18
Starscope on equatorial mount
Instruction manual
In order to load the mount as little as pos-
sible and to be able to move the telescope
as easily as possible, all parts on the mount
(counterweight, tube with accessories on the
eyepiece side, etc.) should be balanced, i.e.
brought into equilibrium.
To do this, set up the telescope with the
mount so that you have enough space to
swivel the telescope without the tube hitting
objects in the vicinity.
Now first open the clamping screw on the
upper axis (Dec axis).
Move the counterweight to the lower end of
the counterweight rod and clamp it there.
Rotate the RA axis so that the counterweight
is at the lowest position and clamp the axis in
this position.
Loosen the Dec axis clamp, bring the tele-
scope tube to the horizontal position and
check if the tube stays in this position or
moves to one side due to an imbalance.
If the tube is not balanced, first clamp the
Dec axis with the tube horizontal.
Slightly loosen the clamping screw of the
tube clamp. Move the tube to compensate
for the imbalance. To check, loosen the Dec
axis again and again while holding the tube to
prevent unintentional swiveling.
Tighten the tube clamp screw when the tube
is balanced.
Balancing telescope and mount
Now tilt the tube to the position shown in the
adjacent image (parallel to the RA axis). The
inclination may differ from that shown in the
picture.
