Orion 8 EQ manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL IN 213 Rev . A 12/02 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 ® Atlas ™ 8 EQ #9873 Equatorial Reflector T elescope[...]

2 Figure 1. The Atlas 8 EQ. T ube ring mounting plate T ube ring mounting plate lock knobs (2) Declination setting circle Declination lock le ver Counterweight shaft loc k lev er Counterweight shaft Counterweights Counterweight lock knobs “T oe Sa ver” T ripod leg Leg lock le ver Finder scope Finder scope brac ket Eyepiece F ocus knob T ube rin[...]

3 T able of Contents 1. Unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. P ar ts List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4. Balancing the T elescope . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5. Using Y our T elescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6. Setting Up and Using the [...]

4 3. Assembly Assembly should tak e no more than 30 minutes. Refer to Figure 1 during assembly . Assembling the telescope requires no tools other than the ones provided. 1. Stand the tripod legs upright and spread the legs out as far as they will go . Make certain that the leg lock le vers are tightened. K eep the tripod legs at their shor test (fu[...]

5 place to keep the hand controller out of the w a y when not in use. Place the “hooks” str ip of n ylon adhesive on the bac k of the hand controller and the “loops” str ip on a tripod leg or on the mount where it will be in a conv eniently reached spot. Simply hang the hand controller by the n ylon adhesive when it is not in use. Make cert[...]

6 5. With one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the Dec. lock le v er . The telescope should now be ab le to rotate freely about the declination axis. 6. Loosen the knurled ring clamps on the tube r ings a fe w turns, until you can slide the telescope tube f orward and back inside the rings (this can be aided by using a slight twisting mot[...]

7 3a). Back the lock ring off by a f ew turns, f or now . Refocus the finder scope on a distant object by threading the objectiv e lens cell in or out of the finderscope body . Precise focusing will be achie ved by f ocusing the finder scope on a bright star . Once the image appears shar p , retighten the locking ring behind the objective lens cell[...]

8 Polar Alignment F or Nor thern Hemisphere obser v ers , appro ximate polar align- ment is achie ved by pointing the mount ’ s r ight ascension axis at the Nor th Star , or P olaris. It lies within 1 ° of the nor th celes- tial pole (NCP), which is an e xtension of the Ear th ’ s rotational axis out into space. Stars in the Nor ther n Hemisph[...]

9 quick and easy . T o align the mount using the polar axis finder scope, f ollow these instructions: 1. Approximately polar-align the mount as outlined in the pro- cedure pre viously . 2. Loosen the Dec. lock le ver and rotate the optical tube on the declination axis so that the tube is at a 90 ° to the right ascension axis (Figure 10). Tighten t[...]

10 hand controller to “ N ” if you liv e in the norther n hemisphere, or “ S ” if you liv e in the souther n hemisphere. When you flip the power s witch, the pow er indicator light on the mount will glow red and the power indicator light on the hand controller will glow green. Y our mount will now be mo ving at the sidereal rate, which is t[...]

Dec. setting circle until the pointer reads e xactly 90 ° .R e - tighten the setting circle thumbscrew . Calibrating the Right Ascension Setting Circle 1. Identify a bright star in the sky near the celestial equator (declination = 0 ° ) and look up its coordinates in a star atlas. 2. Loosen the R.A. and Dec. lock lev ers on the equatorial mount, [...]

7. Collimating (Aligning The Mirr ors) Collimating is the process of adjusting the mirrors so they are aligned with one another . Y our telescope ’ s optics were aligned at the f actor y , and should not need much adjustment unless the telescope is handled roughly . Accurate mirror alignment is impor tant to ensure the peak performance of your te[...]

13 of the secondar y mirror . This is done by alternately loosening one of the three alignment set screws while tightening the other two , as depicted in Figure 16. The goal is to center the primar y mirror reflection in the secondar y mirror , as in Figure 14d. Don ’ t worry that the reflection of the secondar y mirror (the smallest circle, with[...]

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 defocus the image with the f ocusing knob. If the telescope is correctly collimated, the e xpanding disk should be a perfect circle (Figure 19). If the image is unsymmetrical, the scope is o[...]

15 an hour or more. In the winter , stor ing the telescope outdoors in a shed or garage greatly reduces the amount of time need- ed f or the optics to stabilize. It also is a good idea to k eep the scope cov ered until the Sun sets so the tube does not heat greatly abov e the temperature of the outside air . Y ouc an attach a small fan to the Atlas[...]

16 Important Note: Do not look at the Sun with any optical instrument without a prof essionally made solar filter , or permanent eye dama ge could result. Also, be sure to cover the finder scope, or better yet, remove it altogether . C. The Planets The planets don ’ t sta y put like the stars, so to find them y ou should ref er to Sky Calendar at[...]

17 object, the lower its magnitude . Choose an object with a visu- al magnitude of 9 or lower . Many beginners star t with the Messier objects, which represent some of the best and bright- est deep-sky objects, first catalogued about 200 y ears ago by the F rench astronomer Charles Messier . Determine in which constellation the object lies. Now , f[...]

18 era ’ s shutter is now ready to be opened. A remote shutter release must be used or the image will be b lurred beyond recognition. T r y e xposure times between 1 and 10 seconds, depending upon the brightness of the planet to be pho- tographed and the ISO of the film being used. “Piggyback Photography” The Moon and planets are interesting [...]

19 with hard silicon dio xide, which prev ents the aluminum from o xidizing. These coatings nor mally last through man y y ears of use bef ore requir ing re-coating (which is easily done). T o clean the secondar y mirror , first remov e it from the tele- scope. Do this by holding the secondary mirror holder station- ar y while completely unthreadin[...]

20 One-Y ear Limited W arranty This Orion Atlas 8 EQ is warranted against def ects in materials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase . This warr anty is for the benefit of the original retail pur- chaser only . During this warranty period Orion T elescopes & Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion ’ s option, [...]