Little Dipper
Polaris
Big Dipper
Cassiopeia
Fig. 35: Locating Polaris.
star, and also of the object you wish to locate, in a star atlas. Point the object at the bright star. Then loosen the R.A. setting circle lock knob (32, Fig. 1d) and turn the R.A. setting circle to read the correct R.A. coordinate of the bright star; lock the R.A. setting circle lock knob onto the object. Next, loosen the R.A. lock (33, Fig. 1d) and turn the telescope in R.A. to read the correct R.A. coordinate of the object. Tighten the R.A. lock (33, Fig. 1d). If the procedure has been followed carefully, the desired object should now be in the telescopic field of a
If you do not immediately see the object you are seeking, try searching the adjacent sky area. Keep in mind that, with the 26mm eyepiece, the field of view of the LXD55- Series is about 0.5°. Because of its much wider field, the viewfinder may be of signif- icant assistance in locating and centering objects, after the setting circles have been used to locate the approximate position of the object.
See USING AUTOSTAR TO FIND OBJECTS NOT IN THE LIBRARIES, page 33, for infor- mation on how to manually enter coordinates into Autostar.
Locating the Celestial Pole
To get basic bearings at an observing location, take note of where the Sun rises (East) and sets (West) each day. After the site is dark, face North by pointing your left shoul- der toward where the Sun set. To precisely point at the pole, find the North Star (Polaris) by using the Big Dipper as a guide (Fig. 35).
One- and Two-Star Polar Alignment
Autostar provides three different methods for Polar Alignment: Easy,
One-Star Polar Alignment
Polar
Two-Star Polar Alignment
Polar
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