i have a eq6 pro mount which i use for taking pictures of the things in the night sky, i have polar and star aligned the mount as well as done the pec training (permanent error correction) tracking is almost perfect in r.a. but starts to drift in declination after aprox 4 minutes, i have rechecked polar alignment several times and it seems fine, anyone out their with any answers. i would be very grateful if anyone could help me as i have spent many hours trying to work it out + many more sleepless nights than i should have had. i know this sounds boring but i have nothing better to do at the moment! many thanks lloyd.
2007-08-13 03:49:51 · 5 answers · asked by LLOYD W 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Assuming this is an equatorial mount, you should only be moving around one axis, namely one that goes through the celestial north pole. If you were not aligned with the north celstial pole, you would see a drift in both Dec AND RA.
Depending on the declination of the object in question the drift will be worse or less worse and would also be distributed differently amongst RA and Dec. If the drift gets worse closer to the celstial equator than closer to the pole, then it probably is misalignment.
Otherwise, whatever friction fitting holds your scope in constant declination is probably too loose and your scope is simply slowly sagging over time. Try tightening things up associated with the declination motion.
2007-08-13 08:36:37 · answer #1 · answered by Mr. Quark 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a terrible place to get answers on a technical question like this. You'll do much better on a Yahoo Tech Group...I'm sure there's one for the EQ6 mount.
Anyway, I'll take a stab at it. If it's consistently drifting in Dec, it's almost certainly a polar alignment problem. I assume you know not to align on Polaris itself, but on the true celestial pole about a degree away. I also assume you have goto turned off, and are guiding either manually or with an autoguider. If you're photographing at prime focus, you can't expect any equatorial mount to track accurately enough without guiding.
2007-08-13 04:02:02 · answer #2 · answered by GeoffG 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your polar alignment may be good, but it isn't perfect. Unless you have absolutely perfect polar alignment you will have some DEC. drift. I suggest using drift alignment to get it more exact. It takes a long time, but it works. Otherwise, you will have to guide manually. By that I mean using the slow motion controls to nudge the DEC a little every so often, but to do that you need a guide scope, or offset guiding eyepiece or some way to get a high magnification view of a nearby star and keep it exactly on cross hairs in the eyepiece by using the slow motion controls.
2007-08-13 04:04:52 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as patrick more hi lloyd its sam heehee
2007-08-13 05:30:15 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
... posting the same question multiple times just costs you points :-
(check your wedge LATTITUDE setting .. it may have slipped)
2007-08-14 00:06:06 · answer #5 · answered by Steve B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