This month’s project is a manual equatorial mount that is enjoyable to use and helps to develop your knowledge of the night sky. Using RA and dec. (Right Ascension and declination) coordinates, it is possible to locate a faint target that might otherwise be difficult to see in your viewfinder. With an undriven mount, you are limited to relatively short exposures, but with a fast lens and high ISO setting, impressive night-sky images are certainly achievable.
The mount’s RA axis must be