I noticed you mounted your telescope before mounting your counterweights. Never mount your scope before your counterweights lest your expensive gear swings around and violently impacts your tripod leg when the insufficient brake on your clutch gives way.
I am confident that the clamp will be able to grab on to the scope. I can see your point, but right now i need to pull rather violently to pull the scope to the side. Still, thanks for the concerns, will consider it next time🙂
While I often see the HEQ5 Pro with legs not extended fully, using my GSO 6 inch RC with its longish optical train, means fully extending the tripod legs. However, I found that the legs can slip, so you need to very tightly clamp after adjusting. Southern Hemisphere does have a pole star, by the way, its Sigma Octantis
Tim, your description was very brief. With HEQ5 (or any similar mount), I would suggest: extending the counterweight rod fully - don't try to reduce the length because it will prevent polar alignment. Put the scope in the home position and lock the scope with the show aligned vertically. Put the weights on the counterweight rod and add the safety bolt to the counterweight rod. Now the mount is stable - add the telescope. After the polar alignment, do a one star alignment. Instead of slewing to the target, move the mount manually by unlocking and centering the target and locking the clutches. Slew to the target using a medium eyepiece. Repeating with a three star alignment will now be easy to do and will ensure the scope knows where to GOTO.
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?
I think the illuminated ezepiece is necessary for star aligment. About the polar aligment, if you have such a backyard, simple put 3 concrete tile for the lengs (way better if you sink them to ground) Mark the legs position on the tile (with paint cross or sometigh lik that) Also mark the legs extenions on the tripod. After you can skip the polar aligment, and you can save 15-20 minutes for each occasion. I did the same, but i have concrete in my site, so simpli I have painted the legs position, then skip the polar aligment, every time i check the polar aligment and some times I adjust very little with azimut knobs. (it takes less then 1 minute) So thats it! :D
But i am still confident that precise work results in a better guide graph, better dithering, and sharper images. Skipping precise polar alignment is not an option to me
@@AstroAddict 600mm for ED80 and 740 for bresser Mak-newton. At the begining I have checked with drift align, but that was always quite ok. If you have some small missaligment then the Phd2 will compensate that. Try not overthing this. :). And i missed something at previous time. I wanted to write: the illuminated eyepiece is not necessary for star aligment. We can live without it. :D
I bought one from the next store, where you can set the Voltage and current, and it had a dozen different small pin adapters to choose from. Just go to your electronic market and show them the plug, i'm sure they will have the correct type. 12V and 5A
Thanks for your video. I'm considering getting a HEQ5 mount, but I'll use it mostly from my balcony (I can see Polaris and most of the sky east of the meridian). The problem is that the width of the balcony is about 105 cm. Can you measure the distance between the tripod leg tips when not extended? Thanks in advance.
I setup my Heq5 pro for the first time today and I noticed that when I looked through the polar scope the red light that lights up the polar scope was drowning out Polaris and I couldn't see it unless I turned the power off because the red light was too bright. Is that how it is done or is there a setting to dim the red light so I can see Polaris with the red light on? Thanks in advance.
So you first level the reticle in the polar finder by loosening the clutch on the RA and align to Polaris. Before doing star alignment, do you return the declination and RA to 0 degrees? How precise does that need to be? Is that home position to start from for star alignment/
After Polaris is in the right spot, return both DEC and RA back to normal. It does not have to be that precise, the first alignment star will never be in the FOV after the first slew, don't worry. Centering and confirming the first star tells the scope where it's pointing at, a small stat error on the axis does not mattet
Does the reticle need to be lined up where 0 is straight up? When I set me scope up the 0 in the polar finder is pointing about 30 degreed to the left. But nothing in the manual says anything about adjusting that angle so the polat aligemt circle is pointing straight up before putting Polaris in the clock position position the time and day. appropriate spot
@@AstroAddict Thanks for the response. Really helps. I just saw a video from Orion telescopes and he confirmed you do want to have the 0 pointed at the 12 o clock position to set Polaris at the appropriate spot. So thanks for the confirmation.
