More Information  · Supplied Accessories

The scope’s heavy duty equatorial mount has an adjustable height steel tripod. Convenient battery-operated dual axis motor drives make it easy to keep the Moon and planets in the field of view for extended no-hands viewing sessions and photography. The mount also has manual slow motion controls, should your motor’s battery die in the middle of an observing session.

The 200mm Konus reflector is a physically big scope that requires a little more setup time and routine maintenance than other optical types, so it may not be the scope for everyone. However, if you want to view all of the Universe in detail for not a lot of money, and if you’re willing to put a little extra time and effort into your scope to get the most out of its large aperture, this may be just the telescope for you.

This Telescope’s Optical System . . .

• Newtonian reflector optics: fast 1000mm focal length 200mm aperture f/5 optical system. The aluminized primary and diagonal mirrors are overcoated with quartz for long life. The mirrors will require occasional routine collimation to keep the scope performing at its optical peak. The diagonal mirror is mounted in a four vane fully adjustable spider, with easily accessible collimating screws. Equally accessible collimating screws in the rear cell of the scope make it easy to keep the primary mirror in precise alignment as well. An optional collimating tool will make collimation an easy task, requiring only a few minutes of time every few observing sessions or so.

• Focuser: 2” rack and pinion design, with 1.25” eyepiece adapter.

• Two eyepieces: You get two good quality medium power 1.25” Plössl eyepieces – a 10mm (100x) and a 25mm (40x) with a 1.25° field of view, two and a half times the diameter of the full Moon. Both four-element eyepieces have antireflection multicoatings on all lens surfaces for sharp images and very good contrast. Many optional eyepieces are available to let you extend your magnification range for both higher and lower power observing.

• Finderscope: A large and bright 7 x 50mm straight-through achromatic crosshair finderscope attaches to the side of the optical tube. Six collimating screws in the dual ring finderscope bracket allow precise alignment of the finder with the main telescope optics. The finder focuses by loosening the trim ring behind the objective lens cell, screwing the lens cell in or out to focus, and tightening the trim ring to lock in the correct focus.

This Telescope’s Mount . . .

• Heavy duty equatorial mount: The very sturdy equatorial mount has small but readable setting circles for approximately locating objects by their celestial coordinates to speed up location of deep space objects. Manual slow motion controls in both right ascension and declination are standard equipment. Integral manual clutches allow you to override the motor drives at any time to fine tune the scope’s position with the manual slow motion controls. To make polar alignment quick and easy, there’s a latitude scale and fine adjustment controls in altitude and azimuth, plus a 6 x 20mm polar finder built into the mount head. A snap-on cover keeps the polar finder free from dust when not in use.
  The mount’s two sliding 8.25 lb. counterweights are locked in place in the 0.75” diameter chromed steel counterweight shaft with a single hand-tighten knob each, making it easy to rebalance the scope if you add heavy photographic accessories. The mount is easily capable of handling the scope and any reasonable combination of photographic accessories you might want to use.

• Dovetail slide bar: The optical tube mounts on an adjustable dovetail slide bar by means of two split tube rings. The hinged split rings can be loosened and the optical tube slid fore and aft in the rings to roughly balance the optical tube in declination (the tube is balanced in right ascension by positioning the two counterweights on the counterweight shaft). The adjustable dovetail bar then allows the entire optical tube assembly to be slid back and forth as a unit to quickly and precisely rebalance the tube on the mount when adding a camera or other accessories. Setup and takedown times are exceptionally fast, as a single large hand-tighten knob holds the optical tube in place. A second lock knob prevents the tube from sliding off the mount should the hand-tighten knob loosen.

• Motor drives: The built-in dual axis right ascension and declination motor drives are powered by six AA batteries (supplied) that fit into the drive corrector hand control. Covers keep the drive motors free from dust and debris. The hand control has four pushbuttons for drive correction. Indicator lights show which motor drive(s) are operating at all times. A plastic bracket clips on any of the tripod legs to hold the hand control when it is not being used for drive correction purposes.

• Tripod: The tripod has 2” diameter steel legs, for strength and excellent vibration damping characteristics. The tripod easily adjusts from 2.4’ tall to 4’ to accommodate a variety of observer heights. It includes an accessory tray to keep your eyepieces and accessories up out of the dew-soaked grass. The leg height locking knobs are thoughtfully mounted on the inside of the tripod legs to keep from snagging on the observer’s clothing in the dark.