Orion StarBlast II 4.5 EQ, 9250 Instruction Manual
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
Orion®
StarBlast™ II 4.5 EQ
#9250 Equatorial Newtonian Reflector Telescope
Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975
All Rights Reserved. No part of this product instruction or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied,
modied or adapted, without the prior written consent of Orion Telescopes & Binoculars.
®
Copyright © 2017 Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
Customer Support:
www.OrionTelescopes.com/contactus
Corporate Offices:
89 Hangar Way, Watsonville CA 95076 – USA
IN 576 Rev. A 02/17
Declination setting circle
EZ Finder II reex sight
Eyepiece
Focuser
Tube rings
Optical tube
Right ascension setting circle
Counterweight lock knob
Counterweight
Counterweight shaft
Accessory tray
bracket
Primary mirror cell
Declination slow-motion control
Right ascension slow-motion control
Latitude adjustment T-bolt
Azimuth lock knob
Accessory tray
Leg lock knob
Figure 1a.
The StarBlast II 4.5 EQ
2
Right ascension
lock knob
Right ascension
setting circle
Latitude scale
Latitude lock T-bolt
Latitude adjustment
T-bolt
Declination lock knob
Declination
setting circle
Declination (Dec.) axis
Azimuth lock knob
Figure 1b. The StarBlast II 4.5’s equatorial mount.
Congratulations on your purchase of an Orion telescope.Your new StarBlast II 4.5 EQ is a terric starter
instrument for exploring the exotic wonders of the night sky. Designed to be compact and easy to use, it
will provide many hours of enjoyment for the whole family.
If you have never owned a telescope before, we would like to welcome you to amateur astronomy. Take
some time to familiarize yourself with the night sky. Learn to recognize the patterns of stars in the major
constellations. With a little practice, a little patience, and a reasonably dark sky away from city lights, you’ll
nd your telescope to be a never-ending source of wonder, exploration, and relaxation.
These instructions will help you set up, properly use, and care for your telescope. Please read them over
thoroughly before getting started.
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 7
6. Collimating the Optics 10
7. Astronomical Observing 11
8. Care and Maintenance 13
9. Specications 14
WARNING: Never look directly at the Sun through
your telescope—even for an instant—without a
professionally made solar lter that completely
covers the front of the instrument, or permanent eye
damage could result. Young children should use this
telescope only with adult supervision.
1. Unpacking
The entire telescope system will arrive in one box. Be careful
unpacking the box. We recommend keeping the original shipping containers. In the event that the telescope needs to be
shipped to another location, or returned to Orion for warranty
repair, having the proper shipping containers will help ensure
your telescope will survive the journey intact.
Make sure all the parts in the Parts List are present. Be sure
to check boxes carefully, as some parts 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
2 Tube mounting rings
1 Equatorial mount
1 Latitude adjustment T-bolt
2 Slow-motion control cables
3 Tripod legs connected to accessory
tray bracket
1 Tripod accessory tray
1 Counterweight shaft
1 Counterweight
1 EZ Finder II reflex sight with mounting
bracket
1 25mm Sirius Plossl eyepiece
1 10mm Sirius Plossl eyepiece
1 Collimating cap
3. Assembly
Assembling the telescope for the first time should take
about 30 minutes. All screws should be tightened securely
to eliminate exing and wobbling, but be careful not to overtighten or the threads may strip. Refer to Figures 1a. and
1b. during assembly.
During assembly (and anytime, for that matter), do not touch the
surfaces of the telescope mirrors or the lenses of the EZ Finder II
or eyepieces with your ngers; the optical surfaces have coatings
on them that can be damaged. Never remove any lens assembly from its housing for any reason, or the product warranty and
return policy will be void.
1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side. Attach the tripod legs
one at a time to the mount using the screws installed in
the tops of the tripod legs. Remove the screws, washers,
and wingnuts from the tripod legs, then line up the holes in
the tops of the tripod legs with the holes in the base of the
mount. Reinstall the screws so they pass through the legs
and the mount. Place one washer on each screw before
doing this. After the screws are though the legs and mount,
place a washer and wingnut on each screw end (Figure
2). Tighten the wingnuts only nger-tight, for now.
2. 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
Washer
Wingnut
Screw
head
Washer
Screw end
Figure 2. Attach the tripod legs to the mount with the screws that
come installed in the tops of the tripod legs. One washer should go
between the screw head and tripod leg and the other washer should
go between the wingnut and tripod leg.
3. Stand the tripod and mount upright and spread the tripod
legs apart as far as they will go, until the accessory tray
bracket is taut. Connect the accessory tray to the accessory tray bracket with the three wing screws. 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 ngers to do this.
5. Install the latitude adjustment T-bolt into the threaded hole
in the rear of the mount (Figure 3).
Threaded hole
Latitude
adjustment T-bolt
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 oriented as shown in Figure 1b.
7. Thread the counterweight shaft into the equatorial mount
at the base of the declination axis until tight.
8. 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.
9. Attach the two tube rings to the equatorial mount using
the hex head screws that come installed in the rings.
Remove the screws, then push them, with the washers
still attached, up through the holes in the tube ring mounting plate (on the top of the equatorial mount) and rethread
them into the bottom of the tube rings. Tighten the screws
securely with the included wrench. Open the tube rings by
loosening their knurled ring clamps.
