General help with Equipment

[rynoski]

Ok guys - need a little help in the right direction.
First off I have a 6" newtonian reflector.
I have a equitorial mount tripod which i think is supposed to be set up with respect to the North pole...

I havent seen anywhere where to actually rotate the main mount in a circular fashion but there is a big but underneath that can be loosened...

The way this thing works with respect to setting up aligned to the poles with the weight and all is kinda befuddling me.

Can someone kind of give me a general synopsis of how to go about setting this bad boy up? I'd like to be prepared for the 4th!

Second was collimation. I got it sort of semi collimated but im having trouble figuring out if I got it right or not. I dont have a laser collimator and im wondering if i shold have my eye shoved inside the dang eyepiece gizmo or backed off a bit. Also I wonder if the secondary mirror is supposed to drop down ay at all (adjustment move towards the primary mirror) ??

Lastly was cleaning. I need very desperately to clean my mirrors off before any more viewing. There is a big nasty spot on the primary mirror even! What should I go purchase to do this!?? Regular like camera lens cleaning solution? and maybe what proper way to do it is!

Any help is greatly appreciated. Most important so far is the equitorial mount. I so far have not been able to locate tempel 1 because i have to zig zag around too much. Seeing jupiter and other primo bright night sky objects not so hard, andeven not so fuzzy. but yeah - i need some help!

Thanks in advance for anyone taking the time ti post some comments...

Thx
R

[ozzmosis]

hi heres a few links i posted on the board hope it helps


well to start of ur tripode as 4 directions at the bottom you have the azimuth adj knobs for left and right side

then Altitude Adjustment T-bolts for up and down directions

then you have the r.a knob wich is measured in hours like a clock up to 24 hrs and also the dec knob wich is measured in degrees up to 180 degrees
180 couse u can t see below the horizon 90 deg on each side
Right Ascension (RA or a)

Equivalent to longitude
RA is measured in hours
The range is from 0 to 24 hours increasing on sky towards the east.
The "zero point" is towards the constellation Pices.
Declination (Dec or d)

Equivalent to latitude
Dec is measured in degrees.
The zero is on the equator
North Pole = 90 deg. , South Pole = -90 deg.
Notes:

The equatorial (celestial) coordinate system is fixed on the sky.
The coordinates of the stars and constellations do not change (ignoring precession).
Since it is an "earth-centered" system the coordinates of the sun do change


now am wondering did t you get a document with ur scope and if so what kind is it?

heres a few links i posted this week too hope this helps

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/a...01/astro101.htm

http://www.universetoday.com/forum/index.p...?showtopic=8618