![]() Return to the finderscope and adjust until the star is centred on the crosshairįor help with this, read our guide on how to polar align using the Sun.įollow our DIY Astronomy guides to make a smartphone finderscope or a finderscope illuminator.Look through the main telescope and centre the star in the eyepiece.At night, locate a bright star in the centre of your finderscope.Now turn to the finderscope and centre the same object on the crosshair.Locate a distant daytime object (not the Sun!) through your telescope and centre it in the eyepiece. ![]() ![]() When doing any sort of observation during the day, make sure not to look directly at the Sun without specially-designed solar filters, or this could seriously damage your eyesight. To set up a finderscope, start aligning in the daytime by finding a very distant object using your telescope, centring that object in your telescope eyepiece as accurately as you can. Reflector sights are less useful in light polluted areas since the stars used to guide the observer to a dim object may also be invisible.Remember that you will also need to buy and install a finderscope bracket for the optical tube.Īn accurately aligned finderscope makes locating objects much easier, but aligning it at night can be frustrating. Many reflector sights have circles with a given angular dimension in order to facilitate this. Finding dim objects with a reflector sight is accomplished by using the object's known position relative to brighter objects as a reference and then slewing a known angular distance (or " star hopping") from the bright object to the desired object. Since the sight uses a beam splitter "window", instead of an optical telescope with the ability to gather light, objects dimmer than the naked eye limit can not be seen through it. ![]() Reflector sights are useful for locating bright objects visible to the naked eye such as stars and planets. These crosshairs are generally illuminated by a small LED. The view of the sky seen through the sight is just what can be seen with the naked eye with an illuminated crosshair or dot seeming to float in space at infinity. This non-magnifying sight (technically not a "scope") uses a type of beam splitter to "reflect" a reticle generated by collimating optics into the users field of view. Reflex sights such as the Telrad (pictured) are popular alternatives to traditional finderscopes, and are often used in conjunction with them.Īnother type of finder commonly found on amateur telescopes is known as a reflector (reflex) sight. Most finderscopes have one of three viewing orientations: Ī 6×30 finderscope is typically considered the minimum useful size for a magnifying finderscope on an amateur telescope, and an 8×50 or larger finderscope is preferred for more accurate aiming. This designation is in the same format used by most binoculars. Accomplishing this alignment varies based on the design of the finderscope and its mount: usually on amateur telescopes it is done by three or six adjustment screws.įinderscopes usually come with a designation of the form A×B, where A is the magnification and B is the aperture of the finderscope's objective lens in millimeters for example, a 6×30 finderscope means a finderscope with a 30 mm objective and a magnification of 6×. Finderscopes contain mechanisms to properly align them with the main telescope's line of sight.
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