10. Attach the two slow-motion control 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 the shorter cable be
used on the R.A. worm gear shaft and the longer cable on
the Dec. worm gear shaft. You can install slow-motion control cable on either end of the R.A. worm gear shaft; use
whichever end is most convenient.
11. Before installing the EZ Finder II, see “Installing the
Battery in the EZ Finder II" in Section 4. Once the battery
is installed, loosen and remove the reex sight securing
thumbnuts on the optical tube near the focuser. Place the
holes in the base of the EZ Finder’s bracket over the two
threaded shafts coming out of the optical tube. Make sure
the EZ Finder II is oriented as in Figure 1a. Replace the
thumbnuts to secure the reex sight to the optical tube.
12. Remove the cap from the focuser and insert the 25mm
eyepiece into the focuser drawtube. Secure it in place with
the thumbscrews on the end of the drawtube.
Your StarBlast II 4.5 EQ is now fully assembled and should
resemble Figure 1a. Leave the dust cover on the front of the
optical tube when it is not in use.
Figure 3. The latitude adjustment T-bolt goes into the threaded
hole in the rear of the mount.
6. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 1b. To
do this, rst loosen the latitude lock T-bolt, and turn the latitude adjustment T-bolt until the latitude scale pointer and
the “40” on the latitude scale line up. Then retighten the latitude lock T-bolt. The declination (Dec.) and right ascension
(R.A.) axes will need re-positioning (rotation) as well. Be
4
4. Getting Started
Now that the StarBlast II 4.5 is assembled, the next things to do
are to balance the telescope about its axes of motion, and to
align the reex sight with the telescope.
Balancing the Telescope
To insure smooth movement of the telescope on both axes of the
equatorial mount, it is imperative that the optical tube be properly
balanced. First balance the telescope with respect to the R.A.
axis, then the Dec. axis.
RA lock knob
Tube ring clamps
Dec. lock knob
a.
Figure 4.
R.A. lock knob released, slide the counterweight along the counterweight shaft until it just counterbalances the tube. When you let go with
both hands, the tube should not drift up or down. (b) With the Dec. lock knob released, loosen the tube ring lock clamps a few turns and
slide the telescope forward or back in the tube rings. When the tube is balanced about the Dec. axis, it will not move when you let go.
1. Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen
2. Now loosen the counterweight lock knob and slide the
3. Retighten the counterweight lock knob. The telescope is
4. To balance the telescope on the Dec. axis, rst tighten
5. With one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the
Proper usage of the equatorial mount requires the telescope tube to be balanced on both the R.A. and Dec. axes. (a) With the
object at least 1/4-mile away. Now with your ngers, slowly rotate
the R.A. lock knob. Make sure the Dec. lock knob is locked,
for now. The 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).
weight along the shaft until it exactly counterbalances the
telescope (Figure 4a). That’s the point at which the shaft
remains horizontal even when you let go of the telescope
with both hands.
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 eld of view with glasses
on. You can try this by looking through the eyepiece rst with your
now balanced on the R.A. axis.
glasses on and then with them off, and see if the glasses restrict
the view to only a portion of the full eld. If the glasses do restrict
the eld of view, you may be able to observe with your glasses
the R.A. lock knob, with the counterweight shaft still in the
horizontal position.
off by just refocusing the telescope.
If your eyes are astigmatic, however, images will probably appear
better with glasses on. This is because a telescope’s focuser can
Dec. lock knob. The telescope should now be able to rotate
freely about the Dec. axis (Figure 4b). Loosen the knurled
tube ring clamps a few turns, until you can slide the telescope tube forward and back inside the rings Using a
accommodate for nearsightedness or farsightedness, but not
astigmatism. If you have to wear your glasses while observing
and cannot see the entire eld of view, you may want to consider
purchasing special eyepieces that have extra-long eye relief.
b.
slight twisting motion on the optical tube can help move
the tube within the rings.
6. Position the telescope so it remains horizontal when you
carefully let go with both hands. This is the balance point.
Before clamping the tube rings tight again, rotate the telescope so the eyepiece is at a convenient angle for viewing. When you are actually observing with the telescope,
you can adjust the eyepiece position by loosening the tube
rings and rotating the optical tube.
7. Retighten the tube ring clamps.
The telescope is now balanced on both axes. 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
With the 25mm eyepiece in the focuser, move the telescope
Operating the EZ Finder II Reflex Sight
The EZ Finder II reex sight (Figure 5) makes pointing your
telescope almost as easy as pointing your nger! It’s a nonmagnifying aiming device that superimposes a tiny red dot on
the sky, showing exactly where the telescope is pointed.
Installing the Battery in the EZ Finder II
Before installing the EZ Finder II on the telescope, you will
need to insert the included CR2032 3V lithium button cell battery in the EZ Finder II. If there is a small plastic tab sticking
out from the battery compartment cover, you must remove it
for the battery to make contact with the EZ Finder’s electronic
circuitry. The tab can then be discarded.
1. Turn the EZ Finder II upside down as shown in Figure 6a.
2. Insert a small, at-blade screwdriver into the notch in the battery compartment cover and gently pry it off.
so the front (open) end is pointing in the general direction of an
5
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