# Polar Alignment

Equatorial mounts, such as those used by PANOPTES units, require that the mount be properly aligned with the celestial sphere so that they can track the stars accurately.

This can be done with what is called a **polar alignment**, where the rotation axes of the mount (the **Right Ascension** and **Declination** axes, aka **RA/Dec**) are aligned with the rotation axis of Earth.

The [Overview](https://www.projectpanoptes.org/build/deploy/polar-alignment/overview) explains the concept of polar alignment in detail and why you need to polar align your PANOPTES unit. If you are already familiar with the concept of polar alignment, skip to [Drift Method](https://www.projectpanoptes.org/build/deploy/polar-alignment/drift-method) to learn about the method or to [Procedure](https://www.projectpanoptes.org/build/deploy/polar-alignment/polar-aligning-panoptes) to do the polar alignment.