61
Appendix E
the altitude adjustment knob on the X-Wedge to set your latitude.
Turn on the power to the telescope and when the AutoStar II
handbox displays "0 to Align, Mode for Menu", press "0". The
AutoStar II will ask you to place the telescope in the polar home
position. Polar home position is where the DEC axis is at 90
degrees (telescope tube pointing directly away from the drive
base and parallel to the fork arms) and the RA axis is at 0:00 hour
angle (rotate the RA axis to put the viewfi nder on the underside
of the telescope tube and the base of the fork arms is parallel
to the ground with). Press "ENTER" and the telescope will get
GPS time, date and location, and will then slew near to the star
Polaris. Find Polaris in the viewfi nder (it is very important to have
the viewfi nder aligned with the optics of your telescope.
See
page 18
) and using the azimuth and altitude controls on the
X-Wedge, center Polaris on the crosshairs of the viewfi nder. Now,
look through a low power eyepiece like the 26mm Super Plössl
and further adjust the X-Wedge controls until Polaris is accurately
centered in the fi eld of view. Tighten the locking screws on the
X-Wedge. Press "ENTER" to confi rm and the telescope will slew
to a second star. Using the AutoStar II handbox slew keys, center
the star in the viewfi nder and then accurately center it in the
eyepiece. Press "ENTER" and the alignment is complete.
Easy Polar Alignment
Two alignment stars are chosen by AutoStar II based on the
date, time, and location. First, choose “Polar” from the “Setup:
Telescope: Mount” menu. The rest of the procedure is identical to
the (Alt-az) Easy (Two-Star) Align,
page 41
, except the telescope
will be placed into the Polar home position before beginning the
night sky alignment.
Two-Star Polar Alignment
Polar Two-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night
sky. AutoStar II provides a library of bright stars and two stars
from this library are chosen by the observer for alignment. First,
choose “Polar” from the “Setup: Telescope: Mount” menu.
The rest of the procedure is almost identical to the (Alt-az) Two
Star Alt-az Alignment,
page 42
, except the telescope will be
placed into the Polar home position before beginning the night
sky alignment.
Fig. 25.
LX600 in polar home position.
North
Pointing
at Polaris
