User manual ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS SPACEPROBEAZ B

[. . . ] INSTRUCTION MANUAL Orion® SpaceProbeTM 3 Altaz #9883 Altazimuth Refractor 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. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 IN 207 Rev. B 10/02 EZ Finder II EZ Finder II bracket Eyepiece Focuser Altitude micro-motion control thumbwheel Yoke knob Altitude lock knob Micro-motion rod attachment post "Yoke" Azimuth lock knob Tripod leg Altitude micro-motion control rod Accessory tray Accessory tray bracket Leg lock knob Figure 1. The SpaceProbe 3 AZ. 2 ® Welcome to the exciting world of amateur astronomy! [. . . ] Whatever you choose to view, always start by inserting your lowest-power (longest focal length) eyepiece to locate and center the object. Low magnification yields a wide field of view, which shows a larger area of sky in the eyepiece. This makes acquiring and centering an object much easier. If you try to find and center objects with high power (narrow field of view), its like trying to find a needle in a haystack!Once you've centered the object in the eyepiece, you can switch to higher magnification (shorter focal length eyepiece), if you wish. This is especially recommended for small and bright objects, like planets and double stars. The Moon also takes higher magnifications well. The best rule of thumb with eyepiece selection is to start with a low power, wide-field eyepiece, and then work your way up in magnification. If the object looks better, try an even higher magnification. If the object looks worse, then back off the magnification a little by using a lower-power eyepiece. A. The Moon With its rocky surface, the Moon is one of the easiest and most interesting targets to view with your telescope. Lunar craters, marias, and even mountain ranges can all be clearly seen from a distance of 238, 000 miles away!With its everchanging phases, you'll get a new view of the Moon every night. 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 are cast on the surface, which 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. Make sure to observe the Moon when it is well above the horizon to get the sharpest images. Use an optional Moon filter 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 focuser to attach a filter). You'll find that the Moon filter improves viewing comfort, and also helps to bring out subtle features on the lunar surface. B. The Planets The planets don't stay put like the stars, so to find them you should refer to Sky Calendar at our website (telescope. com), or to charts published monthly in Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, or other astronomy magazines. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are the brightest objects in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. [. . . ] Dry the mirror in a stream of air (a "blower bulb" works great), or remove any stray drops of water with the corner of a paper towel. Dry the bottom and the edges with a towel (not the mirror surface!). Cover the mirror surface with Kleenex, and leave the entire assembly in a warm area until it is completely dry before reassembling the telescope. Out of collimation Collimated Figure 10. A star test will determine if a telescope's optics are properly collimated. [. . . ]