Orion 3 EQ manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL IN 208 Rev . B 10/02 Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 Customer Support (800) 676-1343 E-mail: support@telescope.com Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000 P .O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 Orion ® SpacePr obe ™ 3 EQ #9843 Equatorial Reflector T elescope[...]

2 Figure 1. The SpaceProbe 3 EQ. EZ Finder II EZ Finder II brac ket Declination slow-motion control cable Declination lock knob Declination setting circle Counterweight shaft Counterweight Counterweight loc k knob Right Ascension lock knob (not shown) Leg lock knob Eyepiece F ocuser Optical tube assembly Right Ascension setting circle Right Ascensi[...]

3 T able of Contents 1. Unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. P ar ts List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. Getting Star ted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5. Setting up and Using the Equatorial Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

on the outside of the tripod legs. Secure the wing nuts fin- ger-tight. 2. Install and tighten the leg loc k knobs on the bottom br aces of the tripod legs. For no w , keep the legs at their shortest (fully retracted) length; you can extend them to a more desirab le length later , after the tripod is completely assem- bled. 3. Stand the tripod and [...]

telescope should now be ab le to rotate freely about the R.A. axis. Rotate it until the counterweight shaft is parallel to the ground (i.e., horizontal) 2. Now loosen the counterweight loc k knob and slide the weight along the shaft until it e xactly counterbalances the telescope (Figure 3a). That ’ s the point at which the shaft remains horizont[...]

With your e y es positioned at a comf or table distance, look through the back of the refle x sight with both e y es open to see the red dot. The intensity of the dot can be adjusted by turning the power knob . For best results when stargazing, use the dimmest possible setting that allo ws you to see the dot with- out difficulty . T ypically , a di[...]

pass and rotate the mount so the telescope points Nor th. Retighten the azimuth loc k knob . The equatorial mount is now polar aligned. F rom this point on in your obser ving session, you should not make an y fur ther adjustments in the azimuth or the latitude of the mount, nor should you mo v e the tr ipod. Doing so will undo the polar alignment. [...]

8 celestial equator (Dec. = 0 ° ), and negative when the telescope is pointing south of the celestial equator . Retighten the lock knob . Loosen the R.A. lock knob and rotate the telescope until the R.A. value from the star atlas matches the reading on the R.A. setting circle. Remember to use the upper set of numbers on the R.A. setting circle. Re[...]

9 In conditions of good seeing, star twinkling is minimal and images appear steady in the ey epiece. Seeing is best over- head, worst at the horizon. Also , seeing generally gets better after midnight, when much of the heat absorbed b y the Ear th during the day has radiated off into space . Especially impor tant for observing faint objects is good[...]

eras and ha ve “ false color ” added. Our ey es are not sensitive enough to see color in deep-sky objects e xcept in a f ew of the brightest ones. Remember that you are seeing these objects using y our own telescope with your o wn e y es! The object you see in y our e y e- piece is in real-time, and not some con v eniently provided image from a[...]

Y our SpaceProbe 3 EQ telescope requires very little mechan- ical maintenance. The optical tube is steel and has a smooth painted finish that is f airly scratch resistant. If a scratch does appear , it will not har m the telescope. Refer to the appendix B at the end of this manual f or details of how to clean y our tele- scope ’ s optics. 8. Spec[...]

Appendix A: Collimation— Aligning the Mirr ors Collimation is the process of adjusting the mirrors so they are perf ectly aligned with one another . Y our telescope ’ s optics were aligned at the f ac- tor y , and should not need much adjustment unless the telescope is handled roughly . Accurate mirror alignment is impor tant to ensure the peak[...]

13 counter-clockwise will mo v e the secondar y mirror toward the primar y mirror . When the secondar y mirror is centered in the f ocuser draw- tube, rotate the secondary mirror holder until the reflection of the primar y mirror is as centered in the secondar y mirror as possible . It may not be perf ectly centered, but that is OK. Now tighten the[...]

14 Star-T esting the T elescope When it is dark, point the telescope at a br ight star and accu- rately center it in the e yepiece ’ s field of view . Slowly de-focus the image with the f ocusing knob . If the telescope is correctly collimated, the e xpanding disk should be a perf ect circle (Figure 12). If the image is unsymmetrical, the scope i[...]

15[...]

16 One-Y ear Limited W arranty This Orion SpaceProbe 3 EQ is warranted against def ects in mater ials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase. This warranty is f or the benefit of the original retail purchaser only . During this warranty period Or ion T elescopes & Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion ’ s opti[...]