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Polar Alignment for Southern Hemisphere

  1. Setup your tripod with the equatorial mount but not with the telescope attached.
  2. Put the equatorial mount in it's normal upright position pointing south.
  3. Make sure the mount is firmly seated on the tripod and the tripod is stable.
  4. Set the latitude scale on the mount to your current latitude
  5. Use a compass to point the equatorial mount true south, not magnetic south. Be as accurate as possible.
  6. Your mount should be roughly polar aligned
  7. The mount is currently pointing due south but most observers will want to view the northern sky as this is where most of the interesting objects are located, including the planets, moon and Orion Nebula.
  8. Rotate the mount 90 degrees on its RA axis and 180 degrees on its DEC axis so it is pointing north.
  9. Attach the Telescope to the mount

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