Orion 3 EQ User Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

IN 208 Rev. B 10/02

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

Customer Support [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

Corporate Offices [phone]
P.O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061

Orion

®

SpaceProbe

™

3 EQ

#9843 Equatorial Reflector Telescope

2

Figure 1. The SpaceProbe 3 EQ.

EZ Finder II
EZ Finder II bracket

Declination slow-motion
control cable

Declination lock knob
Declination setting circle
Counterweight shaft
Counterweight
Counterweight lock knob
Right Ascension lock knob

(not shown)

Leg lock knob

Eyepiece
Focuser
Optical tube assembly

Right Ascension
setting circle

Right Ascension
slow-motion control cable

Latitude adjustment T-bolt

Tr ipod leg

Accessory tray bracket
Accessory tray

3

Table of Contents

1. Unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2. Parts List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3. Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

4. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

5. Setting up and Using the

Equatorial Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

6. Using your Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

7. Care and Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

8. Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Appendix A: Collimation

(Aligning the Mirrors) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Appendix B: Cleaning the Optics . . . . . 14

1. Unpacking

The entire telescope system will arrive in one box.Be careful
unpacking the box.We recommend keeping all original pack­aging. In the event that the telescope needs to be shipped to
another location, or returned to Orion for warranty repair, hav­ing the proper packaging will help ensure that your telescope
will survive the journey intact.

Make sure all the parts in the Part List are present. Be sure to
check the box carefully, as some par ts are small. If anything
appears to be missing or broken, immediately call Orion
Customer Support (800-676-1343) for assistance.

2. Parts List

Qty. Description

1 Optical tube assembly
1 Equatorial mount
3 Tr ipod legs with accessor y tray bracket attached
2 Slow-motion control cables
1 Counterweight
1 Counterweight shaft
1 EZ Finder II with bracket
1 Accessory tray with attachment wing screws
3 Tr ipod attachment screws with wing nuts and

washers
3 Leg lock knobs
1 25mm Explorer II eyepiece
1 10mm Explorer II eyepiece
1 Dust cover
1 Collimation cap

3. Assembly

Assembling the telescope for the first time should take about
30 minutes. You will need a Phillips head screwdriver to
assemble the telescope. All screws should be tightened
securely to eliminate flexing and wobbling, but be careful not
to over-tighten or the threads may strip. Refer to Figure 1 dur­ing the assembly process.

During assembly (and anytime, for that matter), DO NOT
touch the surfaces of the telescope mirrors or the lenses of
the finder scope or eyepiece with your fingers.The optical sur­faces have delicate coatings on them that can easily be dam­aged if touched inappropriately. NEVER remove any lens
assembly from its housing for any reason, or the product war­ranty and return policy will be voided.

1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side. Attach the tripod legs,

one at a time, to the base of the mount by sliding a tripod
leg attachment screw through the top of a leg and through
the holes in the base of the mount.The washers should be

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 enjo yment f or the
whole family.

These instructions will help you set up, properly use, and care f or your telescope.Please read them over
thoroughly before getting started.

Warning: Never look at the sun with your
telescope or its finderscope—even for an
instant—without a professionally made solar
filter that completely covers the front of the
instrument, or permanent eye damage could
result.Young children should use this telescope
only with adult supervision.

®

on the outside of the tripod legs. Secure the wing nuts fin­ger-tight.

2. Install and tighten the leg lock knobs on the bottom braces
of the tripod legs. For now, keep the legs at their shortest
(fully retracted) length; you can extend them to a more
desirable length later , after the tripod is completely assem­bled.

3. Stand the tripod and mount upr ight and spread the tripod
legs apart as far as they will go, until the bracket is taut.
Connect the accessory tray to the accessory tray bracket
with the three wing screws already installed in the tray. Do
this by pushing the wing screws up through the holes in
the accessory tray bracket and threading them into the
holes in the accessory tray.

4. Next, tighten the screws at the tops of the tripod legs, so
the legs are securely fastened to the mount. Use the
Phillips head screwdriver and your fingers to do this.

5. Or ient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 2, at a
latitude of about 40°, i.e., so the pointer next to the latitude
scale is pointing to the hash mark at “40.”T o do this , loosen
the latitude lock t-bolt, and turn the latitude adjustment t­bolt until the pointer and the “40”line up.Then retighten the
latitude lock t-bolt.The declination (Dec.) and r ight ascen­sion (R.A.) axes may need re-positioning (rotation) as well.
Be sure to loosen the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs before
doing this. Retighten the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs once
the equatorial mount is properly oriented.