No, i don't have a case. Most of the time, the head rests on a table in the cellar. When travelling, I just wrap it in a blanket😂 But there are specific cases/bags, just google them
when your mount is in home position do you have your reticule in level? (like 0 up 12 down) cos in my mount I need to move RA to akward position to get my reticule in level, I wonder if it's a mistake or it's usuall
I know what you mean. It's not up straight in my mount either, i marked the RA position with a pen to have it stand up correctly. It's not an issue if the polar scope is collimated, you can check that
But when I set my RA reticule in place and lock locking screw and I move RA it stay in place and numbers are not moving I dont know why and how to correct that 😁
(I watch your videos while editing a video showing three years of observation and astrophotography ! There are such great astronomers everywhere making videos, it's inspiring :D)
Kommt auch drauf an ob du Vollformat fotografierst oder nicht. Der standard f/7 Refraktor (102/714) braucht bei längeren Belichtungen schon AutoGuiding, grade bei den 5min H-alpha Bildern. Die kleineren Refraktoren, z.B. die ziemlich bekannten WilliamOptics Zenithstar's (61/360) brauchen kein Guiding. Der Tracking-Fehler einer Montierung ist nicht konstant, mal kann ein Bild unscharf sein, das nächste nicht. Manche Montierungen kann man auch trainieren. Um so besser die Montierung, desto weniger Guiding braucht man. Alles über 714mm braucht aber generell Guiding würde ich sagen
Bei Einzelbelichtungen von 3-4 Minuten benötigst Du schon Guiding. Pi mal Daumen kannst du bei 400mm Brennweite bis 120 Sekunden belichten ohne Guiding. Wenn sehr gut eingenordet.
Finish the initial setup, skip the alignment. I can't remember where it is, either under Setup or Utility Function, set the Tracking Rate to Siderial. You can slew the telescope to the desired position before or after that
@@AstroAddict AstroAddict omg i think i broke it. was trying to take apart and make sure i had everything tight. and the peice with the polar scope and where you plug in the syn scan handcontroller. and where your camera would be or telescope I DROPPED it. the polar scope thingy is now turned around about 45 degrees from what it used to look like at home. so then i was like omg what else did i mess up. so i turned it on and just hit enter to slew something/ anything and now it makes the noise but no movement whatso ever?!!!? now what do i do? please help with any suggestions.
hello, ok so heres what happened. last year i bought a skywatcher eqm 35 pro. ive not had time to set up until this year. ive just ordered my scope a evo 72 and syn scan wifi for easier polar alignment. i was having trouble getting polar aligned so i thought maybe i didnt do something right in the set up. so i set out to take off and tighten up and look over the manual carefully to make sure i did things right. well all was well until i dropped the polar scope and the counterweight the small one and the black box that says ra in and dec out. so i set all back up and the polar scope is now turned some from the original position and the motor will not turn. so what do i do now? its brand new only used a few times and ive ruined it. so do i get this fixed? get a new head? for the mount what would work and be as cheap as possible for my set up? please advise. and thank you
I noticed you mounted your telescope before mounting your counterweights. Never mount your scope before your counterweights lest your expensive gear swings around and violently impacts your tripod leg when the insufficient brake on your clutch gives way.
I am confident that the clamp will be able to grab on to the scope. I can see your point, but right now i need to pull rather violently to pull the scope to the side. Still, thanks for the concerns, will consider it next time🙂
I'm glad I'm not the only person who made a yt video where I put the scope on the mount before putting the counterweight on :-). Thuss :-)
While I often see the HEQ5 Pro with legs not extended fully, using my GSO 6 inch RC with its longish optical train, means fully extending the tripod legs. However, I found that the legs can slip, so you need to very tightly clamp after adjusting. Southern Hemisphere does have a pole star, by the way, its Sigma Octantis
Tim, your description was very brief.
With HEQ5 (or any similar mount), I would suggest: extending the counterweight rod fully - don't try to reduce the length because it will prevent polar alignment. Put the scope in the home position and lock the scope with the show aligned vertically. Put the weights on the counterweight rod and add the safety bolt to the counterweight rod. Now the mount is stable - add the telescope.
After the polar alignment, do a one star alignment. Instead of slewing to the target, move the mount manually by unlocking and centering the target and locking the clutches. Slew to the target using a medium eyepiece. Repeating with a three star alignment will now be easy to do and will ensure the scope knows where to GOTO.
Nice Introduction to a great mount!
