Telescopes let you witness the magnificent celestial objects in the night sky. Vivitar is a world-renowned brand known for making refractor telescopes.
These telescopes have everything you need to begin witnessing the magical night sky, provided you complete the standard assembling procedure. Following the right steps won’t need a second set of hands to assemble your Vivitar telescope.
So, keep reading below to learn how to use a Vivitar telescope.
Table of Contents
Overview Of The Vivitar Telescope
A refractor telescope, which is the kind that Vivitar makes, utilizes an optical system of two lenses. These lenses capture light from celestial objects in the night sky, such as the Moon, other planets, and the stars. Vivitar ships their telescopes with two sets of eyepieces, one with a 60x magnification and the other with a 120x magnification scope.
These high-powered magnification scopes let you study the celestial objects in greater detail. You will also get a tripod and a finder scope along with the package, which assists you in aiming and finding astronomical targets with greater ease.
If you want our recommendation for the best Vivitar telescope, we’ll definitely recommend the 60X/120X model. You’ll get everything you need to stargaze with this kit.
Considering the price range and other features, this one is definitely one of the best budget Vivitar telescope kits for beginners as well as intermediate stargazers.
How To Use A Vivitar Telescope?
Once you locate a site far from any light source or pollution, you can set up your Vivitar telescope and begin your night sky viewing experience. Again, use the tripod for greater stability.
Remember that light pollution makes it harder to view distant, faint objects, although it does not hamper the viewing experience of the Moon and the other planets in our solar system.
Assembling Your Telescope
Step 1: Setting Up The Tripod
The first step you must implement is to bring out the tripod legs from your box. Remember to exercise caution as these tripod legs are very delicate. Extend each of their legs to a suitable distance, from top to bottom, and then tighten the screw on the locking knob of the tripod.
Step 2: Tripod Connections
Bring out the long screws and wing nuts from the box and lay them on the floor. Then use these long screws and wing nuts to connect the mount base of the tripod to each of the leg stands. Do not tighten the screws too hard.
Step 3: Connecting The Accessory Dish
Now you need to stretch out the tripod leg stands to put the accessory dish on it and use the short screws and wing nuts to connect the two. Finally, you must tighten the wing nuts firmly to the tripod leg stands.
Step 4: Pitching Shaft Screw
Locate the pitching shaft screw you need to use to connect the main tube to the shaft.
Step 5: Connecting Main Mount To Main Tube
Now it’s time to loosen up the right and left blocks on the main tube and connect the main mount to the main tube. When you are done, tighten the left and right blocks firmly to the mount, and tighten up the handle screw of the pitching clamp.
Step 6: Connecting The Sighting Scope
Now locate the thumb nuts for the sighting scope and bring them out from the packaging. Take them off and loosely insert the two bolts inside the sighting scope, such that the main tube is aiming directly at them. Now whirl the thumb nuts back and tighten them up firmly.
Step 7: Installing The Eyepiece
The final step is to install the eyepiece inside the joint eyepiece tube, and once you are done, you need to tighten up the locking screws firmly so that the eyepiece is locked into position.
My Recommended Vivitar Telescope If You Have Tight Budget
Using The Accessories Of Your Vivitar Telescope
- Eyepieces: As you know, your Vivitar telescope is shipped with two eyepieces. Insert any of them into the joint eyepiece tube and tighten the locking screws. This will enable you to experience the optimal magnification power to view distant celestial objects.
- The Sighting Scope: The sighting scope is made with a lower magnification power but a wider field of view; thus, it will help you to find distant objects in the night sky with relative ease.
- Erecting Eyepiece: If you put the erecting eyepiece in the joint eyepiece tube and then tighten up the locking screws, the images you will see on the eyepiece will straighten out. The only downside to using this accessory is that the objects appear dim.
- Moon Filter: When you observe the Moon with your telescope, you will witness a lot of reflected glare, especially when trying to see the full Moon. The moon filter will remove this unwanted glare and sharpen the image, allowing you to see the Moon’s surface in greater detail. Sometimes, this filter can hinder your viewing experience, and you can obtain a sharper image without using this accessory. The Moon filter is screwed into the eyepiece, similar to the Sun filter.
Tips On Using Your Vivitar Telescope
The Vivitar telescope is a precision optical instrument. The more you know about it and the more you study it, the greater your appreciation will be for this magnificent instrument. The longevity of this telescope depends on how well you maintain it.
What you see through your telescope’s eyepiece and how well you see through it depends on three factors: the magnification power of your scope, the brightness of the night sky, and the resolving power of your telescope. Unfortunately, there is an underlying misconception that you need higher magnification to see better.
Although the most important function of your telescope is to magnify, you should always remember that the effective magnification range is always limited. Therefore, if you want to magnify your objects too much, they may appear dim on your scope, and the field of view will get increasingly narrower the more you magnify your targeted object.
Thus, the ideal way to use your telescope is always to consider the three main factors to enjoy a great experience.
If you are a newbie stargazer, begin with the Moon, as it’s the closest celestial object from Earth. In addition, it is an ideal target due to its size and brightness, so it will help you get the hang of things faster. However, if you want to observe other planets and distant stars, you must have detailed knowledge about the sky charts.
Aim the telescope at your desired object by lowering or raising the tube, then pivot it slightly to the right or left. Next, look at the targeted object through your 3x optical finder scope, and center the targeted object by adjusting your telescope optimally. The 3x optical finder scope is included with the packaging.
Use the 60x or the 120x eyepiece to study the targeted object in greater detail. In addition, you need to adjust the focus knob on your focuser to make the images appear sharper on your scope.
Factors Which Can Effect The Observing Results
- The atmosphere is filled with hot air, which constantly moves through it. This relative motion of hot air can cause blurry images during high power conditions. Therefore, you should wait through the night to improve your viewing experience.
- Hot air moving through the surface of the Earth could distort the images you see on the eyepiece. This will greatly hamper the observing conditions.
- You must consider light pollution when observing the night sky through your telescope. Do not use your instrument around street lights.
- The Full Moon will also affect the viewing experience of other planets in the solar system.
- Do not observe through open or closed windows during wintertime, as the external conditions will affect the images you see through your telescope.
- Clouds in the sky distort the images, so wait for clear skies to observe the night sky.
- Dense fog can make it impossible for you to stargaze; thus, you need to be mindful of your atmospheric conditions.
How To Maintain Your Telescope?
The lenses and mirrors are the most important objects of your telescope, and these things can get damaged very easily if you are not careful enough. For example, suppose you want to maintain your lenses’ optimal magnification power and performance. In that case, you must practice extreme caution when removing or attaching the lenses and mirrors to your telescope.
You can’t be casual around them. So they should be cleaned thoroughly after use. When you clean your lenses and mirrors, use a light brush to remove the dust first, dip a few drops of non-harsh fluid on a clean, soft cloth and then brush off the remaining dust particles or your fingerprints from the lenses.
Conclusion
Vivitar is known to make the best cheap refractor telescopes on the market. Thus, it may be affordable, but it certainly offers a great deal for your price. A Vivitar telescope can provide high-quality image magnification at an unbeatable price.
Once you read through this article, you will find that assembling this telescope is fairly simple if you can follow the steps accurately.
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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