ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS Observer 60mm EQ 9030, 9030 Equatorial Refracting Telescope, EQ 9032 Instruction Manual

IN 107 0998

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

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INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Orion

®

Observer

™

60mm EQ

#9030 Equatorial Refracting Telescope

2

Figure 1. Obser ver 60 EQ Parts Diagram

Optical tube

Tube cradle
Finder scope
Finder scope

alignment screws

Finder scope

bracket

Eyepiece

Star diagonal

Focuser drawtube

Focus knob

Declination slow-motion control

Latitude adjustment knob

and scale (not shown)

Tripod leg bolt

Accessory tray bracket

Accessory tray

Tripod leg

Leg lock knob

Objective lens

Dew cap
Declination

lock knob
Right ascension

slow-motion control
Declination (Dec.)

setting circle

Equatorial mount
Right ascension lock

knob (not shown)
Counterweight
Counterweight shaft
Retaining washer and screw
Counterweight lock knob
Right ascension (R.A.)

setting circle
Azimuth lock knob

Rubber foot

3

1. PARTS LIST

Qty. Description
1 Optical tube assembly
1 German-type equatorial mount
2 Slow-motion control cables
2 Knobs for slow-motion cables
1 5x crosshair finder scope
1 Finder scope bracket
1 Counterweight
1 Counterweight shaft
1 20mm (45x) eyepiece (1.25")
1 90° prism star diagonal (1.25")
1 Tripod accessory tray
3 Tripod legs
3 2-1/4" tripod leg bolts with washers and wing nuts
3 Tripod leg lock knobs
3 Accessory tray screws with wing nuts and washers
1 Objective lens cap

C

ongratulations on your purchase of a quality Orion telescope

.Your new Observer 60 EQ Refractor 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 nebulas and star clusters.

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; a star wheel, or planisphere, available from Orion or your local telescope shop, will great­ly help.With a little practice, a little patience, and a reasonably dark sky away from city lights, you’ll find
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. Parts List ................................................................................................................................. 3

2. Assembly................................................................................................................................ 4

3. Balancing the Telescope ......................................................................................................... 4

4. Aligning the Finder Scope ...................................................................................................... 5

5. Setting Up and Using the Equatorial Mount .......................................................................... 5

6. Using your Telescope—Astronomical Viewing........................................................................ 6

7. Terrestrial Viewing................................................................................................................... 8

8. Care and Maintenance........................................................................................................... 9

9. Specifications.......................................................................................................................... 9

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. Be sure to also cover
the front of the finder scope with aluminum
foil or another opaque material to prevent
physical damage to the internal
components of the scope itself as well as
to your eye.Young children should use this
telescope only with adult supervision.

4

2. Assembly

Carefully open all of the boxes in the shipping container.
Make sure all the parts listed in Section 1 are present. Save
the boxes and packaging material. In the unlikely event that
you need to return the telescope, you must use the original
packaging.

Assembling the telescope should take only about 15 minutes.
Be careful not to overtighten screws and bolts or the threads
may strip.

During assembly (and anytime, for that matter), DO NOT
touch any of the lenses of the telescope, finder scope, or ey e­pieces, or the prism of the diagonal, with your fingers. The
optical surfaces hav e 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.

Note: For those that have purchased the observer 60mm
EQ after 10-31-98, please refer to the addendum on page
12 for further instructions on attaching the finder brack­et (step 11).

1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side.Attach a tripod leg to
each of the three flanges by aligning the hole in the leg
with the holes in the flange and inserting the long bolt
(with a washer next to the head) through the aligned
holes.Then put a second washer on the protruding end of
the bolt and screw on the large wing nut.(Use a flat-blade
or Phillips screwdriver on the head of the bolt while tight­ening the wing nut.) The hinged accessory tray br acket on
each leg should face inward.

2. Screw a lock bolt (with knob) into each tripod leg in the
threaded hole of the lower metal cuff. 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. Stand the tripod with the equatorial mount attached
upright, and spread the legs apart enough to attach the
accessory tray to the three hinged tray brackets on the
legs. The brackets should be positioned underneath the
tray. Use the three small accessory tray screws and wing
nuts provided. Do not tighten the wing nuts yet.

4. Now, with the accessory tray attached but not tightened,
spread the tripod legs apart as far as they will go, until the
accessory tray brackets are taut. Then tighten the wing
nuts of the accessory tray screws.

5. Next, tighten the wing nuts of the tripod leg bolts at the
base of the equatorial mount.

6. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 1, with
the latitude scale set at about a 40° angle.Tighten the lat­itude adjustment knob, the declination (Dec.) and right
ascension (R.A.) lock knobs, and the azimuth lock knob all
finger-tight.

7. Slide the counterweight on to the counterweight shaft.
Make sure the screw that holds the retaining washer at the
bottom end of the shaft is tightened.This washer will pre-

vent the counterweight from slipping off the shaft and pos­sibly onto your foot if the counterweight lock knob should
come loose! Now , with the counterweight lock knob loose,
hold the counterweight in one hand and thread the shaft
into the equatorial mount (base of declination axis) with
the other hand.When it is threaded all the way in, position
the counterweight about halfway up the shaft and tighten
the counterweight lock knob.

8. Attach the telescope optical tube to the cradle of the equa­torial head and tighten the two wing nuts. (Note that the
Dec. slow-motion shaft, where the Dec. slow-motion con­trol cable attaches, should be pointing back toward the
eyepiece end of the telescope. If it isn’t, remove the tele­scope optical tube, loosen the Dec. lock knob, and rotate
the equatorial head 180° on the Dec. axis.)

9. Attach a knob to each of the slow-motion cables by first
removing the Phillips-head screw from the cuff of the
cable.Then insert the knob over the cuff and secure it in
place with the screw.

10. Now attach the two slow-motion cables to the R.A. and
Dec. slow-motion shafts of the equatorial mount by posi­tioning the setscrew on the end of the cable over the
indented slot on the shaft, then tightening the knurled
setscrew.

11.Attach the finder scope bracket to the optical tube ov er the
two pre-installed bolts located near the focuser .The brack­et should be oriented so the larger objective lens of the
finder scope faces the same direction as the objective
lens of the main telescope. Secure the bracket in place
with the two round thumbscrews. Do not loosen the two
small hex nuts at the base of the bolts, as they keep them
from falling into the optical tube.

12. Inser t the chrome barrel of the star diagonal into the end
of the focuser drawtube and secure with the thumbscrew
on the focuser drawtube.

13.Then insert the eyepiece into the star diagonal and secure
it in place with the thumbscrew on the diagonal. (Always
loosen the thumbscrews before rotating or removing the
diagonal or an eyepiece.)

3. Balancing the Telescope

To insure smooth movement of the telescope, it is imperative
that the optical tube be properly balanced.

1. Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen
the R.A. lock knob. 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 the counterweight lock knob and slide the
weight along the shaft until it exactly counterbalances the
telescope.That’s the point at which the shaft remains hor­izontal even when you let go with both hands.

3. Retighten the counterweight lock knob.

The telescope is now balanced. Now when you loosen the
lock knobs on either or both of the axes and manually point