[Wavytone]

This assumes you have a mount with an accurate dec circle, 1-degree divisions are perfect and it is straightforward to align within a degree of the pole in a matter of 10 minutes, faster than the drift method.

Step 1: choose a known bright star near the east or west horizon to set the azimuth of the scope:

- use an atlas to find the dec of the star,
- set the dec axis to the dec of the star as per the atlas, and lock the axis,
- slew the RA axis (east/west) and adjust the AZIMUTH of the mount until you can centre the star in the finderscope, then in the main scope.

Step 2: choose a known bright star overhead to set the altitude of the mount:
- use an atlas to find the dec of the star,
- set the dec axis to the dec of the star as per the atlas, and lock the axis,
- slew the RA axis (east/west) and adjust the ALTITUDE of the polar axis until you can centre the star in the finderscope, then in the main scope.

Notes:
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You must set the azimuth first; otherwise its likely you will have to repeat steps 1 and 2 a second time.


This method assumes:
- you have a finderscope or telrad properly aligned with a small refractor or guidescope with a field of view of say 2 degrees - you don't want lots of magnification.

- the dec circle is reading true with respect to where the scope is pointing. If the circle has an offset you must fix this first. If you don't know how to do this (easy in daylight), ask...

The accuracy is about half the divisions on your dec circle (ie half a degree on many scopes).

The Vixen StarBook uses a very similar approach in software to work out how to convert between equatorial coordinates and the circles on any telescope that is not actually aligned on the pole.