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All-Star Polar Alignment

In order to do long-exposure astroimaging, an equatorially aligned telescope is necessary to allow your telescope to properly track the motion of the sky. Precise tracking still depends on an accurate polar alignment. Even with a visible star very near the North Celestial Pole (NCP), the true celestial pole can be a very elusive place to find without assistance.

That’s where All-Star^™ Polar Alignment comes in. All-Star is our exclusive, innovative polar alignment procedure—available on select Celestron computerized telescopes—that allows users to choose any bright star (not just one near the NCP) while the software calculates and assists with polar alignment.

Here's how it works.
Once your telescope is aligned with two or more bright stars, All-Star allows you to choose any bright star listed in the NexStar hand control. This star will assist the software in correctly aligning your telescope’s mount with the North Celestial Pole.

Using the telescope's Sync function, the mount will point to and center a bright star with a high degree of accuracy. Once centered, the mount will point the telescope to the exact position that the star should be if the mount was precisely polar-aligned. When you adjust the mount’s altitude and azimuth controls to re-center the star in the eyepiece, you are actually moving the mount’s polar axis to the exact position of the North Celestial Pole.

FAQ
Can I use Polaris to polar align my telescope?
Since Polaris is very close to the NCP and not very bright, we do not recommend it for the All-Star method. The advantages of being able to use stars other than Polaris are twofold:

Polaris is not always visible. So not only can you use a variety of other stars, but ones that are brighter and more prominent than Polaris.
The star you choose will be farther away from the NCP, allowing for greater accuracy when centering the star in your eyepiece.

Which stars are best to use for polar aligning?
For best results, choose a bright alignment star that is near the Meridian, preferably close to the celestial equator. Try to avoid stars that are close to the west/east horizon or directly overhead; they can be more difficult to center using the mount’s altitude and azimuth controls. Also, stars too near the celestial pole are less accurate than those further away.

Will I lose my alignment after I polar align?
No. The mount will retain its alignment, but some amount of accuracy may be compromised depending on how much the mount was moved during polar alignment. Although the telescope’s tracking may be very good, pointing accuracy may need to be improved, especially if you are trying to locate small objects on a CCD chip.

For information on how to All-Star Polar Alignment telescopes please reference one of the below: