BAS Telescope Hire – Brisbane Astronomical Society

How to Hire a Telescope

Our equipment can only be hired by current financial members of Brisbane Astronomical Society (BAS). BAS reserves the right to decline a rental request for any reason.

To rent a telescope kit, or specific equipment item, please follow the following steps:

1. Email our equipment officer, hire@bas.asn.au, and check the availability of the equipment and arrange how the physical hand-over might be best arranged.

2. Pay the Hire Fee and Refundable Deposit, as a single sum, directly into the BAS Bank of Queensland bank account. The account details are:

Account name: Brisbane Astronomical Society Inc
Bank: Bank of Queensland
BSB: 124030
Account Number: 10168155

3. Add a Reference to your transfer so we can identify and confirm the deposit. Use a Reference such as your Last Name and Hire: SmithHire We will then email you once we have confirmed receival of your payment.

4. When the equipment is physically handed over to you, you will be asked to provide a current Driver’s License, as proof of identity and address. Our Equipment Officer will photograph your license for reference in our equipment database.

5. When your rental period is about to expire you must contact our Equipment Officer and arrange physical return of all of the equipment. Make sure you provided us with your bank account BSB and Account Number so that we can refund your deposit.

6. Meet with our Equipment Officer and return the equipment.

7. Your Deposit will be refunded within a few days of satisfactory return of all equipment.

Please contact our Equipment Officer if you have any questions: hire@bas.asn.a

Learn How to Use Your Rented Equipment via Instructional Videos The BAS website has a page of Instructional Videos that provide very useful instruction for users of most of our equipment Kits. We strongly recommend prospective renters take and look at the videos appropriate for the Kit they are considering renting, or have rented. Investing a few minutes on instruction can avoid nights of astro-frustration and make your telescope nights vastly more successful and rewarding. Find the BAS Instructional Videos page:Click Here

Kit 1 – Celestron SE4 Schmidt–Cassegrain Telescope Internal electronics with hand controller, celestial tracking telescope suitable for visual observing and perhaps basic astrophotography. However, this kit is supplied with components only suitable for visual astronomy, not astrophotography. Substantial experience is required with this telescope before attempting astrophotography. Rental Fee: $30 per month Refundable Deposit: $50 Find the BAS Instructional Videos for this equipment:Click Here	What is “in the Kit 1 Box”
PDF Overview Document for Kit 1 – Celestron SE4 Schmidt–Cassegrain Telescope To download a copy of this document, Click Here

Kit 2 – Celestron SE6 Schmidt–Cassegrain Telescope Internal electronics with hand controller, celestial tracking telescope suitable for visual observing and perhaps basic astrophotography. However, this kit is supplied with components only suitable for visual astronomy, not astrophotography. Substantial experience is required with this telescope before attempting astrophotography. Rental Fee: $30 per month Refundable Deposit: $50 Find the BAS Instructional Videos for this equipment:Click Here	What is “in the Kit 2 Box”
PDF Overview Document for Kit 2 – Celestron SE6 Schmidt–Cassegrain Telescope To download a copy of this document, Click Here

Kit 3 – 200mm Sky-Watcher Collapsible Dobsonian Telescope Non-tracking, manual push-to telescope suitable for visual observing. Not suitable for deep-sky astrophotography. Rental Fee: $30 per month Refundable Deposit: $200 Find the BAS Instructional Videos for this equipment:Click Here	Kit 3 – Accessories Included: Fabric light shroud Plastic carry case with: – Two tensioning handles – 50mm finderscope – Single tube dust cover – Focuser with base adapter ring – 1.25” eyepiece adapter Five eyepieces, all 1.25” diameter: – Plossl 25mm – Kellnor 20mm – GSO 15mm wide view – Wide Scan 13mm – Meade 12mm Plus Fabric light shroud.


PDF Overview Document for Kit 3 – Sky-Watcher 200mm Dobsonian Telescope To download a copy of this document, Click Here

Kit 4 – Saxon 200mm Dobsonian Telescope Non-tracking, manual push-to telescope suitable for visual observing. Not suitable for deep-sky astrophotography. Rental Fee: $30 per month Refundable Deposit: $200 Find the BAS Instructional Videos for this equipment:Click Here	Kit 4 – Included accessories: Accessory carry case, comprising: – Two tensioning handles – 50mm finderscope – Focuser with base adapter ring – 1.25” eyepiece adapter – 2” eyepiece adapter Three eyepieces: – UW80 20mm 2” eyepiece – Meade 12mm 1.25” eyepiece – SkyWatcher 5mm 1.25” eyepiece, with twist barrel focusing. Also: – EVA foam light shroud – Single tube dust cover (second cover is foam)

