DOME ACCESS
1. To use the C-14, you must be on the list of authorized users, or be observing with an authorized user. Read the authorization procedures and contact one of the directors to get on the list.

2. Sometime during the day, sign out the keys from one of the secretaries in room 211. Be sure to get the C-14 key set, not the C-10 key set. The contents of the dome are now your responsibility until the keys are returned.

3. Roof access is at the top of the main stairwell. The dome is to the north (towards the mountains) from the stairs. There is a lightswitch on the left as you enter the dome. Watch your head.

Continue up the stairs from the 2nd floor of Robinson.

Turn left at the top. Be careful of the step down on to the roof.

There's the dome. Hopefully, the previous observer will not have left the door open.

OPENING UP
1. The dome slit is opened with the wheel at the left of the slit. Turn CCW to open. (See image below.) If the slit is at an inconvenient azimuth, the dome can be rotated (see step 2 under COORDINATE ALIGNMENT below). The slit does not need to be opened all the way --- about a meter of open space is sufficient. Do not open the slit doors beyond the width of the dome slit, or the mechanism will jam.

2. Wait for a few minutes for the dust from the dome opening to settle before removing the caps.

3. Remove the front aperture cap and eyepiece cap from both the main scope and the large black finder scope, and place them in a corner.

Turn wheel CCW to open.

Remove the main dust cap. Tip the telescope over if necessary to reach the top.

Remove the finder scope cap.

4. Turn on the clock drive and paddle controller with the power strip on the north side of the pier. The switch (indicated by the arrow) will light up red, and the motor should be faintly audible.

Main telescope power here.

EYEPIECES
1. The eyepiece/CCD box is kept on the desk on the west side of the dome. (Depicted below.)

2. Remove the eyepiece plug (a 35-mm film cannister) from the eyepiece socket and tuck it away in the eyepiece box.

The eyepieces all nestled snug in their beds. The 40mm is in the clear plastic case on the right.

Remove the film cannister.

3. For initial alignment, select a wide-field eyepiece, such as the 40 mm. Remove its case or caps and insert it in the diagonal (elbow-bend) at the Cassegrain focus of the scope. Tighten the setscrew snugly, but not super-tight.

The narrow end of the eyepiece goes into the socket.

Make sure it slides all the way in. Loosen the setscrew if it gets in the way.

Tighten the setscrew enough to hold the eyepiece snugly in place.

4. There are also 25 mm and 15 mm eyepieces available, which will provide correspondingly higher magnification. The seeing and scope abberations are such, however, that you will likely just oversample a fuzzy image at the higher magnifications, so the 40 mm will be best for most applications.

COORDINATE AND FINDER ALIGNMENT
1. Select an easily-identified bright star which is currently visible. If you plan to use the setting circles, you will need coordinates for the star, so you might want to use one of the stars listed in the Observing targets document.

2. Rotate the dome so that the star is visible from the telescope. The dome rotation controls are on a red hand-grip paddle, which usually hangs from the west side of the pier. The top button moves the dome CCW (minus azimuth) and the top button moves the dome CW (plus azimuth). When reversing direction, allow the dome to come to a complete stop before pressing the other button.

The dome paddle hangs here when not in use.

Push the buttons to rotate the dome.

[The bottom button is still nonfunctional. We're working on it. -- The Management]

3. Move the scope by hand to align roughly with the star. Do not push or pull on the eyepiece, the diagonal, or the finder scope to move the scope. To move in RA, push on the grey Y-yoke, and to move in dec, grab the rails on the top and bottom of the scope body. You can sight through the one-power finderscope tube attached to the bottom of the main scope to aim at the star.

4. The star should now be visible within the finder scope. Align the star to the finder crosshairs with small tugs on the yoke and the rails. It's usually easiest to get as close as possible in RA, and then adjust dec, instead of trying to do both at once.

This is the finderscope, piggybacked on the main scope barrel.

The main scope is focused with this knob next to the eyepiece.

5. Look for the star in the eyepiece of the main scope. Use the paddle controller to put the star at the center of the field. (The joystick axes will not necessarily correspond with up and down in the field of view; you'll have to experiment to establish axis orientations.) Try not to press two opposing buttons at the same time, as it vexes the power supply.

The handpaddle hangs here on the pier.

Press the top and bottom buttons to move north and south, and the left and right to move east and west.

6. If you see an annulus (doughnut shape) instead of a disk or point, the telescope is far out of focus. In any event, some focusing will be necessary. The focus knob is on the Cassegrain end of the main scope tube, near where the eyepiece diagonal attaches to the main tube. (Refer to image above.) Adjust it until the star is small and round, or optimally pointlike. If the star takes on an asymetric shape through the whole focus range, the secondary mirror needs realignment --- notify one of the telescope custodians.

7. Set the RA and dec dials on the mount to the coordinates of the star. The dials should move when pushed firmly --- you don't need to loosen any screws or anything. Note that the finest gradations in RA are 5 minutes and in dec are 1 degree. Pay attention to north vs south when setting dec. The coordinates for some bright, easily identified stars are listed in Observing targets.

The RA dial at the base of the mounting.

A closeup of the RA indicator. It reads about 13h 58m. Big hashmarks are at 13h 20m, 13h 40m, 14h 20m, 14h 40m, etc, and small hashmarks are at 13h 05m, 13h 10m, and so on.

The declination indicator on the side of the fork arm.

8. Now is also a good time to check the alignment on the finder scope. Verify that the star is still in the main scope field of view, and then look in the finderscope. If the star is not centered on the crosshairs, the setscrews will allow you to adjust the finderscope position relative to the main scope. Loosen the top screw closest to the eyepiece, make adjustments with the other two screws, and then re-tighten the top screw. Accurate finderscope alignment will make later pointing much easier, especially if you're going to use the CCD.

STARTING OBSERVATIONS
1. Turn off the main dome lights. If you need more lighting than is available through the dome slit, there are red desk lamps on both tables, and a white floodlamp activated by a footswitch (below) under the west table.

Step on this switch to turn the dim whote floodlight on and off.

2. Start your observing program. See the documents Eyeball Observing and Pictor imaging.