Orion ASTROVIEW 6 EQ User Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Orion®

AstroView™ 6 EQ

#9827 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

IN 160 Rev. B 02/09

Declination slow motion
control

Declination lock lever

Counterweight shaft

Large counterweight

Finder scope

Finder scope bracket

Eyepiece

Focus knob

Tube rings

Optical tube

Small counterweight

“Toe Saver”

Counterweight lock knobs

Tripod leg

Accessory tray bracket

Accessory tray

Right ascension slow-

motion control

Right ascension lock lever

Polar axis finder (covered)

Latitude scale

Latitude adjustment

T-bolts

Leg lock knob

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Figure 1.

The AstroView 6 EQ

Welcome to the exciting world of amateur astronomy! Your new AstroView 6 EQ Reflector 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. Parts List............................. 3

2. Assembly ............................ 3

3. Using Your Telescope ................... 5

4. Setting Up and Using the Equatorial Mount . . 7

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

6. Astronomical Observing ................ 13

7. Astrophotography ..................... 16

8. Care and Maintenance ................. 17

9. Specifications ........................ 18

1. Parts List

1 Optical tube assembly

1 German type equatorial mount

1 Counterweight shaft

1 Large counterweight

1 Small counterweight

3 Tripod legs with accessory tray bracket attached

3 Leg attachment screws with wingnuts and washers

3 Leg lock knobs

1 Accessory tray with mounting hardware

2 Slow-motion control cables

1 Polar axis finder scope

1 Plastic cover for polar axis finder scope

2 Optical tube mounting rings (one with piggyback mount)

1 6x30 achromatic crosshair finder scope

1 Finder scope bracket with O-ring

1 25mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece

1 10mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece

1 Dust cap

1 Collimation cap

4 Assembly tools (2 wrenches, Phillips screwdriver, flat-head
screwdriver key)

2. Assembly

After opening the box your telescope came in, make sure all
the par ts listed in part 1 are present and familiarize yourself
with their features. Please keep the original shipping box and
interior packaging! In the unlikely event that you should need
to ship the original telescope back to Orion for warranty repair
service, you must use the original packaging.

Assembling the telescope for the first time should take about
30 minutes. No tools are needed other than the ones provid­ed. All bolts 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, the lenses of the
finder scope or eyepieces with your fingers. The optical sur­faces have delicate coatings on them that can easily be dam­aged if touched inappropriately.

1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side. Attach the tripod legs
one at a time to the mount using the leg attachment screws.
Line up the holes in the top of the leg with the holes in the
base of the mount, and insert the screw so it passes through
the leg and the mount. Tighten the wingnuts only finger-tight,
for now. The washers go between the screw’s head and the
leg, and between the wingnut and the leg.

2. Insert and tighten the leg lock knobs into the base 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 scope is completely assembled.

3. With the tripod legs now attached to the equatorial mount,
stand the tripod upright (be careful!) and spread the legs apart
as far as they will go, until the accessory tray bracket is taut.

4. Attach the accessory tray to the bracket with the three
wingnut-head screws already installed in the tray. Push the
screws up through the holes in the bracket, then thread them
into the holes in the tray.

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.

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5. Next, tighten the wingnuts at the top of the tripod legs, so
the legs are securely fastened to the equatorial mount. Use
the larger wrench and your fingers to do this.

6. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 1, at
a latitude of about 40°, i.e., so the pointer next to the lati­tude scale is pointing to the line at “40”. To do this, loosen one
of the latitude adjustment T-bolts and then tighten the other
latitude adjustment T-bolt until the pointer and the “40” line up.
The declination (Dec.) and right ascension (R.A.) axes many
need re-positioning (rotation) as well. Be sure to loosen the
RA and Dec. lock levers before doing this. Retighten them
once the equatorial mount is properly oriented.

7. Thread the counterweight shaft into the equatorial mount at
the base of the declination axis until tight. Make sure the cast­ing at the top of the bar is threaded clockwise as far as it will
go before attaching the shaft.

8. 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 so the metal pin inside the counter­weight is recessed enough 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 on the end of the bar. The toe saver prevents the
counterweights from falling on your foot if the lock knobs hap­pen to come loose.

9. Attach the two tube rings to the equatorial head 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 top of the equatorial mount and
rethread them into the bottom of the tube rings. Tighten the
screws securely with the smaller wrench. Open the tube rings
by loosening the knurled ring clamps.

10. Lay the telescope optical tube in the tube rings at about
the midpoint of the tube’s length. Rotate the tube in the rings
until the focuser is at a convenient level for you to view. Close
the rings over the tube and tighten the knurled ring clamps
finger-tight to secure the telescope in position.

11. Now attach the two slow-motion control cables to the
R.A. and Dec. worm gear shafts of the equatorial mount by
positioning the small screw on the end of the cable over the
indented slot on the worm gear shaft. Then tighten the screw.
Use the short slow-motion control for the R.A. axis, it will stick
out sideways from the mount. The longer slow-motion control
is for the Dec. axis; attach it to the Dec. worm gear shaft so
that it extends toward the front of the optical tube as shown
in Figure 1.

