Patent ID: 8477419

Claim:
A method for aligning a telescope, comprising: a) in a processor, establishing an initial time value and date value; b) in the processor, establishing an initial location value; c) in the processor, initializing a mount model based on the initial time, date, and location values, the mount model specifying a relationship between a telescopic coordinate system and a celestial coordinate system; d) in the processor, measuring a pointing error for the mount model with respect to at least one alignment reference point, based on the time, date, and location values; and e) in the processor, iteratively adjusting at least one of the time, date, and location values to reduce the pointing error of the mount model; and f) performing at least one selected from the group consisting of: at an output device, outputting the mount model; storing the mount model in a storage device; and in the processor, applying the mount model to point the telescope.