User's Manual

3 Pointing to directions other than due North (fig. 20)

Pointing in any direction other than due North requires a combination of R.A.

and Dec positions. This can be visualized as a series of Dec arcs, each

resulting from the position of rotation of the R.A. axis. In practice however, the

telescope is usually pointed, with the aid of a finderscope, by loosening both the

R.A. and Dec clutches and swiveling the mount around both axes until the

object is centered in the eyepiece field. When the object is centered, make sure

the R.A and Dec clutches are both retightened to hold the object in the field and

allow tracking by adjusting only in R.A. with the R.A. slow motion control handle

(or using direction knobs on the Synscan controller with the motorized EQM-35

PRO version).

Celestial Pole

Fig 19

Telescope pointing East

Counterweight pointing North

Rotation of the DEC axis

Rotation of the RA axis

Telescope pointing West

Counterweight pointing North

Fig 20

Examples of the

telescope moved

in RA and Dec

1. 2.