One of the original KZfaqrs offering astronomy advice. Much appreciated and learned so much from your videos, many thanks!

I really love the very informative no-BS style of these videos!

Great simple video without all the hype, nicely done and thanks

Im very happy youtube recommended this for me, very helpful! Great video sir

It's amazing that a hobby so based on optics and clarity can produce such a blurry ass video.

One of the best alignment tutorials anywhere..BRAVO

Many of my friends from Astronomy groups suggested me to buy a Alt Az Mount telescope but this channel encouraged me to buy a telescope with equatorial mount and now I am really enjoying the sky gazing... Thank you...

Thank you, David, for your amazing job you've been doing all these years! I remember you 10 years ago. Your videos inspired me to buy muy first telescope in 2013, which I am still using! For me as a beginner at that time you were a true guide into a fascinating world of stargazing. And I'm so happy that you are still on track! You know, 10 years have passed and symbolically the difference between our locations is almost 10 degrees! Regards from latitude 50,8! Regards from Ukraine!

Wow, another great video. The compass thing just blew my mind. Thanks

you called Pluto a planet... that alone warrants a like. Great video - very useful - thanks

Thanks for that David. I have my 8" Newtonian on a homemade mobile "observatory". It is terrible, but beats carrying out 100 pounds every time I want to observe. This helps since I like to get out there and set up to allow the scope to acclimatize, before or as night falls. I'm hoping I can get the great conjunction tonight... I know I can with my 70 mm refractor, but want to see that much better with the 8". And YAY for PLUTO!!

Great video, the information was very easy to follow. Too many guys go over the topics so fast... there’s so much to learn. Thanks💫

Thank you for this film. Helped me a lot.

Thank you for simplifying this process!! cheers

Excellent David! Still good! I have been using my GP and GPDX2 mounts for years. Another thing I do is mark in the ground or in my case on the roof of my building where the tripod legs go so I do not have to redo the rough alignment.

Fun to watch early videos. Your production quality is vastly improved!

Hello, Mr. Fuller; Thank you for all you do. Great video, enjoyed it. Have a GREAT day, day Neighbor!

Your first video from 10 years ago actually made me sane again after starting with my first one in 2015. Thanks man! :) For photographers it's a bit more frustrating, not having that star in view. Luckily software these days helps a lot.

Excellent vid, love the ending

I just bought a 102mm refractor on an EQ mount and this was very helpful. I'm fortunate as my apt. building is on a north south alignment so I can use it off my back porch when I don't need a full sky which means taking apart and packing it up. First thing is take that 10 lb. counter-weight off, makes moving the tripod a lot easier.

Fantastic video. Thanks for the valuable info.

Excellent video, will help me allot with the eq3 mount.

Thanks for that after a year at this I finally see what a meridional flip is!

Awesome as Always👍

My view to the north is totally blocked by trees, so I lost interest turning both controls at the same time to then lose the image. Although I did get a good view of Saturn early on. This has inspired me to get the scope out again and follow your guidance. Thanks for this.

Great ending ! Gold Cheers from oz

Great video!

Another great Video. Always enjoy them. The gas chainsaw sound really goes nice with the electric chainsaw LOL.

Congratulations on TEN YEARS!!!

I liked your first video but this is even better, esp since I have that same mount!! good job and nice to see your helper.

Nicely done!!

David, thank you. I'm glad I found your channel a few years back. I swore up and down I wouldn't get a GEM, but use alt-az mounts exclusively. I've had an Orion SkyView Pro on back order for almost a month now. My ES 152 Mak, at 17 pounds factory, but closer to 19-20 pounds with a RACI and 2" EP, was already marginal on the Twilight I that it came packaged with a few years ago. From the reviews of the SVP it sounds like it should work quite well with the 152 Mak, and probably also with the AR152 achro (23 pounds) that appeared out of nowhere in the back room. (Geeee...I wonder how that got there!?) It wasn't until I watched your original video on setting up GEM's, and then this one, that I realized the GEM may actually make it easier to find targets using the RA and Dec on the mount, rather than doing finder scope sweeps with the alt-az mount or trying to get the alt-az settings to jive with one of the phone apps.

Ow waw.. I'm feeling nostalgic when i see this video🤣, i was wondering it's that the same mount that you use 10 years ago? I hope you stay healthy david so you can make more videos like this in the future😁

thank you so much for helping us get the most out of this crazy thing called astronomy 🪐

Thank you for this! Just got our first 'real' telescope with EQ mount. We live back up against a hill and houses and trees block the pole star.

Nice vid, thanks! Fun fact: when Polaris is not available is the only time you MUST have a perfectly level mount to do a proper polar align, as you rely on the latitude graduations and bearing shooting to have as accurate an alignment as you can. But when a visual acquisition of Polaris is possible, mount leveling does not matter as much, as aligning a line (RA axis) to a point (Polaris) can be achieved regardless. (of course you do need sufficient level to not topple the rig)

Superb.!

