If you own an equatorial mount then chances are you will be familiar with the necessity of at least a rough polar alignment. Equatorial mounts allow telescopes mounted upon them to follow the motion of the stars across the sky, keeping objects inside the field of view with only a turn of a right ascension or declination nob. This is preferable for visual observation but becomes vital for effective imaging (especially when deep sky objects are concerned).
This light weight polar scope fits snugly into an EQ3-2 (CG-4) mount. Before it can be used effectively though the polar scope itself must be aligned to the mount. This is a simple process that can be done day or night and only took me about 5 minutes to do.
The polar scope is similar to a low powered eyepiece when looked through with one very important difference, etched onto the glass is a central X marking true north, a small circle in which to position Polaris as well as two other circles for two other bright stars and a diagram representing the orientation of Cassiopeia and the big dipper. When those three stars fit neatly into the etched circles you have polar alignment. It is important to remember though that the diagrams of the constellations are only there as a sign post as to the orientation of the constellations, you will not be able to align the scope so that the etchings fit over the constellations.
The Skywatcher polar scope is indeed easy to use, amongst other examples it holds it’s own and is definitely a great choice for £30. Aligning the scope takes only minutes and is achieved easily using the three metal thumbscrews on the mount. Setting the scope to the correct position within the mount is easy, simply match the numbers on the mount to the numbers printed on the large silver ring around the scope and that’s all there is to it.
If you’ve decided that a polar scope is necessary for you then there really is no need to look further than Skywatchers offering. In essence it does everything that 90% of other polar scopes do for probably the cheapest cost. The only problem I have is not specific to Skywatcher but relevant to all polar scopes, for visual observing, you can usually get away with very rough polar alignment, the type that doesn’t need a scope, but for astrophotography the scope alone will not get you close enough.
As such I recommend this to planetary/lunar imagers who need to get closely aligned but don’t need to be bang on.
