Super Beginner Question

[amief]

Ok, I bought a telescope a couple of weeks ago to use with my two sons, two and five, and am finally getting around to installing the software it came with... The problem is, it asks me to put in the latitude and long. and I can't figure out how to do it. I found the numbers online, but the format in the software is totally different. It has one cell that seems to want a two digit whole number, and then another cell that wants numbers with a decimal point and then a direction. Well, I put the numbers that I found in... and it puts me in russia every time... I hope this makes some type of sense and someone can give me some insight into this stuff! Oh - I am in Tulsa, Ok if that makes any difference...<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Amie

 

[Saiph]

The first thing to figure out is units.<br /><br />Longitude is often given in Hours, minutes and seconds. However, if the program is asking for Hours in decimal form, you'll have to do a conversion.<br /><br />First, there are 60 seconds in a minute, so take the number of seconds divided by 60.<br /><br />Then there are 60 minutes in an hour (this is based off of the clock, that's why it's familiar). So the number of minutes (with the seconds decimal) divided by 60 gives you the decimal for the hours.<br /><br /><br />E.g.<br /><br />12 hrs, 30 minutes, 30 sec. Or often 12h 30' 30" turns into:<br /><br />12h 30.5'<br /><br />or ~12.5h<br /><br />(that .5 is really 30.5 / 60 )<br /><br />That may help. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[amief]

Thanks! I just ignored the numbers following the decimal, and it seems to be working ok. At least it is telling me something!

 

[Saiph]

The longitude doesn't matter too much, as the software uses that to determine what is above or below the horizon. If you ignore the decimals, the worst you can be off by, is 1 hour.<br /><br />Actually, I'm a dufus. It does matter, as it will also tell the telescope where to look along the stars path (the path it takes every night). So you could end up being off by ~15 degrees in RA. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[bbrock]

Longitude can be given in degrees, minutes and seconds. Check any GPS. <br /><br />The format is probably degrees and minutes ( E or W ). <br /><br />Clear Skies<br />Bill

 

[Leovinus]

I bought a telescope a year or so ago that self-aligned. It had a built-in list of cities. I picked the closest one (Denver, CO) and then told it what time it was and pointed the tube at the North Star (Polaris). It then auto-rotated to 2 or 3 bright stars which I would then manually bring into exact alignment and voila! it was aligned. Or so I had hoped. It didn't work that well and so I returned the telescope. <br /><br />But I wonder if your scope has some similar function. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[heyscottie]

If you give us the make/model of the telescope, and/or the software you are talking about, we may be able to give a more specific answer...