Orion 8 EQ User Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

IN 213 Rev. A 12/02

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

®

Atlas™8 EQ

#9873 Equatorial Reflector Telescope

2

Figure 1. The Atlas 8 EQ.

Tube ring mounting plate
Tube ring mounting plate

lock knobs (2)
Declination setting circle
Declination lock lever

Counterweight shaft lock lever
Counterweight shaft

Counterweights

Counterweight
lock knobs

“Toe Saver”

Tripod leg

Leg lock lever

Finder scope
Finder scope bracket

Eyepiece

Focus knob

Tube rings

Right ascension
setting circle

Right ascension lock lever

Mirror cell

Latitude scale
Latitude adjustment L-bolts
Center support shaft

(not shown)
Hand controller

Tripod support tray

3

Table of Contents

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

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

3. Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4. Balancing the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

5. Using Your Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

6. Setting Up and Using

the Equatorial Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

7. Collimating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

8. Astronomical Observing . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

9. Astrophotography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

10. Care and Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

11. Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

1. Unpacking

The entire telescope will arrive in three boxes, one containing
the tripod, one containing the equatorial mount, and the third
box containing the optical tube. Be careful unpacking the
boxes.We recommend keeping the boxes and original pack­aging. In the event that the telescope needs to be shipped to
another location, or returned to Orion for warranty repair, hav-

ing the proper packaging will ensure that your telescope will
survive the journey intact.

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

2. Parts List

Box #1

1 Tripod
2 Counterweights
1 Tripod support tray

Box #2

1 Equatorial mount
1 Hand controller
1 Battery pack
1 Nylon hook and loop adhesive strip

Box #3

1 Optical tube
2 Tube rings
1 Tube ring mounting plate
1 25mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece
1 10mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece
1 9x50 Finder scope
1 Finder scope bracket with O-ring
1 Collimation cap
1 Camera adapter
1 Dust cover

Congratulations 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 enjo y hundreds of f ascinating celestial deniz ens , including the planets, Moon,
and a variety of galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters.

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

WARNING: Never look directly at the Sun

through your telescope or its finder scope—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.

Figure 1b. The Atlas 8 EQ mount.

Power cord
jack

Power
indicator light

Hand
controller
jack

Right
ascension
setting circle

Right
ascension
lock lever

4

3. Assembly

Assembly should take no more than 30 minutes. Refer to
Figure 1 during assembly. Assembling the telescope requires
no tools other than the ones provided.

1. Stand the tripod legs upright and spread the legs out as far
as they will go. Make certain that the leg lock levers are
tightened. Keep the tripod legs at their shortest (fully
retracted) length, for now.

2. Place the base of the equatorial mount onto the tripod
head. Orient the equator ial mount so that the post on the
tripod head lines up with the azimuth adjustment knobs on
the equatorial mount (Figure 2).You may need to loosen
the azimuth adjustment knobs on the equatorial mount in
order to fit the mount onto the tripod head.

3. Thread the central support shaft into the equatorial mount
until tight.This will secure the equatorial mount to the tri­pod head.

4. Remove the knob and washer from the bottom of the cen­ter support shaft. Slide the tripod support tray up the bot­tom of the central support shaft until the three tray arms
are touching the legs of the tripod.The flat side of the sup­port tray should be facing up. Make sure the “V” of each
tray arm is against a tripod leg. Place the knob washer on
the center support shaft against the tray, and follow it by
threading the securing knob all the way up the center sup­port shaft until it is tight against the tray.The tripod support
tray provides additional stability f or the tripod, and holds up
to five 1.25" eyepieces and two 2" eyepieces.

5. Loosen the counterweight shaft lock lever and let the
counterweight shaft extend into its downward position.
Retighten the lock leve r.

6. Remove the knurled “toe saver”retaining screw on the bot­tom of the counterweight shaft and slide both counter­weights onto the shaft. Make sure the counterweight lock
knobs are adequately loosened to allow the counterweight
shaft to pass through the hole.Position the counterweights
about halfway up the shaft and tighten the lock knobs.
Replace the toe saver at the end of the bar.The toe saver

prevents the counterweights from falling on your foot if the
lock knobs happen to come loose.

