Telescope Reviews: Using the Questar Standard finder

Compared with your refractors, the Q has a narrow field of view, so it can be a challenge to locate objects through the main optical tube alone. Basic polar alignment and the use of setting circles, however, will get you where you want to go, and pretty quickly. It takes me only a couple of minutes to be up and running. Much quicker, I might add, than all of the shenanigans I've seen go-to scope owners fuss with.

I would advise you to first point one of the tripod legs toward either north or south, and then level your tripod. Mount the Q on the tilt-head and incline the tilt-head to conform to your local latitude. Degrees of tilt equals latitude, and is measured from the vertical . With the declination circle set at +90°, carefully center Polaris in your field of view using first the viewfinder and then your 16mm eyepiece. Adjust the tilt-head and/or rotate it only for this procedure; declination should remain set at +90°. Centering on Polaris also serves to calibrate your declination circle, since it is directly indexed to the orientation of the optical tube. After Polaris is centered to your satisfaction, turn on the clock drive and swing the scope around in right ascension to any star near the celestial equator in the southern sky whose coordinates you know. Center that star in the viewfinder, as above, and then, without changing the orientation of the optical tube, rotate the right ascension circle until the index pointer aligns with the star's known coordinates. Done!

Since Polaris isn't precisely in line with the Earth's axis of rotation, you'll always have a bit of pointing and tracking error when relying solely on the basic alignment method. Even so, you'll often see your target in the eyepiece. If not, flip the lever and look for it close to the center of the field in your viewfinder. Don't sell the viewfinder short. I enjoy scanning the skies with it looking for bright spots, and am usually pleasantly surprised when I home-in on them.

I've attached a picture of a simple wedge I made to mount on my old Bogen 3030 tripod (after removing the elevator and tilt-head mechanisms). You might want to consider something like that to make your life easier and ensure a more stable and secure mount for your Q.

There are also more precise and time consuming methods of polar alignment that will significantly reduce locating and tracking errors.

Of course, if you don't want to bother with polar alignment and calibration of the RA circle, you can locate objects by scanning the night sky with the viewfinder and then flipping over to the main tube. The scope won't track if you opt to do that, but the slow-motion controls should help keep you on target.

Good luck!

Edited by ColoHank (06/24/09 10:23 AM)