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Related Manuals for ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS Atlas 8 EQ 9873
Summary of Contents for ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS Atlas 8 EQ 9873
- Page 1 INSTRUCTION MANUAL Orion ® Atlas ™ 8 EQ #9873 Equatorial Reflector Telescope Customer Support (800) 676-1343 E-mail: support@telescope.com Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000 P.O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 IN 213 Rev. B 01/03...
- Page 2 Finder scope Finder scope bracket Eyepiece Focus knob Tube rings Tube ring mounting plate Right ascension setting circle Tube ring mounting plate lock knobs (2) Declination setting circle Right ascension lock lever Declination lock lever Counterweight shaft lock lever Counterweight shaft Counterweights Mirror cell Counterweight...
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Page 3: Table Of Contents
ongratulations on your purchase of a quality Orion telescope. Your new Atlas 8 EQ is designed for high-resolution viewing of astronomical objects. With its precision optics, and its superb Atlas mount, you’ll be able to locate and enjoy hundreds of fascinating celestial denizens, including the planets, Moon, and a variety of galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters. -
Page 4: Assembly
Finder scope bracket Nylon alignment thumbscrews Finder scope Azimuth adjustment knobs Post Tensioner Figure 2. Orient the equatorial head so that the post on the tripod lines up with the azimuth adjustment knobs on the equatorial mount. Focus lock ring 3. -
Page 5: Balancing The Telescope
1.25" eyepiece 2" eyepiece adapter adapter Focus lock thumbscrew Focus Collimation knobs screw pair Figure 4. The 2" focuser of the Atlas 8 EQ. place to keep the hand controller out of the way when not in use. Place the “hooks” strip of nylon adhesive on the back of Figure 5a-d. -
Page 6: Using Your Telescope
The black nylon thumbscrew on the top of the body of the focuser (see Figure 4) will lock the focuser drawtube in place once the telescope is properly focused. Before focusing, remember to first loosen this thumbscrew. Viewing with Eyeglasses Naked-eye view If you wear eyeglasses, you may able to keep them on while you observe, if the eyepiece has enough “eye relief”... -
Page 7: Setting Up And Using The Equatorial Mount
Dec. lock lever R.A. setting circle Dec. setting circle Front opening R.A. lock lever Polar axis finder scope Latitude scale Latitude adjustment L-bolts Azimuth adjustment knobs (2) Figure 7. The Atlas EQ Mount. 3a). Back the lock ring off by a few turns, for now. Refocus the Always start with your lowest power eyepiece and work your finder scope on a distant object by threading the objective way up. - Page 8 Eyepiece Alignment Focus Objective Little Dipper focus ring setscrew (3) lock ring lens (in Ursa Minor) N.C.P. Big Dipper (in Ursa Major) Polaris Cassiopeia Figure 8. To find Polaris in the night sky, look north and find the Big Dipper. Extend an imaginary line from the two “Pointer Stars” in Figure 9.
- Page 9 Power switch Rate switch Indicator light Reverse switches Dec. R.A. pushbuttons pushbuttons Figure 10. The optical tube must be at a 90° angle to the R.A. axis in order to view through the polar axis finder. Figure 11. The Atlas EQ Mount hand controller. quick and easy.
- Page 10 hand controller to “N” if you live in the northern hemisphere, or “S” if you live in the southern hemisphere. When you flip the power switch, the power indicator light on the mount will glow Dec. setting circle red and the power indicator light on the hand controller will glow green.
- Page 11 Figure 13a-d. These illustrations show the telescope pointed in 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 has been moved on the its R.A. and Dec. axes. Confused About Pointing the Telescope? Dec.
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Page 12: Collimating
Figure 14. Collimating the optics. (a) When the mirrors are properly aligned, the view down the focuser drawtube should look like this (b) With the collimation cap in place, if the optics are out of alignment, the view might look something like this. (c) Here, the secondary mirror is centered under the focuser, but it needs to be adjusted (tilted) so that the entire primary mirror is visible. - Page 13 Figure 15. To center the secondary mirror under the focuser, hold the secondary mirror holder in place with one hand while adjusting the center bolt with a Phillips screwdriver. Do not touch the Figure 17. The three small thumbscrews that lock the primary mirror’s surface! mirror in place must first be loosened before any adjustments can be made.
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Page 14: Astronomical Observing
Out of collimation Collimated Figure 19. 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 optics are perfectly Figure 20. Megrez connects the Big Dipper’s handle to it's collimated. - Page 15 an hour or more. In the winter, storing the telescope outdoors objects will often disappear at higher magnifications, since in a shed or garage greatly reduces the amount of time need- greater magnification inherently yields dimmer images. This is ed for the optics to stabilize. It also is a good idea to keep the not the case for all deep-sky objects, however.
- Page 16 Important Note: Do not look at the Sun with any optical instrument without a professionally made solar filter, or permanent eye damage could result. Also, be sure to cover the finder scope, or better yet, remove it altogether. C. The Planets The planets don’t stay put like the stars, so to find them you should refer to Sky Calendar at our website telescope.com, or to charts published monthly in Astronomy, Sky &...
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Page 17: Astrophotography
Figure 22a. Figure 22b. Figure 22c. First remove both the 1.25" Thread the camera adapter The SkyView Pro 8 EQ with and 2" adapters as shown into the focuser drawtube 35mm SLR camera attached object, the lower its magnitude. Choose an object with a visu- (Figure 22a). -
Page 18: Care And Maintenance
era’s shutter is now ready to be opened. A remote shutter While exposing through the camera lens, you will need to release must be used or the image will be blurred beyond monitor the accuracy of the mount’s tracking by looking recognition. -
Page 19: Specifications
11. Specifications with hard silicon dioxide, which prevents the aluminum from oxidizing. These coatings normally last through many years of use before requiring re-coating (which is easily done). Primary mirror diameter: 203mm To clean the secondary mirror, first remove it from the tele- Primary mirror coating: Aluminized, SiO 2 overcoat scope. - Page 20 One-Year Limited Warranty This Orion Atlas 8 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 pur- chaser 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.
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