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How to Assemble an NG 60SM Meade Telescope

The Meade NG-60 SM is a starter telescope for sky and land viewing. This basic, "point and look" 60 mm refractor is powerful enough for viewing the craters of the moon, the rings of Saturn, the cloud belts of Jupiter or anything down here on Earth. It has a 2.4-inch lens, a 700 mm focal length and a 1.25-inch rack and pinion focuser. After spotting objects with the red dot viewfinder and focusing them in the telescope, the mount features dual control knobs to make fine, slow-motion adjustments to track them and keep them centered. The NG-60 SM comes standard with two 1.25-inch eyepieces and a full-size adjustable tripod.

Things You'll Need

Phillips screwdriver
Combination wrench

Instructions

Assembling the Tripod and Telescope
- 1
  Attach the three tripod legs to the tripod head. Line up the holes in each leg with the holes in the mounting bracket, insert a 1 9/16-inch bolt through each and secure with a hex nut. Spread the tripod legs evenly.
- 2
  Insert one of the leg braces into the tripod leg brace mount and align the holes. Slide a 1 1/4-inch screw through the holes and thread a flange nut on the end of the screw. Tighten securely with a Phillips screwdriver. Repeat the process on the other two legs.
- 3
  Place the accessory tray over the mounting bolt hole in the center hub of the leg braces. Turn the tray clockwise to screw it into the mounting hole and hand tighten.
- 4
  Unlatch the tripod leg lock on one leg, extend the leg to the desired length, then latch the leg lock. Repeat on the other two legs to bring the tripod to the desired height.
- 5
  Place the NG-60 optical tube on the tripod mount so the two mounting bolts on the optical tube pass through the corresponding bolt holes on the mount. Thread the knurled plastic mounting knobs on the other end of each bolt and hand tighten to secure the optical tube to the mount.
Mounting and Aligning the Red Dot Viewfinder
- 6
  Remove the two viewfinder attachment thumbscrews that are preinstalled on the optical tube.
- 7
  Place the viewfinder mounting bracket up to the optical tube and align its mounting holes with the attachment holes in the tube.
- 8
  Reinstall the two attachment thumbscrews and hand tighten to secure the viewfinder to the optical tube.
- 9
  Align the viewfinder by placing the low-power eyepiece in the telescope focuser and focusing on a distant object. Center the object in the telescope's field of view. Now look through the viewfinder and turn one or both of its two alignment knobs to move the red dot in the viewfinder until it is precisely centered on the same object in the telescope's field of view.

Astronomy