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I am a beginner interested in astronomy. I bought a Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ telescope. It's a Newtonian Reflector and it's not computerised. I did manage to see the Moon in some magnifications but my real question is this:

Suppose I want to see Proxima Centauri and I know it's coordinates, like Right ascension is 14h 29m 43.0s and Declination is -62° 40' 46". Having three analogue dials on my telescope (picture from the front) (zoomed in), how do I adjust my telescope with the help of the dials with the coordinates so I can view them from my telescope?

If I am wrong that these are the dials I have to use to adjust my telescope to the coordinates then please explain how.

I hope this question will also be useful to other amateur astronomers. Thanks.

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  • $\begingroup$ Search for "How to align an equatorial mount" There are some excellent YouTube links which can help you. It is in general the hardest part of skywatching and I am doubtful that a textual answer will capture the power of a YouTube video. Refer this anyway:bushnell.com/getmedia/5a750638-428a-4cfe-9504-7874387a8d09/… $\endgroup$
    – Cheeku
    Apr 20, 2014 at 15:28
  • $\begingroup$ Just a note: Proxima Centauri is not visible at all from the Northern hemisphere. You'd pretty much have to be near the Equator, or south of it, to observe Proxima. $\endgroup$
    – Florin Andrei
    Apr 30, 2014 at 23:56

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You have to set your equatorial axis to tilt to match your latitude eg if you were at 5 degrees North then the axis needs to tilt to 5 degrees. Then you need to find an object of known RA and declination (at my latitude I always used Polaris as it didn't move) and then set the setting circles (the dials) to those, then direct the telescope to the RA and declination you seek.

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