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instruction Manual
® ™
orion sirius EQG ‑
Equatorial Mount
#9995
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Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975
IN 280 Rev. B 02/06
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Tube ring mounting plate Mounting plate lock knobs Declination lock lever (not shown) Control panel Front opening Right ascension lock lever Right ascension setting circle Declination setting circle Counterweight shaft lock lever Counterweight lock knob Latitude scale Counterweight Latitude adjustment L-bolts Counterweight shaft Hand controller cable Center support shaft “Toe-saver” Tripod center support tray GoTo hand controller Tripod leg Leg lock levers Figure 1. The Sirius EQ-G moun
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Congratulations on your purchase of a quality Orion mount. Your new Sirius EQ-G mount works with many different optical tubes. Designed for astronomical use, the Sirius EQ-G provides a solid, stable foundation for precise navigation of the night sky. The internally-housed, dual-axis stepper motors provide smooth slewing and tracking of any celestial object. With a little practice, you’ll find that the Sirius EQ-G mount is an invaluable tool for getting the most out of your astronomical observ
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the azimuth adjustment knobs on the equatorial mount in 1. Attach the tube mounting rings to the tube ring mounting order to fit the mount onto the tripod head. plate using the screws that come with the tube rings. The screws should go through the center holes in the ends of 3. Thread the central support shaft up through the tripod the mounting plate and rethread into the tube rings. Note head and into the bottom of the equatorial mount until that the side of the mounting plate with the
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Right Ascension (R.A.) axis 6. setting up and using the Equatorial Mount When you look at the night sky, you no doubt have noticed that the stars appear to move slowly from east to west over time. That apparent motion is caused by the Earth’s rotation (from west to east). An equatorial mount (Figure 5) is designed to compensate for that motion, allowing you to easily “track” a. b. the movement of astronomical objects, thereby keeping them from drifting out of your telescope’s field of v
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To find Polaris in the sky, look north and locate the pattern of the Big Dipper (Figure 6). The two stars at the end of the “bowl” of the Big Dipper point right to Polaris. Eyepiece Alignment Focus Objective focus ring setscrew (3) lock ring lens Observers in the Southern Hemisphere aren’t so fortunate to have a bright star so near the south celestial pole (SCP). The star Sigma Octantis lies about 1° from the SCP, but it is barely visible with the naked eye (magnitude 5.5). For general vis
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Using the Polar Axis Finder Scope use the azimuth adjustment knobs. Once Polaris is properly positioned within the reticle, you are precisely polar aligned. The reticle of the polar axis finder scope for the Sirius EQ-G Retighten the knob underneath the equatorial mount. has a tiny star map printed on it that makes precise polar align- ment quick and easy. To polar align the mount using the polar From this point on in your observing session, you should not axis finder scope, follow these ins
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it with the counterweights down as pictured in Figure 1. Again, If you are using a portable battery like the Orion Dynamo, use you have to rotate the scope in right ascension so that the the supplied 12V DC power cable (male cigarette lighter plug counterweight shaft is positioned horizontally. Then rotate the on one end, standard 12V DC power plug on the other end) scope in declination so it points to where you want it near the to connect the battery to the 12V DC power jack on the con- hori
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1. Speed buttons front aperture of the instrument, or permanent eye dam- age could result. Young children should use this telescope 2. Directional buttons only with adult supervision. 3. Set button Lunar rate tracking is used to track the Moon at its rate of The dual-axis hand controller is equipped with a red LED light apparent motion across the sky. Lunar rate tracking is activat- in each button to indicate operation. An individual button’s LED ed by pressing and holding the Slow butto
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Sirius EQ-G mount, the Dec. motor will enter a “sleep” mode if left idle for a period of 15 seconds. In “sleep” mode, the Dec. In order to set the guiding speed of your Sirius EQ-G, use the motor stops completely and the amount of used power drops following button combinations: by about 40%. To reactivate the Dec. motor, press the Up or • 2x sidereal r ate: H o l d t h e Fast button, then press Down directional button. the Up directional button. upgrading your sirius EQG
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Hand controller Computer interface 12V DC power jack jack jack Notch Tripod center Figure 10. Hand controller jacks. support tray Hand controller The smaller modular jack on the hand controller (Figure 10) bracket is used for RS-232 communications between the Sirius EQ-G mount and a computer equipped with astronomy software like Figure 12. Installing the hand controller bracket. Starry Night Pro (see “Linking with a Computer”). The 12V DC power jack on the hand controller allows independen
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control of the Sirius EQ-G mount at almost any step in opera- NGC, IC, M, Planet, and Object buttons: Allow direct access tion. These controls are locked out when the mount is slewing to catalogs and databases of over 13,400 objects. to an object. The directional buttons are very helpful when initially aligning the mount, centering objects in the eyepiece Got o Hand controller field of view, and manual guiding. The directional buttons are typically used in conjunction with the RATE button.
