[Cumbrian]

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Originally Posted by mark3d

You can find a template to print the azimuth circles here: http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthrea...l/fpart/1/vc/1. (It costs about $3 to print at Officeworks on A0 size. The Wixey for altitude costs under $40 from Amazon.)

Thanks for that, Mark. I made my own laminated degrees circle yesterday, based on your design, and it's now fixed to the base of my 10" GSO dob. I still need to do something for the declination, which is proving to be a bit of a challenge..

With regards to setting north for your scope. Try the U.S navy site
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/mrst.php

This site gives the transit times for all major celestial objects.
Plug in your co-ordinates then find a star that's approaching due north, then at the right time set your scope onto it. From there take a bearing on a land based structure, a tv mast or something (nothing too close though) and then you're set for future set ups. You just need to set up on the same spot each night and take your reference, if not repeat the process wherever you are.