No Grant, you misunderstand.

You have a theory that needs to be tested. I'm willing to do some research to either prove or disprove your theory.

Besides, what's a "moon phase peak" anyhow? And, why can't you provide data as well?

What is it about 30 degrees above the horizon that you do not understand?

Well phan if you used a compass to align your scope you would be on the other side of this debate.

The closest reading you can take nearest to the peak of one of the 4 phases of the Moon

However you are wrong. Any shift in the Earth's axis results in a corresponding shift of a equal number of degrees in the star's positions. What you are claiming is like telling someone that if they face a distance mountain that it they then turn 10° to the right that while the nearby tree with move a lot, the mountain will appear to stay in almost exactly the same place in their field of view. Nonsense.

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It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

Okay, so you're saying that the tilt of the Earth would cause a very far away object, such as the North Star, to move very slightly. However, objects nearby would move a lot. Is this correct? When you talk about objects nearby, do you mean the moon? Is this why you're saying the moon should be out of position?

If so, then why do you say all the other stars will be in the same position relative to the moon? Aren't all the other stars very far away, too?


For the others, I've never used a GoTo scope (I just star-hop with my binoculars), but these explanations make a lot of sense. I'm even given my own experiments to verify the claims independently (repeatable experiment). Very cool.

(Edited to fix quoting problem)

Actaully Grant, I use a compass when I do my moon position checks when I'm out moon gazing. So far I haven't found anything wrong.

__________________
Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

Jonathan.
I see you made it. You seem to think that the anomaly is large, it is not. The planets would not move in unpredictable ways, because the movement of the stars thru the sky is based on the rotation of the Earth and that has not changed.

I think Grant's remembered that perspective will cause close objects to shift a tad more than farther ones (when we compare the object's new positions in the sky), but is forgetting that everything will also shift in the opposite direction of the tilt.

I have a Celestron Nexstar 114GT that I align to North by compass and it has no problem tracking at all. A problem should have shown itself by now considering that I run college level observations in the area at least every other week.

It might be helpful for you to review how a goto tracks. An explanation of this process can be found here.

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Jonathan,
Leave the telescope alone, just go out amd measure the Moon's altitude, its direction with a compass and the time and then compare to the US Navy database.

Based on what data? The USNO? Aren't you claiming their data is incorrect?

OK, so the first quarter occurs at 21:59 UT on the 20th. For my location, that would correlate to

20 Oct 2004 5:59:00 PM
(Julian day number 2453299.41597)
Right ascension: 20h 5m 16.95s
Declination: -26° 39' 32.8"
Constellation: Sagittarius
Altitude: 19° 4' 11"
Azimuth: 165° 4' 42"
Rise: 14h 42m 33s
Transit: 19h 3m 55s
Set: 23h 30m 58s
Phase: 0.501
Phase angle: 89.9°
Elongation: 90.0°

So, your altitude prediction for that date is what, based on your theory? I only ask so that I can check my observation against your prediction (again, weather permitting - and yes, I can do it in daylight).

You see Grant, what it comes down to is this, "What data can your theory predict?", *not* "What data can we find that fits the theory?".

So, a prediction for lunar altitude on the 20th at 21:59UT is within reason, and within your parameters, is it not?

There complaints coming in from all over the world with the GoTo scopes, but everyone discounts it, the user is new, he or she calibrated wrong, excuses. The shift in the sky is subtle just enough for you to make that slight adjustment and you do every time, but you write off as a normal adjustment.

Take some advice go back to basics and just look.

Do you have the deviation of the Moon to the ecliptic for that date?

I think you are right, but Parallax isn't the thing that changes the positions. Parallex would be an effect if you walked 50m away from your starting position, but that isn't the affect of what Grant is talking about. If the axis of the planet tilted unexpectedly then it would be the same as turning on the spot, not actually changing positions and so Parallex is not relevant in the situation.

__________________
Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

If you are going to test the theories do it manually, and why don't I provide data? Insufficient time, my field research is very limited.

Well Grant, I can tell you that many top Astronomers from all over the world come to this site (I've been talking to them about bringing Phil to NZ and so I'm learning exactly how famous he is in thise circles) and there is not one, zero, nada, nil, zlitch, none, a total absence of posts on this board claiming that their GoTo won't work. Why is that? In fact of all the sites I have been on the only one where I saw anyone state it was GLP and when YFH (usually) offered to help if they gave more details, they mysteriously disappeared. So, here's the test to back your claim. Find one (we just need one) claim on a genuine Astronomy forum of a GoTo Scope that isn't working because of something that can't be explained in a mudane way.

__________________
Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

Really Phan,

If two mountain peaks lined up by sight one 20 miles away and the other 25 miles away and you shifted 100 yards to the right the mountains would still be align, but any object that lined up in the near field would shift.

If the Earth tilt changed they would be moving in an unpredicted manner as the calculations used to predict their movement through the sky (as seen from Earth) rely on the axis that the Earth rotates around.