Officina Stellare UltraCRC User Manual

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RC, UltraCRC, RiDK, RiLa, RiFast, RH "Veloce"

Telescopes – All models

USER MANUAL

Rev 2.0 – March. 2016 – download the latest version of this manual from www.officinastellare.com

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Page 1 RC, UltraCRC, RiDK, RiLa, RiFast, RH "Veloce" Telescopes – All models USER MANUAL Rev 2.0 – March. 2016 – download the latest version of this manual from www.officinastellare.com...
Page 2  Never leave the uncovered telescope unattended in daytime.  Do not use Officina Stellare telescopes even to project the image of the Sun. Pointing the Sun may produce serious damage to the telescope. Secondary mirror, secondary mirror support or internal...
Page 3: Table Of Contents
 Truss structure telescopes may be "dangerous" during daytime because the open structure allows the light to enter also laterally. Always use the provided black elastic cover. Officina Stellare is not responsible for any damage related to improper use of the telescope. INDEX Chapter 1 –...
Page 4: Chapter 1: Introduction
We are proud to build great telescopes, because we love astronomy. For our efforts toward perfection, only the sky is the limit. HOW DOES IT WORK? The figure above represents UltraCRC, RiDK, RiLa and RiFast telescopes. They all look very similar, but: ...
Page 5  RiDK telescopes are optimized Dall-Kirkham, with a 2-lens corrector and a spherical secondary mirror.  RiLa and RiFast telescopes, are based on different "tuning" of the Harmer-Wynne scheme. Like in the RiDK the secondary mirror is not hyperbolic, and this allows a bit "relaxed" tolerance on collimation.
Page 6 Because we want you to be happy about your instrument even 10-20 years from now, when you will use your next CCD camera, and the one after that... * Only the frontal lens (meniscus) of RH "Veloce" telescopes is made in Germany under Officina Stellare specifications.
Page 7: Chapter 2: What Is In The Box
To help you check all the equipment, a checklist like this is provided. A two-page packing list for an Officina Stellare telescope. In this example, it is a RC-600 with ATC-02C controller (embedded on the scope), optional primary mirror shutter, optional hand paddle, but no adapters or accessories.
Page 8: Chapter 3 - How To Handle Your Telescope
CHAPTER 3: HOW TO HANDLE THE TELESCOPE Each Officina Stellare telescope has a very rigid and stiff structure, essential to maintain the optical parts in the correct reciprocal position during regular use. But some part of the telescope are quite delicate and precisely aligned. So pay great attention to "where you can grab" your telescope to move it and to install it on your mount.
Page 9: Chapter 4 - Electronic Controls
CHAPTER 4: ELECTRONICS CONTROLS Excluding RH telescopes, where there are only cooling fans, your Officina Stellare telescope is always provided with one of the following electronics packages:  TC01 – The basic model.  ATC-02 – The advanced model, that allows also to control all functions of your telescope from a remote PC.
Page 10 Use this parameter only if directed by Officina Stellare support. Usually you simply look at the image captured by the scope to change secondary mirror position, but for particular situations a backslash control is useful.
Page 11 "Temperature control" tab From this tab you can: 1) Leave the temperature control OFF, or keep the mirrors at a constant temperature (only ABOVE ambient, of course). 2) Keep the mirrors a given temperature above the dew point temperature (calculated by the internal sensor). 3) Set the Pulse Width Modulation of each heater.
Page 12 As soon as you power up the ATC-02, the hand pad will briefly show the firmware revision. This information will be useful if you contact Officina Stellare customer service. After the firmware revision, you will see briefly the serial number, telescope model and owner information, written in the memory of the scope following your order.
Page 13 This table summarizes what you read in the five "screens". Look at the hand pad for a while to familiarize yourself with this five "screens" You read… Notes First screen row: Date and time Format is dd/mm/yy, 24h. Available only if a computer is connected, and read from the computer.
Page 14  [S] is used only to change the Step of the secondary mirror movement, to change the BFL. The menus available (use [+] and [–] to see them in the last line of the display) are described here: press [E] to enter each function SET TEMPERATURE Use [+] and [–] to change the values, [E] goes back SET FAN SPEED...
Page 15: Chapter 5: Collimation
Sorry, nobody's fault – it's the laws of optics. The good news is that since every Officina Stellare telescope has a very good mechanics, once you have a good collimation, the telescope will stay collimated for a long time.
Page 16 If the seeing is really terrible – i.e. there is a strong turbulence in the atmosphere – the out-of-focus star may change "wildly", and change in a fraction of a second in size, color, shape (image at right). If this is the case, the seeing is simply too bad to continue.
Page 17 Just let them touch “gently” the internal mirror cell. Please note that in all Officina Stellare telescopes each collimation screw turn will move the mirror just one millimeter. Collimation screws are spring loaded, so there is no need, when you tight one screw, to loose the other two or vice versa.
Page 18 “undo” a wrong action, and, if needed, to go back to the original position.  In all Officina Stellare telescopes the collimation screws are spring-loaded, so if you tight one screw there is no need to loose the other two.
Page 19: Chapter 6 - Collimation From Scratch
The Takahashi collimation tool (or at least a collimation eyepiece) is required for this procedure. An holographic laser (included in the Officina Stellare deluxe collimation kit) may be useful if your mirrors are “wildly” out of position (typically if you have disassembled you telescope, like for mirror re-coating).
Page 20 will do the job. What is important is that this flat surface can be set perpendicular to the optical axis, with a reasonable tolerance. Just check with a meter tape that different points of the frontal ring of the telescope have the same distance from the flat surface, within a centimeter or so. This is enough.
