Hello again,

I want to look up at the stars and see the beauty that space has to offer. So, I bought a telescope: Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ Telescope. I bought it off of Amazon for a pretty sweet deal. There is no specific reason why I chose this telescope over others.

Now that the telescope has arrived, I have unpacked it and started looking up. However, I have noticed some difficulty in using it – yes, I read the instruction manual. So, my father and I did some research and found a very helpful Youtube video (below). After watching the video, we understood how to set the telescope up properly. There are five main steps and four of them must be repeated in every location.

1 – Align the Finderscope

2 – Level the Tripod

3 – Balance the Telescope

4 – Polar align

5 – Don’t touch the Telescope

The first step – which doesn’t need to be repeated so long as you keep it attached to the telescope body/tube – I already knew about. The second step onward I had no idea about until now.

Step 2: You will need to remove the telescope from the tripod, then place a level on the tripod and adjust the leg extensions until it is level.

Step 3: To balance the telescope you need to lock the declination adjustment screw and loosen the right ascension adjustment screw. This will allow the telescope to move on one axis only. The actual balancing means to when you move the body of the telescope to any spot it will not move. If it slowly creeps one direction or the other, you have to move the counterbalance weight up or down on the bolt. Next, you will tighten lock the right ascension and loosen the declination. To balance this part of the telescope, you’ll need to slide the telescope body/tube up or down in the two mounting brackets. If this isn’t clear the video below demonstrates this.

Step 4: Apparently the way that this mount works, is that it can manually track the movement of a celestial body with a fine adjustment screw. However, in order for this to happen, you have to point the telescope towards Polaris and adjust the base accordingly (follow the instructions in the video below). Once complete, don’t touch the telescope base, don’t move the telescope using those two adjustment screws, and don’t move the telescope to a different location without expecting to have to redo step 2-5.

Step 5: Don’t touch the telescope. Use the fine adjustment dials when viewing and use the large adjustment screws to move from one celestial object to another. Believe it or not, you don’t need to use the very bottom screws at this point to see anything, all can be done using the proper adjustment screws.

I really appreciate Mr. Hansen, I have learned a lot in the 15 minutes that I spent watching his video.

Enjoy,

Preston