Orion ASTROVIEW 9822 - Manual (Page 4)

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7. Remove the knurled “toe saver” retaining screw on the bot-
tom of the counterweight shaft and slide both coun ter-
weights onto the shaft. Make sure the counterweight lock
knobs are adequately loosened to allow the counterweight
shaft to pass through the hole. Position the counterweights
about halfway up the shaft and tighten the lock knobs.
Replace the toe saver on the end of the bar. The toe saver
prevents the counterweights from falling on your foot if the
lock knobs happen to come loose.
8. Attach the two slow-motion cables to the R.A. and Dec.
worm gear shafts of the equatorial mount by positioning
the small screw on the end of the cable over the indented
slot on either end of the worm gear shaft. Then tighten the
screw. We recommend using the shorter control cable for
the R.A. axis.
9. Install the polar axis finder scope into its housing inside the
R.A. axis of the equatorial mount (Figure 3). First loosen
the three thumbscrews on the housing, which is located at
the rear of the R.A. axis. Insert the front end of the polar
finder (the end without the eyeguard) into the housing so
only about 1" of the polar finder extends from the back of
the housing. Do this slowly and with a twisting motion to
prevent the internal O-ring from becoming unseated.
Should the O-ring become unseated, remove the entire
housing from the mount to locate the O-ring and reseat it
by rotating the entire housing counterclockwise. Once the
polar axis finder scope is in the housing, tighten the three
thumbscrews. These thumbscrews will be used later to
align the finder with the mount’s R.A. axis.
4. attaching a telescope
The AstroView equatorial mount is designed to hold telescope
tubes weighing up to approximately 12lbs. For heavier tele-
scopes, the mount may not provide sufficient stability for
steady imaging. Any type of telescope can be mounted on the
AstroView, including refractors, Newtonian reflectors, and cat-
adiotropics, provided a set of tube rings is available to couple
the tube to the mount. Orion sells a variety of telescope tube
rings, please visit our website at telescope.com for details. To
attach the tube rings to the mount, you will need to line up the
holes in the tube rings with the holes in the top of the mount.
Push a mounting screw up through the hole in the top of the
mount and thread it into the tube ring. Use a wrench to tighten
the screw and secure the tube ring.
5. Balancing a telescope
To ensure smooth movement of a telescope on both axes of
the equatorial mount, it is imperative that the optical tube is
properly balanced. We will first balance the telescope with
respect to the R.A. axis, then the Dec. axis.
1. Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen
the R.A. lock lever. Make sure the Dec. lock lever is locked,
for now. The telescope should now be able to rotate freely
about the R.A. axis. Rotate it until the counterweight shaft
is parallel to the ground (i.e., horizontal).
2. Now loosen both counterweight lock knobs and slide the
weights along the shaft until they exactly counterbalance
the telescope (Figure 4a) That’s the point at which the
shaft remains horizontal even when you let go with both
hands (Figure 4b).
3. Retighten the counterweight lock knobs. The telescope is
now balanced on the R.A. axis.
4. To balance the telescope on the Dec. axis, first tighten the
R.A. lock lever, with the counterweight shaft still in the hor-
izontal position.
5. With one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the
Dec. lock lever. The telescope should now be able to rotate
freely about the Dec. axis. Loosen the tube ring clamps a
few turns, until you can slide the telescope tube forward
and back inside the rings. Its often helpful to use a slight
twisting motion on the optical tube while you push or pull
on it. (Figure 4c).
Figure 2. To adjust the latitude angle of the equatorial mount,
loosen one of the two latitude adjustment T-bolts, then tighten the
other.
Figure 3. The polar axis finder scope installed in the right
ascension (R.A.) axis of the mount.
R.A. setting circle
lock thumbscrew
Pointer
R.A. setting circle
Meridian
offset scale
Polar scope
housing
Polar axis
finder scope
Date circle
Ring with
engraved time
meridian indicator
mark
Polar scope
alignment
thumbscrew (3)