ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS SpaceProbe 3 EQ 9847, SpaceProbe 3 EQ 9842 Instruction Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

IN 173 Rev. A 0801

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

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P.O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061

Orion

®

SpaceProbe 3 EQ

#9847 and #9842

2

Declination
slow-motion control cable

Declination setting circle

Declination lock knob
Right Ascension

slow motion cable
Counterweight shaft
Counterweight
Counterweight lock knob
Right Ascension lock knob

Tripod leg

Accessory tray bracket

Leg lock knob

Finder scope

Finder scope bracket

Eyepiece

Focuser

Optical tube assembly

Right Ascension setting circle

Latitude adjustment

T-Bolt

Accessory tray

Accessory tray bracket

attachment point

Figure 1.

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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.

Table of Contents

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

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

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

4. Getting Started...................................................................................................................... 5

5. Setting up and Using the Equatorial Mount.......................................................................... 7

6. Using your Telescope–Astronomical Observing ................................................................... 9

7. Care and Maintenance..........................................................................................................11

8. Specifications........................................................................................................................ 12

Appendix A: Collimation (Aligning the Mirrors)........................................................................ 12

Appendix B: Cleaning the Optics............................................................................................. 14

Welcome to the exciting world of amateur astronomy!Your SpaceProbe 3 EQ is a high-quality optical

instrument designed for nighttime stargazing.With its precision optics and equatorial mount, you’ll be
able to locate and enjoy fascinating denizens of the night sky, including the planets, Moon, and a variety
of deep-sky objects. Lightweight and easy to use, this scope will provide many hours of enjoyment for
the whole family.

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

2. Parts List

1 Optical tube assembly
1 Equatorial mount
3 Tripod legs
1 Accessory tray bracket
2 Slow-motion control cables
1 Counterweight
1 Counterweight shaft
1 Finder scope
1 Finder scope bracket
1 Accessory tray with attachment wing screws
3 Tripod attachment screws with wing nuts and washers
3 Leg lock knobs
1 25mm Explorer II eyepiece
1 10mm Explorer II eyepiece
1 Dust cover
1 Collimation cap
2 Assembly tools (Philips head screwdriver,

triangular assembly tool)

1. Unpacking

The entire telescope system will arrive in one box.Be careful
unpacking the box.We recommend keeping the original ship­ping container. In the event that the telescope needs to be
shipped to another location, or returned to Orion for warranty
repair, having the proper shipping container will help ensure
that your telescope will survive the journey intact.

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

3. Assembly

Assembling the telescope for the first time should take about
30 minutes.No tools are needed other than the ones provided.
All screws 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 or the lenses of
the finder scope or eyepiece with your fingers.The optical sur­faces have 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.

1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side.Attach the tripod legs,
one at a time, to the base of the mount by sliding a tripod
leg attachment screw through the top of a leg and through
the holes in the base of the mount.The washers should be
on the outside of the tripod legs. Secure the wing nuts fin­ger-tight. Note that the accessor y tray bracket attachment
point on each leg must face inward.

2. Install and 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. With the tripod legs now attached to the mount, stand the tri­pod upright (be careful!) and spread the legs apart enough to
connect each end of the accessory tray bracket to the attach-

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ment point on each leg.Use the screw and lock nut that come
installed in each attachment point to do this.First, remove the
screw using the supplied screwdriver and triangular assem­bly tool; hold the lock nut with the triangular assembly tool
while turning the screw with the screwdriver.Then, line up one
of the ends of the bracket with the attachment point and rein­stall the screw. Make sure the end of the accessory tray
bracket is oriented so that its flat side is facing up.

4. Stand the tripod and mount upright and spread the tripod
legs apart as far as they will go, until the bracket is taut.
Connect the accessory tray to the accessory tray bracket
with the three wing screws already installed in the tray. 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.

5. 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 fingers to do this.

6. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 2, at a
latitude of about 40° i.e., so the pointer next to the latitude
scale is pointing to the mark at “40.”To do this, loosen the
latitude lock t-bolt, and turn the latitude adjustment t-bolt
until the pointer and the “40”line up.Then retighten the lat­itude lock t-bolt.The declination (Dec.) and right ascension
(R.A.) axes may need re-positioning (rotation) as well.Be
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 properly oriented.

R.A. setting circle

Latitude scale

Latitude adjustment

T-bolt

Azimuth lock knob

Declination lock knob (not shown)

Declination setting circle

R.A. lock knob

Right Ascension axis

Declination axis

Latitude
lock T-bolt

Figure 2.

5

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. Remove the two wingnuts from the threaded shafts on the
mounting plate that is on the optical tube assembly.Then
place the optical tube assembly onto the equatorial mount
so that the threaded shafts on the mounting plate go
through the holes at the top of the mount. Thread the
wingnuts back onto the threaded shafts to secure the opti­cal tube to the mount. Refer to Figure 1 for the orientation
of the tube.

10.Attach the two slow-motion 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 that the shorter cable be used on
the R.A.worm gear shaft and the longer cable on the Dec.
worm gear shaft as shown in Figure 1.

11.Place the finder scope in the finder scope bracket.Do this
by loosening the three alignment thumbscrews until the
are flush with the inside of the bracket. Then inser t the
small end (the eyepiece end) of the finder scope into the
end of the bracket that does not have the alignment
thumbscrews next to it. Bring the finder scope into the
bracket until an inch of finder scope’s tube is through the
bracket.Secure the finder scope in the finder scope brack­et by tightening the three finder scope alignment
thumbscrews evenly until it is secure.

12.Loosen and remove the two finder scope bracket securing
thumbnuts from the optical tube assembly. Place the holes
on the bottom of the finder scope bracket over the two
threaded shafts coming out of the optical tube. Replace
the thumbnuts to secure the finder scope bracket to the
optical tube. Refer to Figure 1 for the orientation of the
finder scope and finder scope bracket.

13.Insert the 25mm Explorer II eyepiece into the focuser
drawtube and secure it in place with the thumbscrew.

Your telescope is now fully assembled and should appear as
it does in Figure 1.

4. Getting Started

Balancing the Telescope

T o insure smooth mo vement of the telescope , it should be prop­erly balanced.This is done by positioning the counterweight on
its shaft at a point where it is balanced on the R.A.axis.

1. Keeping one hand on the optical tube, loosen the R.A.lock
knob. Make sure the declination lock knob is locked.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 (Figure 3a). That's the point at which the shaft
remains horizontal even when you let go of the telescope
with both hands (Figure 3b).

3. Retighten the counterweight lock knob.

The telescope is now balanced in the R.A.axis.The telescope
is already balanced in the Declination axis. 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.

Figure 3. Proper operation of the equatorial
mount requires balancing the telescope tube on
the R.A. axis. (a) With the R.A. lock knob 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 down.

a.

b.