Why cant I make Go To work?

Al · Guest

I just my Bushnell north star Go To and I cant make the Go to umm, well Go to the right place. I spent 4 hours just trying to align this. I took a compass to get north, I put in all the correct info and it couldn’t even find the moon after my 2 star points were meet. I do have one question, when it tells me to center the star at the alignment points how do you know what star it is asking to center? I see 2 or 3 stars at each alignment point. This was the first time I used it and im really down. Can anyone help?

Thanks Al

BobY · Guest

It's always possible the unit is defective, but when you pick your reference stars for Earth Align, you should pick two stars that are pretty much by themselves and some distance apart.

Since you can't specify which stars you are aligning to in Earth Align mode, you have to give the NorthStar computer unambiguous selections, as it is trying to match the positions you enter with an internal star map in it's memory. It's conceivable that many different combinations of stars could come close to matching the star map if you pick stars in clumps.

After the computer aligns itself, it will show an alignment rating on it's display (up to 5 asterisks). Anything less than 4 asterisks indicates a questionable alignment (i.e., the computer isn't sure it has correctly identified the stars you've chosen).

If you know what stars you are looking at in the sky, then use Star Align mode. That way there will be no question as to which stars are which.

Make sure that you are centering the stars in the scope itself, not just the finderscope, as the finderscope can be out of alignment with the scope body. Also make sure the scope is attached properly to the mount, since the mount only knows where *it* is pointing, not where the scope itself is pointing. It assumes the scope and the mount are pointing to the same place, but if the scope is not attached properly, then that assumption is false.

Guest · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks for responding Boby, Let me tell you what I’m doing.

-Point scope north and turn on computer.
-The computer levels the scope.
-I put in time, city etc. note nearest city is 1 hour away
-I push go to and the scope goes to first star. Centering star
-Go to second star, center star
-I get a high rating 4 to 5 stars
-I go to moon and its way off?

When you start off after the computer levels it self do you center it with the north star, then put in time, city etc. then go to? Our will just pointing it north be ok.

Thanks Al

BobY · Guest

That sounds like it should work.

Are you taking into account your time zone and daylight savings time?

When you center the stars, are you using the hand controller to move the scope, or are you moving it physically by hand (I don't think moving it by hand works as I don't believe the computer recognizes that the scope has been moved or can tell how much it's been moved. I think it's all based on the movement of the motors) ?

Pointing the scope Northward should be sufficient, but if you can find Polaris, that's a good thing to point at. Make sure you point it North *before* turning it on, as I believe it assumes it's "wake up" state is pointing North. If you make adjustments to point it Northward after turning it on, I think it will skew the star map.

If you know your latitude and longitude, you may want to try LAT/LON entry mode, but the best test would be to use Align Star mode, as then there is absolutely no question as to what the scope is pointing at. If that doesn't work, then it's defective.