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Hi guys (and girls?),
With regards to setting up the az circles.
I find out the Alt and Az of an object in the sky, like Canopus.
It's current position is:
Az: 142.3 (it's actually 142.18 but I divide 18 by 60 for the decimal portion)
Alt: 52
I find Canopus using my finder scope and centre it in the ep.
Then I find 142.3 degrees on the setting circles (it doesn't matter
how it is rotated) and stick a large allen key in the ground at that
position. The altitude isn't really that important for aligning the az
circle. The only thing to remember now is that you have to lock the
azimuth circle to the top board of your dob so that when you turn
it around, the circle goes with it.
Now that the Az circle has been aligned, say I want to find Achernar,
I find the alt/az using Stellarium or whatever program you prefer.
It's current position is:
Az: 210 exactly
Alt: 41.2
So now you turn your dob until the allen key is pointing to 210 degrees
and I tilt the dob until the inclinometer reads about 41 degrees and you
should be looking at Achernar.
Hope this helps.
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