Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinderboxsky
The scope is mounted on an Ioptron MiniTower Pro goto mount. It is almost completely obscured behind the scope. You can see that I have made a wooden pier extension to ensure the scope does not hit the tripod legs when slewing.
The initial alignment was done as a "one star alignment” using the Sun, with the right filters in place of course. These mounts are extraordinarily accurate on a one star alignment if care is taken to get the mount level.
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I do almost the same, I use a two star alignment: the Sun and a virtual star: the zenith. The tripod should not be level, but the inclination of the polar axis should equal the latitude, set with an inclinometer or a DIY latitude wedge and then I set the telescope exactly vertical with a bubble level and reset the RA circle (0h) and the decl circle to the latitude.
Then I point to the Sun using its declination and hour angle and rotate the mount until the Sun is in view (obviously not with my eyes behind the eyepiece).
When the Moon or Venus is available, I use one of these which can be done without safety precautions.
Then it is ready to look up objects by declination and hour angle found in sky mapping apps.
With an altazimuth scope (my 80mm or my 400mm Dob) I have a DIY azimuth circle on both scopes and use an inclinometer to the altitude, which works fine, but in that case both axes have to be adjusted repeatedly. In that case the tripod / rockerbox should be level, and alignment on correct azimuth takes place with bright objects as well (although the Sun in a 400mm Dob is a real fire hazard....).
Here my page on this:
https://www.skysurfer.eu/daystars.php