Do you use Polemaster to Polar align? I find it very quick and easy and my back and neck do not suffer!!
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?
I think the illuminated ezepiece is necessary for star aligment. About the polar aligment, if you have such a backyard, simple put 3 concrete tile for the lengs (way better if you sink them to ground) Mark the legs position on the tile (with paint cross or sometigh lik that) Also mark the legs extenions on the tripod. After you can skip the polar aligment, and you can save 15-20 minutes for each occasion. I did the same, but i have concrete in my site, so simpli I have painted the legs position, then skip the polar aligment, every time i check the polar aligment and some times I adjust very little with azimut knobs. (it takes less then 1 minute) So thats it! :D
Now i am curious, what Focal length do you use?
But i am still confident that precise work results in a better guide graph, better dithering, and sharper images. Skipping precise polar alignment is not an option to me
@@AstroAddict 600mm for ED80 and 740 for bresser Mak-newton. At the begining I have checked with drift align, but that was always quite ok. If you have some small missaligment then the Phd2 will compensate that. Try not overthing this. :). And i missed something at previous time. I wanted to write: the illuminated eyepiece is not necessary for star aligment. We can live without it. :D
cool, I would say one thing, always out the weight on before the scope or there will be a nasty accident if the clutch isn't tight enough
what type of power supply use at home? i have only car cable for EQR6 pro
I bought one from the next store, where you can set the Voltage and current, and it had a dozen different small pin adapters to choose from. Just go to your electronic market and show them the plug, i'm sure they will have the correct type. 12V and 5A
Akkustand niedrig!
Thanks for your video. I'm considering getting a HEQ5 mount, but I'll use it mostly from my balcony (I can see Polaris and most of the sky east of the meridian). The problem is that the width of the balcony is about 105 cm. Can you measure the distance between the tripod leg tips when not extended? Thanks in advance.
I setup my Heq5 pro for the first time today and I noticed that when I looked through the polar scope the red light that lights up the polar scope was drowning out Polaris and I couldn't see it unless I turned the power off because the red light was too bright. Is that how it is done or is there a setting to dim the red light so I can see Polaris with the red light on? Thanks in advance.
You can dim the LED in the polar scope in the hand controller settings
@@AstroAddictI honestly wasn’t expecting you to answer being that the video has been out for a while. Thank you for helping out, the video is great!!
So you first level the reticle in the polar finder by loosening the clutch on the RA and align to Polaris. Before doing star alignment, do you return the declination and RA to 0 degrees? How precise does that need to be? Is that home position to start from for star alignment/
After Polaris is in the right spot, return both DEC and RA back to normal. It does not have to be that precise, the first alignment star will never be in the FOV after the first slew, don't worry. Centering and confirming the first star tells the scope where it's pointing at, a small stat error on the axis does not mattet
@@AstroAddict By "normal" you mean 0 Degrees DEC and RA i assume. Thanks Much. Great video!
Does the reticle need to be lined up where 0 is straight up?
When I set me scope up the 0 in the polar finder is pointing about 30 degreed to the left. But nothing in the manual says anything about adjusting that angle so the polat aligemt circle is pointing straight up before putting Polaris in the clock position position the time and day. appropriate spot
I have the same problem in my HEQ-5. I don't know if you can acutally turn it within it's frame, but rotation the DEC also solves this issue
@@AstroAddict Thanks for the response. Really helps.
I just saw a video from Orion telescopes and he confirmed you do want to have the 0 pointed at the 12 o clock position to set Polaris at the appropriate spot.
So thanks for the confirmation.
Can the mount be used for manual aiming without going to a preset destination?
Yes, you can move it with the directional keys, and than set it to tracking
When storing and transporting the mount should you lock or unlock the clutches to avoid damage?
If you have a sturdy case, where the mount can't move around, unlock them.
AstroAddict great thank you. Do you use a case? Any recommendations for a heq5 pro case?
No, i don't have a case. Most of the time, the head rests on a table in the cellar. When travelling, I just wrap it in a blanket😂
But there are specific cases/bags, just google them
@AstroAddict can you use a camera rather then a scope to set up star alignment?
