Orion 100 EQ manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL IN 191 Rev . A 07/02 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 ® Astr oV iew 100 EQ ™ #9862 100mm Equatorial Refracting T elescope[...]

2 Figure 1. The AstroVie w 100 EQ Reflector . Finder scope Finder scope brac ket Eyepiece Star diagonal F ocus knob Declination slow-motion control cab le Right Ascension (R.A.) slow-motion control cab le P olar axis finder scope Latitude scale Latitude adjustment T -bolts T ube r ing attachment knobs Counterweight shaft Counterweight Counterweight[...]

3 T able of Contents 1. P ar ts list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 2. Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 3. Getting Star ted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 4. Setting up and Using the Equatorial Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 5. Astronomical Obser ving . . . . . . . . . . . .11 6[...]

4 4. Next, tighten the wingnuts at the top of the tripod legs, so the legs are securely f astened to the equatorial mount. Use the wrench and your fingers to do this . 5. Or ient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 1, at a latitude of about 40°, i.e., so the pointer ne xt to the latitude scale is pointing to the line at “40”. T o do t[...]

See P ar t 4 for more inf or mation about the R.A. and decli- nation ax es. 11. Install the polar axis finder scope into its housing inside the R.A. axis of the equatorial mount. First loosen the three thumbscrews on the housing, which is located at the rear of the R.A. axis. Inser t the front end of the polar finder (the end without the ey eguard)[...]

6 Now when y ou loosen the lock le ver on one or both ax es and manually point the telescope, it should mo v e without resist- ance and should not drift from where you point it. Focusing the T elescope Y ou should now tr y to familiarize y ourself with f ocusing the tel- escope. With the 25mm ey epiece inser ted in the diagonal, point the telescope[...]

7 time. That apparent motion is caused by the Earth’ s rotation (from west to east). An equatorial mount (Figure 6) is designed to compensate f or that motion, allowing y ou to easi- ly “track” the movement of astronomical objects , thereby keeping them from drifting out of the telescope’ s field of view while you’ re obser ving. This is [...]

8 4. Mov e the tripod so the telescope tube (and R.A. axis) points roughly at P olar is. If you cannot see P olar is directly from your observing site, consult a compass and rotate the tripod so the telescope points nor th. There is a label bear- ing a large “N” at the base of the equatorial mount (Figure 8). It should be facing nor th. The equ[...]

9 6. Look through the polar finder at a distant object (dur ing the da y) and center it in the crosshairs. Y ou may need to adjust the latitude adjustment T -bolts and the tripod position to do this. 7. Rotate the mount 180° about the R.A. axis. Again, it may be conv enient to remove the counterweights and optical tube first. 8. Look through the p[...]

10 without any manual adjustment of the R.A. slow-motion con- trol. A motor dr ive system is necessary for astrophotog raph y . Understanding the Setting Circles The setting circles on an equatorial mount enable you to locate celestial objects by their “celestial coordinates”. Every object resides in a specific location on the “celestial sphe[...]

11 T o point the telescope to the east or west, or in other direc- tions, y ou rotate the telescope on its R.A. and Dec. axes . Depending on the altitude of the object you w ant to obser ve , the counterweight shaft will be oriented somewhere between vertical and hor izontal. Figure 10 illustrates how the telescope will look when pointed at the f o[...]

12 Calculating Magnification (Power) T o calculate the magnification, or power , of a telescope with an ey epiece , simply divide the f ocal length of the telescope by the f ocal length of the ey epiece: T elescope focal length = Magnification Eyepiece f ocal length F or example , the AstroView 100 EQ, which has a focal length of 600mm, used in com[...]

13 What to Expect So what will you see with y our telescope? Y ou should be able to see bands on Jupiter , the rings of Satur n, craters on the moon, the waxing and w aning of V enus, and possib ly hun- dreds of deep sky objects. Do not expect to see as much color as you in NASA photos , since those are tak en with long-e xpo- sure cameras and ha v[...]

14 years b y prof essional and amateur astronomers alike . Keep in mind, as with any ne w task, that starhopping ma y seem chal- lenging at first, but will become easier o ver time and with practice. T o starhop, only a minimal amount of additional equipment is necessar y . A star char t or atlas that shows stars to at least mag- nitude 5 is requir[...]

15 8. Collimation The AstroView 100 EQ telescope has objectiv e lens cell which incor porates a collimation adjustment; this helps to ensure peak optical perf or mance. Collimation is the process of aligning the telescope’ s optics. In the case of the AstroView 100 EQ, collimation entails tilting the objective lens assemb ly so that the optical a[...]

16 lenses of your e yepieces or finderscope . Ne ver use regular glass cleaner or cleaning fluid designed f or ey eglasses Bef ore cleaning with fluid and tissue, b low any loose particles off the lens with a blo wer b ulb or compressed air . Then apply some cleaning fluid to a tissue, ne ver directly on the optics. Wipe the lens gently in a circul[...]