Assembly of your Red Planet Telescope:
Setting Up Your Tripod:
The aluminum tripod comes preassembled and ready-to-use. Remove the tripod from the box and pull apart the legs. Gently push down the tripod braces (Fig. 6-28) until they are in the lowest position. Turn the tightening ring (Fig. 6-27) (located at the center of the Tripod Brace) clockwise to lock the tripod in the open position. You can then extend the legs to the desired height by pulling open the tab on each leg lock (Fig. 6-32), sliding the leg down the desired amount and then pushing the leg lock back against the leg into the locked position (Fig. 6-31). Repeat the process with each leg trying to keep the tripod as level as possible with the ground. You will notice there are holes in the tripod leg braces (Fig. 6-29). These are designed to hold eyepieces when not in use.
Attaching the Horizon Mount:
Remove the horizon mount (Fig. 1-10) from the box and place the bottom of the mount (Fig. 1-11) into the hole in the top of the tripod head and secure with the mount locking screw (Fig. 3-19). Please be careful to make sure that the mount is securely attached to the tripod.
Attaching the Slow Motion Cables:
Locate the two slow motion cables (Fig. 1-8,9). Loosen the screw at the end of each cable so that it does not protrude through the hole. Slide one cable onto the shaft on the side of the horizon mount (Fig. 1-9) (located closest the bottom of the mount) and tighten down with the locking screw. Slide the remaining cable onto the altitude adjustment shaft (Fig. 1-8) (located near the middle of the mount) and tighten down with the locking screw. These slow motion cables will allow you to make fine pointing adjustments to the telescope both horizontally and vertically. This will be discussed in more detail later.
Attaching the Telescope Tube to the Mount:
The top of the equatorial mount is called the optical tube saddle plate (Fig. 1-7). Pull and hold down on the saddle plate lock (Fig. 2-15) and slide the bracket attached to the bottom of the optical tube assembly (Fig. 2-14) into the saddle plate until the saddle plate lock clicks into place. Tighten the saddle plate lock to secure the optical tube in place.
Attaching the Finder Scope:
There are two finder scope bracket mounting bolts (Fig. 4-24) located at the end of the optical tube near the eyepiece assembly. Remove the nuts and set aside. Place the finder scope bracket (Fig. 4-25) onto the mounting bolts, replace the nuts and tighten down securely to the optical tube. Make sure the bracket is facing forward as shown in Fig. 4. Slide the finder scope (Fig. 1-4) into the bracket facing forward.
Attaching the Eyepieces:
Insert the 45° corner lens (Fig. 2-18) into the focuser draw tube (Fig. 2-17) and secure into place by tightening the corner lens thumbscrew (Fig. 5-26). Insert the Kellner 20mm eyepiece (Fig. 2-5) into the corner lens (Fig. 2-18) and tighten down using the eyepiece holder thumb screw (Fig. 2-13).
You have now completed the assembly of your Red PlanetTM telescope. We will now need to make the necessary adjustments in order to use your telescope properly.
Aligning the Finder Scope:
The low power and wide field of view provided by the 8x21mm finder scope (Fig. 1-4) provides a quick and easy way to sight an object prior to looking through the high-power telescope. The finder scope must first be properly aligned with the telescope in order to work properly. This alignment is best performed during the daylight. Follow the steps below to align your finder scope properly:
• Place the Kellner 20mm eyepiece (Fig. 2-5) into the corner lens (Fig. 2-18) of the telescope.
• Loosen the altitude lock knob (Fig. 3-20) so that the telescope swings freely along both axes.
• Point the main telescope at a specific land object 200 yards or more away. Lock down the altitude axis. Turn the slow motion cables (Fig. 1–8,9) until the object is centered in the telescope field.
• Now look through the finder scope (Fig. 1-4) and loosen or tighten the finder scope bracket screws (Fig. 4-21) until the crosshairs are centered on the same object. Focus by turning the finder scope fo- cus knob (Fig. 4-22) until the image in the finder scope is sharp and clear.
• Check the alignment at nighttime by repeating this process with a bright star or the moon. Make any necessary adjustments.
Now that your finder scope is properly aligned, any object centered in your finder scope should also be centered in your telescope.
