Setting up Celestial tracking.

[Valvebounce]

Hi Folks.
A question regarding calibrating polar scopes in general and if it makes a difference a Sky Watcher Star adventurer.
I have checked my polar scope as explained in the manual, line up on a fixed target some distance away, rotate the finder 180° and see if the cross remains centred.
I used a power station chimney about 750 yards (m) away and the intersection of the cross was off by just over the thickness of the line in both axes, is this close enough or should I risk making things worse by trying to improve it?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, Graham.

 

[stevelee]

I don't know for sure, but it sounds like it would be fine for all but the longest exposures. I have an old 8" telescope without any of those newfangled features. I have set the incline by eyeball to vaguely approximate the latitude and would point it in the general direction of the North Star. The clock motor is probably not that reliable, but seems to hum along. I find that works well enough for my casual viewing and for taking pictures of planets. Since I have to plug the motor in, I can't use it for remote viewing in really dark places, so I don't try to shoot distant galaxies or anything like that.

So to me, your setup sounds amazingly accurate by comparison, and I wouldn't risk messing that up.

 

[Valvebounce]

I don't know for sure, but it sounds like it would be fine for all but the longest exposures. I have an old 8" telescope without any of those newfangled features. I have set the incline by eyeball to vaguely approximate the latitude and would point it in the general direction of the North Star. The clock motor is probably not that reliable, but seems to hum along. I find that works well enough for my casual viewing and for taking pictures of planets. Since I have to plug the motor in, I can't use it for remote viewing in really dark places, so I don't try to shoot distant galaxies or anything like that.

So to me, your setup sounds amazingly accurate by comparison, and I wouldn't risk messing that up.

Hi Steve.
Thanks for that, part of me (the toolmaker part) was going I need the runout less than 2thou, part of me was thinking don‘t fix it ‘till it’s broke!

Cheers, Graham.