User manual ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS 09024

[. . . ] INSTRUCTION MANUAL Orion Skywatcher 90mm EQ ® TM #9024 Equatorial Refracting Telescope Customer Support (800) 676-1343 E-mail: support@telescope. com Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000 Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 P. O. A 0399 Piggy back camera adapter Tube mounting rings Finder scope bracket Finder scope Tube ring mounting plate Dec. slow-motion control Counterweight locking thumbscrew Counterweight Counterweight shaft Latitude locking t-bolt Azimuth adjustment knob Eyepiece Star diagonal Focus knob Dec. setting circle Latitude adjustment t-bolt Alignment screws (3) Accessory tray bracket attachment point Tripod leg lock knob Accessory tray bracket Accessory tray Figure 1. [. . . ] = Magnification 7 For example, the Skywatcher 90 EQ, which has a focal length of 910mm, used in combination with a 25mm eyepiece, yields a power of Avoid looking over buildings, pavement, or any other source of heat, as they will cause "heat wave" disturbances that will distort the image you see through the telescope. Especially important for observing faint objects is good "transparency"--air free of moisture, smoke, and dust. Transparency is judged by the magnitude of the faintest stars you can see with the unaided eye (6th magnitude or fainter is desirable). How to Find Interesting Celestial Objects To locate celestial objects with your telescope, you first need to become reasonably familiar with the night sky. Unless you know how to recognize the constellation Orion, for instance, you won't have much luck locating the Orion Nebula, unless, or course, you look up its celestial coordinates and use the telescope's setting circles. Even then, it would be good to know in advance whether that constellation will be above the horizon at the time you plan to observe. A simple planisphere, or star wheel, can be a valuable tool both for learning the constellations and for determining which ones are visible on a given night at a given time. A good star chart or atlas will come in very handy for helping find objects among the dizzying multitude of stars overhead. Except for the Moon and the brighter planets, it's pretty timeconsuming and frustrating to hunt for objects randomly, without knowing where to look. Start with a basic star atlas, one that shows stars no fainter than 5th or 6th magnitude. In addition to stars, the atlas will show the positions of a number of interesting deep-sky objects, with different symbols representing the different types of objects, such as galaxies, open star clusters, globular clusters, diffuse nebulas, and planetary nebulas. So, for example, your atlas might show a globular cluster sitting just above the lid of the "Teapot" pattern of stars in Sagittarius. You then know to point your telescope in that direction to home in on the cluster, which happens to be 6. 9-magnitude Messier 28 (M28). You can see a great number and variety of astronomical objects with your Skywatcher 90 EQ, including: The Moon With its rocky, cratered surface, the Moon is one of the easiest and most interesting targets to view with your telescope. The best time to observe our one and only natural satellite is during a partial phase, that is, when the Moon is NOT full. During partial phases, shadows on the surface reveal more detail, especially right along the border between the dark and light portions of the disk (called the "terminator"). A full Moon is too bright and devoid of surface shadows to yield a pleasing view. Try using a Moon Filter (Orion part #5662) to dim the Moon when it is very bright. It simply threads onto the bottom of the eyepieces (you must first remove the eyepiece from the star diagonal to attach the Moon filter). The Planets The planets don't stay put like the stars (they don't have fixed R. A. coordinates), so you'll have to refer to charts 910 ÷ 25 = 36x. Every telescope has a useful limit of power of about 45x-60x per inch of aperture. Claims of higher power by some telescope manufacturers are a misleading advertising gimmick and should be dismissed. [. . . ] Push the finder scope through the bracket until the O-ring seats just inside the front opening of the bracket's cylinder. Now, release the tensioner and tighten the adjustment screws a couple of turns each to secure the finder scope in place. The instructions are still valid, but to aim the finder scope, only adjustments to the two alignment screws are needed. The new finder scope bracket design also eliminates the need for knurled lock nuts on the alignment screws. [. . . ]