Alignment Problem on LX90

[brianshodge]

Hello all. I just bought a Meade LX90 8" and took it out for the first time over the weekend. I ran through the Automatic Alignment Process and centered the two brightest stars and it said Alignment Successful. I then hit GOTO Saturn on the Autostar and it doesn't appear anywhere near the field of view. I did this for other objects as well and they don't appear. What am I missing here? I have no doubt this topic has been covered, but I am new to the forums.

[Mark Sibole]

A few things to check.
Make sure you have time date and location set correctly.
Also make sure you have calibrated the drives.


Regards

Mark

[South Jersey Star Man]

We did the same thing on our first night... BUT later got quite a chuckle when we figured out what we did wrong. When the Autostar said center brightest star, we looked around, found a BRIGHT star and TURNED the scope and centered it on that one... and did it again for the next one it asked for. Not realizing (we should have read the book better before trying it out but were excited) that the brightest star it wanted centered was already in the FOV. Just as you did we told it to GOTO Saturn first thing and it aimed towards the ground.  LOL...
We can't wait until Saturday night to give it another go.... NOW if somebody could give me some advice on the tripod bolt issue I am having I will be all set...

[Mark Sibole]

It could be getting wedged from the temp changes.
Try putting a small dab of grease on the end of the bolt for a bit of lube.

Mark

[South Jersey Star Man]

Our second night out was much better! We saw Saturn and it's rings much to the delight of myself and my daughter..

Thanks for the reply on the tripod issue Mark.. I sprayed a light amount of WD40 into the top area where the knurled nuts are and it seemed to help but it is still kind of quirky. The legs of the spreader rarely all three touch the tripod legs which then forces the bolt to be on a slight angle when it is tightened up. The spreader/eyepiece rack is on a bit of an angle (more so that the top of tripod) when the scope is installed and tightened.

The other issue I had last night was that after slewing to Saturn, the scope seemed to either not be tracking it or it continued to move somehow as I had to manually track it back into the FOV with the Autostar controller continuously. 

Also we got the best results when we used the 26mm EP supplied with the scope. All the others we tried made it blurrier... (maybe we were overpowering?) The clearest view came with the 26mm but we were hoping for more definition..

All in all not a bad night, we had fun and had some success but hope to build on what we have learned and I am hoping communicating on here will accelerate our learning curve.  Thanks for anybodies input to these issues/questions.

[Mark Sibole]

If higher power eyepieces were making it blurry it was more than likely seeing conditions.
As for the tripod.
The spreader must be touching all the legs.
If you are seeing radical jumps in the image its from the tripod setteling from not being secure.
When you add the scope to the tripod and tighten it you may need to tap the legs out as tigntening it so the spreader hits all 3 legs.


Regards

Mark

[James531952]

Hello all. I just bought a Meade LX90 8" and took it out for the first time over the weekend. I ran through the Automatic Alignment Process and centered the two brightest stars and it said Alignment Successful. I then hit GOTO Saturn on the Autostar and it doesn't appear anywhere near the field of view. I did this for other objects as well and they don't appear. What am I missing here? I have no doubt this topic has been covered, but I am new to the forums.

Meade told me I had to use a two Star aligment..So pick out two stars that relate to the seasons..I used Vega and Deneb..Hope that helps'

[Taras12]

Thanks for the reply on the tripod issue Mark.. I sprayed a light amount of WD40 into the top area where the knurled nuts are and it seemed to help but it is still kind of quirky.
[/quote]

WD40 contains some solvents that may attract water.  I'd be very careful about using this compound on equipment like telescopes. Light   applications of grease work best.