STAR FINDERS

A star-finder, otherwise known as a finderscope, or simply a finder, is a small telescope that is mounted piggyback on a large astronomical telescope. The purpose of a finderscope is, as its name implies, to help you FIND the star you need when you look through the main telescope.

The eyepiece of the finderscope is fitted with cross hairs so that, when you look through it, the view has two black lines at right angles superimposed upon it. The two black lines cross each other at the centre of the field of view. Looking through a finderscope is just like looking through the telescopic sight of a rifle, and it achieves the same purpose.

The finderscope is a low power astronomical telescope that has a wide field of view. This wide view means that it is easy to locate the star that you want, then you swing the main telescope round until the star is just on the intersection of the cross-hairs in the finder. When you look through the main telescope the star should be somewhere in the field of view, ready for final centring. Trying to line-up an astronomical telescope on a star without the aid of a star-finder can be a slow and frustrating business!

The star-finder is fixed to the main telescope by an adjustable mount that consists of two metal rings, one in front of the other, that are several centimeters apart. Each ring has three equi-spaced screws and the star-finder is held in the rings by tightening these screws until they grip the star-finder. By loosening and tightening the screws in turn, the star-finder can be made to point in exactly the same direction as the big astronomical telescope on which it is mounted. This setting-up procedure is time consuming and is best done in daylight, by pointing the telescopes at a distant object, such as a pylon on a hilltop.

The following section of the catalogue gives details of the star-finders that we make, together with details of the finderscope brackets that are needed to hold the finderscope on the main telescope.

SF. 1 An aluminium 6 x 30 star-finder

This is a high-quality finderscope with a magnification of 6 times, and a front lens diameter of 30mm, hence '6 x 30'. This is DIFFERENT to the standard small-and-nasty finders that are usually fitted to imported astronomical telescopes. Here we have chosen a long focal length objective lens so that we can use a large, low power, wide-field eyepiece. In the photograph the eyepiece end of the finder is nearest to the camera. Length 14 ¼" Eyepiece type 4 element Plossl Weight of star-finder 15 oz. (420g)

£40.00

SF. 3 A brass 7 x 50 finder

We have been making brass star-finders for many years and they have proved to be hugely popular.
Weight 30 oz. (770g)

£185.00

SF. 4 A brass right angle finder, 10 x 50

It is the middle of the three finders. The top instrument is our 7 x 50 finder. (The bottom instrument was a special, 13 x 50 finder for one of our customers.)

£240.00

We can say with absolute confidence that you cannot get better star-finders than ours.

Made to Order Items

Many of the items that we make are produced to suit the particular needs of our customers and this is especially the case with star-finder telescopes.

This photograph shows a right-angle, 7 x 50 finder for a gentleman in France, with matching adjustment rings. We made the finder and rings of aluminium alloy, because in this case there was a weight constraint. Also, the finish of the finder had to match the reflecting telescope on which it was to be mounted.
(After it had been set up our customer wrote to tell us that his friends were astonished at its performance. 'Like looking through a window into Space' was apparently how they described it.)

If you would like us to make an item to your own, specific requirements, please get in touch with us, we will be more than pleased to help.