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ENGLISH I 15
b. If you have more time and a little knowledge of the night
sky, you can actually find true north by looking for the
Big Dipper and/or the constellation Cassiopeia. The
star Polaris, the North Star, lies about 0.8 degrees away
from true celestial north and is bright enough to find
with the naked eye from suburban skies. Look for the
two stars that form the end of the bowl of the dipper
and draw a straight line through them and it will take
you directly to Polaris. Using Polaris as true north will
get you plenty close to an accurate polar alignment.
3. Slightly loosen the knob between the three tripod legs that
holds the EQ mount to the tripod head. Loosen this just
enough to rotate the mount inside the tripod head.
4. Grab the equatorial mount and rotate it until the optical
tube is pointing in the same direction indicated by the
compass needle. If you used the Polaris method, turn the
mount until you sight down the length of the tube and
see Polaris.
5. Once the mount is aligned to north, tighten the knob
connecting the mount to the tripod to secure it in place.
NOTE: If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, you will use a compass to locate
the south celestial pole. Turn the mount until the telescope points south
when using a compass needle. Instead of Polaris, you can use the star
Sigma Octantis. The Southern Cross is a good guide to finding this star.
With your mount polar aligned, you should find it very easy to track objects as they slowly drift across the sky as Earth rotates
underneath them. You can also locate objects using the setting circles found on your mount. For more details on the use of
setting circles, please see the section at the end of the manual titled “A Word on Setting Circles”.
Cassiopeia
N.C.P.
Polaris
(North Star)
Pointer Stars
Big Dipper Little Dipper
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