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instruction Manual
®
orion
™
spaceProbe 3 EQ
#9843 Equatorial Reflector Telescope
customer support (800)‑676‑1343
E‑mail: support@telescope.com
corporate offices (831)‑763‑7000
89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, ca 95076
Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975
IN 208 Rev. C 02/09
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EZ Finder II EZ Finder II bracket Eyepiece Focuser Optical tube assembly Declination slow-motion control cable Declination lock knob Declination setting circle Right Ascension Counterweight shaft setting-circle Counterweight Right Ascension slow- Counterweight lock knob motion control cable Right Ascension lock knob Latitude adjustment T-bolt (not shown) Tripod leg Accessory tray bracket Accessory tray Leg lock knob Figure 1. The SpaceProbe 3 EQ. 2
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® Welcome to the exciting world of amateur astronomy! Your SpaceProbe 3 EQ is a high-quality optical instrument designed for nighttime stargazing. With its precision optics and equatorial mount, you’ll be able to locate and enjoy fascinating denizens of the night sky, including the planets, Moon, and a variety of deep-sky objects. Lightweight and easy to use, this scope will provide many hours of enjoyment for the whole family. These instructions will help you set up, properly use, and care
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Declination lock knob (not shown) Declination setting circle R.A. lock knob R.A. setting circle Latitude scale Latitude lock T-bolt Latitude adjustment T-bolt Azimuth lock knob Figure 2. The equatorial mount of the SpaceProbe 3 EQ. be on the outside of the tripod legs. Secure the wing nuts and tighten the lock knob. Replace the screw and washer finger-tight. on the end of the shaft. 2. Install and tighten the leg lock knobs on the bottom braces 8. Remove the two wingnuts from the optical tube
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® Battery casing Azimuth knob a. Power knob Altitude Metal knob thumbnuts Figure 4. The EZ Finder II. b. Do You Wear Eyeglasses? Figure 3. Proper operation of the equatorial mount requires If you wear eyeglasses, you may be able to keep them on balancing the telescope tube on the R.A. axis (a). With the R.A. lock while you observe. In order to do this, your eyepiece must knob released, slide the counterweight along the counterweight have enough “eye relief” to allow you to see the entire
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turning the power knob. For best results when stargazing, use the dimmest possible setting that allows you to see the dot Little Dipper without difficulty. Typically, a dim setting is used under dark (in Ursa Minor) Big Dipper skies and a bright setting is used under light-polluted skies or (in Ursa in daylight. Major) N.C.P. At the end of your observing session, be sure to turn the power knob counterclockwise until it clicks off. When the two Polaris white dots on the EZ Finder II’s
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® From this point on in your observing session, you should not That location is denoted by two numbers: its right ascension make any further adjustments in the azimuth or the latitude (R.A.) and declination (Dec.). In the same way, every location of the mount, nor should you move the tripod. Doing so will on Earth can be described by its longitude and latitude. R.A. undo the polar alignment. The telescope should be moved is similar to longitude on Earth, and Dec. is similar to latitude. only
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a b c d Figure 6. This illustration show the telescope pointed in the the four cardinal directions (a) north, (b) south, (c) east, (d) west. Note that the tripod and mount have not been moved; only the telescope tube has been moved on the R.A. and Dec. axes. setting circle. Remember to use the upper set of numbers on the counterweight shaft will be oriented somewhere between the R.A. setting circle. Retighten the lock knob. vertical and horizontal. Most setting circles are not accurate enough
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SpaceProbe 3 EQ comes with two Explorer II eyepieces, a 25mm and a 10mm. These give magnifications of 28x and 70x respectively. Other eyepieces can be used to achieve higher or lower powers. It is quite common for an observer to own five or more eyepieces to access a wide range of magnifications. This allows the observer to choose the best eyepiece to use depending on the object being viewed. To calculate the magnification, or power, of a telescope and eyepiece combination, simply divide
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your telescope will be a learning experience. Each time you VENUS: At its brightest, Venus is the most luminous object in work with your telescope it will get easier to use, and stellar the sky, excluding the Sun and the Moon. It is so bright that objects will become easier to find. Take it from us, there is sometimes it is visible to the naked eye during full daylight! big difference between looking at a well-made full-color NASA Ironically, Venus appears as a thin crescent, not a full disk,
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8. specifications appendix a: collimation— Optical tube: Steel aligning the Mirrors Primary mirror diameter: 76mm Collimation is the process of adjusting the mirrors so they are perfectly aligned with one another. Your telescope’s optics Primary mirror coating: Aluminum with silicon dioxide (SiO ) 2 were aligned at the factory, and should not need much adjust- overcoat ment unless the telescope is handled roughly. Accurate mir- Secondary mirror minor axis: 19.9mm ror alignment is important to
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the center screw with a larger the flush screw one full turn, Phillips head screwdriver (see and then tighten the adjacent drawtube Figure 9). Turning the screw raised screw until it is tight clockwise will move the sec- as in Figure 11 (do not over- Reflection ondary mirror toward the front tighten). Look into the focuser of primary opening of the optical tube, mirror clip and see if the secondary while turning the screw coun- mirror reflection has moved ter-clockwise will move the closer
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Figure 9. To center the secondary mirror under the focuser, hold Figure 10. Adjust the tilt of the secondary mirror by loosening the secondary in place with your fingers while adjusting the primary or tightening the three alignment screws with a small Phillips head screw with a Phillips head screwdriver. Do not touch the mirror’s screwdriver. surface. will need to make slight corrections to the telescope’s position in order to account for the sky’s apparent motion. appendix B: cleaning the
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Out of collimation Collimated Figure 12. A star test will determine if a telescope’s optics are properly collimated. An unfocused view of a bright star through the eyepiece should appear as illustrated on right if the optics are perfectly collimated. If the circle is unsymmetrical, as in the illustration on left, the telescope needs collimation. To clean the primary mirror, carefully remove the mirror cell from the telescope. To do this, you must loosen the three screws from the end of the
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one‑Year limited Warranty This Orion SpaceProbe 3 EQ is warranted against defects in materials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase. This warranty is for the benefit of the original retail purchaser only. During this warranty period Orion Telescopes & Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion’s option, any warranted instrument that proves to be defective, provided it is returned postage paid to: Orion Warranty Repair, 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076. If th
