Orion 9738 User Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Orion®

SkyView™ Pro 8 EQ

#9738 Equatorial Reflecting Telescope

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

Customer Support (800)-676-1343
E-mail: [e-mail]
Corporate Offices (831)-763-7000
89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076

OrionTelescopes.com

IN 175 Rev. C 04/09

Finder scope

Finder scope bracket

Eyepiece

Declination lock lever
(not shown)

Right ascension lock
lever (not shown)

Declination slow-motion control
knob

Safety thumbscrew

Mounting plate securing knob

Counterweight shaft

Counterweights

Counterweight lock knobs

Tube rings

Optical tube

Mirror cell

Right ascension

slow-motion

control knob

Latitude scale

Latitude adjustment L-bolts

Center support shaft

Tripod leg

Leg lock knobs

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Tripod support tray

Figure 1. The SkyView Pro 8 EQ.

Welcome to the exciting world of amateur astronomy! Your new SkyView Pro 8 EQ is designed for high-

resolution viewing of astronomical objects. With its precision optics and equatorial mount, you’ll be able
to locate and enjoy hundreds of fascinating celestial denizens, including the planets, Moon, and a variety
of deep-sky galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters.

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

Table of Contents

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

2. Parts list .........................3

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

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

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

6. Setting Up and Using the

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

7. Collimation (Aligning the Mirrors) ..... 11

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

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

10. Care and maintenance .............18

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

1. Unpacking

The entire mount will arrive in two boxes, one containing the
mount and tripod, the other containing the optical tube Be
careful unpacking the boxes. We recommend keeping the
boxes and 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 boxes and pack­aging will help ensure that your mount 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 parts are small.
If anything appears to be missing or broken, immediate­ly call Orion Customer Support (800-676-1343) or email
[e-mail] for assistance.

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.

2. Parts List

The box containing the mount will have the following parts:

1 Tripod

1 Equatorial mount

1 Tripod support tray

1 Tube ring mounting plate

1 Counterweight shaft

1 Latitude adjustment L-bolt

2 Counterweights

2 Slow-motion control knobs

1 R.A. axis rear cover

The box containing the optical tube will have the following
parts:

1 Optical tube assembly

2 Tube rings with mounting screws

1 25mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece

1 10mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece

1 Finder scope

1 Finder scope bracket with O-ring

1 Collimation cap

1 Camera adapter

1 Dust cover

3. Assembly

1. Stand the tripod legs upright and spread the legs out as far
as they will go. Keep the tripod legs at their shortest (fully
retracted) length, for now; you can extend them to a more
desirable length later, after the scope is fully assembled.

2. Place the base of the equatorial mount into the tripod
head. Orient the equatorial 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 into 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

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of the central support shaft until the three tray arms are
touching the legs of the tripod. The flat side of the acces­sory tray should be facing up. Make sure the “V” of each
tray arm is against a tripod leg. Place the washer back on
the center support shaft against the tray, and thread 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 for the tripod, and holds five 1.25" eye­pieces and two 2" eyepieces.

Azimuth
adjustment
knobs

Figure 2. Orient the equatorial mount so that the post on the
tripod head lines up with the azimuth adjustment knobs on the
equatorial mount.

5. Thread the Latitude adjustment L-bolt into the rear of the of
the equatorial mount casing as shown in place in Figure 1.

6. Thread the counterweight shaft into the equatorial mount
at the base of the declination axis until tight. Make sure the
casting at the top is threaded clockwise as far as it will go
before attaching the shaft. Once the shaft is installed, turn
the casting counter-clockwise until the top of the casting is
flush with the mount.

7. 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.

8. Attach the slow-motion control knobs to the right ascen­sion and declination gear shafts of the equatorial mount
by sliding them onto the shaft. Line up the flat on the end
of the gear shaft with thecorresponding feature in the inte­rior of the knob to attach them properly. The knobs can be
attached to either end of the shafts; use whichever end is
most convenient.

9. Attach the tube mounting rings to the tube mounting plate
using the attachment screws that are on the tube rings.
The screws should go through the holes on the outer ends

Post

of the mounting plate and rethread into the tube rings. Note
that the side of the mounting plate with the central “groove”
will be facing up. Use the small wrench to secure the tube
rings to the mounting plate.

10. Loosen the black mounting plate securing knob as well as
the metal safety thumbscrew. Place the mounting plate 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 knob until
the mounting plate is secure. Then, tighten the safety
thumbscrew. The safety thumbscrew will ensure that the
mounting plate (and telescope tube) will not fall off the EQ
mount if the mounting plate securing knob should come
loose.

11. 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.

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 thumbscrews 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 alignment 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 top
of the focuser. Lock the bracket into position by tightening the
knurled thumbscrew on the dovetail holder.

Finder scope bracket Nylon

alignment
thumbscrews

Finder scope

Tensioner

Focus lock ring

Figure 3a. The 8x40 finder scope.

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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.

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 telescope is now completely assembled and should
appear as shown in Figure 1.

1.25"
eyepiece
adapter

Focus
knobs

2" eyepiece
adapter

Focus lock
thumbscrew

Collimation
screw pair (3)

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 both 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.

5. With one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the
Dec. lock lever. The telescope should now be able to rotate
freely about the Dec. axis. Loosen the tube ring clamps 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).

6. Position the telescope in the mounting 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)

7. Retighten the tube ring 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.

Figure 4. The 2" focuser of the SkyView Pro 8 EQ.

a. b. c. d.

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5. Using Your Telescope

Focusing the Telescope

With the 25mm eyepiece inserted in the focuser, 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)

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 true for the SkyView Pro 8 EQ and
its finder scope as well.

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 thumb screw 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 thumb screw.

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 SkyView Pro 8 EQ Deluxe comes with a 8x40 achromatic
finder scope (Figure 3a). The number 8 means eight-times mag-

nification and the 40 indicates a 40mm 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 SkyView Pro 8 EQ’s finder scope uses a spring-loaded
bracket 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 bracket.

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. To aim the telescope, 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 aim the telescope.
Turn the focus knob until the object is properly focused. Make
sure to position the object in the center of the telescope’s eye­piece by turning the R.A. and Dec. slow-motion control knobs.

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
3a). Back the lock ring off by a few turns, for now. Refocus the
finder scope on a distant object by threading the objective lens
cell in or out of the finderscope body. Precise focusing will be
achieved by focusing the finder scope on a bright star. Once
the image appears sharp, retighten the locking ring behind the
objective lens cell. The finder scope’s focus should not need
to be adjusted again.

Magnification & Eyepieces

Magnification, or power, is determined by the focal length of
the telescope and the focal length of the eyepiece. Therefore,
by using eyepieces of different focal lengths, the resultant
magnification can be varied.

Magnification is calculated as follows:

Telescope Focal Length (mm)

Eyepiece Focal Length (mm)

= Magnification

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