<p>The usual method is to watch a star and see how it drifts in the field of view and then adjust the mount accordingly. You need to be able to view a star near the east (or west) horizon and the meridian, both near the celestial equator. It is not necessary to see the celestial pole.</p>
<p>If you search the internet for &quot;telescope altitude east easy azimuth meridian mad&quot;, you will find a variety of write-ups. This one is from <a href="https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/59180-easy-drift-alignment-really/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cloudy Nights &gt; Easy Drift Alignment ... REALLY!</a> A similar article was in Sky &amp; Telescope magazine some 30 years ago.</p>
<p>The summary:</p>
<ul>
<li>Adjust the altitudE of the polar axis by tracking a star in the East. Adjustment is Easy because you change the polar axis to recenter the star. altitud<strong>E</strong> - <strong>E</strong>ast - <strong>E</strong>asy.</li>
<li>Adjust the aziMuth of the polar axis by tracking a star near the Meridian. Adjustment is Mad because you change the polar axis to move the star farther from the center. azi<strong>M</strong>uth - <strong>M</strong>eridian - <strong>M</strong>ad.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>STEP ONE: Level the mount. To begin, you should make sure your mount is level. You can skip this step, but every time you correct either the azimuth or altitude you will mess up the other! This will mean you will have to re-do the alignment many times before you have it very accurate. Level the mount.. it will same you a LOT of time!</p>
<p>STEP TWO: Rough Align Next you want to get a rough polar alignment by using Polaris or your polar alignment scope. This will also speed things up for you.</p>
<p>STEP THREE: Adjusting the Altitude. To begin, you need to locate a star that is about 15 - 20 degrees above the eastern horizon. Do not locate a star too far near the horizon or atmospheric refraction will cause errors in tracking by itself, and cause some confusion when trying to gain polar alignment. Once you have found your star, center it in your illuminated reticle. Rotate your eyepiece so that the reticle lines run East/West, just as in astrophotographic guiding. This will make sure that any movement of your star in right ascension (RA) will not be confused with any movement in declination (DEC). Remember, we are only going to be concerned with the star’s declination drift, not RA. Now watch the star, and keep it centered with slight RA controls as needed to correct for periodic error. DO NOT make any adjustments in DEC. If you see the star moving in declination, that means your mount is not accurately aligned (duh!) and you must now SHIFT THE MOUNT slightly to bring the mount closer to accurate polar alignment. The question is which way do you move it?</p>
<p>altitudE is EASY: Altitude adjustment is easy to remember ... raise or lower the mount so the star moves back towards the center of the field. That is, whichever way you see the star drifting, adjust the mount to relocate the star back towards the center of the eyepiece. That's EASY! Keep doing this until the star no longer drifts! (Just remember – you are only watching for declination drift only, not RA!)</p>
<p>STEP FOUR: Adjusting the Azimuth. To begin, you need to locate a star near the intersection of the meridian and the celestial equator. The MERIDIAN is the imaginary line that runs North to South directly over your head. The celestial equator is an imaginary line that runs East to West, 90 degrees from the celestial poles. This would be directly over your head if you lived at the equator! It’s also the line the sun and moon travel along. You need to locate a star that lies near the intersection of both those lines. Now you adjust the reticle and center the star just as you did in the previous step. Again, you will correct tracking errors in RA only, and simply watch for errors in DEC.</p>
<p>aziMuth is MAD!: The azimuth adjustment is maddening because as you note the star drifting in declination, you rotate the mount in azimuth to shift the star PERPENDICULAR to the direction it just drifted. If the star moves UP you want to rotate the mount’s azimuth to make the star move to the RIGHT in your field of view. If the star drifts DOWN you want to rotate the mount to make the star move to the LEFT. That's just MAD!!!! Just remember… you are almost never standing upright as an astrophotographer anyway.. UP - RIGHT (you can then reverse that if the star drifts down). This is why azimuth alignment is mad! Then re-center the star and check again. Keep doing this until you no longer see any drift within 10 minutes!</p>
<p>The more inaccurate your mount, the faster the stars will drift. This means you should make larger mount adjustments when the star moves fast, than when the star moves only slightly.</p>
<p>STEP FIVE: Repeat. Now you simply repeat the whole process as needed to refine the accuracy. Once you can go 10 minute without seeing any declination drift, you will have very accurate polar alignment, suitable for very long exposures!</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-03T15:34:51.270Z
2022-01-03T15:34:51.270Z
JohnHoltz
<p>Since all of my telescopes have equatorial mount and It needs to be placed with respect to North direction, what is the best way to point the North.</p>
<p>Expecting answers that doesn't suggests methods involving the polaris (since trees in my area hide it entirely) and regular compass (I don't feel it is very precise)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-03T18:37:47.373Z
The answer by JohnHoltz is a precise way to do it.  But a lot of software like NINA (Nighttime Imaging n' Astronomy) allow an iterative approach using a mount's GOTO capability.  And some mounts will have this ability built in.
Greg Miller
<telescope><amateur-observing>
The most precise way to point the true north
Kavin Ishwaran
# The most precise way to point the true north

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-01-03)

Since all of my telescopes have equatorial mount and It needs to be placed with respect to North direction, what is the best way to point the North.

