1. Orient the tripod roughly N/S.
2. Place anti-vibration pads under each tripod foot.
3. Level the tripod.
4. Mount wedge and center the azimuth adjustment.
5. Make sure the wedge elevation adjustment is set for roughly the correct latitude.
6. Insert the three Tripod/Wedge support bolts but do not tighten.
7. Mount LX200GPS on the wedge.
8. Insert and tighten two additional LX200/Wedge support bolts.
9. Mount STV w/ eFinder assembley rigidly on top of the OTA (next to finder scope).
10. Ensure that the diagonal and the illuminated reticle eyepiece are in place.
11. Put the telescope into its "Polar Home" position
    • Find one of the stops on the RA axis and then rotate RA axis approximately 360° back.
    • Set the RA axis to 0° with the forks horizontally opposed and pointing north.
    • Set the DEC axis to 90° with the OTA parallel to the forks and the corrector pointing north.
    • STV should be on the bottom of the OTA.
    • Ensure that both axis locks are tightened.
12. Turn on the LX200GPS.
13. Check that the SETUP-TELESCOPE-MOUNT is set to POLAR.
14. Check that the SETUP-TELESCOPE-TARGERS is set to STARS.
15. Decline any of the LX200's automatic alignment procedures.

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16. Set the STV to eFinder mode, image mode = WIDE, exposure = 0.05 seconds. Polaris should not saturate.
17. Align STV and finder scope with OTA
    • SPEED-9 and use hand controller to center Polaris in the finder scope.
    • SPEED-2 and use hand controller to center Polaris in illuminated reticle eyepiece
    • Determine the (x,y) coordinate of the center of the STV screen.
    • Place a crosshair at the center of the STV screen.
    • Adjust STV on its piggyback mount until Polaris is centered on crosshair.
    • Adjust alignment knobs on the finder scope until Polaris is centered in finder.
    • Ensure that Polaris is still centered in reticle
    • Ensure that the STV piggyback mount is fully tightened and rigid
18. Set the DEC setting circle back to 90 degrees (OTA parallel to fork arms)
19. If Polaris is no longer on the STV screen, adjust the mount Alt/Az controls until it is.
20. Get the center of RA rotation into the center of the STV screen
    • Rotate RA axis manually and watch the rotation of Polaris.
    • Adjust the DEC with the hand controller until the apparent center of rotation is near the center of the STV screen.
    • Polaris must be visible in the STV screen when the STV is on the east side of the OTA and on the bottom.
    • From this point on, DO NOT ALTER THE DEC SETTING manually or with the hand controller.

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21. Manually set the RA setting circle to the current sidereal time (forks are horizontally opposed, STV is below OTA.
22. Move the cross hairs to determine the (x,y) location of Polaris, write it down as (p1x, p1y).
23. Manually rotate the RA axis 90 degrees such that the STV is on the east side of the OTA. Use the setting circle to ensure that this is exactly 90 degrees.
24. Again move the cross hairs to Polaris and write down its position as (p2x, p2y).
25. Calculate the center of rotation as:

    cx = (p1x + p2x)/2 + (p1y - p2y)/2
    cy = (p1y + p2y)/2 - (p1x - p2x)/2

26. Move the cross hairs to (cx,cy).
27. Use the mount's Alt/Az controls to center Polaris on the crosshairs.
28. Manually rotate the RA axis and check that Polaris does not move.
29. If it does move, recalculate p1, p2, and c again (you can use any star in field for this).

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30. Take a 10 second exposure on the STV and compare it to the finder chart below.
31. Locate stars 1 and 2 on the finder chart in the STV screen.
32. Use the mount's Alt/Az controls to roughly center the point half-way between stars 1 and 2 in the STV screen.
33. Use the STV's crosshairs to determine the (x,y) positions of the 2 alignment stars.
34. Record these positions as (s1x, s1y), (s2x, s2y).
35. Calculate the difference:

    dx = s2x - s1x
    dy = s2y - s1y

36. Calculate the offset:

    ox = (-0.34357)dx - (0.029147)dy
    oy = (-0.34357)dy + (0.029147)dx

37. Calculate the target:

    tx = cx + ox
    ty = cy + oy

38. Move the cross hairs in the STV to (tx, ty).
39. Use the mount's Alt/Az controls to center star 1 onto the crosshairs.

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40. Do a standard drift test to verify alignment.
    • Use the hand controller to point to a star with DEC ~= 0° on the merdian.
    • Track it with Yaggressiveness set to zero.
    • Watch for any secular error in DEC over a period of 5 minutes.
    • Use the hand controller to point to a star with DEC ~= 40° about 60° east or west of the meridian.
    • Track it with Yaggressiveness set to zero.
    • Watch for any secular error in DEC over a period of 5 minutes.
    • If any error is found, redo alignment procedure. If not, telescope mount is properly aligned.

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41. Tighten the three Tripod/Wedge support bolts.
42. Cycle the power on the LX200
43. Select SETUP-ALIGN-2STAR and hit ENTER.
    • HBX will begin scrolling text. Hit ENTER again.
    • LX200GPS will take a GPS fix which may take some time.
    • Then it will slew to the first star on its list.
    • If star is obstructed, hit the lower down arrow to choose a new star.
    • SPEED-9 and use cursor buttons to center star in finder scope.
    • SPEED-2 and use cursor buttons to center star on linear reticle scale.
    • Hit ENTER to indicate the star is centered.
    • Repeat this method for the second star.
    • When synched on both stars, HBX should indicate successful alignment
44. Save current location in memory if not already there.
45. Center the microfocuser.

The LX200 is now well polar aligned and the computer is aware of the scope's orientation. Go nuts.

Calculation Worksheet:

This procedure for alignment is adapted from Rick Kellogg's STV polar alignment paper. His document assumes a German equatorial mount and only covers the alignment itself. This version has been adapted for use with a fork-mounted SCT and includes device-specific information for the complete setup procdure for a Meade LX200. Only slight changes will be necessary for any other fork-mounted SCT (and none for the polar alignment itself).