Yes, but a DSLR does only work if you align on bright stars
Now that you’ve had the SkyWatcher for awhile do you still like it? thnx
Yes, it's amazing
when your mount is in home position do you have your reticule in level? (like 0 up 12 down) cos in my mount I need to move RA to akward position to get my reticule in level, I wonder if it's a mistake or it's usuall
I know what you mean. It's not up straight in my mount either, i marked the RA position with a pen to have it stand up correctly. It's not an issue if the polar scope is collimated, you can check that
@@AstroAddict thanks
But when I set my RA reticule in place and lock locking screw and I move RA it stay in place and numbers are not moving I dont know why and how to correct that 😁
You are doing a really good job, it's great !
Greetings from France ;)
Greetings from germany😀
(I watch your videos while editing a video showing three years of observation and astrophotography ! There are such great astronomers everywhere making videos, it's inspiring :D)
Glad to hear these videos inspire someone🤘😀
Thank you for using "Helen" in your video :))
How can i say no to such a beautiful track :D
Hallo AstroAddict,
kannst du mir sagen, wie lange du mit welcher Brennweite ungeguidet fotografiern kannst?
Kommt auch drauf an ob du Vollformat fotografierst oder nicht. Der standard f/7 Refraktor (102/714) braucht bei längeren Belichtungen schon AutoGuiding, grade bei den 5min H-alpha Bildern. Die kleineren Refraktoren, z.B. die ziemlich bekannten WilliamOptics Zenithstar's (61/360) brauchen kein Guiding. Der Tracking-Fehler einer Montierung ist nicht konstant, mal kann ein Bild unscharf sein, das nächste nicht. Manche Montierungen kann man auch trainieren. Um so besser die Montierung, desto weniger Guiding braucht man. Alles über 714mm braucht aber generell Guiding würde ich sagen
Bei Einzelbelichtungen von 3-4 Minuten benötigst Du schon Guiding. Pi mal Daumen kannst du bei 400mm Brennweite bis 120 Sekunden belichten ohne Guiding. Wenn sehr gut eingenordet.
Jup, das kommt hin.
is there a way to set up tracking just to photograph the milky way with camera only?
Yes, the tracking can be activated at any time, no alignment needed
ive only turned on the sync scan once and i couldnt get much farther then that. can you in simple terms explain how i would track for the milky way ?
Finish the initial setup, skip the alignment. I can't remember where it is, either under Setup or Utility Function, set the Tracking Rate to Siderial. You can slew the telescope to the desired position before or after that
@@AstroAddict
AstroAddict omg i think i broke it. was trying to take apart and make sure i had everything tight. and the peice with the polar scope and where you plug in the syn scan handcontroller. and where your camera would be or telescope I DROPPED it. the polar scope thingy is now turned around about 45 degrees from what it used to look like at home. so then i was like omg what else did i mess up. so i turned it on and just hit enter to slew something/ anything and now it makes the noise but no movement whatso ever?!!!? now what do i do? please help with any suggestions.
hello,
ok so heres what happened. last year i bought a skywatcher eqm 35 pro. ive not had time to set up until this year. ive just ordered my scope a evo 72 and syn scan wifi for easier polar alignment. i was having trouble getting polar aligned so i thought maybe i didnt do something right in the set up. so i set out to take off and tighten up and look over the manual carefully to make sure i did things right. well all was well until i dropped the polar scope and the counterweight the small one and the black box that says ra in and dec out. so i set all back up and the polar scope is now turned some from the original position and the motor will not turn. so what do i do now? its brand new only used a few times and ive ruined it. so do i get this fixed? get a new head? for the mount what would work and be as cheap as possible for my set up? please advise. and thank you
And for the polar alignment, we need to wait for nightfall..."Click".. Nice...😏
Counterweights first should be a no-brainer 👍🏻
thank you very much !!!!
No problem!🙂
Even with eight legs you need to level only in two axis :)))
My point was, with three legs, you only need to set two of them correct. Don't think it works the same with 8😃
Awesome Blood Moon Image at the end of the Video..!! 👊😎
Subbed to your Channel..!! 👍
+ 1 More..!! 🌕🔭📡
Kannst du auch ein paar videos in der Muttersprache machen. Englisch geht zwar einigermassen aber in der Mutterspache ist es doch einfacher ;-)
Die deutschen sind nicht die einzigen die solche Videos wollen/brauchen
Wonder how many people will have caught the 'Dinner for One' reference? Lol.