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hand controller will lose track of the mount’s position, and the alignment alignment procedure will need to be performed again. Keep In order for the GoTo hand controller to accurately locate and both the R.A. and Dec. lock levers engaged. point to objects in the sky, it must first be aligned on known positions (stars). With the supplied information, the controller 3. Turn on the power switch on the mount can replicate a model of the sky and the movements of astro- 4. The initial screen d
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the alignment procedure must be performed again. To do 3. Once the alignment star has been entered and alignment this, turn the mount’s power switch off, then on again. is complete, the hand controller will display “Alignment Successful”. Press ENTER to access the Main Menu. t wo‑star alignment tips for choosing alignment stars Two-star alignment requires only two alignment stars but may produce lesser pointing accuracy than the three-star align- If possible, use the following tips when cho
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improved. To improve pointing accuracy in another region of PLANET: This shortcut button takes you straight to the Planets the sky, perform the PAE function again, this time choosing a submenu in the hand controller’s database. Use the scroll but- bright star in the new region of interest. tons to scroll through the list of planets (and the Moon) in our solar system. Press ENTER to display the chosen planet’s Note: If the mount is “parked” before it is powered off (see “Utility coordinates.
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PEC Training: See Appendix B for information Auto Guide Speed: When using an autoguider, this sets the guiding speed to 1.125x, 1.25X, 1.5X, 1.75X, or 2X sidereal LCD/LED Tuning: Allows adjustments of the LCD charac- rate. ter contrast, the LCD backlighting, and the LED backlighting of the pushbuttons. Use the scroll buttons to select which of using the user Defined Database these you wish to adjust. Use the left and right directional but- The GoTo hand controller allows you to save up to 25
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Note: If the recalled User Object is currently below the horizon, updating the Got o Hand controller’s Firmware the controller will display “Below Horizon!! Try another obj.” and From version 3.0 and up, the GoTo hand controller’s firmware will automatically return to “Recall Object”. can be updated over the internet. Users can download firm- ware updates from Orion’s website www.OrionTelescopes. identifying an unknown object com. The GoTo hand controller has the ability to identify celesti
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base, but the hardware version will not change with internet updates). Note: If the error message “Can not connect to a SynScan hand control” appears on your computer, check all cable con- nections. Also, try closing all other computer programs that might be attempting to use the COM port. Note: If the error message “Firmware update failed...” appears on your computer, remove the power plug from the hand con- troller, and then reconnect it. Now, repeat the firmware update procedure. By defa
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sirius EQ‑G Got o Hand controller Menu t ree 19
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Alignment method: One-star alignment, two- 9. specifications star alignment, three-star alignment Mount: German equatorial Database: Complete M, NGC, and Tripod: Steel IC catalogs, 25 user- Weight: 30 lbs. defined objects Counterweight: 11 lbs. Total 13,436 objects Polar axis latitude adjustment: 10° to 65° Pointing accuracy: Up to 1 arcminute with Polar axis finder scope: Included, illuminator built cone error calibration, up into
