I use a compass to align my scope north, but my telescope will still not place an alignment star within the finderscope's field of view. Why not?

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	I use a compass to align my scope north, but my telescope will still not place an alignment star within the finderscope's field of view. Why not?

Answer The telescope's computer needs a single reference point in space in order to locate he approximate positions of the alignment stars. This scope uses true north and level to define this point. Unfortunately, a compass reads magnetic north and not true north.

The lines of magnetic flux in the Earth's magnetic field do not run in straight lines, resulting in variances between true north and magnetic north that can exceed 20 degrees. The best way to find true north is to look for Polaris, the North Star. It lies less than a degree away from true north and is easily found by using the pointer stars in the big dipper. When aligning your telescope, you place Polaris in the center of the StarPointer, then lower the tube so that it is level and then start the alignment procedure.

Article Details

Article ID:

1728

Created On:

Feb 21 2005 08:00 AM