How to use the telescope: description, assembly, tuning

By acquiring their first telescope, an optical time machine for exploring the Universe, amateur astronomers have different goals. Some want to discover comets or someday publish an astro-photo, others just want to enjoy the views of the moon and planets from time to time. Whatever the goals, one thing is certain: one should start from scratch, having studied the information on how to use the telescope.

What it is?

A telescope is a device designed to monitor distant objects. The term usually refers to optical devices, but telescopes exist for most of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation and for other types of signals. An optical telescope increases the visible size of distant objects.

Telescopes operate using one or more curved optical elements — lenses or mirrors — to collect light or other electromagnetic radiation and focus that light or radiation where the image can be observed, photographed, or studied.

Assembly tips

The device is assembled in accordance with the instructions for the telescope, purchased by the user. But there are some tips that can facilitate this work:

1. The telescope should be assembled in a room where there is a lot of light.
2. Have enough space and patience, as well as all the tools that are required for assembly, before starting work.
3. After the assembly is completed, you should spend some time learning a little about how to use the telescope and its functions before taking it out for the first time.

What does it consist of?

We study the structure of the telescope:

1. The optical tube is the part that most people consider a telescope. It has a front lens (refractor) or a rear mirror (reflector), which is used to collect light. Some optical tubes have both lenses and mirrors. These are the so-called catadioptric telescopes. The most common are the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT) and the Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope (MCT).
2. Mounting (mounting) is what holds the optical tube. It can be of several types: equatorial, alt-azimuthal, computerized GoTo or manual. The Alt-Azimuth mount allows you to move the telescope in straight lines - up, down, right and left. The equatorial mount was designed to track stars moving in an arc through the sky. It can be adjusted to compensate for latitude. Equatorial mounts can be very simple or have a wide range of capabilities and components, from simple engines on one or both axes to a complete computerized system that can work with observatory telescopes.
   
3. The eyepiece is part of the telescope system that actually provides magnification. The optical tube collects light, and the eyepiece enlarges the image. Most starter kits will include one to three eyepieces, each of which provides a different level of magnification. The higher the number on the eyepiece, the smaller the increase. Thus, a 25 mm eyepiece will provide less power or a smaller increase than a 10 mm eyepiece.
4. Barlow Lens is a device that passes between the eyepiece and the focuser. It multiplies the magnification of the eyepiece by the specified amount, usually 2 or 3 times. The advantage of this lens is that it provides more magnification options with fewer eyepieces.
5. Diagonal. SKT and MCT refractors usually have diagonals. You no longer need to kneel down to look through a telescope that points to the stars - the diagonal bends the light to a more comfortable viewing position. The main thing you need to know is that the 90 degree diagonal, also called the star diagonal, is optimized for astronomy. Diagonals at an angle of 45 degrees are optimized for use in the daytime as observation zones, and not for astronomy.
6. A focuser is a mobile device that is used to focus an image.
7. The red dot finder (RDF) is a targeting tool, like a gun sight. It is used to aim the telescope at a target.

How the telescope moves

You should practice moving your telescope without leaving a well-lit house. Regardless of the type of attachment, positional adjustments are performed in the same way.

In the case of non-computerized telescope mounts:

1. Start by loosening the locking handles at altitude and azimuth (for alt-azimuth mounts) or on the axes of direct rise and deviation (for equatorial mounts).
2. Grasp the optical tube, push or pull it in the desired direction.
3. Lock the telescope so that it does not move by itself.

This method is used for large, wide movements in the sky. For more incremental movements, the manual fasteners must have one or two cables or handles "slow control".

In the case of the computerized mount of the Go To telescope:

1. Use the supplied manual controller to move the telescope.
2. Choose the slew rate depending on how far you need to move the telescope across the sky. Higher speeds are used to move from one object to another, and slower speeds are used to center the object or hold it in the eyepiece. It takes some time to experience these speeds, experiment with the direction buttons on the handheld controller and understand how to use this type of telescope.

Alignment and use of the crawler

Now you need to understand how to properly set up the telescope and viewfinder.

Searchers are an important accessory, because without it, the user will spend most of his time trying to find objects, rather than looking at them.

