Telescope User Manual

5
Altitude and Azimuth (Aiming the Telescope)
The StarBlast 6 altazimuth base (9) permits motion along
two axes: altitude (up/down) and azimuth (left/right). See
Figure 5. Moving the telescope up/down and left/right is the
“natural” way people aim objects, which makes pointing the
telescope intuitive and easy.
Simply take hold of the navigation knob (7) and move it left
or right so that the base rotates. Move the telescope tube up
or down in the same manner. Both motions can be made
simultaneously and in a continuous manner for easy aiming.
This way you can point to any position in the night sky, from
horizon to horizon.
You may find it convenient to hold one hand on one of the
carrying handles (10) to steady it while moving and aiming
the telescope.
Note About the Altitude Tension Adjustment Knob
When aiming the telescope in altitude, you may find the
optical tube (3) is either too hard to move or does not stay
in place. Use the altitude tension adjustment knob (6) to
change the amount of tension between the base bracket
(18) and the altazimuth base (9) to find the right level of
tension to properly move the telescope.
Focusing the Telescope
With the 25mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece (1) inserted into
the focuser (4) and secured with the thumbscrews, aim the
optical tube (3) so the front (open) end is pointing in the
general direction of an object at least 1/4-mile away. With
your fingers, slowly rotate one of the focus wheels (14)
until the object comes into sharp focus. Go a little bit beyond
sharp focus until the image starts to blur again, then reverse
the rotation of the knob, just to make sure you’ve hit the
exact focus point.
Operating the EZ Finder II Reflex Sight
The EZ Finder II reflex sight (2) (Figure 6) works by pro-
jecting a tiny red dot onto a lens mounted in the front of the
unit. When you look through the EZ Finder II, the red dot will
appear to float in space, helping you locate even the faintest
of deep space objects. The red dot is produced by a light-
emitting diode (LED), not a laser beam, near the rear of the
sight. A replaceable 3-volt lithium battery provides the power
for the diode.
To use the EZ Finder II, turn the power knob clockwise until
you hear a “click” indicating power has been turned on. With
your eye positioned at a comfortable distance, look through
the back of the reflex sight with both eyes open to see the
red dot. The intensity of the dot can be adjusted by turn-
ing the power knob. For best results when stargazing, use
the dimmest possible setting that allows you to see the dot
without difficulty. Typically, a dim setting is used under dark
Figure 5. The StarBlast 6 has two axes of motion: altitude (up/
down) and azimuth (left/right).
Altitude
Azimuth
Do You Wear Eyeglasses?
If you wear eyeglasses, you may be able to keep them
on while you observe. In order to do this, your eyepiece
must have enough “eye relief” to allow you to see the
entire field of view with glasses on. You can try looking
through the eyepiece first with your glasses on and then
with them off, to see if the glasses restrict the view to
only a portion of the full field. If the glasses do restrict
the field of view, you may be able to observe with your
glasses off by just refocusing the telescope to your
unaided vision.
If your eyes are astigmatic, images will probably appear
best with glasses on. This is because a telescope’s
focuser can accommodate for nearsightedness or far-
sightedness, but not astigmatism. If you have to wear
your glasses while observing and cannot see the entire
field of view, you may want to purchase additional eye-
pieces that have longer eye relief.
Short
eye relief
restricts
the field
of view for
eyeglass
wearers.
Long eye
relief allows
full field
of view to
be seen with
or without
eyeglasses.