Noob Needs Help

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Date: 16 Oct 2006 10:59:39
From:
Subject: Noob Needs Help

I picked up a Bushnell Voyager at a yard sale the other day, and am
having the hardest time figuring out how to aim the equatorial mount.
I guess what I'm having the most trouble with is aiming at something
other than Polaris.

Once I'm "Polar alligned" (Lat./ Dec.locked) how do I aim at anything
else?

The manual on Bushnell's site is a little confusing and appears to
contain errors (arrow in dia. points to Horiz Axis Lock Knob and it
says " tighten the Latitude Lock Knob")

Are there any real (current) Basic/"For Dummies" resources online to
show how it's done?
Alot of what I've found are dead links.

Thanks....

Date: 16 Oct 2006 13:14:51
From:
Subject: Re: Noob Needs Help

scatman@jazzy.org wrote:
> I picked up a Bushnell Voyager at a yard sale the other day, and am
> having the hardest time figuring out how to aim the equatorial mount.
> I guess what I'm having the most trouble with is aiming at something
> other than Polaris.
>
> Once I'm "Polar alligned" (Lat./ Dec.locked) how do I aim at anything
> else?
>
> The manual on Bushnell's site is a little confusing and appears to
> contain errors (arrow in dia. points to Horiz Axis Lock Knob and it
> says " tighten the Latitude Lock Knob")
>
> Are there any real (current) Basic/"For Dummies" resources online to
> show how it's done?
> Alot of what I've found are dead links.
>
> Thanks....

First, with the tripod sitting on a level surface, set the elevation of
the polar axis to your geographic latitude. It's OK (for now) if this
adjustment is off by a couple of degrees, but do your best.

Next, adjust the finder. Aim the main scope at something very distant
and stationary (the top of a distant TV transmitter is good) and then
adjust the finder so that the object is centered in both the main scope
and the finder. Perform this adjustment as accurately as you can.

Take the scope outside, place it on a level surface, and turn the
tripod until the polar axis is pointing to within a degree or so of
true north. If you can see Polaris, use that as a guide. If you are
in the Southern Hemisphere, you are on your own! :-) With the polar
axis aimed, you should be able to follow objects using only the RA
slow-motion control, if the scope has one.

Now, using the finder, aim the main scope at the Moon (this should be
easy) and any bright stars that are visible, until you get used to how
the scope operates. Be sure to use your LOWEST power eyepiece
(probably a 20mm) at first.

Now you are ready to learn the constellations, learn how to star hop,
and start finding the interesting stuff (most of which is invisible
without a scope.)

Some good books are:

The Stars: A New Way to See Them

and

Turn Left at Orion.

A good star atlas is Sky Atlas 2000 (the cheap, unbound, SA2000 Desk
Version is OK.)

You also should get a planisphere and 7x35, 8x40 or 10x50 binoculars
(wide field of view preferred, 9, 8 and 6.5 degrees respectively.)

You can also do a Google search for "How to Use a Telescope" :-)

Date: 16 Oct 2006 22:04:04
From: Iordani
Subject: Re: Noob Needs Help