It would be helpful to show the two extremes of latitude at north pole and at equator. This will help the beginner understand what the RA axis is doing when set at the intermediate actual latitude.

Legit tysm 🙌🏻

Congrates on ten years of great info about the Stars & Planets David, Great video about the true poles, when I am Looking for Sigma Octans from 27 degree S I have to move my Compass 11 degree to the east & that gets me nearly there . ie do you think electric pole Finders are any good ,Cheers David

Hi David. Being new to astrophotography, I appreciate the video and will check out more from you. Had a detailed thought to share. Another alternative to using a compass to find true north is to use SkySafari Plus or similar apps. WIth these apps, one can "see through" objects to the projected stars on the celestial sphere, and thus know the exact location of Polaris even if you cannot really see it. This might be a good double-check for the compass method you propose. Also, one could take the tripod/mount combo to another location temporarily to align the altitude to Polaris there (where it is visible) and lock it down. Once transported back to the viewing location with the angle still intact, all one needs to do is level the tripod to have the right altitude at that point. Then the only worry is Azimuth alignment toward north as we just discussed (compass and/or SkySafari). Finally, having done all that (or some combination) it is possible to fine tune the overall alignment even more. I recently discover a seldom used technique called "drift alignment" using a double-lined reticule eyepiece. After rough alignment, by watching a star drift away from the cross-hairs, it become possible to fine-tune adjustments to Alt or Az to precision. Definitely a slow process I suspect, but very effective. So I guess, depending on how precise you want to be, there are multiple options to get rough alignment or very fine alignment without seeing Polaris. I am going to try all of this soon since my backyard (here in Japan) is very limited to the vertical and certainly has no view of Polaris. But depending on the time of year, there are lots of things worth photographing that are high in the sky!

Vest info so far those of us living near the equator or the southern hemisphere with no view of polaris…Thank You

Good vids. In fact I watch your 10 years old video just last week.

Thanks so much David for all that you put into this channel, it has helped me greatly over the years. Funny, my wife stopped me the other day from using a chainsaw to prune the shrubs😁👍

You need to do another one on Drift alignment too

Awesome as Always👍 Still Remember as Chessy😉 You were 10 years Ago😄😄.!!!

I always pointed at Mizar then just moved over. The electronic mounts you can point it at Betelgeuse, Sirius, etc.

I've been doing this method. Is there a way to aim the EQ to Polaris more accurately? The longest exposure I was able to pull off with a 560mm scope on a RA motor is 4 seconds before the effects of drift show up. I'm also curious if the Dec motors that can be attached to these mounts can run slow enough to account for the drift when take long exposures.

I had a tree in the way after setting up my telescope in the front yard. Same "noooooooo!" hahaha!

Latitude setting also depends on the landscape u r currently are. The angle is very much relative. The view angle of pole star at ground level is different from view angle from 80 storey building.

Hi tried something like this the other day and I assume that the true north versus compass north is called variation or something like that? In addition I think that you can use your smart phone level to set your latitude degrees directly on the mount? That seems to be much more accurate than using the scale on the telescope mount.

I think about how accurate this settings are, concern my exposure time? Like for a 200 mm lens, in direction to the milkyway?!

I have to wonder if the compass on a phone could be accurate enough. I know they need to be calibrated regularly, but the app I have takes care of magnetic declination and displays my latitude too, which is handy. I think I'll give it a try in the next few weeks.

Mobile phones have your location including height above sea level. Another app to make life easier is an angle indicator, the settings on the mount are usually a mile off. Your phone also has a compass and level indicator. Note that true north and celestial north/south have a declination variation east or west from the magnetic pole, which is slowly changing over the years. Greetings from Tasmania Australia-Southern Cross Observatories-42 South 147 East.

I recently moved into a house where the biggest oak tree blocked view of Polaris. Very frustrating trying to guesstimate setup for motor driven scope. I commented to my wife that " I wish that tree wasn't there". Unbeknownst to me the owner must have called a tree crew. By the end of the day that tree was gone. It opened up that whole north area of the sky and made it so easy to polar align on Polaris. I t

This KZfaq channel makes me intermediate Astronomer from amateur. Thank you Sir. As usual I have again one silly question. What should be the RA position of telescope during perfect polar alignment? I'm asking for RA position not RA reading. Thank you...

Use I phone compass on the front face of the RA axis.

David, I get a lot out of your videos and have built your table top tripod. Question: Why not use the compass app on your phone, which can be set to true north? Do you feel this is not as accurate? Also I have aligned using this method. It's close, but never close enough to track with just the RA control. Need occasional Dec adjustments. Can you cover the drift alignment technique ( if I have that right) that uses a star near the celestial equator to tweak alignment?