12. Install the polar axis finder scope into its housing inside
the R.A. axis of the equatorial mount. First loosen the three
thumbscrews on the housing, which is located at the rear of
the R.A. axis (see Figures 5 and 8). Insert the front end of the
polar finder (the end without the eyeguard) into the housing so
only about 1" of the polar finder extends from the back of the
housing. Do this slowly and with a twisting motion to prevent
the internal O-ring from becoming unseated. If it does become
unseated, you can remove the entire housing from the mount

to locate the O-ring and reseat it. This is done by rotating the
entire housing counterclockwise. Once the polar axis finder
scope is in the housing, tighten the three thumbscrews. These
thumbscrews will be used later to align the finder with the
mount’s R.A. axis.

Installing the Finder Scope

To place the finder scope in the finder scope bracket, first
unthread the two black nylon screws 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 that does not have
the adjustment screws while pulling the chrome, spring-loaded
tensioner on the bracket with your fingers (Figure 2b). Push
the finder scope through the bracket until the O-ring seats just
inside the front opening of the bracket cylinder. Now, release
the tensioner and tighten the two black nylon screws 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

Finder scope
bracket

Nylon
thumbscrews

Finder scope

Tensioner

Focusing lock ring

Figure 2a: The 6x26 Correct-Image finder scope

Figure 2b:

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

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Figure 3a Figure 3b Figure 3c Figure 3d

Figure 3a, b, c, d: Proper operation of the equatorial mount requires

that the telescope tube be balanced on both the R.A. and Dec. axes.
(a) With the R.A. lock lever 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

top of the focuser. Lock the bracket into position by tightening
the knurled thumbscrew on the dovetail slot.

Inserting the Eyepiece

Loosen the thumbscrews on the eyepiece holder and remove
the small dust cap. Then insert the 25mm eyepiece into the
focuser and secure it with the thumbscrews.

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

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 R.A. axis, then the 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 R.A. 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 3a). That’s the point at which the shaft remains
horizontal even when you let go with both hands (Figure 3b).

3. Retighten the counterweight lock knobs. The telescope is
now balanced on the R.A. axis.

4. To balance the telescope on the Dec. 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.

6. 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 3c).

7. Position the telescope in the mounting rings so it remains
horizontal when you carefully let go with both hands. This is

down. (c) With the Dec. lock lever released, loosen the tube ting
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.

the balance point for the optical tube with respect to the Dec.
axis (Figure 3d).

8. Retighten the tube ring clamps.

The telescope is now balanced on both axes. Now 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.

3. Using Your Telescope

Focusing the Telescope

You should now try to familiarize yourself with focusing the
telescope. First, insert the 25mm eyepiece in the focuser and
point the telescope in the general direction of an object at
least a 1/4 mile away. With your fingers, slowly rotate one of
the focus knobs until the object comes into sharp focus. Go
a little bit beyond sharp focus until the object star ts to blur
again, then reverse the direction 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 4)

If you have trouble focusing, rotate the focus 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.
You will have to re-adjust the focus when aiming at subjects of
varying distances, or after changing eyepieces.

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.

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Naked-eye view

View through finder scope and telescope

Figure 4. The view through a standard finder scope and reflector

telescope is rotated 180°. This is true for the AstroView 6 and its
finder scope as well.

Aligning the Finder Scope

The AstroView 6 EQ comes with a 6x30 achromatic finder
scope (Figure 2a). 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 AstroView 6 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. To help in aiming the telescope,
put your eye next to the tube and sight along the length of
the optical tube. This will give you a general idea of where
the telescope is pointing. Then retighten the R.A. and Dec.
lock levers. 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 declination slow­motion controls.

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 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 will 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
2a). 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)

Magnification = ———————————————

Eyepiece Focal Length (mm)

The AstroView 6 EQ has a focal length of 750mm, which
when used with the supplied 25mm eyepiece yields:

750mm÷25mm=30x

The magnification provided by the 10mm eyepiece is:

750mm÷10mm=75x

The maximum attainable magnification for a telescope is
directly related to how much light it can gather. The larger
the aperture, the more magnification is possible. In general a
figure of 50x per inch of aperture is the maximum attainable
for most telescopes. Your AstroView 6 EQ has an aperture of
6 inches, so the maximum magnification is about 300x. This
level of magnification assumes you have ideal conditions for
viewing.

Keep in mind that as you increase magnification, the bright­ness of the object viewed will decrease; this is an inherent
principle of the laws of physics and cannot be avoided. If mag­nification is doubled, an image appears four times dimmer.
If magnification is tripled, image brightness is reduced by a
factor of nine!

Always start with your lowest power eyepiece and work your
way up.

Start by centering the object being viewed in the 25mm eye­piece. Then, you may want to increase the magnification to
get a closer view. Before changing eyepieces, make sure the
object being viewed is centered in the eyepiece field of view.
If the object is off-center (i.e., it is near the edge of the field of
view) you will lose it when you increase magnification since
the field of view will be narrower with the higher-powered eye­piece. To change eyepieces, first loosen the thumbscrews on

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