7. Loosen and open the tube rings on the optical tube and
remove the optical tube from the tube rings. Attach the
tube rings to the mounting plate with the provided screws.
Loosen the two mounting plate securing knobs. Place the
mounting plate with the tube rings attached in the dovetail
slot on top of the equatorial mount. Position the mounting
plate so that it is centered on the dovetail slot.Re-tighten
the mounting plate securing knobs until the mounting plate
is secure. Please note that the actual tube ring mounting
plate will be shorter than the one shown in Figure 1.

8. Open the tube rings and lay the telescope optical tube in
the rings at about the midpoint of the tube’s length.Rotate
the tube so that the focuser is at a convenient height for
viewing.Close the tube rings and tighten them.

9. Inser t the plug on the end of the control cable from the
hand controller into its jack on the side of the EQ mount.

10.Inser t eight D-cell batteries into the battery pack. Or ient
the batteries as indicated on the white plastic battery hold­er.Plug the battery cord into its jack on the mount.

11.Two strips of nylon adhesive (one strip of “hooks”and one
strip of “loops”) have been provided so you can create a

Finder scope

Finder scope bracket

Nylon
alignment
thumbscrews

Focus lock ring

Figure 3a. The 6x30 finder scope.

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.

Azimuth
adjustment
knobs

Post

Figure 3b.

Pull back on
the tensioner
and slide the
finder scope
into its
bracket until
the O-ring is
seated in the
bracket ring.

5

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
the hand controller and the “loops”strip on a tripod leg or on
the mount where it will be in a conveniently reached spot.
Simply hang the hand controller by the nylon adhesive
when it is not in use. Make certain when you attach the
nylon adhesive to the mount that the hand controller’s posi­tion will not interfere with the motion of the mount.

Installing the Finder Scope

To place the finder scope (Figure 3a) in the finder scope brack­et, unthread the two black nylon thumbscrews until the screw
ends are flush with the inside diameter of the bracket. Place
the O-ring that comes on the base of the bracket over the body
of the finder scope until it seats into the slot on the middle of
the finder scope. Slide the eyepiece end (narrow end) of the
finder scope into the end of the bracket’s cylinder opposite the
alignment screws while pulling the chrome, spring-loaded ten­sioner on the bracket with your fingers (Figure 3b).Push the
finder scope through the bracket until the O-ring seats just
inside the front opening of the bracket cylinder. Release the
tensioner and tighten the two black nylon thumbscrews a cou­ple of turns each to secure the finder scope in place.Insert the
base of the finder scope bracket into the dovetail holder on the
optical tube near the focuser. Lock the bracket into position by
tightening the knurled thumbscrew on the dovetail holder.

Inserting the Eyepiece

Loosen the thumbscrew on the 1.25" adapter (Figure 4) and
remove the small dust cap.Insert the 25mm eyepiece into the
focuser and secure it with the thumbscrew.

Your Atlas 8 EQ is now fully assembled and should resemble
Figure 1. Keep the dust cover on the front of the telescope
when it is not is use.

Note about the Atlas 8 EQ Mount Weight

The Atlas 8 EQ mount is very heavy. Alone it weighs 54 lbs.
With the optical tube and counterweights it weighs almost 100
lbs. Keep this in mind when moving the telescope even small

distances, and use assistance when needed. It is best to
remove the optical tube and counterweights when moving the
mount, or extending the tripod legs.

4. Balancing the Telescope

To ensure smooth movement of the telescope on both axes of
the equatorial mount, it is imperative that the optical tube is prop­erly balanced.We will first balance the telescope with respect to
the right ascension (R.A.) axis, then the declination (Dec.) axis.

1. Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen
the R.A.lock lever.Make sure the Dec. lock lever is locked,
for now.The telescope should now be able to rotate freely
about the right ascension axis. Rotate it until the counter­weight shaft is parallel to the ground (i.e., horizontal).

2. Now loosen the counterweight lock knobs and slide the
weights along the shaft until they exactly counterbalance
the telescope (Figure 5a). That’s the point at which the
shaft remains horizontal even when you let go with both
hands (Figure 5b).

3. Retighten the counterweight lock knobs.The telescope is
now balanced on the right ascension axis.

4. To balance the telescope on the declination axis, first tight­en the R.A. lock lever, with the counterweight shaft still in
the horizontal position.

Figure 5a-d. Proper operation of the equatorial mount requires

that the telescope tube be balanced on the R.A. and Dec. axes. (a)
With the R.A. lock lever released, slide the counterweights down the
counterweight shaft until they just counterbalance the telescope
tube. (b) When you let go with both hands, the tube should not drift
up or down. (c) With the Dec. lock lever released, loosen the tube
ring lock clamps a few turns and slide the telescope forward or back
in the tube rings. (d) When the tube is balanced about the Dec. axis,
it will not move when you let go.

a. b.

c.

d.

