Ad
related to: telescope polar alignment without polaris
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In the Northern Hemisphere, rough alignment can be done by visually aligning the axis of the telescope mount with Polaris.In the Southern hemisphere or places where Polaris is not visible, a rough alignment can be performed by ensuring the mount is level, adjusting the latitude adjustment pointer to match the observer's latitude, and aligning the axis of the mount with true south or north by ...
A large German equatorial mount on the Forststernwarte Jena 50cm Cassegrain reflector telescope. An equatorial mount is a mount for instruments that compensates for Earth's rotation by having one rotational axis, called polar axis, parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation. [1] [2] This type of mount is used for astronomical telescopes and cameras.
In amateur astronomy, setting up a portable telescope equipped with setting circles requires: Polar alignment – The telescope must be aligned with either the north celestial pole or the south celestial pole. Polaris is roughly at the north pole, while Sigma Octantis is roughly at the south pole.
Currently, there is no South Pole Star like Polaris, the so-called North Star. Sigma Octantis is the closest near naked-eye star to the south celestial pole, but at apparent magnitude 5.47 it is barely visible on a clear night, making it less useful for casual navigational or astronomy alignment purposes.
In the largest telescopes, the mass and cost of an equatorial mount is prohibitive and they have been superseded by computer-controlled altazimuth mounts. [5] The simple structure of an altazimuth mount allows significant cost reductions, in spite of the additional cost associated with the more complex tracking and image-orienting mechanisms. [6]
Telescopes used for polar alignment could have a reticle that indicates the position of Polaris relative to the north celestial pole. Telescopes that are used for very precise measurements would have a filar micrometer as a reticle; this could be adjusted by the operator to measure angular distances between stars.
In astronomy, coordinate systems are used for specifying positions of celestial objects (satellites, planets, stars, galaxies, etc.) relative to a given reference frame, based on physical reference points available to a situated observer (e.g. the true horizon and north to an observer on Earth's surface). [1]
Its name is also written as σ Octantis, abbreviated as Sigma Oct or σ Oct, and it is officially named Polaris Australis (/ p oʊ ˈ l ɛər ɪ s ɔː ˈ s t r eɪ l ɪ s /). [10] The star is positioned one degree away from the southern celestial pole of the Southern Hemisphere , lying in nearly opposite direction to the North Star on the ...