8
Eyepiece installation
1. Locate the Wide Angle (25mm) eyepiece and the Star
Diagonal.
2. Remove the rear Dust Cover in the Focuser and place
the Diagonal into the back of the telescope; secure with
the set screw on the side of the focuser. (
Figure 19)
3. Remove the Eyepiece Dust Covers and place the
eyepiece into the diagonal (only the correct direction fits
into the diagonal) and secure with the set screw on the
Diagonal. SAVE THE DUST COVERS FOR PROPER
STORAGE. (
Figure 20)
Your First look
1. Tighten or loosen the Altitude and Azimuth Locking Bolts
so that the telescope is easy to move by pushing on the
tube, but secure enough to keep the telescope pointed
where you aim it.
2. During the daytime, sight along the tube to a distant,
easily recognizable object and push the telescope
tube (not the tripod) towards that object. With the dust
caps removed, look through the telescope and use the
FOCUS KNOBS to move the eyepiece in-and-out until
the object comes into focus! Use the Slow Motion Control
Knobs to center the object in the field of view.
3. If the object you have chosen is at least a half mile to
a kilometer away, look through the Red Dot finder and
center the cross hair on the same part of the object you
are viewing through the telescope using the up-down
and left-right dials on the finder scope. This might best
be done at dusk when the ambient light is low, but you
can still see distant objects easily on the ground. Now,
with the finder scope aligned, you can point the wide-field
finder at brighter objects in the sky and they should be
visible in the main telescope.
4. Get used to the “feel” of operating your telescope by
practicing on objects on the ground during the day. Orion
suggests your first night time target be the first quarter
moon!
5. Go to Orion’s Community Learning Center to find out
where the planets are and where other interesting
objects in the night time sky are located and how to “star-
hop” to locate them:
http://www.telescope.com/catalog/community.jsp
6. The 10mm high power eyepiece gives higher power for
close ups of the moon and planets; use the 25mm wide
angle eyepiece to find any object on the ground and sky,
switch to high power, if needed and if the object is bright
enough (most deep sky objects are best seen with the
wide angle eyepiece).
7. The high power eyepiece will probably be needed to see
the rings of Saturn and details on Jupiter; the moon will
look spectacular! The StarBlast 90 can usefully reach
powers of about 175X with high power eyepieces (many
sizes/powers are available as options). Higher power
eyepieces are possible, but the image usually gets very
dim and somewhat fuzzy – ALL Telescopes start to give
less satisfactory images when you increase the power
above about 50x per inch of aperture.
8. Always try to observe away from city lights for the most
impressive views!
Tips For using a Telescope
For a good astronomical viewing experience, Orion always
recommends:
1. The “Golden Rule for Astronomy” – Seek out an
observing site as far from city lights as possible.
If you cannot get away from the city, go to a location away
from streetlights and other sources of nighttime light pollution.
Astronomical objects are very dim, and light pollution strongly
impacts how much you can see through
any telescope. Your
StarBlast 70 or 90 is the perfect companion to take camping!
From a “dark sky site” – a place remote from city lights where
the Milky Way is visible – there are hundreds of objects that
can be found with the StarBlast telescopes!
Even if “remote “observing is the “Golden Rule” for astronomi-
cal observing, the Orion StarBlast telescopes have quality
optics and will be able to show you objects from near or within
a city – the moon, the planets and the brighter star clusters are
within reach of this telescope. Refer to a star chart or Orion’s
online learning center to learn where to look.
Figure 19.
Figure 20.