Equatorial Alignment with my Celestron 5se HOWTO 

I just purchased a 5se. This was excellent Thankyou.

I ended up using the “Bostitch 9" Torpedo Standard Level” It has an angle readout and works nice. I got mine at Lowes.

The number you read on the marker rod of the 4/5SE must be read from the top and it's aligned with the surface, not in the hole you're pointing in the video, in fact if you lower it horizontally it'll be 90° (you can't read it because it's obstructed of course), and not the "85" you would read from the bottom hole. Also, that number doesn't show the actual plate inclination but the latitude (that works inversely), in example if you live at 30°N latitude, the rod will be set to 30, but if you measure the real angle of the plate, it will be 90-30 = 60°, if you live at pole, the rod will show 90 but the angle will be zero.. and so on. And finally, with the most recent software (4+) you have ASPA (all star polar alignment): you can use any star (better to use those ones far from the celestial pole) for a polar alignment.

Good information. Thank you for sharing this. I once made a Poncet platform and polar aligned to Polaris looking through a threaded plumbing tube. Whew! This is a major improvement.

Buying soon Canon 60D and Celestron 5SE. Good video.

Great Video, new to it myself so interesting to watch. Hope you post up more stuff. I have a Nexstar 4SE and a Canon Eos 500D for doing Astrophotography.

Very helpful. Thank you !!

Thanks for posting this

Thank you so much! I bought this for our 21st wedding anniversary (which is tomorrow) and I’ve been in tears trying to figure this thing out! If I have any further questions could I email you?

I just bought a 5SE. At the 8 minute mark you talk about making an adjustment if the subject isn't centered any more. If you make this adjustment, does the telescope adjust how it tracks accordingly? Or will it go off center again in 5 minutes?

Thanks for the video! I'm considering getting either a Nexstar 4 or a Nexstar 5 and start doing some astrophotography. Do you know how long is possible to track an object with the telescope properly aligned? Thanks!

Great video. What iphone app are you using for angle and sound level meter?

Do you need to polar align it if you plan to do astrophotography? or is the normal EQ North alignment like you demoed , good enough?

I did not use the marking on the mount. I used an level that showed the angle. I tried to fix the mount (see update in video description above). I was not very successful using the 5SE for deep sky imaging. I am using an Orion Sirius EQ-G mount now. Doing the actual polar alignment in the field with this mount was challenging.

so would you say this set up is ok for short multi exposure web cam/CCD astrophotography, with the images being staked in post production?

Can you confirm the exact point on the tripod where the angle reaches 40 degrees exactly, may i ask if you can measure it with your angle measure, and tell me where the exact marking should line up? It is a bit of a design oversight of the nexstar imho

Is that the open part of wedge to the north or the hinge itself?

@ 1:33 in the video : I'm pretty sure you are supposed to read the markings (30-35-40-45-50 etc.) from where the rod comes out ON THE TOP, not where you are pointing to at the bottom of the place it dissapears into the mechanism. Maybe this is why you had so much problems. If you were off by almost 10 degrees every time.

Not long maybe 30 seconds at the most. The mount that comes with the 5SE is not sturdy enough for deep sky imaging. I now have a Orion Sirius EQ-G mount and am seeing some good results.

I heard the new firmware gets rid of this and uses all star alignment?

I am at a latiture of 17.8 degrees. How do I set up my telescope with this angle? cause the wedge is almost upright

which bubble level app id that? name of it.thanks

Is that a Meade etx mount using the 5se

Not sure why, but the wedge does't match the actual angle being measured on my mount... It's off by like 10-15 degrees.

You spent all you money on this fine equipment , which only left you with a black and white camera to do the video. LOL . Nice tutorial .

7:54 there you go but its just again close enought lol when its perfect it use only one motor to track.if it use 2 then wedge not help any lol same result without

Is it just me or the angle in the presentation is wrong? Example, if you are at the north pole, Your polar axis and az axis are same hence the angle is zero, not 90. So if You are at a latitude of 40, your angle should be 90-40=50. In other words, as you go away from the equator the wedge angle will go on increasing. Other than that, useful video. Thanks.

listen be in a big field use the alignment and look. I'm not tilting anything