Hi!

I have an entry-level Celestron telescope with an electronic controller. I
believe that it is their '60' model. I took it out to take a gander at Mars
during this time, and while I was setting it up, I started to tinker about
with it's 'auto-alignment' funcitonality.

I can not get auto-align to work worth a darn. Essentially, I point it
north and level, and then I get asked a bunch of questions, date, time,
city, state, etc. So I do this, and it is supposed to point to a 'bright
star' - one visible by the naked eye. Not a chance. Even when I think I
get it aligned right, I'll try my luck by using the keypad to select Polaris
or the moon or some other star that is blindingly obvious. Well, when the
thing stops moving, it may be pointing at my intended target if it was on
some other planet, but on planet earth, it's pointing somewhere that is not
even close to where it should be.

It's obviously operator error. The question is what is the error? My idea
of North (I live in New England) is either use a compass and grab magnetic
north, or point the thing at the North star. Level - well I eyeball it and
make sure that the tripod is pretty close, but I'm not out there with a
bubble level or anything fancy like that.

As far as plugging in the 'location', I've tried both city and state, as
well as long and lat from a gps receiver. The scope itself is a long tube
type - I've tried the collaring the scope both at the midsection, as well as
at the hilt - directly in front of the viewing assembly.

I'd really like some insight - if anyone can help, it would be greatly
appreciated.


-a.