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wo-Star alt/az alignment procedures, you will (unlike the Automatic and Easy alignment pro-
cedures) manually place the telescope in the home position.
The procedures for equatorial (polar) alignment are discussed in
APPENDIX A, page 50; the
three alternative alt/az alignment methods are discussed below.
Easy (Two-Star) Alignment
In this method, AutoStar automatically sets the home position, and also automatically picks two
stars from its libraries for alignment. During the procedure, AutoStar slews the telescope to a
first alignment star. The user is asked to verify that the telescope is pointed at the chosen star
and then prompted to center the star in the e
yepiece. The process is repeated with a second
star to complete the alignment.
How to perform the Easy Align Procedure
1. Select Alignment. Select "Align: Easy" from the Setup menu. Press ENTER.
2.
Home Position. The telescope automatically sets the following positions: home, level,
North, and True North. If so desired, you may turn off the sensors and manually set these
positions. See
CALIBRATE SENSORS, page 29 for more information.
3 . Star Alignment. AutoStar chooses two stars to align upon.The telescope slews to the first
star for alignment. Should the alignment star not appear in the field of view in the eyepiece,
it should be easily recognized: It will be the brightest star in the area of the sky where the
telescope is pointing. Use the Arrow keys to move the telescope until the star is visible and
centered in the eyepiece. Press ENTER. Repeat the procedure for the second alignment
star.
Note: See WHICH ONE'S THE ALIGNMENT STAR, page 23, for some important tips
concerning alignments stars and using your viewfinder.
When the procedure is performed correctly, "Alignment Successful" displays. If AutoStar
does not display this message, perform this procedure again. (Keep pressing MODE until
"Align: Easy" displays and repeat the procedure.)
Two-Star Alt/Az Alignment
Two-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. AutoStar provides a library of
bright stars and two stars from this library are chosen
by the observer for alignment. In this
procedure, AutoStar does not automatically find home, level, or North.
1.
Select Alignment. Select "Align: Two Star" from the Setup menu. Press ENTER.
3.
Set Home Position. Place the telescope in the home position.
To Set the Home Position Manually:
a. See Fig. 14. Loosen the telescope’s Dec. lock (6, Fig. 1). Set the optical tube to 0°on
the Dec. setting circle (
11, Fig. 1).
b
.
Tighten the Dec.
loc
k (
6,
Fig.
1
) to a fir
m f
eel only
.
c. Level the tripod base.
d. Move the base of the telescope so that the computer control panel (
13, Fig. 1)
approximately faces South.
e. Unlock the R.A. lock (
9, Fig. 1) and turn the telescope's optical tube horizontally until
it points North.
f. Re-lock the R.A. lock (
9, Fig. 1). Press ENTER.
g. Press ENTER.
4
.
Star Alignment
.
"Select Star" displa
ys
.
A
utoStar then displa
ys a libr
ary of stars for the
obser
v
er to choose from.
Use the Scroll k
eys to scroll to a star on the list that you wish to
align upon—select a star that y
ou can easily locate in the night sky
. Press ENTER.
5.
Center Star
.
The telescope sle
ws to the star
.
Use the Arro
w k
eys to move the telescope
until the star is centered in the e
y
epiece. Press ENTER.
6.
Center Star
.
Repeat procedure f
or a second alignment star
.
Once ENTER is pressed, the
telescope is aligned and y
ou are no
w ready to use A
utoStar's GO
TO capabilities for a
night of obser
ving.
Fig. 14: Alt/Az Home Position.
North
0°