Meade 2080 - Lining Up with the Celestial Pole

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coordinates, and the object found without resorting to visual
location techniques. However, these setting circles may
be used to advantage only if the telescope is first proper-
ly'aligned with the North Celestial Pole.
LINING UP WITH THE CELESTIAL POLE
Objects in the sky appear to revolve around the celestial
pole. (Actually, celestial objects are essentially "fixed,"
and their apparent motion is -caused by the Earth's axial
rotation.) During any 24 hour period, stars make one com-
plete revolution about the pole, describing concentric
circles with the pole at the center. By lining up the
telescope's polar axis with the North Celestial Pole (or
for observers located in Earth's Southern Hemisphere, with
the South Celestial Pole), astronomical objects may be
followed, or tracked, simply by moving the -telescope about
one axis, the polar axis. In the case of the Meade Models
2080 and 2120, this tracking may be accomplished au~omatical-
ly with the electric motor drive.
If the telescope is reasonably well aligned with the pole,
therefore, very little use of the telescope's Declination
slow motion control is necessary: virtually all of the
required telescope tracking will be in Right Ascension.
(If the telesco~e were perfectly aligned with the pole,
no Declination tracking of.stellar objects would be re-
quired.) For the purposes of casual visual telescopic
observations, lining up the telescope's polar axis to within
a degree or two of the pole is more than sufficient: with
this level of pointing accuracy, the telescope's motQr drive
will track accurately and keep objects in the telescopic
field of view for perhaps 20 to 30 minutes.
To line up the Model 2080 or 2120 with the Pole, follow this
.procedure:
Model 2080: (1) Using the bubble level loca~ed on the floor
of the wedge, adjust the tripod legs so
that the telescope/wedge/tripod system
reads "level."
(2) After grasping the telescope firmly;
loosen the tilt plate knobs (5), Fig. 7A,
so that the telescope may be moved in
latitude angle. Set the tilt-plate angle
so that the latitude scale (3), correctly
reads your latitude. Firmly re-tighten
the knobs (5). (The £ine latitude ad-
justment (6) may be moved along the wedge
slot and out of the way for now.)