Hi Darcy,
To quickly try to answer your question, when you rotate your scope from aligning azimuth to point to a star 20 deg above the horizon it will indeed still show near 0 deg on the dec scale because you will be looking at a star on or near the celestial equator, just a different RA. Thus the only difference with the azimuth aligning is that you are pointing at a point on the equator that is almost overhead (depends on your latitude, ie. where your meridian intersects the equator). By pointing the scope east or west to align altitude it keeps the azimuth error to a minimum so that you can see any altitude error more clearly, and vice versa.
Wayne
Quote:
Originally Posted by pin3appl3
As for aligning correctly http://www.petesastrophotography.com/ gives a really good description, the only part that troubles me is when im happy with alignment in azmith do I then rotate in DEC 90 deg to face the telescope either East or West (to find a guide star 15-20 deg above horizon)? Here I just get confused as when aligning it always states "0 DEG DEC". |