Orion 9854 Getting Started, Altitude and Azimuth Aiming the Telescope, Focusing the Telescope

5. Getting Started

Now that your Observer 60 is assembled, you’re ready to begin observing. This section will instruct you on using your telescope effectively.

Altitude and Azimuth (Aiming the Telescope)

The Observer 60 altazimuth mount permits motion along two axes: altitude (up/down) and azimuth (left/right). See Figure 5. Moving the telescope up/down and right/left is the “natural” way people aim objects and this makes pointing the telescope intui- tive and easy.

To move the telescope in the azimuth direction, loosen the azi- muth lock knob, take hold of the telescope by the “yoke”, and gently rotate the telescope to the desired position. Then re-tight- en the azimuth lock knob. To move the telescope in the altitude direction, loosen the altitude lock knob, take hold of the end of the optical tube and move the tube up or down to the desired position. Then re-tighten the altitude lock knob.

Note about the Altitude Micro-Motion Rod and Thumbwheel

Since making fine adjustments to the altitude of the telescope can be tricky, the Observer 60 comes with an altitude micro- motion rod and thumbwheel. By turning the thumbwheel, the telescope will move very slightly either up or down, depending on which direction you turn the thumbwheel. Since there is a limit to how far the thumbwheel can turn in either direction, if you need to make any large altitude movements to the telescope it is best to simply loosen the altitude lock knob and move the scope by hand.

Altitude

Azimuth

Figure 5 The Observer 60 has two axes of motion: altitude and azimuth.

Focusing the Telescope

With the 25mm Kellner eyepiece inserted into the 90° mirror star diagonal and secured with the thumbscrews, aim the optical tube so the front (open) end is pointing in the general direction of an object at least 1/4-mile away. Now, with your fingers, slowly rotate one of the focus wheels until the object comes into sharp focus. Go a little bit beyond sharp focus until the image starts to blur again, then reverse the rotation of the knob, just to make sure you’ve hit the exact focus point.

Do You Wear Eyeglasses?

If you wear eyeglasses, you may be able to keep them on while you observe. In order to do this, your eyepiece must have enough “eye relief” to allow you to see the entire field of view with glasses on. You can try looking through the eyepiece first with your glasses on and then with them off, to see if the glasses restrict the view to only a portion of the full field. If the glasses do restrict the field of view, you may be able to observe with your glasses off by just refocusing the telescope to your unaided vision.

If your eyes are astigmatic, images will probably appear best with glasses on. This is because a telescope’s focuser can accommodate for nearsightedness or far- sightedness, but not astigmatism. If you have to wear your glasses while observing and cannot see the entire field of view, you may want to purchase additional eyepieces that

have longer eye relief.

Short eye relief restricts the field of view for eyeglass wearers.

Long eye relief allows full field

of view to be seen with or without eyeglasses.

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