12
Small components like eyepieces and other accessories
should be kept in a protective box or storage case. Keep the
caps on the front of the telescope and on the focuser draw-
tube when not in use.
Your SpaceProbe 3 EQ telescope requires very little mechan-
ical maintenance. The optical tube is steel and has a smooth
painted finish that is fairly scratch resistant. If a scratch does
appear, it will not harm the telescope. Refer to Appendix B at
the end of this manual for details of how to clean your tele-
scope’s optics.
8. Specifications
Optical tube: Steel
Primary mirror diameter: 76mm
Primary mirror coating: Aluminum with silicon dioxide (SiO2)
overcoat
Secondary mirror minor axis: 19.9mm
Focal length: 700mm
Focal ratio: f/9.2
Focuser: Rack and pinion, accepts 1.25" eyepieces
Eyepieces: 25mm and 10mm Explorer II eyepieces, 1.25"
Magnification: 28x (with 25mm) and 70x (with 10mm)
Mount: German Equatorial, EQ-1
Tripod: Aluminum
Weight: 16 lbs.
Appendix A:
Collimation - Aligning the Mirrors
Collimation is the process of adjusting the mirrors so they are
perfectly aligned with one another. Your telescope’s optics
were aligned at the factory, and should not need much adjust-
ment unless the telescope is handled roughly. Accurate mirror
alignment is important to ensure the peak performance of
your telescope, so it should be checked regularly. Collimation
is relatively easy to do and can be done in daylight.
To check collimation, remove the eyepiece and look down the
focuser drawtube. You should see the secondary mirror cen-
tered in the drawtube, as well as the reflection of the primary
mirror centered in the secondary mirror, and the reflection of
the secondary mirror (and your eye) centered in the reflection
of the primary mirror, as in Figure 8a. If anything is off-center,
proceed with the following collimation procedure.
The Collimation Cap and Mirror Center Mark
Your SpaceProbe 3 comes with a collimation cap. This is a
simple cap that fits on the focuser drawtube like a dust cap,
but has a hole in the center and a silver bottom. This helps
center your eye so that collimation is easy to perform. Figures
8b through 8e assume you have the collimation cap in place.
a.
b.
c.
e.
Figure 8. Collimating the optics. (a) When the
mirrors are properly aligned, the view down the
focuser drawtube should look like this. (b) With
the collimation cap in place, if the optics are out
of alignment, the view might look something like
this. (c) Here, the secondary mirror is centered
under the focuser, but it needs to be adjusted
(tilted) so that the entire primary mirror is
visible. (d) The secondary mirror is correctly
aligned, but the primary mirror still needs
adjustment. When the primary mirror is correctly
aligned, the “dot” will be centered, as in (e).
d.
