thing?
1 second ago
First thanks for this. Do you have the water before or after the doing ra axis? Also instead of water can you improve the result if you take a bit of wine or even beer?
That one is personal preference. Though I've heard you don't get great results after a litre of spirits before performing the home position, so just be aware of that!
@@AstroFarsography home position is sofa - lying horizontal when the clouds are overhead! Clear skies.
Hi Ruzeen - great guide. I can’t help but think the DEC set to zero when level is in theory incorrect - not that it matters as it’s a point of reference - and arguably a better one. But is it not set to your sites current altitude. Cos In the home position the scope is pointing to that altitude. Ref: welshdragoncomputing.ca/eqmod/doku.php?id=setting_home_position
excelent! One question please: I just bought a new skywatcher120/1000 rig with equatorial neq5 and I'm still learning the equatorial (before it had a 70mm with altaz mount. Once I managed to put it in parking position (orient the tripod to the north with a quality compass, level the tripod , level right ascension and level declination and adjust latitude of Madrid), can I consider that I am aligned with the polar? even if it is fake alignment? because sometimes you want to see the moon during the day or because there is something that does not allow you to see the polar. And Would you know how many degrees you have to deviate to true north in the location of Madrid, since the compass will indicate magnetic north?
Sorry but it doesn't work for me .(
When I block graduate scale in RA axis , it block even the movement on RA axis when I rotate the mount.....
My mount is HEQ5 Pro
Have you found that the DEC axis is somewhat stiff on these mounts? Mine is pretty stiff straight from the factory.
When you set those shiny green dials to 6 o'clock and 90 degrees. The dials move on there own. If you rotate something and held the dial it wouldn't move with the tracker. So how can i trust it. If I love them, they don't move at all
Lock**
I have the EQ5 for 2 years and have never been able to polar align. In Australia it's not easy. I am going to purchase Synscan Goto system for the mount. Would the Goto System find polar align easily or is it still quite the task?
Thanks mate. Have you had any experience with the ASIAir?
I have to EQ6R-Pro too and when I use the "go to home" function the dec is always about 10 degrees off...it used to work fine, now it does this.
It doesnt seem to cause any issue with operation, Goto is fine etc but it is annoying.
Hey mate, no, no experience with an ASIAir, I might be getting one sometime soon though. I've heard some things for and against them though. It would be interesting to try it myself.
@@AstroFarsography highly recommended by me despite small issues like this. Makes things super easy and great results.
It's awesome. By the way, my issue came down to a time zone problem.
My control tablet was in daylight savings mode and the AAP couldn't handle that apparently. (They've probably fixed it by now)
Just asking, how would you do this eq5 r pro as the greens setting circle just there for show dont really work or lock down ?
Hey Ruzeen,(I hope I wrote that right, sorry if it's not) do you need to re-home your mount every time to setup? Thanks
Love from Belgium
Hey Rune (yes you spelt it right!). In an ideal world you would. You'd set the EQ home position and then program that as your "park" position. (better yet park the scope THEN set the EQ home). So at the end of your session you'd park your scope and then it's ready for the next time. What I also did on my HEQ5 Pro was put a couple sharpie marks on the mount indicating the RA and DEC home positions to speed things up in case the mount moved in transit.
Love from Britain 😃
1. Loosen RA & DEC axis clutches.
2. Use controller, send mount to Home.
3. Point scope North.
4. Turn scope in RA such that counterweight are at lowest position.
5. Tighten clutches.
6. Done.
Absolute accuracy is NOT necessary.
Thanks for this. If I'm using the ASIAir+ to control my mount, should I do this before turning the Air on? (Also, if using the ASIAir, is it necessary to have the hand control plugged in at all?)
I would set the home position first before switching the Air on. Its somewhat assumed that the mount is in the home position.
The hand controller method is only so you can read the degree and hour/minutes readouts whilst you're turning the mount. If the mount has setting circles then it shouldn't be necessary at all to use any power or contrllers to set the home position :)
Do we need to do this before polar aligning?
Hey mate. Yeah, it would be beneficial to have this setup before polar aligning but isn't absolutely critical. Eq home just helps with goto and finding targets
the leg spreader is not level never was it forces the legs out when you tighten it up its not level us the apron mount at the top for the dovetail
chuck that level Roz!
Hi Ruzeen. Just setting up my sky-watcher eqm35 pro and I'm presuming you level the mount first? Also when I input my location in the Synscan how do I input -002 - 19" West? Do I have to change it to East and convert the reading? To 87 - 41" East. Cheers buddy.
Hi mate you should try and Google your coordinates in the format synscan asks for. Search "GPS coordinates" specifically and you should be able to find the correct format
@@AstroFarsography Thanks for the reply Ruzeen. School boy error. Too excited to see the wood for the trees!!!! Just need clear skies now. Think the box was full of clouds and they escaped when I opened it 🤣🤣🤣
I have an eq6r pro and I’m following your process except when I use the hand controller to move the RA axis, the setting circle does not move. If I release the clutch, then the dial will move with the mount. Does your eq6r pro work this way as well or do you think I have a problem? Thanks for the help
If your dial doesn't move with the mount using the hand controller, try tightening the thumb screws on the setting circle a bit. Should help
@@AstroFarsography the thumbscrews are very tight. The dec axis works as it should but the ra axis doesn’t move when using the hand controller. Only when I unlock the clutch and move it manually.
@@allenhenderson5941 try undoing the setting circle thumb screws a bit, sounds like the circle is locked down.
