Polaris alignment - my first daft questions

scarlet · Post by **scarlet** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:30 pm

Ok here goes & sorry - but is bugging me .....................

I have the EQ5 mount. Next purchase is going to be the Dual Motor Drive / tracker.

First not so daft question - how easy or not is it to fit ??

Second question - do you have to align with Polaris to use it ??

The reason for asking, is that the garden is south / east, lovely for Orion at the mo, but no so easy to find Polaris.

Thanks for any advice.

The Bat · Post by **The Bat** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:33 pm

Hi Scarlet

I think the EQ5 is more or less identical to my CG5. I fitted a dual axis motor to mine single handed. I found it easy enough.

If you don't polar align your mount, then you won't get the benefit of having the tracking motor. When switched on, the motor will drive the RA axis. If you don't align, your scope's RA axis will be rotating but the direction won't match the rotation of the sky, which will negate any benefit of tracking.

The good news is that for visual work, you don't need accurate polar alignment. Set the polar axis to your latitude, get a compass and plonk the mount down with the polar axis pointing north. That will probably be good enough.

Good luck.

Rachel

scarlet · Post by **scarlet** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:38 pm

Hi Rachel

That's helped hugely.

Thank you much

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:17 pm

Hi Scarlet.

Rachel has covered the points I had in mind. As to fitting the motors, there are some good photos here:
http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-h ... otors.html

HTH,

scarlet · Post by **scarlet** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:46 pm

Brian - that will be really helpfull

Thank you

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:03 pm

Glad to be of help

Regards,

Vega · Post by **Vega** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 10:38 pm

I mirror everything Rachel said... easy enough to install and you have to polar align but dont go overboard on precision if just observing. Leave the pain and suffering of precision polar alignment to us poor imagers

Matt

Ender Of Days · Post by **Ender Of Days** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:00 am

If I may,
here's one of the best ways I found to align if you have trouble finding the pole star,

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tut ... nment.html

JJ..

scarlet · Post by **scarlet** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:07 pm

Thank you all so much for the replies & help.

I'd ordered this today.

Have taken lots of pictures so far, even a long exposure taken of the colours in orion, but, they keep moving

So excited

M54 · Post by **M54** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 6:23 pm

Simple guide to polar alignment in whatever detail you want can be found on astro-baby.com (Mel).

scarlet · Post by **scarlet** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 5:54 pm

M54 wrote:Simple guide to polar alignment in whatever detail you want can be found on astro-baby.com (Mel).

Thanks Mel - am having a good read now.

M54 · Post by **M54** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:16 pm

No, I am not Mel.
Mel = Astro-Baby.
Mel/Astro-Baby wrote the guide.

I just argue with M/A-B

Suppose one day I may actually say hello to her.

She also has guides to the EQ mounts, just not sure if there is an EQ5 one.

scarlet · Post by **scarlet** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:46 am

Sorry M54 - just assumed you were Mel

I have received this morning & all fitted & great.

Just one (hopefully last) question, for the tracking you have to hold down all 4 directional buttons.

As soon as you release, it stops - is there any way of holding these ??

Thank you all.

Cheers.

The Bat · Post by **The Bat** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 1:56 pm

That doesn't sound right. It should track in RA as soon as power is connected. Make sure that it is set to N (northern hemisphere). The direction buttons are for faster slewing for centring your target or making fine adjustments. The speed control (2x, 4x, 8x) controls the slewing speed but the tracking should automatically run at 1x as long as the power is on. Don't forget it's very slow (1 rotation in 24 hours) so you won't notice much movement until you push the slew buttons, but you may hear a slight whirr coming from the motor if you get up close.

Rachel

scarlet · Post by **scarlet** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:03 pm

Hi Rachel - will check that - thanks.