6. Thread the counterweight shaft into the equatorial mount
at the base of the declination axis until tight.

7. Remove the screw and washer on the bottom of the coun­terweight shaft and slide the counterweight onto the shaft.
Make sure the counterweight lock knob is adequately loos­ened to allow the counterweight shaft to pass through the
hole.Position the counterweight about halfway up the shaft

and tighten the lock knob.Replace the screw and washer
on the end of the shaft.

8. Remove the two wingnuts from the optical tube assembly.
Place the optical tube assembly on top of the equatorial
mount and secure it with the wing nuts. Refer to Figure 1
for orientation of the tube.

9. Attach the two slow-motion cables to the R.A. and Dec.
worm gear shafts of the equatorial mount by positioning
the thumbscrew on the end of the cable over the indented
slot on the worm gear shaft and then tightening the thumb­screw. We recommend that the shorter cable be used on
the R.A. worm gear shaft and the longer cable on the Dec.
worm gear shaft.

10.Remove the two metal thumbnuts located near the focuser
at the front of the optical tube. Place the bracket of the EZ
Finder II on the tube so that the holes in the bracket slide
over the two threaded posts on the tube.The EZ Finder
should be oriented so that it appears as in Figure 1.
Thread the thumbnuts back onto the posts to secure the
EZ Finder II in place.

11. Insert the 25mm Explorer II eyepiece into the focuser
drawtube and secure it in place with the thumbscrew.

Your telescope is now fully assembled and should appear as
it does in Figure 1.

4. Getting Started

Balancing the Telescope

T o insure smooth mo vement of the telescope , it should be prop­erly balanced.This is done by positioning the counterweight on
its shaft at a point where it is balanced on the R.A.axis.

1. Keeping one hand on the optical tube, loosen the R.A.lock
knob. Make sure the declination lock knob is locked.The

Figure 2.

The equatorial mount of the SpaceProbe 3 EQ.

4

Declination lock knob
(not shown)

Declination setting circle
R.A. lock knob

Latitude lock T-bolt

R.A. setting circle

Latitude scale
Latitude adjustment T-bolt
Azimuth lock knob

telescope should now be able to rotate freely about the
R.A. axis. Rotate it until the counterweight shaft is parallel
to the ground (i.e., horizontal)

2. Now loosen the counterweight lock knob and slide the
weight along the shaft until it exactly counterbalances the
telescope (Figure 3a). That’s the point at which the shaft
remains horizontal even when you let go of the telescope
with both hands (Figure 3b).

3. Retighten the counterweight lock knob. The telescope is
now balanced in the right ascension axis.The telescope is
already balanced in the declination axis.

Now when you loosen the lock knob on one or both axes and
manually point the telescope, it should move without resist­ance and should not drift from where you point it.

Focusing the Telescope

Insert the 25mm Explorer II eyepiece into the focuser and
secure with the thumbscrew. Move the telescope so the front
(open) end is pointing in the general direction of an object at
least 1/4-mile away. Now with your fingers, slowly rotate one
of the focusing knobs until the object comes into sharp focus.
Go a little bit beyond sharp focus until the image starts to blur

again, then reverse the rotation of the knob, just to make sure
you’ve hit the exact focus point.

Do You Wear Eyeglasses?

If you wear eyeglasses, you may be able to keep them on
while you observe. In order to do this, your eyepiece must
have enough “eye relief” to allow you to see the entire field of
view with glasses on.You can try this by looking through the
eyepiece first with your glasses on and then with them off , and
see if the glasses restrict the view to only a portion of the full
field. If the glasses do restrict the field of view, you may be
able to observe with your glasses off by just refocusing the
telescope the needed amount.

If your eyes are astigmatic, images will probably appear the
best with glasses on.This is because a telescope’s focuser can
accommodate for nearsightedness or farsightedness, but not
astigmatism. If you have to wear your glasses while observing
and cannot see the entire field of view, you may want to pur­chase additional eyepieces that hav e longer eye relief.

Operating the EZ Finder II reflex finder

The EZ Finder II reflex finder (Figure 4) works by projecting a
tiny red dot onto a lens mounted in the front of the unit.When
you look through the EZ Finder II, the red dot will appear to float
in space, helping you locate even the faintest of deep space
objects.The red dot is produced by a light-emitting diode (LED),
not a laser beam, near the rear of the sight.A replaceable 3-volt
lithium battery provides the power for the diode.

To use the EZ Finder II, tur n the power knob clockwise until
you hear a “click” indicating that power has been turned on.

Figure 3. Proper operation of the equatorial mount requires

balancing the telescope tube on the R.A. axis (a). With the R.A. lock
knob released, slide the counterweight along the counterweight
shaft until it just counterbalances the tube (b).When you let go with
both hands, the tube should not drift up or down.

5

®

Figure 4. The EZ Finder II.

a.

b.

Azimuth knob

Power knob

Altitude
knob

Metal
thumbnuts

Battery
casing