Talk:Polar alignment

Article problems

I have reverted the merger of this article with Equatorial mount. There was no consensus discussion and, in my opinion, this article was merged to the wrong article. "Polar Alignment" is used with many devices, not just telescope mounts, for example; satellite dishs and sundials. As a term that covers many devices it probably should stay as a separate article. Another course of action may be AfD it since this article could be boiled down to a dictionary definition and in its current form is just a "how-to". I will tag it as such for further discussion. Below is the text that was inserted at Equatorial mount since it may have some use to expand this article. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 19:26, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

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Polar alignment

File:(IMAGE SPIKED ON PURPOSE)Pole01-eng.jpg

Illustrates how to find σ Octantis, the South Star.

Polar alignment is the act of aligning the rotational axis of a telescopes equatorial mount in parallel with the rotational axis of the earth. There are various ways to achieve this. The method to use diffesr depending on if the alignment is taking place in daylight or in night. Furthermore, the method differs if the alignment is done in the Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere. Other things to consider are what the purpose of the alignment is. For example, the demand for accuracy is much more significant in astrophotography than in occasional stargazing.

At night a rough alignment is performed by locating the pole star - then refined by pointing at different stars and observing any drift that occurs. The mount is then adjusted according to the direction of the observed drift. A Crosshair Eyepiece, which is an ordinary ocular with a crosshair for aiming and measurement of the angular distance, is used to determine drift.

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