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Polar scope reticle


Milzy

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Hi all, 

Having a little trouble understanding the reticle. I have the eq5 mount and when looking through polar scope it has a clock style face 0 3 6 and  9 with 0 being at the bottom and 6 at the top. Should this not be the other way around ie 0 top 6 bottom, the only way to resolve this is to rotate the RA axis 180 but watching vids of polar alignment for thus mount the RA axis is always pointing down. This is the reticle I have. https://www.avalon-instruments.com/support/13-troubleshooting/104-polar-alignment-using-the-new-skywatcher-polar-scope

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If you can you can download an app on your phone (or PC) for Polar alignment that will shoe you where the star should be on your

polarscope reticule. Should not worry too much about the numbers..

 

Ron

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Mine was also out and when I adjusted the centering of the graticule (which was also out) I set 0 to be at the top with the mount in the home position.  I believe the 'time' that the Synscan hand controller gives you for the position of Polaris assumes that 0 is at the top.

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And it can get confusing, when you realise the Polarscope can give a mirrored view (ie left / right reversed) and / or inverted view.

You need to ensure your app (which has a feature to correct for this) and polarscope  are both showing the same thing.

But once you've got it right, its pretty easy, and the new SW Polarscopes are very good.

 

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Cheers guys, it is confusing but I do understand how to polar align I just don't get why its that way around. Also somebody else has said using synscan to polar align that is when the numbers needs to be 0 at top and 6 bottom as to what Clive wrote. I've yet to turn it on due to weather so will it prompt me to do a PA or can I skip it? or do I do what Clive did and take polar scope out and put correct way?  Is this a manufacturing fault surely if the goto needs to read the mount as 0 top and 6 bottom shouldn't the PS come that way and unlike mine?  Again thanks for the help.

Edited by Milzy
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47 minutes ago, RonC said:

If you can you can download an app on your phone (or PC) for Polar alignment that will shoe you where the star should be on your

polarscope reticule. Should not worry too much about the numbers..

 

Ron

I suspect some apps are better than others. I have PolarisView on my phone.  Just now (19:10) the app is showing Polaris at 6:30 whereas the Synscan Hand controller and my own software shows it at 6:42, a difference of 12 minutes which equates to an angular error of 6 degrees.

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1 minute ago, Milzy said:

... or do I do what Clive did and take polar scope out and put correct way?

You don't need to remove the polarscope to align the graticule.  It can be a bit fiddly as it involves small movements of 3 grub screws, there are videos on the web showing how to do it. If you intend doing any astrophotography then a decent polar alignment is normally required but for just for visual use it isn't as critical (although you may struggle with mount alignment if it is very far out).  Bear in mind these mounts are put together in the shortest time possible in order to keep the costs down so don't expect high quality straight out of the box, they usually need a tweak here or there.

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6 minutes ago, Clive said:

You don't need to remove the polarscope to align the graticule.  It can be a bit fiddly as it involves small movements of 3 grub screws, there are videos on the web showing how to do it. If you intend doing any astrophotography then a decent polar alignment is normally required but for just for visual use it isn't as critical (although you may struggle with mount alignment if it is very far out).  Bear in mind these mounts are put together in the shortest time possible in order to keep the costs down so don't expect high quality straight out of the box, they usually need a tweak here or there.

Yeah I jumped the gun a bit there saying take out polar scope. I've read and watched vids to align the scope using the 3 screws, would I be able to spin the reticle pattern using this method so I can put the 0 at the top?

Mike

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To rotate the graticule you need to unscrew and remove the eyepiece so you can physically get to the graticule to rotate it.  Again it's fiddly, but it can be done.  Mines not precisely set, I still need to rotate the RA axis a few degrees to get 0 at the top but it's much better than how it arrived.

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If its like my old SW mount (AZ-EQ6) adjusting the polarscope axis is a complete nightmare is you are

trying to do it using those awful grub screws with an alan wrench. Replace them with 3 x M3 screws.

Once done its an easy 5 minute job.

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5 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said:

If its like my old SW mount (AZ-EQ6) adjusting the polarscope axis is a complete nightmare is you are

trying to do it using those awful grub screws with an alan wrench. Replace them with 3 x M3 screws.

Once done its an easy 5 minute job.

I've seen that little hack👍

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40 minutes ago, Clive said:

To rotate the graticule you need to unscrew and remove the eyepiece so you can physically get to the graticule to rotate it.  Again it's fiddly, but it can be done.  Mines not precisely set, I still need to rotate the RA axis a few degrees to get 0 at the top but it's much better than how it arrived.

I need to flip mine and spin it 180  can this be done? can't link a photo other wise I'd show you what it looks like.

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9 minutes ago, Milzy said:

I need to flip mine and spin it 180  can this be done? can't link a photo other wise I'd show you what it looks like.

You shouldn't need to flip it, in fact it won't fit if you do - you just need to rotate it if necessary so that 0 is nearer the top. And as @Bino-viewer mentioned, it's worth replacing the grub screws.  The one's originally fitted to mine had cone points that just dug into the graticule housing making adjustment difficult.  I replaced them with cup-point grub screws (as I didn't want screw heads projecting from the polar scope) an that made the task much easier.

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Nice one guys, I'll just do the alignment for it and leave it, I'm just miffed at why its so wrong. Thanks again Mike.

Ohh it's not flipped, it just needs rotating just had another look at it.

Edited by Milzy
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