Introduction to Telescope Use - Mountaineers Seattle Program Center

Meet at the Seattle Program Center in Magnuson Park. The workshop will begin at 8:30pm in Cascade A and Cascade B. The workshop will run until 11:30pm.

Topics Covered:

Basic use of telescopes for visual astronomy

• Limited to manual (non computerized, non-go-to) telescopes
• Identify and understand the basic optics of the different designs of telescopes
• Aligning and using a finder scope or equivalent pointing tool (such as a Telrad)
• Use a telescope to find a target using an alt-az and an equatorial style mount
• Know what polar alignment is, and be able to perform a coarse polar alignment
• Slew to a target and achieve focus
• Read a star-chart and use one to navigate to an object

Eyepieces and filters

• Specifications of eyepieces, what they mean, which are important
• How eyepieces interact with telescopes to provide different magnifications and
  fields of view
• Limitations of optics
• How to swap between different eyepieces in a dark situation
• Choosing the best eyepiece for an object
• Overview of useful visual filters
• How to use visual filters

Care of optics

• Proper handling of all gear
• Preventing dust
• Proper storage
• Cleaning of optical surfaces
• Collimation (Newtonians and SCTs only)