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Home > Guides & Accessories > Polar Alignment

Polar Alignment

Polar alignment is essential to astrophotography, but when it comes to general viewing an approximation is adequate. A good telescope should come with information on how to set up polar alignment but it can be difficult to understand for the beginning astronomer. Polar alignment is nothing more than aligning the mount, and essentially the telescope, with the Earth's axis. This is done by setting the equatorial mount to the celestial pole. Polar alignment makes astronomy easier because it allows one to track east and west without drifting from the north or south alignment. If the telescope drifts too much, the one will not be able to efficiently locate the astral body they are searching for.

There are polar alignment scopes available for purchase. This is a small finder scope which is built into the right ascension axis of an equatorial mount. It is also referred to as a polar axis finder. Remember that only equatorial mounts are sufficient for polar alignment.

The basic guide for setting polar alignment will be detailed below, but please be aware that there may be some slight differences depending on the telescope brand and model one has. If the instructions that came with one's telescope are hard to understand, don't hesitate to contact the brand's support team. They are highly skilled at helping individuals with their telescopes and are informed at what variations the brand and model may have.

1. Adjust the equatorial mount's three legs to be level with one another.
2. Tighten one latitude T-bolts on the mount, and loosen the other, until the latitude scale reads the latitude one wishes to observe.
3. Loosen the Dec. lever until the setting circle reads about 90 degrees. The telescope's optical tube should be rotated until it is parallel with the RA axis. Be sure to retighten and lock the Dec. lever once this is completed. If the setting circle is not at exactly 90 degrees, that is okay, just as long as the optical tube of the telescope is parallel with the RA axis.
4. Finally move the telescope so that it is pointed north. If one is using a compass to achieve this, remember that the compass is generally 16 degrees off from north and one will have to adjust accordingly. The north is called "Polaris" and thus where the term polar alignment comes from.

Polar alignment should now be set for pleasant viewing. Do not move the mount or adjust it else the polar alignment will be off and need to be readjusted. The telescope should only need adjustment by it's RA and Dec axes at this point.

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