6
3. Retighten the counterweight lock knob. The telescope is
now balanced on the R.A. axis.
4. To balance the telescope on the Dec. axis, first tighten
the R.A. lock knob, with the counterweight shaft still in the
horizontal position.
5. With one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the
Dec. lock knob. The telescope should now be able to
rotate freely about the Dec. axis. Loosen the tube ring
clamps a few turns, until you can slide the telescope tube
forward and back inside the rings (this can be aided by
using a slight twisting motion on the optical tube while you
push or pull on it) (Figure 3c).
6. Position the telescope so it remains horizontal when you
carefully let go with both hands. This is the balance point
(Figure 3d). Before clamping the rings tight again, rotate
the telescope so the eyepiece is at a convenient angle for
viewing. When you are actually observing with the tele-
scope, you can adjust the eyepiece position by loosening
the tube rings and rotating the optical tube.
7. Retighten the tube ring clamps. The telescope is now bal-
anced on both axes. Now when you loosen the lock knob
on one or both axes and manually point the telescope, it
should move without resistance and should not drift from
where you point it.
Focusing the Telescope
Insert the low-power 25mm eyepiece into the focuser and
secure with the thumb screws. Move the telescope so the
front (open) end is pointing in the general direction of an
object at least 1/4-mile away. Now, with your fingers, slowly
rotate one of the focusing knobs until the object comes into
sharp focus. Go a little bit beyond sharp focus until the image
just starts to blur again, then reverse the rotation of the knob,
just to make sure you’ve hit the exact focus point.
If you have trouble focusing, rotate the focus knob so the draw-
tube is in as far as it will go. Now look through the eyepiece
while slowly rotating the focus knob in the opposite direction.
You should soon see the point at which focus is reached.
Do You Wear Eyeglasses?
If you wear eyeglasses, you may be able to keep them on
while you observe, if your eyepieces have enough “eye relief”
to allow you to see the whole field of view. You can try this by
looking through the eyepiece first with your glasses on and
then with them off, and see if the glasses restrict the view to
only a portion of the full field. If they do, you can easily
observe with your glasses off by just refocusing the telescope
the needed amount.
Aligning the Finder Scope
The finder scope must be aligned accurately with the tele-
scope for proper use. To align it, aim the main telescope in
the general direction of an object at least 1/4-mile away, such
as the top of a telephone pole, a chimney, etc. Do this by first
loosening the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs. Position the telescope
so the object appears in the eyepiece's field of view and then
retighten the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs. Use the slow-motion
control cables to center the object in the eyepiece.
Now, look in the finder scope. Is the object visible? Ideally, it
will be somewhere in the finder’s field of view. If it is not, some
coarse adjustments of the two black nylon finder scope align-
ment thumb screws will be needed to get the finder scope
roughly parallel to the main tube.
Note:The image in both the finder scope and the main tele-
scope will appear upside-down (rotated 180°).This is normal
for finder scopes and reflector telescopes (see Figure 4).
By loosening or tightening the alignment thumb screws,
you change the line of sight of the finder scope. Continue
making adjustments to the alignment thumb screws until
the image in both the finder scope and the telescope’s eye-
piece is exactly centered. Check the alignment by moving
the telescope to another object and fixing the finder scope’s
crosshairs on the exact point you want to look at. Then look
through the telescope’s eyepiece to see if that point is cen-
tered in the field of view. If it is, the job is done. If not, make
the necessary adjustments until the two images match up.
The finder scope alignment needs to be checked before
every observing session. This can easily be done at night,
before viewing through the telescope. Choose any bright
star or planet, center the object in the telescope eyepiece,
and then adjust the finder scope’s alignment screws until
the star or planet is also centered on the finder’s
crosshairs. The finder scope is an invaluable tool for locat-
ing objects in the night sky; its usage for this purpose will
be discussed later, in detail.
When transporting the telescope, we recommend removing
the finder scope and bracket from the tube. This is done by
Naked-eye view
View through finder scope and telescope
Figure 4. The view through a standard finder scope and reflector
telescope is upside down. This is true for the SpaceProbe 130mm
and its finder scope as well.
