6
Altitude and Azimuth
(Aiming the Telescope)
The FunScope altazimuth base (8)
permits motion along two axes:
altitude (up/down) and azimuth
(left/right) (
Figure 4
). Moving the
telescope up/down and right/left
is the “natural” way people search
for objects; which makes pointing
the telescope intuitive and easy.
Simply grasp the front of the
optical tube and move the tele-
scope left or right so that the base
rotates. Move the optical tube up
or down in the same manner. Both
motions can be made simultane-
ously and in a continuous manner
for easy aiming. This way you can
point to any position in the night
sky, from horizon to horizon. If
the base tips when you are mov-
ing the telescope, just place your
other hand on the base to stabi-
lize it. You may also want to loosen
the altitude tension knob (9) a little.
Focusing the Telescope
With the 20mm eyepiece (5) inserted into the focuser (2) and secured with the
thumbscrew (4), aim the optical tube (3) so the front (open) end is pointing in the
general direction of an object at least 1/4-mile away. With your fingers, slowly
rotate one of the focus wheels (3) until the object comes into sharp focus. Go a little
bit beyond sharp focus until the image starts to blur again, then reverse the rotation
of the knob gradually, until you’ve nailed the exact focus point.
Aligning and Using the Red Dot Finder Scope
The included red dot finder scope (6) (
Figure 5
) makes pointing your telescope
almost as easy as pointing your finger! It permits easy object targeting prior to
observation in the higher-power main telescope.
Before you can use the red dot finder scope, you must remove the small plastic tab
sticking out from the battery compartment (
Figure 5
). Doing so will allow the pre-
installed 3V CR-2032 button cell battery to make contact with the finder scope’s
electronic circuitry to power the finder’s red LED illuminator. The tab can then be
discarded.
To use the red dot finder scope properly, it must be aligned with the main tele-
Figure 4.
The FunScope has two axes
of motion: altitude (up/down) and azimuth
(left/right).
Altitude
Azimuth
