AUTOSTAR INFORMATION Last updated: 4 October 2006

Subject:	Which star is the brightest?
Sent:	Saturday, September 30, 2006 11:09:44 AM
From:	Kory Hamzeh (kory@avatar.com)
Being rather new to astronomy and also living in the country in Montana,
which results is hundreds of stars being visible on dark nights, I found
it difficult picking out the brightest star during the ETX Alignment
procedure. I stumbled across this trick, quite by accident, that I
thought may be something you want to add to your ETX site:

If there are so many stars out some nights that it is hard to discern
which is the brightest, take a low power red flashlight, and hold it 90
degrees on front the finder scope exit lens. As you slowly turn the
flashlight so it is pointing into the finder scope, the background
starts turning a dull red, and the dimmer stars begin to fade. As you
decrease the angle of the flashlight, the background get brighter and
brighter and more stars begin to fade. The last visible star is the
brightest and should be the alignment star. This trick also makes it
very easy to see the reticles of the finder scope because the reticles
remain black while the background turns red.

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Anyway, I hope you find this useful.

Thanks,
Kory

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