Orion Sirius EQ?G, Manual, Page: 9 / 28

9
1. Speed buttons
2. Directional buttons
3. Set button
The dual-axis hand controller is equipped with a red LED light
in each button to indicate operation. An individual button’s LED
will illuminate when the button is pressed. If a button combina-
tion is entered, all LEDs will illuminate to indicate a successful
operation.
Speed Buttons
The three buttons located near the top of the dual-axis hand
controller (
Guide , Slow , and Fast ) are used to set the slewing
and guiding speed of the mount.
Directional Buttons
The directional buttons allow complete control of the mounted
telescope’s position during slewing or tracking. The
Left and
Right
directional buttons control movements about the right
ascension (R.A.). axis. The Up and Down directional buttons
control movements about the declination (Dec.) axis.
Set Button
The
Set
button is used to set the dual-axis hand controller to
operate in either Northern or Southern hemisphere locations.
Note: The
Go
button is not used in normal operation of the
dual-axis controller.
tracking objects with the Dual‑axis Hand
controller
In order for your Sirius EQ-G mount to accurately track celes-
tial objects as they appear to migrate across the night sky,
your mount must be properly polar aligned. For more details
on polar alignment, please consult section 6 of this manual.
Once the power switch is turned on, the dual-axis controller
begins to track by rotating the R.A. axis motor at the default
(sidereal) rate. The Dec. axis motor will not rotate. As long as
the mount has been properly polar aligned, it should not be
necessary to adjust the Dec. axis for accurate tracking. If you
notice a lack of tracking precision at the default (sidereal) rate,
consult section 6 of this manual and attempt to polar align the
mount more accurately.
Tracking can be deactivated or activated at any time the Sirius
EQ-G mount is receiving power. In order to deactivate tracking,
simply press and hold the
Guide
button then press the
Slow
button on the controller. Pressing the same button combination
will reactivate tracking at the default (sidereal) rate.
There are three tracking rates used by the dual-axis controller:
Sidereal rate tracking is the default tracking rate for the Sirius
EQ-G mount. Celestial objects are tracked using this rate
which is equivalent to the rate of the Earth’s rotation.
Solar rate tracking is used to track the Sun over a long period
of time. Solar rate tracking is activated by pressing and holding
the
Slow speed button, then the Right directional button.
Warning: Never look directly at the Sun through your tele-
scope or its finder scope, even for an instant, without a
professionally made solar filter that completely covers the
front aperture of the instrument, or permanent eye dam-
age could result. Young children should use this telescope
only with adult supervision.
Lunar rate tracking is used to track the Moon at its rate of
apparent motion across the sky. Lunar rate tracking is activat-
ed by pressing and holding the
Slow button, then the Down
directional button.
Note: Solar and Lunar tracking rates can only be used when
the Sirius EQ-G has tracking activated. If tracking is deactivat-
ed, you must first activate tracking by holding the Guide button
then pressing the Slow button.
setting the slewing speed
In order to conveniently center an object in your telescope’s
finderscope or eyepiece, you can set the speed rate at which
the motors rotate the telescope when the directional buttons
are pressed. The three speed buttons located near the top of
the hand controller are used to set the slewing rates of the
mount.
The slewing speed buttons each have two different speeds
assigned to them. The slewing speed that is employed is
dependent on whether or not the dual-axis controller has track-
ing activated or deactivated (by holding the
Guide button then
pressing the
Slow
button).
With tracking activated, the Guide button will slew the Sirius
EQ-G mount at a very slow speed equals to 1.5x sidereal rate.
This speed rate will generally be used to guide a telescope
while imaging with a camera. You can also change the Guide
button speed rate to be slightly faster or slower (see “Setting
the Guiding Speed”). If tracking is deactivated, pressing the
Guide button will set the Sirius EQ-G to slew at 32x sidereal
rate; this speed is too fast for guiding during imaging.
By pressing the
Slow button with tracking activated, the Sirius
EQ-G will slew at 4x sidereal rate. With tracking deactivated,
pressing the
Slow button will set the Sirius EQ-G mount to
slew at 64x sidereal rate.
With tracking activated, the
Fast button will set the Sirius EQ-
G mount to slew at 8x sidereal rate. If tracking is not activated,
pressing the
Fast button will set the Sirius EQ-G to slew at
800x sidereal rate; this is a very fast speed that can be used to
slew the mount from object to object across the sky.
changing the Guiding speed
The dual-axis hand controller provides 4 different guiding
speed settings: 2x, 1.75x, 1.5x (default), and 1.25x sidereal
rate. If you change the guiding speed from the default setting
of 1.5x sidereal rate, the controller will guide at the chosen
speed until another guiding speed is selected.