Figure 4. The 2" focuser of the Atlas 8 EQ.

Focus lock
thumbscrew

Focus
knobs

1.25" eyepiece
adapter

2" eyepiece adapter

Collimation
screw pair
(3)

6

5. With one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the
Dec.lock lev er.The telescope should now be able to rotate
freely about the declination axis.

6. Loosen the knurled ring clamps on the tube r ings a few
turns, until you can slide the telescope tube forward and
back inside the rings (this can be aided by using a slight
twisting motion on the optical tube while you push or pull
on it) (Figure 5c).

7. Position the telescope in the tube rings so it remains hori­zontal when you carefully let go with both hands.This is
the balance point for the optical tube with respect to the
Dec. axis (Figure 5d).

8. Retighten the knurled rings clamps.

The telescope is now balanced on both axes. When you
loosen the lock lever on one or both axes and manually point
the telescope, it should move without resistance and should
not drift from where you point it.

5. Using Your Telescope

Focusing the Telescope

With the 25mm eyepiece inserted in the focuser, loosen the
R.A. and Dec. lock levers and 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 just starts to
blur again, then reverse the rotation of the knob, just to make
sure you’ve hit the exact focus point.

NOTE: The image in the telescope will appear rotated
180° (upside down and reversed left-to-right).This is nor­mal for astronomical scopes.The finder scope view will
also be rotated 180° (see Figure 6).

If you have trouble focusing, rotate the focusing knob so the
drawtube is in as far as it will go .Now look through the eyepiece
while slowly rotating the focusing knob in the opposite direction.
You should soon see the point at which focus is reached.

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

If you wear eyeglasses, you may able to keep them on while
you observe, if the eyepiece has enough “eye relief” to allow
you to see the whole field of view.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 they do, you can easily observe with your
glasses off by just re-focusing the telescope the needed
amount. If you suffer from severe astigmatism, however, you
may find images noticeably sharper with your glasses on.

Aligning the Finder Scope

The Atlas 8 EQ Deluxe comes with a 6x30 achromatic finder
scope (Figure 3a).The number 6 means six-times magnifica­tion and the 30 indicates a 30mm diameter front lens. The
finder scope makes it easier to locate the subject you want to
observe in the telescope, because the finder scope has a
much wider field-of-view.

The Atlas 8 EQ’s finder scope uses a spring-loaded brack et that
makes alignment of the finderscope very easy. As you turn
either of the thumbscrews, the spring in the bracket’s tensioner
moves in and out to keep the finder scope secure in the brac k et.

The finder scope must be aligned accurately with the tele­scope for proper use.To align it, first aim the main telescope
in the general direction of an object at least a 1/4 mile away—
the top of a telephone pole, a chimney, etc; loosen the R.A.
and Dec. lock levers and move it until it is pointing at the
desired object.Then sight along the tube to precisely aim the
telescope. Turn the focus knob until the object is properly
focused.Retighten the R.A. and Dec. lock levers.

Now look in the finder scope.Is the object visible? Ideally it will
be somewhere in the field of view. If not, some coarse adjust­ment to the finder scope bracket’s alignment thumbscrews will
be needed until the object comes into the finder scope’s field
of view.

With the image in the finder scope’s field of view, you now
need to fine-adjust the alignment thumbscrews to center the
object on the intersection of the crosshairs. Adjust the aim of
the finder scope by turning the thumbscrews, one at a time,
until the object is centered.

The finder scope alignment needs to be checked before every
observing session. This can easily be done at night, before
viewing through the telescope.Choose any bright star or plan­et, center the object in telescope eyepiece, and then adjust
the finder scope bracket’s alignment thumbscrews until the
star or planet is centered on the finder’s crosshairs.

Focusing the finder scope

If, when you look through the finder scope, the images appear
somewhat out of focus, you will need to refocus the finder
scope for your eyes. Loosen the lock ring located behind the
objective lens cell on the body of the finder scope (see Figure

Naked-eye view

View through finder scope and telescope

Figure 6. The view through a standard finder scope and reflector

telescope is rotated 180°.This is tr ue for the Atlas 8 EQ and its
finder scope as well.