@@AstroFarsography if they were too tight then the dial wouldn’t want to move at all, but moves freely when I unlock the clutch and move it manually. It just doesn’t rotate with the mount when I use the hand controller.
Hi. Very helpful video. However I'm a bit confused. At about minute 4.57 you state that the declination is pointing straight to the celestial pole but how can that be if you haven't performed a polar alignment? It seems to me that the dec axis would be parallel to the polar axis (assuming you've correctly set your mounts lat) but without polar aligning you may not be pointing to the celestial pole. What am I misunderstanding?
Hi Paul. To clarify what I mean is that it's pointing in the direction of the NCP, and not AT the NCP exactly. In terms of how the weight bar is pointing down and the telescope is in a straight line with the mount itself
@@AstroFarsography Sure. But with the bar down and the dec saddle in line, your OTA could, in fact, be pointing south. I guess what I'm eluding to is that the orientation of the tripod relative to the mount matters if you want to be pointing "toward the NCP" or am I misunderstanding something in your procedure? Cheers
@@phcalama yeah it could be pointing south most definitely. By my definition, the equatorial home position is a neutral resting position of the mount. The mount top itself is 0° azimuth in relation to the tripod adjustment, the correct latitude is set on the mount (56° or so for me). Then the mount bar is pointing down to the ground and the Dec saddle is pointing along the RA axis towards the NCP with the OTA's objective aperture also in line with the RA axis pointing to the sky and the rough area of the NCP. Of course the mount won't be aiming directly at the NCP until polar alignment has been carried out. But the EQ home position is used as a neutral area for GoTo functionality so the computer has a fixed reference point to begin calculating from
anyway you can by those little bulls eye levels stick back you can stick them were you like :P
Do the same settings apply to southern hemisphere?
Yes they will. Setting the mount is just getting it pointing in the right direction. Actually polar aligning is a different thing to the equatorial home position :)
As a 69 year old just starting Astro I am very greatfull for your advice
@@AstroFarsography
Hi ruzeen,hope you are fine bro, i am using skywatcher eq5 telescope and i don,t know why it doesn,t find the target accurately? for example when i press the mars on my hand controller, the telescope is starting to slew towards the mars in the wrong direction, i don,t know is there any things to do with polar and star alignment? because i am struggling with both alignment,please tell me what to do, thanks bro
Hi Pahlavi is this the question you were referring to?
A lot of factors could cause this. I would firstly say to double check the basic set up:
• time/date correctly input
• any daylight saving times
• correct observation location input
Whenever I had my mount gonthr wrong way it was due to the time/date. I also would turn the mount off without parking it, reset it to the eqhome position and go again. That usually fixed my issue
@@AstroFarsography yes my friend, i just bought the celestron starsense auto align recently, it might help me to do the polar and star alignment,but haven,t tryied it yet,due to the bad weather in uk
@@AstroFarsography i put the time and date correctly, even all the info like ,location,alt,lat,, mount position to the north,day time saving,my big problem is;polar and star alignment and also i get confuse that what eyepiece do i have to use for my object?like mars,jupiter,saturn,deep sky,,,,,,, i will appreciated if you help me to solve this big problem bro,many thanks.
@@pahlavipahlavi5926 for polar alignment I'd recommend getting an app like PolarisView so you can see where Polaris is. Makes polar alignment much easier.
For star alignment use your hand controller along with an app like Skyeye or Stellarium so you can pick out several stars for star alignment
Eyepieces you use bigger numbers to get a wider view. I used to use 20mm at first then go to 10mm to centre the star (or use an crosshair eyepiece)
@@AstroFarsography thank you,bro,i will do
shall we level the tripod before home position setup?
That's what I thought as well... I'm a beginner in this but I missed that as well like you said..
Yes, the tripod should be level. I can't speak for every mount tripod but mine has a spirit level built in. Make sure that bubble is centered and you're good to go.
I must say though that this should be common sense meaning no disrespect to anyone. An unlevel tripod is bad regardless of home position or polar alignment. An off balance piece of equipment could fall over and damage or permenantly brake whatever it is that was off balance, be it a camera and tripod, astro gear and tripod or construction equipment.
Even if the gear is heavy enough to not fall over an unbalanced astro set up will affect PA and tracking. Best of luck.
Spirit level! Lol
Heck yes, gotta love the trusty spirit level! :D
Wish I could had watched this video earlier.
Spirit level....as he takes a sip of....??
I'm concerned that you are adjusting several thousand dollars of precision mount, that will support thousands of more astrophotography equipment based on a $10 spirit level. Especially one you just dropped.(repeatedly?). It is my experience that cheap plastic spirit levels may show different measurements by simply flipping it end for end, or flipping it front to back.
I suggest obtaining a digital inclinometer with a magnetic base. These are not expensive, but their accuracy is orders of magnitude more trustworthy.
Cheers and good seeing.
You're correct that this spirit level does give a different reading depending on which way you face it. So I figured out which way is reading true before hand. You can see me flip the spirit level around to compensate for this. A digital inclinometer didn't at all cross my mind at all, just looked them up, yeah not expensive really. So it's a good suggestion to pick one of them up for sure.
Clear skies bud
@@AstroFarsography If you get different readings depending on which way you face the level, then it won't be a case of one way is right and the other wrong. It will be "in between". I think if the bubble is off centre by the same amount in the other direction when you rotate it, then it will be level. It's easier if you try to picture it in your head with a non-aligned bubble ... or maybe not !
Is there a video for absolute morons such as myself.ive realised I'm one of those all the gear no idea types.
perfect you didn't use the plate lmao noobs first biggest mistake :)