Meade 114EQ-AR Lining Up With The Celestial Pole, Polar Alignment Of The Equatorial Mount

Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 9

There are 24 primary lines of R.A., located at 15-degree intervals along the celestial equator. Objects located further and further East of the zero R.A. grid line (0hr 0min 0sec) carry higher R.A. coordinates.

•Declination (Dec.): This celestial version of latitude is measured in degrees, arc- minutes, and arc-seconds (e.g., 15° 27' 33"). Dec. locations North of the celestial

Fig. 7

	North
	Celestial			+90 Déc.
	Pole
	(Vicinity of							Star
	Polaris)
	Celestial						D
	Equator						c
							e
							l
							i
							n
							a
							t
							i
							o
				12		11	n
15		14	13				10	9
16								8
17			Rotation					7
18									6
			of the
19								5
			Earth					4
20
								3
21		22					2
			23		0	1		0 Dec.
		Right
		Ascension
	South
				-90 Dec.
	Celestial

Pole

equator are indicated with a plus (+) sign (e.g., the Dec. of the North celestial pole is +90°). Any point on the celestial equator (such as thee constellations of Orion, Virgo, and Aquarius) is said to have a Declination of zero, shown as 0° 0' 0".

All celestial objects therefore may be located with their celestial coordinates of Right Ascension and Declination.

LINING UP WITH THE CELESTIAL POLE

Objects in the sky appear to revolve around the celestial pole. (Actually, celestial objects are essentially "fixed" and their apparent motion is caused by Earth's rotation). During any 24 hour period, stars make one complete revolution about the pole, circling with the pole at the center. By lining up the telescope's polar axis with the North Celestial Pole (or for observers located in Earth's Southern Hemisphere with the South Celestial Pole), astronomical objects may be followed, or "tracked," by moving the telescope about one axis, the polar axis.

If the telescope is reasonably well aligned with the pole very little use of the

telescope's Declination flexible cable control is necessary. Virtually all of

the required telescope tracking will be 7 in Right Ascension. For the purposes

of casual visual telescopic observations, lining up the telescope's polar axis to within a degree or two of the pole is more than sufficient: with this level of pointing accuracy, the telescope can track accurately by slowly turning the telescope's R.A. flexible cable control and keep objects in the telescopic field of view for perhaps 20 to 30 minutes.

POLAR ALIGNMENT OF THE EQUATORIAL MOUNT

To line up the Meade 114 EQ-AR with the pole, follow this procedure:

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Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversable damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving.