--- Rob Ratkowski <ratkwski@hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
I guess what I'm really asking is if there are G11 users that have an easier way to do the fine adjustment to the tripod legs to get exact level. I have a 6" bullet level and w/ it I can get a very fine level but it's a real PITA to have to adjust, check, do it again . . . <snip> I'm coming up w/ a few ideas to how to easily effect leveling of the set up w/o having to do 10 minutes of bending exercises but maybe that's a good thing too ................
6 arcseconds with the bubble level and you are complaining? In another thread a few weeks ago, we discussed the polar drift alignment method. Its purpose is to do fine tuned leveling of a scope. There are other math intensive methods for determining polar misalignment error - which is the same as leveling. For example, here is a ridiculously expsensive piece of software that does polar misalignment error analysis - T-Point - and that integrates with TheSky: http://www.bisque.com/Products/TPoint/TPoint.asp#Support In a draft working paper, Michael Covington suggested another simple physical iterative approach to leveling your scope and reducing your polar alignment error. It involves using goto to slew between Polaris and a mid-latitude bright star. Michael Covington. 2001. Polar Alignment by Iterating on Star and Polaris. http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/astro/iterating.pdf#search='polar%20alignment%20error%20telescope' Can't say that I've tried Convington's method. Hope this helps. - Enjoy Canopus56 (Kurt) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com