Manual Drift Alignment - Meade LX850 Instruction Manual

APPENDIX A:

Manual Drift Alignment

How to manually Drift Align the LX850 Telescope
(Northern Hemisphere).
The LX850 with StarLock is specially equipped to
perform an Automatic Drift Alignment. In the Autostar
Setup menu, select "Drift Alignment" and the LX850
will guide you through a quick Automatic drift alignment
procedure. This method is substantially quicker than
the manual drift alignment method. However, if you
prefer to drift align the mount using the manual drift
alignment procedure, follow the steps below.
Important Note: You will need a reticle eyepiece to
perform this procedure
1. Center your reticle on a bright star near the
Eastern horizon.
2. Look through the reticle while pressing Autostar's
right and left Arrow keys. This will slew the mount
back and forth in the RA axis.
3. Loosen and rotate the reticle until one of the
crosshairs matches the right-left path of the star
as you press the Arrow keys. This crosshair is now
on the RA axis. The other axis is therefore on the
DEC axis. Carefully secure the reticle in place (do
not move the crosshairs).
4. Observe the bright star you have chosen. If, over
time, it drifts off the RA axis, use the latitude
adjustment knob to bring it back past center.
Experience will teach you how much to move the
alt knob. If the star drifts slowly, use only a small
amount of correction; if it moves quickly, use a
much larger amount of correction.
5. Use Autostar's up and down keys to bring the star
back to center. Perform step 4 repeatedly until it
does not drift on the DEC axis for a few minutes.
6. Next, center on a
This star should be within 10° to 20° of the
celestial equator.
7. If the star drifts above the RA axis, use the Azimuth
adjustment knob to move the star to the right and
bright, Southern star.
down until the star is almost out of the field of
view. If it drifts below the RA axis, use the Azimuth
adjustment knob to move the star to the left
and up.
8. Use Autostar arrow keys to center the star again.
Repeat steps 7 and 8 until the star no longer drifts
off the RA axis for a few minutes.
9. Go back and check the first star and see if it is
drifting again. And then recheck the second star
also. Keep repeating steps 4, 7 and 8, until there is
no more drift in either of the stars you have chosen
for a few minutes.
Your telescope is now drift aligned.
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