Typically, a telescope has one of two types of finders: a red dot finder or an optical finder:

1. An optical viewfinder is a small device that is held on top of the main telescope using the viewfinder bracket. It offers a view of the sky with a slight increase, usually somewhere from 6X to 10X, and a crosshair is visible through the eyepiece, which helps center the object in the field of view of the finder.
2. The red dot finder displays a wide sky field with zero magnification. Instead of looking through the eyepiece, the user looks at a glass or plastic screen on which a red dot is reflected. Such a finder is usually attached to the telescope using a raised bracket.

Both types of telescope finder work well, but they must be aligned according to the telescope, otherwise they will be useless.

Crawler setting:

1. Install the finder bracket and the finder itself on the telescope as indicated in the instruction manual.
2. Select the eyepiece with the smallest magnification and place it in the focuser.
3. During the day, take the telescope outside and place it in such a place that you can see a stationary object that is at a great distance. Stop sign, lamp post or high voltage insulator on an electric pole.
4. Manually point the telescope as accurately as possible at the target, and then look into the eyepiece. The object should be in sight, but if it’s not, you should use the slow motion dials or dial on the telescope mount to adjust until the target is in the center of the eyepiece.
5. Tighten the latches on the telescope so that it does not move.
6. Now, while looking at the finder, you need to use the adjustment knobs on the viewfinder or finder bracket to center the target as accurately as possible in the finder’s field of view.
7. When the telescope is locked, carefully change the eyepiece to the next largest magnification.
8. When the target is in the center of the viewfinder and eyepiece at the maximum magnification that is, the viewfinder is aligned.

How to use a refractor telescope

Such telescopes use glass lenses located in a metal tube to collect light from distant objects such as the moon, planets, star clusters and nebulae. When used in combination with interchangeable magnifying eyepieces, the refractor allows you to study these astronomical objects with extraordinary detail. An example of this type of device is the Sky-Watcher BK 705AZ2 telescope:

1. Select a viewing location away from light sources.
2. Put the tripod on the ground. Pull each tripod leg the same length, and then tighten the screws on each leg to secure it in place. Place the tripod upright. Loosen the wing screws on the tripod mounting bracket. Insert the telescope into the tripod mounting bracket, and then tighten the mounting screws.
3. Loosen the telescopic screw. Insert the viewfinder area into the mount and tighten the fixing screw.
4. Point the telescope towards an astronomical target. Choose a bright object, such as the moon or star. Raise or lower the tube and move it from side to side to direct the telescope towards the target.
5. View in the search box. Adjust the orientation of the telescope to center the subject in the viewfinder.
6. Insert a low power eyepiece - one with a magnification of 75X or lower - into the telescope focuser.
7. Tighten the locking screw to secure it in place. Look into the eyepiece and make sure that the object is in sight. If not, browse to the search area and re-center the object. Adjust the focus knob until the subject is sharp in the eyepiece.
8. Insert a high power eyepiece into the telescope focuser to examine the object in more detail.
9. Adjust the focuser to sharpen the object in the eyepiece.
   

How to use a reflector telescope

The methods of viewing the galaxy using this device allow you to study objects from the most elementary to extremely complex. Once the user has successfully mastered the control of the unit for random research, the transition to a more accurate and complex viewing should be relatively easy. An example of this type of device is the Celestron AstroMaster 76 EQ telescope:

1. Read the manual of the device.
2. Determine the eyepiece mount and practice changing and removing different eyepieces. Each telescope manufacturer uses different types of locks to secure eyepieces.
3. Find the finder’s scope that you will need to use to set up the telescope just before using it. Pay attention to the location of the screws that should surround the viewfinder area. These are the screws that will need to be used for alignment.
4. Explore star charts.
5. Find a dark open meadow where the moon is visible to set up the telescope.
6. Install the telescope, point it at the sky and remove the lens cap.
7. Place the lowest magnification eyepiece in the holder and rotate the telescope until the moon appears. Make small adjustments to the position of the telescope until the moon is in the center of the field of view.
8. View in the search box. If necessary, adjust the screws surrounding the viewfinder area until the moon is perfectly centered on the crosshair in the center of the area.

Now you can explore space, referring to star charts as needed.