6
5. With one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the
Dec. lock lever. The telescope should now be able to rotate
freely about the declination axis.
6. Loosen the knurled ring clamps on the tube rings 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 5c).
7. Position the telescope in the tube rings so it remains hori-
zontal when you carefully let go with both hands. This is
the balance point for the optical tube with respect to the
Dec. axis (Figure 5d).
8. Retighten the knurled rings clamps.
The telescope is now balanced on both axes. When you
loosen the lock lever on one or both axes and manually point
the telescope, it should move without resistance and should
not drift from where you point it.
5. Using Your Telescope
Focusing the Telescope
With the 25mm eyepiece inserted in the focuser, loosen the
R.A. and Dec. lock levers and 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.
NOTE: The image in the telescope will appear rotated
180° (upside down and reversed left-to-right). This is nor-
mal for astronomical scopes. The finder scope view will
also be rotated 180° (see Figure 6).
If you have trouble focusing, rotate the focusing knob so the
drawtube is in as far as it will go. Now look through the eyepiece
while slowly rotating the focusing knob in the opposite direction.
You should soon see the point at which focus is reached.
The black nylon thumbscrew on the top of the body of the
focuser (see Figure 4) will lock the focuser drawtube in place
once the telescope is properly focused. Before focusing,
remember to first loosen this thumbscrew.
Viewing with Eyeglasses
If you wear eyeglasses, you may able to keep them on while
you observe, if the eyepiece has 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 por-
tion of the full field. If they do, you can easily observe with your
glasses off by just re-focusing the telescope the needed
amount. If you suffer from severe astigmatism, however, you
may find images noticeably sharper with your glasses on.
Aligning the Finder Scope
The Atlas 8 EQ Deluxe comes with a 6x30 achromatic finder
scope (Figure 3a). The number 6 means six-times magnifica-
tion and the 30 indicates a 30mm diameter front lens. The
finder scope makes it easier to locate the subject you want to
observe in the telescope, because the finder scope has a
much wider field-of-view.
The Atlas 8 EQ’s finder scope uses a spring-loaded bracket that
makes alignment of the finderscope very easy. As you turn
either of the thumbscrews, the spring in the bracket’s tensioner
moves in and out to keep the finder scope secure in the bracket.
The finder scope must be aligned accurately with the tele-
scope for proper use. To align it, first aim the main telescope
in the general direction of an object at least a 1/4 mile away—
the top of a telephone pole, a chimney, etc; loosen the R.A.
and Dec. lock levers and move it until it is pointing at the
desired object. Then sight along the tube to precisely aim the
telescope. Turn the focus knob until the object is properly
focused. Retighten the R.A. and Dec. lock levers.
Now look in the finder scope. Is the object visible? Ideally it will
be somewhere in the field of view. If not, some coarse adjust-
ment to the finder scope bracket’s alignment thumbscrews will
be needed until the object comes into the finder scope’s field
of view.
With the image in the finder scope’s field of view, you now
need to fine-adjust the alignment thumbscrews to center the
object on the intersection of the crosshairs. Adjust the aim of
the finder scope by turning the thumbscrews, one at a time,
until the object is centered.
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 plan-
et, center the object in telescope eyepiece, and then adjust
the finder scope bracket’s alignment thumbscrews until the
star or planet is centered on the finder’s crosshairs.
Focusing the finder scope
If, when you look through the finder scope, the images appear
somewhat out of focus, you will need to refocus the finder
scope for your eyes. Loosen the lock ring located behind the
objective lens cell on the body of the finder scope (see Figure
Naked-eye view
View through finder scope and telescope
Figure 6.
The view through a standard finder scope and reflector
telescope is rotated 180°. This is true for the Atlas 8 EQ and its
finder scope as well.
