The Questar telescope is a small 3 1/2 inch telescope designed to be compact, portable, and easy to set up and operate.  It is excellent for solar system and stellar observation as well as for astrophotography.  It can also be used as a terrestrial telescope.  The Questar can be set up in one of two ways.  The base of the Questar is threaded to accept a standard tripod.  When mounted on a tripod with a pan head the Questar makes an excellent go-anywhere telescope.  The other way to set up the Questar is by using the three removable legs which come with it.  These three short legs provide a very stable base allowing the Questar to be placed almost anywhere.  A picnic table, a desk, and the hood of a car are all suitable.  Here at Drew we use wooden desk-like pedestals designed for this purpose.  These provide a steady base as well as a convenient flat surface upon which to take notes. Despite its rather small size the Questar is a truly superior telescope.  Its optics are of the highest quality and are specially coated to minimize light loss due to reflections.  The outside of the barrel is fitted with an enameled star chart which can slide up to serve as a dew cap or slide off, exposing a lunar map.  The gearing is smooth and effortless and an internal motor provides accurate tracking while observing.  The telescope itself is a Maksutov-Cassegrain type.  Light enters the telescope passing through a correcting lens to the spherical primary mirror.  The light then passes back to the front where a secondary mirror reflects it back down through an opening in the primary mirror to a prism which redirects the light to the eyepiece.  Although the telescope barrel is only 8 inches long, all this bouncing back and forth yields an effective focal length of over 4 feet! Go to "Parts"