User Manual

9
Aligning the Telescope
As the Earth rotates beneath the night sky, the stars
appear to move from East to West. The speed at
which the stars move is called the sidereal rate. You
can setup your telescope to move at the sidereal
rate so that it automatically tracks the stars and
other objects in the night sky. If the telescope is
not tracking an astronomical object, the object will
driftoutoftheeyepieceeldofview.Thetracking
function automatically keeps an object more or less
centered in the telescope’s eyepiece.
To automatically track and locate objects in the
nightsky,theLX65telescopemustrstbealigned
on the sky. It is best to set up the telescope in
twilightorbeforesunsetthersttimeyouusethe
LX65 telescope. Setup the telescope in a large
open area where you can see lots of the night sky.
Make sure the ground is stable and approximately
level. It is best to setup the scope away from bright
nighttime lighting. Bright lights will spoil your night
vision and impede you ability to see the sky.
The Telescope Home Position
Once the telescope is fully assembled, you will
rst needtoinitializeAudioStar, set the telescope
into the home position, and perform the Easy
Alignment in order for the telescope to successfully
locate celestial objects. The home position for the
LX65 series is with the telescope optical tube level
and pointed in the direction of either True North
or Magnetic North. Either North direction can be
used and the AudioStar will prompt you to which
North direction the optical tube is pointing before
beginning an alignment. Once the telescope is fully
assembled and outside under the night sky, follow
the steps below to correctly place the telescope
into the home position.
Magnetic North Home Position
1. Using the up/down arrow keys on the AudioStar
controller, move the telescope so that the optical
tube is approximately level. Place the included
bubble level/compass into the diagonal mirror and
use the AudioStar left/right arrow keys to move
the telescope so the optical tube is lined up with
the compass needle. The telescope will then be
pointing in the direction of Magnetic North.
2. Now use the up/down arrow keys on the AudioStar
controller to level the optical tube using bubble level
feature to precisely level the optical tube.
3. The telescope is now in the Magnetic North Home
Position.
True North Home Position
1. Using the up/down arrow keys on the AudioStar
controller, move the telescope so that the optical tube
is approximately level. Now use the left/right arrow
keys to move the telescope so the optical tube is
pointing in the direction of True North (the north star
Polaris).
2. Now use the up/down arrow keys on the AudioStar
controller to level the optical tube. The included bubble
level/compass can be placed into the diagonal mirror
and has a built in bubble level feature that will aide in
leveling the optical tube if needed.
3. The telescope is now in the True North Home
Position.
Telescope
Tube is level
North
Compass
needle is
pointing to
Magnetic
North
Bubble is
centered