Expert: Ed - 6/12/2004

Question
Hi!

I own a 4.5 inch reflector telescope and have been looking at the sky "manually" for a few months.

But I was tired of always looking at the planets, the moon, etc. so I decided to look at the deep sky objects. However, since most of the DSO are not naked-eye, I was going to need the right ascension and the declination on my telescope (german equatorial mount).

So I then decided to try polar aligning and then use the RA/Dec coordinates to find objects. I was sucessfully able to polar align my telescope. However, I couldn't locate any objects because of one reason... I didn't know which way to use the RA/Dec quadrants (clockwise or counter-clockwise).

That is my question. Once you have polar aligned the telescope/mount, how do you use the RA and Dec hours/degrees to find objects in the sky?

Thank you very much!

P.S. And what do you have to do so your telescope doesn't hit the mount while you're rotating it?

Answer
Dear Deeb,
I'm sorry I'm a little late getting back to you.  I was away for the weekend, and I only am just receiving your message now.  I should have warned AllExperts that I was going to be away, and had myself put on "hold" on this service.

You know what, I actually live in a city.  (Luckily, the city happens to be Boston, so I have all the PLENTIFUL resources of MIT and Harvard within a couple miles of my house).  However, it is impossible for me to see the stars from where I live, because of all the bright city lights.  I own a telescope, but I hardly ever get to use it.  Therefore, I have a policy of forwarding telescope questions to one or the other of two people on this service.  Tom Whiting is one of them.  He owns 6 telescopes, and has 40 years of astronomy experience.  Also, everyone just adores the guy.  
http://www.allexperts.com/displayExpert.asp?Expert=18522

Another real good guy to talk to would be Paul Wagner.  He has personally made seven telescopes, and loves to talk about mechanical, optics-related stuff.  
http://www.allexperts.com/displayExpert.asp?Expert=4834

I hope this is helpful.  I could give you an answer, but either of the two gentlemen I mentioned up above will give you far better answers than I could.  Also, if you want to ask them any kind of follow-ups, they'll be better to talk to than me.

Keep Looking Up!
--Ed