PDF Overview Document for Kit 4 – Saxon 200mm Dobsonian Telescope To download a copy of this document, Click Here

Kit 5 – Skywatcher AZ EQ6 GT Mount with Skwatcher 100mm ED Refractor Telescope Electronic tracking mount and telescope with keypad hand control. Suitable for visual observing and astrophotography, camera not included. 12V DC power source not included. Rental Fee: $50 per month Refundable Deposit: $200 Find the BAS Instructional Videos for this equipment:Click Here	What is “in Kit 5 “ – Sky-Watcher ED 100mm Refractor Telescope (with aperture cover) – Attached telescope tube rings with dovetail plate (Attached to telescope) – Robust Telescope Carry Case – Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT Mount and Declination Wedge – Cardboard packing box for mount and counterweights – Two white round counterweights plus connecting rod – 12v Power Cable with cigarette lighter plug – Skywatcher SynScan Controller & cable – Skywatcher Tripod with spreader eyepiece holder – 50mm straight-through Finder Scope (mounting bracket attached) – Skywatcher 90 degree 2” star diagonal with 1 ¼” eyepiece adapter – Eyepiece – 1.25” Super 25 Wide Angle Long Eye Relief – Eyepiece 2” multi-coated 28mm – Eyepiece MEADE 12mm WP HD-60 6 Element – ¼ inch eyepiece adapter and sealing plug – Three Allen Keys – kywatcher AZ EQ6 GT Mount User Manual

To download a copy of the Kit 5 Overview document, Click Here	To download a detailed review of the capabilities of the AZ EQ6 GT Mount, Click Here

Kit 6: SkyWatcher 10″ Collapsible Dobsonian Telescope Suitable for visual observing. Not suitable for astrophotography. Rental Fee: $30 per month Refundable Deposit: $200 Find the BAS Instructional Videos for this equipment:Click Here


Kit 7 – Meade 8″ LX90 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope Electronic tracking telescope with keypad hand control. Suitable for visual observing and astrophotography, camera not included. Rental Fee: $30 per month Refundable Deposit: $200	Included accessories: Meade 8inch – tripod Meade 8inch – packing box Meade 8inch – Manual Meade – 15mm eyepiece Meade – 30mm eyepiece Orion dielectric diagonal Celestron visualback






Kit 8 – Skywatcher StarAdventurer Astrophotography Mount This is a small-weight capacity tracking mount designed to carry a DSLR camera body with a modest focal length lens. The shorter the lens focal length (and therefore wider the field of view of the lens) the easier it is to achieve impressive digital images of the Milky Way and other brighter regions of the night sky. Beginners are encouraged to start their StarAdventurer learning-curve by using a 50mm lens, or shorter focal length. The difficulties involved in achieving good images increases rapidly at focal lengths over 100mm. The mount is powered by 4 AA batteries, to be supplied by the hirer. Rental Fee: $30 per month Refundable Deposit: $100 Find the BAS Instructional Videos for polar alignment of this equipment:Click Here	What is in Kit 8 Kit 8 comprises a SkyWatcher StarAdventurer tracking mount attached to a tripod. Recommended Apps to Make Polar Alignment Easier It is much quicker and esier to find the Sigma Octants asterism in the StarAdventurer polar scope if the mount is initially pointed close to the south celestial pole and the asterism. To achieve this you need a compass, or compass app, that can display True North/South (rather than magnetic pole bearings). So, download a compass app that can be switched to True North, and use the South arrow to point the mount to True South. It is also very useful to have an inclinometer app that can guide you to tilt the altitude axis of the mount to match you local latitude. The Velux roof pitch app does this very well.

Kit 9 – Celestron CPC Series 9.25″ Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope Electronic tracking telescope with keypad hand control. Suitable for visual observing and astrophotography, camera not included. Rental Fee: $30 per month Refundable Deposit: $200 Please note, this is a very heavy telescope. It is strongly recommended that any lifting of the telescope, for mounting on the tripod or placement in its storage box, be performed by two people. This is for your own safety and the safety of the telescope.>	What is in Kit 9 Find a printable list of this kit’s components:Click Here
Find an extremely useful 14 page printable guide to setting-up and using this telescope. This is essential to your success with this telescope (a hard copy is included with the kit) :Click Here
PDF document with photos of the component items comprising the CPC 9.25 Kit 9 : Click Here