Once you have bought a telescope, you need to know what to do with it. Aside from the obvious of spending hours out under star filled skies, there are other things you will need to do to ensure you get the most out of your equipment.
Using Equipment
Aligning Telescope Optics
Aligning Telescope Optics Its crucial to the quality of the view seen through a telescope to have the optics inside accurately aligned. The process of aligning them is called collimation and is a task that with a little practice you will be performing with ease. Unfortunately though, it is something that you have to repeat...
Aligning Finderscopes
Aligning Finder Telescopes Try getting a thin cardboard tube, perhaps from the inside of a kitchen role, close one eye and hold it up to the other. Now try walking around and I’m pretty sure you’ll keep bumping into things. Finding things through a telescope is just like this. Because a telescope has a very...
Polar Alignment
Polar Alignment Polar alignment is a phrase that sends shivers down the spine of any newcomer to astronomy. For those who have yet to get engaged in this activity it essentially refers to the act of aligning one of the axes of the telescope, the polar axis, so that it points in exactly the same...
Cleaning Telescope Optics
Cleaning telescope optics The first question you should ask yourself is ‘do I really need to clean the optics’? The reason for asking yourself this question is simple. Too many people clean telescope optics far too regularly. A small amount of contaminant on the lens or mirror will make no difference to the quality of...