|
fastrudy
super member
Reged: 04/09/06
Posts: 164
|
|
I have a 12" Meade LX200 scope and a Mitty evolution wedge that I would like to get Polar aligned. Somewhere between the Meade instruction book and the sparse instruction sheet supplied by Mitty, I am getting lost. Two questions:
1. Does the tripod and wedge need to be rotated such that the upper part of the wedge is facing due South?
2. When setting the scope to the "Polar home" position, the Meade manual tells me to rotate the RA until the tick mark is at 0h0m. But the entire RA disc is capable of sliding, so where is the tick mark supposed to be? It seems like I can get the tick mark on 0h0m at any orientation, just by sliding the RA disc (but I expect this to be incorrect).
If you can help me with any of this, I would appreciate it. 
--------------------
|
JAT Observatory
Space Freak
Reged: 02/20/05
Posts: 5606
Loc: Eastern PA
|
|
Here is a picture of a Meade scope on a wedge in the polar home position. The scope is pointing north toward Polaris. (The picture is rotated clockwise so if you rotate the picture counter-clockwise so the base of the wedge is straight you'll see how the scope should be position for 40 degrees which is my latitude.)
The top (upper) part of the wedge is indeed toward the south. Notice the guide scope in toward the bottom. The key here is to start with the fork even (at the same height) and the OTA parallel with the forks.
--------------------
-Marcus
The problem with free speech is even the stupid have a voice.
http://jatobservatory.org
12" LX200R on a Paramount ME
|
Pess
(Title)
Reged: 09/12/07
Posts: 1910
Loc: Toledo, Ohio
|
|
1) Wedge pointing exactly South & wedge plate angled to your latitude. Note that wedge plate angle is the complimentary angle to your latitude (Complementary Angle = 90 – Your Latitude).
2) Fork arms exactly level with each other.
3) OTA pointing parallel with fork arms and pointing exactly true North (adjust wedge rotation to take into account local magnetic deviation). The OTA will be upside down in this position.
Once you have the tube in position you can look through the EP and rotate the fork arm base. The stars in view should rotate around the center of the field of view.
You can adjust the knobs on the wedge base/wedge angle till they do the circle thingy to get perfect polar alignment.
Once you get things perfect, one trick to speed things up if you don't have a pier is to mark your tripod feet on the ground. Next time you come out just setup the tripod in the same exact position.
Pesse (Mark my words, marking really helps unless your name is Mark..then it is just confusing.) Mist
|
fastrudy
super member
Reged: 04/09/06
Posts: 164
|
|
Thank you! I must admit, between the Meade manual and the Mitty wedge instruction sheet, NOWHERE was it written that the wedge must face due south! Of course, I am kicking myself for not knowing any better. Now if I can just take that 1000lb equilateral triangle of concrete that I poured for my tripod and rotate it to the correct orientation, my plight would be solved. AAARRRGGGHHHH! I guess that I will setup the tripod on the surrounding deck and I will stand on the concrete slab. This has got to be the stupidest thing I have done in Astronomy, thus far. Thank you for your explanations.
--------------------
|
snowdragonusa
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/04/07
Posts: 637
Loc: Denver, CO
|
|
I keep this link handy for those nights when I set my scope up on the wedge.
Polar Alignment Tips for the LX200
Cheers!
--------------------
Adam
12" LX200R
AT80mm piggyback
DSI Pro, DSI-C, LPI
Denver Astronomical Society
Brighton Astronomical Group
|
|
0 registered and 4 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: Joad
Print Thread
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Thread views: 189
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
