Looking at or near the Sun will cause instant and irreversible damage to your eye!
28
according to your local time. For the central european time, this is 15° E
(do not use daylight savings). Calculate the difference between both
longitudes; in our exampel with Munich, it is 3°
N-7 b) Now set the secondary scale at your month ring (E 20 10...) to this
difference. If your observing site is east of the time meridian, turn to “E”,
if it is west of the meridian, turn to “W”. This setting has only to be
changed when the observing site changes by more than 2-3°.
N-7 c) Loosen the RA setting circle locking screw (32, Fig 1 d), turn the
setting circle to “0” and tighten the screw again. In normal operation,
this screw should be loose!
N-7 d) Now loosen the RA lock and turn the RA axis until the actual date at
the month match with the local time. In the picture shown, this would
e.g. be November 24th, 22:00 CET.
N-7 e) Now adjust the mount using the azimuth and latitude knobs until
Polaris fits into the small circle between 40’ and 60’.
Observers on the southern hemisphere:
S-7 a) Look at the trapezoid association in the polar viewfinder’s reticle.
They build the stars Sigma, Tau, Chi and Ypsilon Octantis. Turn the RA
axis until the “real” stars roughly cover the edge points in the trapezoid
figure.
S-7 b) Probably both trapezoids may still be parallel shifted. Adjust this
offset by using the latitude and azimuth fine controls. Maybe an
additional RA correction is necessary.
Note:
Not all settings within the month/hour scale are possible because a
german equatorial mount is limited within its movements.
8. Tighten the RA wedging again and set the telescope to its polar home
position.
Note:
Don’t forget to switch off the reticle illuminatin after use.
Fig. 37: Detail: Polar viewfinder.
APPENDIX C: POLAR ALIGNMENT
