KEY POINTS
1. Don't take the scope's small size as a license to fling it about wildly. Make sure it's well protected in the trunk or your car, or rides on the rear floor in the cabin, so it won't tumble off the seat if you stop suddenly.

2. Take care not to leave the telescope or case in a location where it can get rained on.

3. Make sure the declination brake is off before trying to move in dec (see below).

4. Although the Questar has solar filters, solar observing is not recommended unless you have prior experience and know exactly what you are doing.

UNPACKING
1. Place the case on end, with the handle on top, and open both latches.

2. Grip the telescope through the green felt bag and slide it out sideways.

3. Remove the bag from the telescope and put it in the case.

Open the case...

...remove the telescope...

...and pull off the bag.

4. The telescope should be pointing at zenith (straight up).

5. Loosen the declination brake (the knob with the orange label) by turning it fully clockwise.

6. Tip the tube over by pushing on it, so that you can see the Cassegrain knobs.

The telescope in its zenith storage position.

The declination brake knob -- turn CW to release.

Just push the tube over to move in dec.

TRIPOD MOUNTING
The Questar can be operated in alt-az mode, just sitting on its base on a flat surface, but if you need the greater stability of a tripod mount, or want an equatorial alignment, the tripod legs can be installed.

1. Remove the two identical side legs from their pocket in the case lid and insert them in the holes in the side of the telescope base. They go in on a radial vector. Make sure they go in fully -- about 2 inches.

2.Tip the scope up on the two legs, and insert the third (telescoping) leg into the socket on the bottom of the base.

3. Adjust the length of the telescoping leg to set the polar axis angle, and then rotate the entire assembly to point north. Further adjustments to polar alignment can be made by sighting on Polaris.

Two legs insert into holes in the side of the base.

The third leg goes into the base bottom.

Change the leg length to adjust the polar axis inclination.

The polar leg socket also has a standard 1/4-20 thread, so if you have a large, sturdy camera tripod, the Questar can be mounted in it instead. Just don't let it fall over, okay?

OBSERVING OPERATIONS
The Questar has a number of different lenses and mirrors built in, for various different observing modes.

Tip the scope over so you can see the Cassegrain controls.

M (mode). This knob selects whether the main scope or the finderscope mirror is routed to the eyepiece. Turn CW for the widefield finderscope view. (If the field is dark, check the solar filter, described below.) Turn CCW for the main telescope optics.

F (focus). Focus the telescope by pistoning the primary mirror. A large focus adjustment may be necessary, especially if someone has been looking at non-infinity terrestrial targets.

S (solar filter). Turning this knob CCW puts a neutral density filter in front of the finderscope mirror, for viewing the sun. Note that solar observations are not recommended. Turn a quarter-turn CW to flip the filter out of the beam path for normal operations.

B (Barlow lens). Turning this knob CW inserts a Barlow 2x magnifier into the beam path. Usually, this just oversamples the seeing and telescope abberations, but if you have good conditions, the extra magnification may help.

RA/azimuth adjustment knob.

Declination/altitude adjustment knob.

Make sure the dec brake is disengaged.

1. To move the telescope in RA or azimuth, move the telescope fork manually, or turn the RA knob for fine adjustment.

2. To move the telescope in declination or altitude, first check that the declination brake knob is turned fully CW, and then tilt the barrel manually or turn the dec adjust knob for fine motion.

SHUTDOWN AND REPACKING
1. Remove the tripod legs, if they were installed, and return them to their pockets in the case.

2. Return the barrel to zenith pointing, and screw the cap back on.

3. Pull the green bag over the top of the scope.

4. Slide the telescope back into the case. Two rubber bumpers near the bottom of the case walls will engage the base and hold it securely. If the bag gets in the way of this, it can be lifted up to clear the bumpers.

5. Close and latch the case.

Cap on,

bag on,

case in,

case closed!