Make adjustments to the finder scope bracket or adjustment screws so that it's centre area is on the same object.Aim the telescope at a distant terrestrial object like a water tower or a farm silo.Put a low power eyepiece in the telescope.This is easily and quickly done in advance of observing, ideally in the daytime. One should periodically check the alignment the finder scope to the telescope. In order for the critical 'finding' step to work, the small finder scope needs to be parallel to the viewing axis of the main telescope itself. And finally, with a low power eyepiece in the telescope, one looks to see if they hit the target.

Next, the finder scope is used to bull's eye the target area.

Then one aims the telescope in the general area.

First, one looks in the area of the sky, checking constellations, sign posts, bright stars.

The manual process for viewing a celestial object in the sky takes a few steps. has great getting-started info on his site.Īnother excellent article, good advice. From SkyNews, the Canadian magazine on astronomy.Ī new-ish article by Gary Seronik enntitled 'Tips for Choosing Your First Telescope.' Įd H. Happily, there are lots of good resources out there.Īn excellent brief article with tips on enjoying astronomy. Getting started in astronomy and getting comfortable with a new telescope can be challenging with new hardware to sort out, strange terms, using one eye, with poorly written user manuals.

We provide links to RASC Toronto Centre and RASC national resources, good articles by astronomy magazines such as SkyNews and Sky & Telescope, plus a number of other good resources on the internet. But it contains information useful for any new or novice telescope user. This article was prepared for people attending the telescope clinic, organised by the RASC, Toronto Centre.

Meade etx stellarium software