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Astronomy Terms To Learn In Order To
Talk Like You Actually Know Something
•Slew: This is what the scope is doing when it moves up/down and side to side.
•Alt/Az Mount: Short for Altitude / Azimuth. Altitude pretty means what it suggests, how
high in degrees the scope is pointed in the sky. Azimuth refers to the degree the scope is
pointed from side to side. By default the mounting system on the tripod is an Alt/Az mount
but it can be set to be an
•Equatorial Mount: There is really no reason to use this feature unless you plan on hanging
a camera off the back of the scope. The tripod will be oriented so the Latitude adjustment
bar is facing to the front. The tripod base has to be raised and set to match the Global
Latitude of the Telescope's current location. Then a "Polar Alignment" must be used when
setting up the scope for viewing. That is another can of worms best explained in the back
of the Instruction Manual. If you want to set your scope as such, then you must have
advanced knowledge and most likely know what you are doing. With a raised Equatorial
mount, the scope will now have enough room to Slew up & down without binding up
between the mounting forks.
•Polar Alignment: The scope is aligned so the North Star is positioned in the center of the
scope when viewing through the Eye Piece. That will be the scope's home position.
•2 Star Alignment: The AudioStar Handset Computer picks two stars that have to be image
centered and then it is calibrated or "Aligned." From there, AudioStar knows where
everything is in the night sky and can "GoTo" it with a fair degree of accuracy.
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