A pentaprism-based opto-mechanical alignment method for Nasmyth telescopes, such as the 4m SOAR telescope and the LSST's 1.2m auxiliary telescope

The optical axis of a Nasmyth telescope should be perpendicular to the Elevation axis and pass through the rotational center of the Tertiary mirror turret rotator. Realized by aligning a laser beam to the rotational center of the two field derotators. A high precision Pentaprism mounted on the Tertiary mirror rotator deviates the laser beam by 90° defining the optical axis onto which the Primary and Secondary mirrors are mounted and aligned. We present method, procedure, tools and results for two examples of Nasmyth Telescopes; the 4.1m SOAR and the LSST's 1.2m Auxiliary Telescope.