On Sun, 19 Dec 1999, Al wrote:

> Hi Bill,
>
> I had the same problem with my compass...so I never use it. I often
> wondered why Meade put it there.
>
> Al


Actually, the compass can come in very handy in certain situations
but you have to be aware of its foibles. As you know, when placed in its
intended position on the tripod, it does not point to magnetic north
because of the presence of other local magnetic fields. No big deal. I use
it to situate the tripod the same way as others have suggested: I use it
from 10 feet away. Works great. I have a ScopeSaver on my tripod so I
align the N-S line on the compass by eye to one of the sides of the SS to
get the tripod properly oriented. (Note: Don't bother using the chart in
the Meade manual for magnetic declination. Go outside at night and set it
yourself by aligning on Polaris. This is easily sufficiently precise given
other inherent inaccuracies.)

Why is it useful to have the tripod properly oriented? I prefer to
set up when it's still daylight (*much* easier when I'm mounting a lot of
extra equipment for photography) so it's necessary to use the compass to
get the orientation correct for either altaz or equatorial mode. In either
mode, with the tripod properly oriented and leveled (I use a torpedo
level) I can then do a zero star alignment and be ready to GOTO (e.g.)
Venus to get ready to observe the sun. If I'm not solar observing, I'm
still optimally set up to properly align the scope as soon as it's dusk.
Of course, leveling insures that the atmospheric refraction corrections
are properly computed by the scope processor for your location so it's
worth doing that little chore, too, even if you're activities don't
require a zero star alignment.

Anyway, *I'm* glad Meade includes a compass. It's perfectly adequate
for its purpose.

Greg Hartke
Sykesville, MD

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