Hey David, I have the same mount as you and I was wondering what polar finder did you buy? The one made for the mount has a lot of bad reviews so I’m looking for another one that will fit. Thanks!

Amazing information. Could you please help on how to I set the RA setting circle.. I have an EQ 1 and the RA setting circle is free dial that moves when turned.. Is there a way to set it right.. Thx in advance

There's no real need to level an EQ mount although it's still good practice to do so.

im trying to learn this so i know if its worth investing in a star tracker but i am a little fearful because i am south so i need to see the 4 sigma stars but some of them cant be seen by the naked eye

Hey, look, he's got a full body! :P

Please I’m 3 degrees longitude and 6 degrees latitude and my we mount isn’t positioning right because the weight keeps hitting the mount . What do I do ?

Nice video David, I have a question, which is the mount's name?

How are you going to know if you have a compass that will allow you to make that adjustment?

Do you still aim north in Southern hemisphere and do you use your South latitude? Thanks

I remember my first meridian flip, it was quite the challenge lol then once i did it i was like wow.. that was too easy..

May be I'm wrong but ... it would not be easier to level and balance the telescope before to try to aim the celestial north?

Nice, thanks! What's the drive you have attached to this mount?

Hello David, If you had the choice between a Tele Vue Nagler 7mm or a Tele Vue Nagler 9mm which one would you pick and why?

I have been searching everywhere for a Video like this! Thank you! I have a tree that is right in my way of Polaris! I have just used the calculator and it says 0° 8' E difference - Excuse my rookie ignorance but what way would I need to adjust the position? Thank you in advance :) Liked and Subbed!

What is the name of the mount you are using? Looks like a good and reliable mount.

David, what scope is on your Omni mount?

Could you use the iPhone compass?

I do have one silly question. What should be the RA and Dec reading when we have perfect polar alignment?

With a goto celestron mount its much easier. They have a polar alighment feature and takes no time at all. Get celestron goto eq mount its a breeze. A good video though

Hey, great video. Thanks for doing this. I was referred to your video by a helpful astronomer to help me answer a very specific question about the Equatorial grid and eq. mounts. I understand it all for the most part. But there is one crucial puzzle piece I'm missing and social media folks always seem to sidestep my question by referring me to the AltAz system of location. Here's my question: If I have Eq coordinates for a celestial object and my Eq mount is perfectly aligned to true N and level ... how can I locate the object using only the Eq coords. Don't I need to do some calculation to account for the time in my location? In Stellarium, it's easily demonstrable that the Eq grid rotates in the sky (rather the earth rotates within the Eq grid). So ... an object with fixed Eq coords will appear in a different place in the sky depending on the time. So ... there has to be some time-correction on top of the Eq coordinates in order for me to locate the object. Am I wrong in this? No one seems to understand or acknowledge this question. So I would appreciate your input. THANKS!

I've gotten lucky... this yr the tree that has blocked my view of polaris died!! So looking forward to having it removed next yr! (no... I didn't kill it lol)

Is there any reason you are using wooden legs on your tripod? Reason I ask is I have heard that they are more sturdy than metal legs. I don't know if that is true and really would not know why it would be true.

Use NINA to do a 3 point PA.

But like this you are not aimed at the Pole star, so this is unusable for tracking and goto mounts ?

I Have No Clue What Of Anything You Just Done…Im Just Going To Send Everything Back

Shout out to Pluto :(

When you turn your main axis, strictly speaking, you're not moving in RA but you're changing the Hour Angle. This is a very common and very bad mistake spread among ALL amateur astronomers on the net, it confuses ALL beginners... In fact, Hour angle and RA are part of the same equation : HA (Hour Angle) = LST (Local Sideral Time) - RA (Right Ascension). This a formula ANY astronomer should know, this is the basic of celestial mechanic.Know it, use it and it will save you lot of time and confusion. Your main circle graduation are hour angles, not right ascensions. Think about it a second : since the circle can be fixed on most equatorial mounts, what really happens if you fix it and you consider these are RA graduations ? It's quite simple : you've stopped the Earth's rotation ! When the elescope is in its park position : hour angle is 6H. When your telescope points a star due south, hour angle is OH (telescope East of your mount) or 12H (telescope west of your mount) YOUR local sideral time equals the right ascension of a star that is due south : HA = LST - RA 0 = LST - RA LST = RA If you want to find any celestial object, you need its hour angle by using the formula if you know YOUR LST or use an application like Stellarium for instance which gives you the hour angle of all objects at any time. Use it to point your telescope at the object (if you don't have a Goto system). The smartest ones will understand that a polar scope is theorically not needed if you know the polaris hour angle... Clear skies !

Very good tutorial…..yes, hedge trimmers don’t work well to cut a tree down, you silly person….🤪🤪😃😃

Pluto is not a planet

"Pluto is still a planet"... just dumb. Ruined the entire class at once ahaha 👎

Great video!