Here is a step-by-step setup guide for a typical observing evening:

Assemble telescope and align the viewfinder:

The viewfinder is important for ensuring you're pointing the telescope at the correct star. Good alignment is a big help and is most easily performed before dark. It is therefore the first thing to check on a night's observing just before twilight.

• Uncover and position the telescope and insert the eyepiece.
• Open dome and roughly point the telescope towards a prominent land feature that will feature prominently in the field of view through the eyepiece, such as the top of a lamp-post.
• Loosen the focus lock ring on the viewfinder and turn the dew shield until both the crosshairs and the image through the viewfinder are in focus. (This doesn't need to be done each observing night).
• Centre the object in the field of view and lock the position of the telescope.
• By adjusting the 6 black thumb screws on the viewfinder, align the crosshairs to the part of the object that is centred in the field of view.
• Check alignment in viewfinder and field of view and adjust if necessary.

Setting up the dome:

The aim of the setup procedure is to have everything ready to take flat-field frames at twilight. When taking sky flats, the part of the sky used must be dark enough not to saturate the CCD with a fair exposure but not dark enough for stars to present themselves in the image. The perfect flat-field time window is therefore fairly narrow and, unless dome flats are used, it is important not to miss it.

With this in mind it is worth splitting tasks between you. One person can concentrate on the viewfinder alignment, as outlined above, while the other can get the computers and all required information for the evening prepared. This should include connecting the CCD and cooling it to the required temperature as it will need to be cooled and stable when the flats are taken.

It is at this point that (if everything is ready for flats and you happen to have some time before astronomical twilight) it would be best for your pizza order to arrive!