Page 21 BFL will be significantly longer). Just as an idea, if you change M1M2 by 1 mm, the BFL will change by 4-9 mm, depending on optical scheme. When you ordered your telescope, Officina Stellare has (usually) provided the whole optical train, i.e. all the mechanical parts needed to keep, at the same time: The telescope focused at infinite.
Page 22 reach a good focus and stop the motor This position will be your new “zero”. During regular use, reach perfect focus with the focuser. CASE B: you only have the “regular” focuser and no BFL motor. Same as case A, but you correct the longitudinal position of the secondary mirror manually.
Page 23 (tension screws, carter screws...). Touch nothing but the collimation screws, unless otherwise directed by Officina Stellare technical service. In the simplest design (at left) there are only the collimation screws (the big central one is to disassemble the mirror or move it longitudinally). In different designs, where a secondary mirror motor is installed, the motor can be visible (center) or hidden (right).
Page 24 On many scopes it is not possible to have the spot and the circles in focus at the same time, but it is easy to see if the spot is concentric to the circles. 7. Using the collimation screws of the secondary mirror center the black spot with the circles. It is much easier if you have someone who can assist you.
Page 25 After this step your secondary mirror is in its correct and “final” position, and you will not touch it again for the rest of the collimation procedure. Please note that theoretically is it possible to use the TC to collimate also the primary mirror (there are a lot of procedures on the web...
Page 26 Just let them touch “gently” the internal mirror cell. Please note that in all Officina Stellare telescopes each collimation screw turn will move the mirror just one millimeter. Collimation screws are spring loaded, so there is no need, when you tight one screw, to loose the other two or vice versa.
Page 27 The laser does not reach the precision need for astronomical use, but it is useful for the first rough approximation after a major overhaul of the telescope. We use the laser in the factory only once, when the telescope is assembled the first time. 6.4A) Primary mirror tip-tilt regulation: laser VERY IMPORTANT: If you have just reassembled your telescope (typically after a re-coating of the mirrors) then read this section.
Page 28 use. Note that the shadow of the secondary mirror is clearly mirror may look thinner in some part and thicker in some other closer to the “second stage” shadow at the “12 o'clock” position (red arrows). This is normal, and has no influence on telescope than at the “6 o'clock”...
Page 29 Movements due to screws "B" and "C" will be 120° apart.  In all Officina Stellare telescopes the collimation screws are spring-loaded using special zero- backlash cup springs, so if you tight one screw there is no need to untight the other two.
Page 30 6.5) Fine collimation procedure Fine collimation is possible only under ideal seeing conditions, so you can see the Airy figure created by your scope, when you look a bright star (high in the sky!) at very high magnification (a magnification roughly equal to the aperture of your scope in mm, so 400x for a 400 mm scope).
Page 31 Only if you have an extraordinary seeing (Pickering scale 9 or 10) you will be able to distinguish between the first column (perfect collimation) and the second column ("almost perfect" collimation). With a seeing that is just "very good" (Pickering scale 7 or 8) the effect of non-perfect seeing will strongly dominate over the non-perfect collimation.
Page 32 To correct this – and to give the user the possibility, under any situation, to reach perfect perpendicularity between the optical axis and the sensor - each Officina Stellare telescope does have 3 or 4 couples of push-pull screws to set the focuser tip-tilt. To do so, start orienting the CCD as in the figure in this page.
Page 33: Chapter 7: The Rh "Veloce
CHAPTER 7: THE RH "VELOCE" The RH "Veloce" is quite different from all other Officina Stellare telescopes. First of all... to be precise the Veloce is not a telescope, it is an astrograph, i.e. an optical system completely devoted to wide field photography, with an extraordinary f/ ratio. You can see it as the "heir" of old purely photographic instruments, like the Schmidt and the Baker-Schmidt cameras.
Page 34 The Veloce telescopes may be bought with or without Finefocus, the original Officina Stellare focuser. If you ordered the Veloce without focuser, Officina Stellare can provide all the adapters needed to connect your equipment. Just let us know. Please remember the back focus of the...
Page 35 "open". If this is your situation (or you are using a really big CCD) we strongly suggest you to ask Officina Stellare to create for you an adapter between the 72x1 thread and your camera. Please also remember that focus is very critical at f/3.
Page 36 Not a tragedy, but a big nuisance. Ask support Officina Stellare if this happens. The Veloce is a very fast focal ratio astrograph, with a large corrected and illuminated field (42mm for the RH200).
Page 37: Chapter 8: Care And Cleaning Of Your Telescope
8.1) Care of the structure If used properly, your Officina Stellare telescope will last decades. To clean any part (excluding the optics, i.e. mirrors and lens), simply use a soft piece of tissue that leaves no hairs. If needed, a mild detergent, in very diluted form (i.e.
Page 38 If your telescope is used and stored properly and if your observatory is not in the middle of a woodland (where resin droplets are inevitable) it should be really unusual to go beyond the "camel brush and compressed air" level. Remember, even if the color of the lens coating changes a bit, has a local "flourish"...
Page 39 When you wash a small mirror, you simply remove it from the cell and put it in the sink. Then you blast it with water. The mirrors of Officina Stellare telescopes are too big to operate this way, and we suggest not to remove the mirror from the cell. So we will describe the procedure to wash the mirror without removing the mirror itself from the cell, but just removing the cell from the scope, as described above.
Page 40 water jet that does remove the dust. There is no "chemical" action at this stage. You will use something else than water only if needed (see below). 9. Clean all the mirror 2-3 times with water jets. Rotate slowly the mirror and blast only the "lower"...

This manual is also suitable for:

Rc Ridk Rila Rifast Rh veloce