The World’s Easiest Equatorial Mount
Instruction Manual for Reflector Telescopes
78-4502 (QVC #
E3495)
Before you get started, you’ll need to know that your telescope is a
Reflector
telescope.
That means that everything you see will be upside down and backwards. No exceptions.
If you are looking for a telescope to use on land based objects then you should use a
Refractor
telescope as it can erect an image and in many cases correct the right to left
viewing.
Without getting fancy or technical, equatorial mounts are basically star finders. Most all
of the visible stars in the sky have an address in a book called a Star Atlas (roadmap of
stars) that is expressed in terms of its
Right Ascension
and then its
Declination
.
Basically it’s outer space longitude and then latitude. It will look something like this:
23hr 42min 03sec, 78.3deg N
When using an equatorial mount, you can move your telescope to these settings and find
the star that corresponds to that address.
You will need to have a Star Atlas to use the equatorial mount. You can purchase one at
just about any bookstore on earth.
As well, you will need to be able to identify 2 stars in the sky. The first star will be the
North Star. Coincidentally this star is perfectly north
EVERY
night you go out. It is
generally
around 25 to 45 degrees up from the horizon in North America.
The second star you will need to be able to identify in the sky is a little bit harder. The
second star can really be any star in the sky other than our sun and the North Star. You
can pick a star from a constellation that is in the sky and use a particular star in it. You
will not only have to be able to identify it, but in Step 5 you will need to be able to center
it in the telescope. Unfortunately, there is no other alternative. If you want to use your
equatorial mount, you’ll need to be able to do this.
In most Star Atlas books there is a section that gives suggestions on which stars to use for
the second star, I recommend using it. Also, there is a section that has the latitude setting
for the North Star in certain areas. You will need this when going through Step 4.
Finally, you will need to set your telescope up to be able to use a Star Atlas. The
following instructions in steps 1-7 will show you how to do this. Good Luck and Have
Fun!!!!!
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