No AutoStar + how to use setting circles

Hi,

I am one of those guys who bought a meade etx 125 ec WITHOUT autoStar.
The idea of not buying autostar was to be able to learn by virtue of
doing things the hard way.

Assumptions : (pls correct me if i am wrong)
1. What i know roughly is that if i polar align my telescope then i
can just dial in the address of a star in my telescope and voila (
firstly is this assumption correct )...
2. if you have autostar then you just need to "show" it two stars and
it calculates all the relative positions, after which you ask for a
star it calculates it and takes the telescope there. ( no alignment of
any sort required - other then it being on flat surface )

what i want to know
1. is there a software by which i do the what GOTO achieves. go to
wellknown stars, note the setting circle values on my telescope, enter
it in the magic software and then i ask for a known address and it
tells me what should the values on my settings circles should be ...
Realise this is without polar alignment..(i have telescope with poor
man's ALT-Azimuth mount)

2. what's the use of setting circles w/o polar aligning the
telescope.

any help in this regards will be greatly appreciated.

-Premal
(premal_jhaveri*hotmail*com)

1. is there a software by which i do the what GOTO achieves. go to
wellknown stars, note the setting circle values on my telescope, enter
it in the magic software and then i ask for a known address and it

Hi:

1, I've seen a program like this for the Palm. But you really don't need it. I
believe the RA circle on the 125 is not driven, so what you do is just reset it
to the correct value before moving to the next object (as you know, you must
set-up the RA circle by putting the telescope on a star of known RA and
adjusting the circle to read this value when you start observing).

2. None. In order for analog circles to be accurate at all, you must be
precisely polar aligned. With the long focal lengh of the 125, especially, you
need a dead-on polar alignment to have a prayer of getting objects in the field
of an eyepiece.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

What Rod said.

You are going to have a tough time indeed using the RA circle in azimuth
mode. Won't work without a method to convert RA to AZ, and DEC to ALT.

The cheapest solution I can think of is to forget the circles, get a Rigel
QuickFinder and a star chart. Then learn star hopping. If you have trouble
seeing stars down to magnitude 4.5 in the QuickFinder, then go with a 9x50
correct image finder (either straight through or right angle). If you go
with a right angle (RACI) unit, you'll still need a way to "beed" in on the
first star in your hop. Once the first star is aquired, a RACI is all you
need.

You'll also want the widest field eyepiece possible. The maximum field of
view you can get out of the 1.25" focuser on the ETX-125 is with an eyepiece
that has a 27mm field stop (32mm Plossl at the lower end, 24mm Panoptic at
the higher end, just to name a few).

Best of luck, and FWIW, there's no shame in using Autostar. Star hopping is
an extemely useful skill and educational process, but training your eyes to
better see through your telescope is just as important. I have nights where
star hopping feels more like frustration than pleasure, and time I should be
spending observing is being consumed by aquiring the target (and then
manually tracking it can also be a distraction to getting the most out of
the observation time). When that happens, rather than call it a night and
grab the TV remote, I'll roll out my second scope which has Digital Setting
Circles and an RA clock drive.

--
-Stephen Paul

You are going to have a tough time indeed using the RA circle in azimuth
mode. Won't work without a method to convert RA to AZ, and DEC to ALT.


The cheapest solution I can think of is to forget the circles, get a Rigel
QuickFinder and a star chart. Then learn star hopping.

This would obviously be my first choice too, as you all know, old Jon is to
primative to consider too much electronics.

However these is another reasonable solution: Planetarium Software and a "Palm
Pilot." IT fits on your hand and will provide the AZ and Alt coordinates (or
the RA and DEC) for your location. It is like a mini version of Cartes du
Ciel, has lots of features and a nice data base. I have been using it instead
of star charts and it works quite nicely.

There is a link to the Planetarium site on Rod's website,
members.aol.com/rmollise

One thing to remember, the Zire is the cheapest of the Palms and will run the
program but it does not have a back light so it will be unusable at night.

jon

"Jon Isaacs" wrote in message
...

One thing to remember, the Zire is the cheapest of the Palms and will run
the
program but it does not have a back light so it will be unusable at night.

Wouldn't it work with a red flashlight?

-Stephen

Jon Isaacs wrote:

One thing to remember, the Zire is the cheapest of the Palms and will run
the
program but it does not have a back light so it will be unusable at night.

Wouldn't it work with a red flashlight?


Possibly but it would be a bit of added complication that is unnecessary. If
one had a Zire it would be worth giving it a shot, my intent was to warn those
who might be considering a purchase of this weakness.

I haven't used the palms in this fashion, but wouldn't a backlight
be a distraction? IOW, maybe the (cheap) Zire is the way to go.

--
RM Mentock

No se puede vivir sin amar

I haven't used the palms in this fashion, but wouldn't a backlight
be a distraction? IOW, maybe the (cheap) Zire is the way to go.


Probably depends on how dark your skies are. I use a Handspring Visor Deluxe,
the brightness is adjustable and it does not seem to be a problem for me. One
can alway put some filter paper over the screen.

The screen is can be setup so the screen background is black and the stars and
are illuminated, much like the night sky.

What I really like is that I can have the thing in my pocket and just whip it
out and when I need it without resorting to charts.

jon

And what application do you use on your Visor?

If you are using 2Sky, how do you get to the search function? 2Sky says it
has a search function that allows you to enter the first few letters of an
object and the application will go to that object -- I can't find the search
function. I have played around with 2Sky and find it little more than a
toy -- am I missing something, or, is there a better application?

Thanks.

--
----
JAS


"Jon Isaacs" wrote in message
...

I haven't used the palms in this fashion, but wouldn't a backlight
be a distraction? IOW, maybe the (cheap) Zire is the way to go.


Probably depends on how dark your skies are. I use a Handspring Visor
Deluxe,
the brightness is adjustable and it does not seem to be a problem for me.
One
can alway put some filter paper over the screen.

The screen is can be setup so the screen background is black and the stars
and
are illuminated, much like the night sky.

What I really like is that I can have the thing in my pocket and just whip
it
out and when I need it without resorting to charts.

jon