Hi All - please assist on setting circle

[psi20]

Hi all, my name is João and I am from Portugal.
I have a orion xt8 dob for about a year.

I am trying to put some setting circles on my dob but I have one question. the Az/Alt coordinates that are provided by the stellarium are in de xxºyy'ww'' is necessary any kind of convertion to use it in the settting circle? or after setting the º value I try by aproximation set the ' value.

Anyone here uses the Astrofix Locator system? is it any good?

[neal_mlc]

I have an XT8 set up with an Azimuth circle of the base (see photo below) and a digital inclinometer. I find that tenths of a degree are about as accurate as I need to be. Yu will need to approximate the "yy" portion of the coordinates and don't worry about the "ww" portion.
I always always align the azimuth with Polaris and compare my digital inclinometer against with what Stellarium says as there always seems to be about 1/2 degree of error. But knowing this I can correct for it. One other hint is to make sure your base is level. Not having a level base is probably biggest obstacle to accuracy.
I know that once you get used to this system you will find just how amazingly accurate it can be. I almost always come within 1 degree of my target which is in the FOV of my 25mm EP
LT5.JPG

[leeseafish]

Has anyone tried using a smart phone with the skyview app as a form of low resolution viewfinder?

[sada]

Hi from scotland my man.

[neal_mlc]

Using a smart phone as a push-to can be done but has one major issue; The metal OTA interferes with the magnetometer and needs a fair amount of distance, depending on the quality of the phone/tablet, from the OTA in order to function properly. Mine, an LG Optimus, needs to be 12-18 inches away so it is not practical for me. However!!!! an app like Skeye can provide you with accurate coordinates so you can use your manual setting circles to find your target.

[Tombstone17]

Welcome to the forums...

[satcomsta]

Welcome to the forum!

[leeseafish]

Of course, I'd forgotten the basic physics. I used mine (Skyeye on a Motorola) last night to find the pole to align my barn door tracker. Why? I hear you ask. Well the northern sky was 100% cloud but there were gaps to the South. I'd finished the tracker a few days ago and this was the first night without total cloud cover for weeks - so nice to see stars again. While alignment was only approximate, the results were encouraging.

[psi20]

all thanks.
Neal I tried setting circles (on ALT axis) the past night althoug a little rubbish (diy in hurry) using an galaxy tab as a compass, the system worked and gave me many good sights in a bad sky without the circles it would be impossible to find objectos like the M31, M16, M51 and a hand full of IC objects.
thus i thinked in upgrading to a astrofix locator, but the one that i was intending to buy is somehow inacurate therefore worse than my setting circles.

leeseafish, i have already tried to use my gaalxy tab 7'' as a push to system but there is too much interference. now I use is as a compass by letting it sitted on the base of the telescope.

[andyp180]

hi and welcome to the forums.
clear skies,