Expecting answers that doesn't suggests methods involving the polaris (since trees in my area hide it entirely) and regular compass (I don't feel it is very precise)

**Tags:** telescope, amateur-observing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The answer by username_2 is a precise way to do it.  But a lot of software like NINA (Nighttime Imaging n' Astronomy) allow an iterative approach using a mount's GOTO capability.  And some mounts will have this ability built in.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-01-03. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

The usual method is to watch a star and see how it drifts in the field of view and then adjust the mount accordingly. You need to be able to view a star near the east (or west) horizon and the meridian, both near the celestial equator. It is not necessary to see the celestial pole.

If you search the internet for "telescope altitude east easy azimuth meridian mad", you will find a variety of write-ups. This one is from [Cloudy Nights > Easy Drift Alignment ... REALLY!](https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/59180-easy-drift-alignment-really/) A similar article was in Sky & Telescope magazine some 30 years ago.

The summary:

* Adjust the altitudE of the polar axis by tracking a star in the East. Adjustment is Easy because you change the polar axis to recenter the star. altitud**E** - **E**ast - **E**asy.
* Adjust the aziMuth of the polar axis by tracking a star near the Meridian. Adjustment is Mad because you change the polar axis to move the star farther from the center. azi**M**uth - **M**eridian - **M**ad.

> STEP ONE: Level the mount. To begin, you should make sure your mount is level. You can skip this step, but every time you correct either the azimuth or altitude you will mess up the other! This will mean you will have to re-do the alignment many times before you have it very accurate. Level the mount.. it will same you a LOT of time!
>
> STEP TWO: Rough Align Next you want to get a rough polar alignment by using Polaris or your polar alignment scope. This will also speed things up for you.
>
> STEP THREE: Adjusting the Altitude. To begin, you need to locate a star that is about 15 - 20 degrees above the eastern horizon. Do not locate a star too far near the horizon or atmospheric refraction will cause errors in tracking by itself, and cause some confusion when trying to gain polar alignment. Once you have found your star, center it in your illuminated reticle. Rotate your eyepiece so that the reticle lines run East/West, just as in astrophotographic guiding. This will make sure that any movement of your star in right ascension (RA) will not be confused with any movement in declination (DEC). Remember, we are only going to be concerned with the star’s declination drift, not RA. Now watch the star, and keep it centered with slight RA controls as needed to correct for periodic error. DO NOT make any adjustments in DEC. If you see the star moving in declination, that means your mount is not accurately aligned (duh!) and you must now SHIFT THE MOUNT slightly to bring the mount closer to accurate polar alignment. The question is which way do you move it?
>
> altitudE is EASY: Altitude adjustment is easy to remember ... raise or lower the mount so the star moves back towards the center of the field. That is, whichever way you see the star drifting, adjust the mount to relocate the star back towards the center of the eyepiece. That's EASY! Keep doing this until the star no longer drifts! (Just remember – you are only watching for declination drift only, not RA!)
>
> STEP FOUR: Adjusting the Azimuth. To begin, you need to locate a star near the intersection of the meridian and the celestial equator. The MERIDIAN is the imaginary line that runs North to South directly over your head. The celestial equator is an imaginary line that runs East to West, 90 degrees from the celestial poles. This would be directly over your head if you lived at the equator! It’s also the line the sun and moon travel along. You need to locate a star that lies near the intersection of both those lines. Now you adjust the reticle and center the star just as you did in the previous step. Again, you will correct tracking errors in RA only, and simply watch for errors in DEC.
>
> aziMuth is MAD!: The azimuth adjustment is maddening because as you note the star drifting in declination, you rotate the mount in azimuth to shift the star PERPENDICULAR to the direction it just drifted. If the star moves UP you want to rotate the mount’s azimuth to make the star move to the RIGHT in your field of view. If the star drifts DOWN you want to rotate the mount to make the star move to the LEFT. That's just MAD!!!! Just remember… you are almost never standing upright as an astrophotographer anyway.. UP - RIGHT (you can then reverse that if the star drifts down). This is why azimuth alignment is mad! Then re-center the star and check again. Keep doing this until you no longer see any drift within 10 minutes!
>
> The more inaccurate your mount, the faster the stars will drift. This means you should make larger mount adjustments when the star moves fast, than when the star moves only slightly.
>
> STEP FIVE: Repeat. Now you simply repeat the whole process as needed to refine the accuracy. Once you can go 10 minute without seeing any declination drift, you will have very accurate polar alignment, suitable for very long exposures!


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