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Congratulations on your purchase of an Orion StarBlast telescope. Your new StarBlast is easy to use and requires very little assembly. The StarBlast will give you breathtaking views of the Moon, planets, and even deep sky objects like the Orion Nebula. These instructions will help you set up and use your StarBlast telescope, please read them thoroughly.
StarBlast parts:
1 | 17mm Explorer II eyepiece |
| The eyepiece is the part of the telescope that you actu- |
| ally look through to see things. The focal length of the |
| eyepiece and the telescope determines the magnifying |
| power. Magnification is discussed in more detail in the |
| Using Your Telescope section. |
2 | EZ Finder II reflex sight |
| This is a special “finder” that helps you aim the tele- |
| scope and locate objects in the sky for viewing. The EZ |
| Finder II generates a red LED “dot” that shows where |
| your telescope is aimed. The use of the EZ Finder II is |
| discussed in the Getting Started section. |
3 | Optical tube |
| This is the main component of the telescope. |
| Focuser |
116mm Explorer II eyepiece
The
12Rubber feet
Three feet provide support for the StarBlast and are skid free. This allows you to place the StarBlast on smooth surfaces.
Figure 2 shows detail of the focuser
13Focus Wheels
The focus wheels are used to bring objects into focus. By turning them, you move the
14Eyepiece securing thumbscrews
These thumbscrews are used to keep the eyepiece (1) secure in the focuser (4).
4 |
This is where the eyepiece is placed, and it is where |
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Figure 2.
| you focus. Details of the focuser are shown in Figure 2. |
5 | Tube clamp |
| This clamp connects the optical tube to the wood base. |
6 | Altitude tension adjustment knob |
| By tightening or loosening this knob, you can change |
| the amount tension in the altitude (up/down) motion of |
| the telescope. |
7 | Mirror cell |
| This contains the primary mirror as well as the colli- |
| mation thumbscrews that are used to optically align the |
| primary mirror. This is explained in Appendix A: |
| Aligning the Mirrors. |
8 | Altazimuth base |
| This wooden base provides a stable mount for the tele- |
| scope. It allows you to move the telescope in altitude |
| (up/down) and azimuth (left/right). |
9 | Carrying handle |
| This convenient handle built into the base allows you to |
| easily carry the StarBlast to your viewing location. The |
| carrying handle is also a handy place to put your other |
| hand when aiming the telescope. See Using Your |
| Telescope for more details. |
10Eyepiece rack
A handy metal rack in which to store your extra eyepieces.
Details of the focuser.
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Items not shown
15Primary Mirror
The parabolic mirror at the rear of the optical tube (3) gathers incoming light and focuses it with its parabolic shape. The primary mirror has a small
16Secondary Mirror
The secondary mirror is located near the opening of the optical tube (3) and reflects the focused light from the primary mirror into the eyepiece (1).
17Collimation cap
This small cap fits in the focuser and is used to aid in aligning of the optics. This process is explained in Appendix A.
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