Instruction manual

15
Trac
king celestial objects
When observing through a telescope, astronomical objects appear to move slowly through the telescope's
field of view. When the mount is correctly polar aligned, you only need to turn the R.A. buttons on the hand
control to follow or track objects as they move through the field. The DEC. buttons are not needed for tracking.
S
etting cir
cles
Fig.h
Reading the R.A. setting circle
The telescope's R.A. setting circle is scaled in hours,
from 1 through 24, with small lines in between
representing 10 minute increments. The upper set of
numbers apply to viewing in the Northern Hemisphere,
while the numbers below them apply to viewing in the
Southern Hemisphere. (Fig.h).
Setting (calibrating) the R.A. setting circle
In order to set your Right Ascension circle you must first
find a star in your field of view with known coordinates. A
good one would be the 0.0 magnitude star Vega in the
Constellation Lyra. From a star chart we know the R.A.
coordinate of Vega is 18h 36m. Loosen the R.A. and
DEC. lock knobs on the mount and adjust the telescope
so that Vega is centred in the field of view of the
eyepiece. Tighten the R.A. and DEC. lock knobs to lock
the mount in place. Now rotate the R.A. setting circle until
it reads 18h36m. You are now ready to use the setting
circles to find objects in the sky.
Finding objects using the setting circles
Example: Finding the faint planetary nebula M57; "The Ring"
From a star chart, we know the coordinates of the Ring are Dec. 33º and R.A. 18h52m. Unlock the DEC lock
knob and rotate your telescope in DEC until the pointer on the DEC setting circle reads 33º. Re-tighten the
DEC lock knob. Loosen the R.A. lock knob and rotate the telescope in R.A. until the pointer on the R.A. setting
circle reads 18h52m (do not move the R.A. circle). Re-tighten the R.A. lock knob. Now look through the
finderscope to see if you have found M57. Adjust the telescope with the hand control until M57 is centred in
the finderscope. Now look through the telescope using a low power eyepiece. Centre M57 in the field of view
of the eyepiece.
If you are familiar with the night sky, it is sometimes convenient to find an object using only the DEC
coordinate. Loosen the DEC lock knob and rotate the telescope in DEC until the pointer on the DEC setting
circle reads 33º. Re-tighten the DEC lock knob. Now traverse through Lyra in R.A. axis until M57 appears in
the field of view.
The setting circles will get you close to the object you wish to observe, but are not accurate enough to put it in
the centre of your finderscope's field of view. The accuracy of your setting circles also depends on how
accurate your telescope is polar aligned.
Setscrew
Northern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
0
2
3
2
3
1
2
2
21
22
2
1
2
2
1
3
3
2
0
2
0
4
1
9
5
EQ6
The quickest way to find objects is to learn the
Constellations and use the finderscope, but if the object
is too faint you may want to use setting circles on an
equatorial mount. Setting circles enable you to locate
celestial objects whose celestial co-ordinates have been
determined from star charts. Your telescope must be
Polar aligned and the R.A. setting circle must be
calibrated before using the setting circles.
HEQ5
Northern
Hemisphere
Sorthern
Hemisphere
4
20
Setscrew
Pointer
1
0
E
W
20
20
10
10
0
12
0
23
23
1
2
1
22
2
21
3
4