Mike Mah wrote:

What is the three star alignment procedure? I don't recall seeing
this in the manual.

Hi Mike:

I think I inadvertently created the "three star alignment procedure" :-). I
noticed the other night that after I had used the two star alignment
procedure (Polaris and Vega) when the scope slewed to a deep-sky object it
was not quite in the center of the field of view, even in a low power
eyepiece. On page 8 of the GTO Keypad Controller manual, items 7 through 14,
it recommends that using additional calibration stars to get a more accurate
polar alignment.

In my case after I used Regulus as my third calibration star (the "third"
star in my "three star alignment procedure") any deep-sky object that the
scope slewed to was near the center of the field of view of the 16mm Zeiss.
Normally when deep-sky observing I start off with a low power 2" eyepieces
like a 56mm Meade or 35mm Panoptic and work my up to higher power views
using the 1-1/4" eyepieces. But Sunday night it was late, I was tired, so I
just left the 16mm in. When AP comes out with the polar scope it should make
the whole polar alignment process much easier and faster.

I should mention that I have only had the mount for a short while, and only
had the chance to use it a few times, so am learning like everyone else.
Also, I did not mean to imply that the Dec setting circle on other AP GTO
mounts might be off slightly as mine was. I think I just happened to get one
that had this issue.

Clear Skies,

Eric Jamison

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Mah <mikemah@...>
To: ap-gto@... <ap-gto@...>
Date: Friday, May 05, 2000 8:42 PM
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Help with AP GTO on Parallax 125

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

What is the three star alignment procedure? I don't recall seeing
this in the manual.

Mike Mah