Intelliscope Alignment Problem

[odysseus145]

I have just recently been able to try out my Intelliscope Object Locator. Unfortunatly, one of the star I need to find to align it, Achernar, is usually below the horizon. When it's not, it is in a very light polluted area of the sky. Because of this, I am unable to find it to align the telescope. <br /><br /> Is there any way around this? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[newtonian]

odyseus- Sorry, I have no idea.<br /><br />But just wanted to let you know that Huygens is now returning images of Titan beneath its atmosphere.<br /><br />In fact, right now the Science channel is airing the photos and comments on them/<br /><br />Sorry for the tangent. Others will be able to answer your question.

 

[nevers]

Good Lord, where do you live!?!?!?! Achernar is a Southern Hemispehere star in Eridanus and should never be visible from the US unless maybe your at a super high elevation. Anyway...I guess you could live at a lower lattitude (how cool would that be! I can only imagine what the sky looks like there.)<br /><br />I'm sorry I can't specifically answer your question: I'm not familiar with Orion's Intelliscope. I do have AutoStar on my Meade and I too live in very light polluted skies with an obstructed view of the horizon (In all directions...ARGH!). Sometimes Autostar wants to align to a star that I don't have a clear line of sight to, if that happens, I can skip that star and move on to another one. Is that possible for you?

 

[bbrock]

What hemisphere are you located in? The intelliscope gives you many star choices for first and second alignment stars. The only stipulation is that you have a sufficiently wide separation between them. I can't remember how much, but I think it's around 60 arc-degrees recommended. You can get away with less. If you are located where there are only two stars for you to align with, and one is a bad choice, contact Orion and ask them. You should have many more choices then two. <br /><br />Bill

 

[odysseus145]

I guess I should have tried to play with it a little more. There is a list of stars to align to. I just remember it telling me to align to a star I didn't recognize, so I checked Starry Night and it said it was above the horizon here (south louisiana) for only a few hours in a light polluted area of the sky. I just went back and intellescope does allow other stars. I'll try it again tonight if possible. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bbrock]

If you are not real experienced with the intelliscope, you will find that it doesn't work well on grass or a soft base. Make sure you are on blacktop, concrete or a solid wood deck. Also make sure you have leveled the scope tube to the dobsonian base. <br /><br />One last thing I found out. Try not to take too long locating the second star after you identified and selected the first alignment star. The longer you take, the less accurate the alignment to the computer will be. For this reason, I began using the Orion EZ Finder II. <br /><br />All of this will be a brief learning spell. You already have Starry Night. Once you learn where objects are, and to locate objects using Starry Night and actual star fields with binoculars, you will no longer use the intelliscope. <br /><br />Starry Night is the best locating/learning tool I have purchased. I have just upgraded to Pro V 5.0.1. I purchased the 10" Intelliscope less then a year ago. I used the computer about two or three weeks and haven't used it since. <br /><br />Best of luck<br /><br />Bill