I am a newbie to astro

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weixing
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Favourite scope: Vixen R200SS & Celestron 6" F5 Achro Refractor
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Post by weixing »

Hi,
Below is taken from an article:

To use drift star you usually must have a telescope with a clock drive. The basic idea with drift star alignment is to let the telescope run and observe which way the star drifts. Note the direction of the error and correct by moving the mount of the telescope.

Step 1: Perform a rough alignment using compass or whatever.

Step 2: Choose a reasonably bright star near the meridian (the imaginary line running from the zenith to due south, or north for southern hemisphere observers) and near the celestial equator (zero degrees declination or 90 degrees down from the pole). It is best to choose a star within 5 degrees of this position. Aim the telescope exactly at this star using a reticle eyepiece. If you do not have a reticle eyepiece use your highest power eyepiece to allow you to see which way the star drifts. The finderscope does not generally have enough magnification for this task.

Step 3: Allow the telescope clock drive to run for a while, at least five minutes. The star will begin to drift north or south, any east/west error you see is probably the speed of your clock drive. It is up to you to figure out which way is north and south in the eyepiece, just move it up and down and observe the motion. Once you figure this out the rules below work for any telescope.
--If the star drifts north the telescope mount is pointing too far to the west.
--If the star drifts south the telescope mount is pointing too far to the east.

Step 4: Determine which way the star drifted and make the appropriate correction. This is done by rotating the entire mount east or west as needed. Make small corrections, many scopes have adjustment screws to allow this correction to be made with some precision.

Step 5: Point the telescope at a reasonably bright star near the eastern horizon and still near the celestial equator.

Step 6: Allow the telescope to run for at least five minutes possibly longer, the star will begin to drift north or south.
--If the star drifts south the telescope mount is pointed too low.
--If the star drifts north the telescope mount is pointed too high.

Step 7: Observe the drift and make the appropriate correction to the telescopes latitude adjustment.

Step 8: Go back and repeat from step 2 as necessary to get the needed precision.

Hope the above information is useful.... :)
Yang Weixing
:mrgreen: "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." :mrgreen:
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harlequin2902
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Location: Singapore, Sengkang

Post by harlequin2902 »

Yeah I'd like to play around with scopes too... Samuel, how many have you got in your house? I'd like to play around with one, cos I don't happen to own any... so if you've got quite a number, I'd like to pay a visit, learn something new, and play around with your scopes (and hopefully see something at the opposite side of your house )
haha... read the equipment database thread, he said he got 3 scopes in his house
If you guys want to play with scopes, I'm not the best person to visit actually. Some other members here are :D Not only do they have more scopes than I, theirs are much larger than what I have too :lol: And I'm sort of like a Refractor guy, so you will only see Refractors at my place at the moment. Not much of a variety, regretfully.
Samuel Ng
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harlequin2902
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Post by harlequin2902 »

if it is 24th i might not be able to make it will be have lessons in the morning or afternoon or night ah teacher samuel?
Hm, if that's the case, then we have to fix another date where all 3 or 4 of you can come together. Anyway, regarding this eyepiece lesson thing, just PM to me directly from now on. Let's be considerate and not mess up the public area on this thread with details of our private party shall we :D
Samuel Ng
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IceAngel
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Post by IceAngel »

samuel.. actually is ok.. i think when people see this thread, they already know this is a thread for newcomer with information that newbie ask.. hehe :P :P
so itz easy for them to gather newcomer information here.. :D :D
isn't that good that newcomer.. if not, u will be asked the same question again next time :P :lol:
*~Stars AND Clear Sky always~*
Leslie
*Owner of Antares 93mm Achromat Refractor* :)
-10.11.03-
*Owner of Takahashi SKY 90 Fluorite Doublet Apochromat Refractor* :D
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Kamikazer
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Post by Kamikazer »

anyone know of any link to tell me more about RA?
thanks.
K.L. Lee
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Kamikazer
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Post by Kamikazer »

an additional qns:
how do you all transport your scopes around?
K.L. Lee
Quasar
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Post by Quasar »

Me? By car, it becomes quite a hassle to lug around tripod and all when u take public transport. So I suppose portability becomes an issue with Singaporeans. Otherwise, we can always convert to using a van to transport our latest 16" light bucket! :lol:
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zong
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Post by zong »

Lol, yea by car will be the best way. I wouldn't like to carry a tripod everywhere too, and taking the 16" light bucket walking around would get you branded terrorist immediately, if you know how to carry it the right way :P
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kcy
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Post by kcy »

If there is no car, cab is the next most prefered method. :o

What are RA and DEC?
Please explain Ra & Dec using the example Persius Ra 3h 5m 38s Dec 48 50 2". It is my understanding the Ra is measured in hours, min & seconds. The Dec is measured in degrees but is the 50 & 2 measured in Ft. & inches & what does it mean? Please break it all down to me so I may better explain it to my son. Thanks for your help.

RA (right ascention) and DEC (declination) are to the sky what longitude and latitude are to the surface of the Earth. RA corresponds to east/west direction (like longitude), while Dec measures north/south directions, like latitude.

RA is indeed measured in hours, minutes, and seconds. This is because as the Earth rotates, we see different parts of the sky throughout the night. What this means is that if an object at, say 3h 5m 38s, is overhead now, in an hour from now an object at 4h 5m 38s will be overhead, and so forth. 0 hours right ascention is by convention the right ascention of the sun on the vernal equinox, March 21. So your object is 3h 5m 38s east of the vernal equinox.

Declination is measured in degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds. There are 60 arcmin in a degree, and 60 arcsec in an arcmin. The symbols for arcmin and arcsec are the same as for feet and inches. (Although sometimes we draw a little arc over the ' and " signs to tell them apart from the feet and inches signs.) So your object is 48 degrees, 50 arcminutes, and 2 arcseconds north of the celestial equator, which is the origin of the declination system at exactly 0 degrees. The celestial equator is the part of the sky which is directly overhead the equator of the Earth. The north star is at about +90 degrees, while the south pole would be at -90 degrees, just like latitude on Earth.


Decination tells you how high overhead your object eventually will rise. So your object at +48 degrees declination would pass directly over a point on the Earth at 48 degrees north latitude each night. If you were standing at, say, 38 degrees north latitude, the object would reach its greatest elevation (height) 48-38=10 degrees north on the sky from overhead
Yours Sincerly,

Kong Chong Yew 8)
SP astronomers
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Kamikazer
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Post by Kamikazer »

i notice equatorials mounts have a altitude adjustment thingy and azimuth thingy other than DEC and RA.

how to use it?
K.L. Lee
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