Aligning a finder scope without losing the evening

Aligning a finder against a real star, in the dark, while everything is cold, is a good way to waste the first clear half hour of the night. There is a much easier way, and you do it in daylight.

1. use a distant landmark

Before sunset, point the main scope at a fixed, far-away object — a chimney, a pylon, a TV antenna a few hundred meters off. Center it in a high-power eyepiece. Then adjust the finder's screws until the same object sits on its crosshair. That gets you within a degree, which is plenty to land a bright star after dark.

2. finish on a star

Once a bright star is up, do the final touch-up on it. The daytime pass means you are nudging, not searching, so it takes a minute instead of twenty.

daytime:  align on distant chimney (high power)
twilight: confirm on first bright star
nightly:  a quick glance, rarely a full redo

misc.

• Do not use the Sun. Ever. Even a finder will happily blind you.
• A red-dot finder is faster to set up but useless under heavy light pollution; an optical finder with a bit of magnification earns its place there.