3
Congratulations on your purchase of an Orion
StarBlast 4.5 Astro Reflector telescope.
If you have
never owned a telescope before, we would like to
welcome you to amateur astronomy. Take some
time to familiarize yourself with the night sky. Learn
to recognize the patterns of stars in the major con-
stellations. With a little practice, a little patience,
and a reasonably dark sky away from city lights,
you’ll find your telescope to be a never-ending
source of wonder, exploration, and relaxation.
With its high-quality parabolic reflector optics and precision-
engineered mechanics, the StarBlast 4.5 is not a toy, but rather
an immensely capable astronomical instrument. Your telescope
will arrive almost fully assembled out of the box! Only the visual
accessories need to be installed. These include the EZ Finder II
reflex sight and the eyepiece.
This compact telescope is designed for grab-and-go portability.
Whether you set it on a picnic table, the hood of your car, or on
the ground, we’re sure you and your family and friends will love
scanning the night sky for its many hidden treasures.
The following instructions will help you to get the maximum per-
formance from your new telescope, please read them thoroughly.
I. Parts List
•
Optical tube
• Base
•
20mm Bertele eyepiece, 1.25”
•
10mm Bertele eyepiece, 1.25”
•
EZ Finder II reflex sight
•
Moon filter, 1.25”
•
MoonMap 260
•
Dust cap
•
Allen wrench, 2mm
When unpacking the telescope it is suggested that you save the
internal packaging. In the unlikely event the product needs to
be returned, the shipping materials can be reused to ensure it
arrives safely at its destination. Make sure all the parts listed in
the Parts List and shown in
Figure
1
are present.
II. Anatomy of a Great
Telescope
.
Refer to
Figure 2
for this section.
1.Optical Tube
– This is the part of the StarBlast that con-
tains the mirror optics, which collect the distant starlight and
direct it to the eyepiece for magnifying, focusing and viewing.
Mirrors.
2. Tube Clamp
– Holds the optical tube and connects it to
the side panel of the base. The tube clamp knob at the top of
the clamp can be loosened to allow you to rotate the tube to a
comfortable eyepiece position.
3. Rack-and-Pinion Focuser
– The focuser holds the eye-
piece and has two focusing knobs that rotate in unison. You
turn the focus knobs to achieve the sharpest possible image.
4. EZ Finder II Reflex Sight
– A non-magnifying finder
scope that helps you aim the telescope and locate objects in
the sky for viewing. It emits a red LED “dot” that shows where
your telescope is pointed.
5. 10mm Bertele Eyepiece
– This eyepiece has a 10mm
focal length, which produces 45x magnifying power with this
telescope. The Bertele design comprises four lens elements,
which are antireflection multi-coated. The barrel is threaded to
accept Orion 1.25" filters.
6. Front Cell
– This telescope’s front cell holds the small
secondary mirror, which directs the light reflected from the pri-
mary mirror out the side of the optical tube to the focuser and
eyepiece for convenient viewing.
7. Altitude Tension Knob
– This knob couples the tube
clamp to the base’s side panel and allows the tension between
the two to be adjusted to allow smooth up/down movement of
the optical tube that is neither too stiff nor too loose.
8. Base
– The StarBlast 4.5’s compact but sturdy base pro-
vides a stable mounting for the telescope. It glides smoothly in
both the altitude (up/down) and azimuth (left/right) axes, mak-
ing it easy to manually maneuver the telescope.
9. 20mm Bertele Eyepiece
– This eyepiece has a 20mm
focal length, which produces 22.5x magnifying power with this
telescope. The Bertele design comprises four lens elements,
which are antireflection multi-coated. The barrel is threaded to
accept Orion 1.25" filters.
10. Eyepiece Rack
– This handy rack has three holes to
hold extra 1.25” eyepieces and accessories when they are not
being used. It comes pre-installed on the base.
11. Feet
– The three feet under the base provide support and
have rubber pads on the bottom that grip smooth surfaces.
12. Carry Handle
– A cutout in the side panel makes a con-
venient carrying handle for transporting the StarBlast 4.5 to
your viewing site.
13. Rear Cell
– The telescope’s rear cell holds the parabolic
primary mirror and features three collimation knobs that allow
adjustment of the mirror’s tilt. The collimation procedure – the
method for making sure the optics are precisely aligned to yield
the sharpest images is covered laer in this manual.
WARNING:
Do NOT look at the Sun without a
professionally made
solar filter
on the telescope;
serious eye damage may result if you look at the
Sun with any unfiltered optical instrument. Do
not leave the telescope unsupervised around
children. Always cover the lenses when leaving
the telescope in direct sunlight.
