Finally, match the angle of your telescope's polar axis to the latitude of your observing location. Now, move the telescope, tripod and all, until the polar axis and telescope tube are pointed towards Polaris. In this position the telescope will be parallel to the polar axis. The easiest way to accomplish this is to rotate the telescope tube to read 90degrees in declination. This simply means positioning the telescope so that the polar axis is aimed up at Polaris. Although residents of the northern hemisphere are convenienced with a bright star (Polaris) less than a degree from Earth's rotational axis, the NCP can still be a somewhat elusive place to locate.įor ordinary visual observing, the telescope's polar axis must be aligned to the Earth's pole. When this is accomplished, the sky's motion can be canceled out simply by turning the axis (either by hand or with a motor drive) at the same rate as the rotation of the Earth, but in the opposite direction. The polar alignment procedure works on one simple principle: The polar axis of the telescope must be made parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation, called the North Celestial Pole (NCP). Finally, astrophotography will require the most accurate polar alignment of all. Still greater precision is needed in order to use setting circles to locate those hard-to-find objects. Better alignment is needed for tracking objects across the sky (either manually or with a motor drive) at high magnifications. For casual observing, only a rough polar alignment is needed. Aligning the telescope to the Earth's axis can be a simple or rather involved procedure depending on the level of precision needed for what you want to do. A mount is said to be "equatorial" if one of its two axes can be made parallel with the Earth's axis of rotation. But eventually, as you progress to finding more difficult objects, such as planets and faint deep-sky objects, you will want to utilize all the features of your equatorial mount, such as the setting circles or perhaps even a motor drive. Just the excitement of seeing the lunar landscape up close is enough to keep you entertained for days. If you're like most new amateur astronomers, the first thing you probably do when you get your new telescope properly assembled is put in an eyepiece and point it up to look at the moon.
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