Dec 4: How to Setup a Go-to Telescope?
This is the basic procedure for any go-to telescope on an alt-az mount. Your telescope instruction manual may have variations on this.
An alt-az mounted telescope is one that is mounted horizontally on top of a tripod and moves left or right through 360° and up down through 90° and does not require polar aligning.
My telescope is a Meade but the generic principles listed below are similar for Celestron and other telescopes.
The two main procedures that need to be learned are:
(a) aligning the finder-scope to the telescope; and
(b) aligning the telescope to the celestial sphere (i.e. the stars).
(a) How to Align the Finder-scope
The finder-scope is a small, very low magnification, wide-field telescope which is used as an aid to finding objects in the main telescope eyepiece. The best time to align the finder is before it gets dark.
Some telescopes may use a "red dot" finder in lieu of a finder-scope but the principles remain the same, it must be aligned with the main telescope.1a. Find a distant object to aim at, such as a distant power pole or phone tower or television antenna. The further away the better it will be for aligning purposes.
1b. Alternatively, if your horizontal view is limited, then wait until after sunset and choose the brightest star that you can see in the sky.
2. With the telescope switched on, use the go-to controls on the handset to locate the selected object or bright star in the telescope eyepiece and then centre it as accurately as you can.
3. Without touching the telescope controls, observe through the finder-scope and adjust its thumb screws, so that it too is pointing accurately at the same object as the telescope.
4. Go back to the telescope eyepiece and confirm that the telescope is still centred on the target object.
5a. If it is not, you will need to repeat the procedure or you may need to view the telescope "set up" menu and temporarily select "Terrestrial" to carry out the procedure.
5b. If it is, then your finder-scope is aligned and whenever an object is centred in the finder-scope, it should also appear in the wide field eyepiece attached to the telescope.
(b) How to align the telescope with the stars
This procedure must be done after sunset and can be carried out as soon as the brightest stars (not planets) become visible to the naked eye.
1. You need to read the set up procedures in the telescope instruction manual but basically when you initiate the "set up" command from the handset, the telescope will eventually swivel horizontally and point upwards in the general direction of a bright star and the handset will ask you to centre the star.
2. Insert a wide-field (low magnification) eyepiece into the telescope.
3. Centre the star in the finder-scope. After doing this it should appear in the telescope eyepiece, depending on how accurately you aligned the finder-scope.
4. Centre the star as accurately as you can in the telescope wide field eyepiece. (For greater accuracy, if desired, you could then place a higher magnification eyepiece in the telescope and centre it again).
5. Press whichever button the handset asks to signify that the object is centred.
6. The display will ask you to repeat the above procedures 3-5 on another bright star.
Once you have successfully completed this you can start using the handset to go to any visible object which you can select from the handset.
