How to Point the Telescope Orient the ETX so that the "bottom" leg points toward the South.   That "bottom" leg should be adjusted to the current latitude.   Iowa-Minnesota border is 43.5°, the halfway point, US-30 is at 42° and the Iowa-Missouri border is about 40.6°.   An error of a degree is no big deal. The simplest way to point a telescope is with a simple device such as the finder scope or one of the "bulls-eye" finders such as the Telrad®.   Locate the star, Moon, planet or constellation of interest in the sky. Sighting along the main tube of the telescope, gently move the telescope to align with the object. Using the finder, adjust the telescope so the object is in the center of the cross-hairs Observe the object in the eye-piece adjusting focus as necessary. The stars in the constellations serve as "guide posts" for finding the deep sky objects. Star hopping is the term given to this most common way to find your way around the sky.   Once a known object is being viewed through the telescope, the setting circles may be set to the correct Right Ascension and Declination.   Note--Declination is automatically correct if the telescope is oriented correctly, so you need only to adjust the Right Ascension tape.   Once this is done, celestial objects may be found from their coordinates.   You will need the LED (light emitting diode) flashlight to see the numbers! For additional on-line information about the ETX Astro Telescope see: Meade® ETX-90RA Astro Telescope Weasner's Mighty ETX Site Aligning the ETX/Autostar TechTips