User manual ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS EQ-1 EQUATORIAL MOUNT

[. . . ] INSTRUCTION MANUAL Orion EQ-1 Equatorial Mount ® #9011 Customer Support (800) 676-1343 E-mail: support@telescope. com Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000 Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 P. O. slow-motion control Counterweight lock knob Counterweight Counterweight shaft Tripod leg attachment bolt Latitude adjustment t-bolt Azimuth lock knob Latitude lock t-bolt Accessory tray bracket Accessory tray Leg lock knob Figure 1. EQ-1 Equatorial Mount parts diagram 2 Congratulations on your purchase of a quality Orion product. Your new EQ-1 Equatorial Mount was designed to work with many different telescope optical tubes. [. . . ] It lies within 1° of the north celestial pole (NCP), which is an extension of the Earth's rotational axis out into space. Stars in the Northern Hemisphere appear to revolve around Polaris. Figure 3d. As shown here, the telescope is out of balance (tilting). To find Polaris in the sky, look north and locate the pattern of the Big Dipper (Figure 4). The two stars at the end of the "bowl" of the Big Dipper point right to Polaris. Observers in the Southern Hemisphere aren't so fortunate to have a bright star so near the south celestial pole (SCP). The star Sigma Octantis lies about 1° from the SCP, but it is barely visible with the naked eye (magnitude 5. 5). For general visual observation, an approximate polar alignment is sufficient: 1. Level the equatorial mount by adjusting the length of the three tripod legs. Turn the latitude adjustment t-bolt and tilt the mount until the pointer on the latitude scale is set at the latitude of your observing site. If you don't know your latitude, consult a geographical atlas to find it. For example, if your latitude is 35° North, set the pointer to +35. The latitude setting should not have to be adjusted again unless you move to a different viewing location some distance away. lock thumb screw and rotate the telescope optical tube until it is parallel with the R. A. When the object is visible in the finder scope, use the slow-motion controls to center it. Now, look in the telescope with a long focal length (low magnification) eyepiece. If the finder scope is properly aligned, the object should be visible somewhere in the field of view. If it is not, you may need to realign the telescope's finder scope. Once the object is visible in the telescope's eyepiece, use the slow-motion controls to center it in the field of view. After switching eyepieces, you can use the slow-motion control cables to re-center the image, if necessary. Little Dipper (in Ursa Minor) Big Dipper (in Ursa Major) N. C. P. Polaris Cassiopeia ter Poin Stars To find Polaris in the night sky, look north and find the Big Dipper. Extend an imaginary line from the two "Pointer Stars" in the bowl of the Big Dipper. Go about 5 times the distance between those stars and you'll reach Polaris, which lies within 1° of the north celestial pole (NCP). slow-motion control cable can move the telescope a maximum of 25°. [. . . ] Note that in all these illustrations, the mount and tripod remain stationary; only the R. A. Telescope pointing west. 9 To point the telescope to the east (Figure 5c) or west (Figure 5d), or in other directions, you rotate the telescope on its R. A. Depending on the altitude of the object you want to observe, the counterweight shaft will be oriented somewhere between vertical and horizontal. The key things to remember when pointing the telescope is that a) you only move it in R. A. [. . . ]