HOW TO USE AN ORION SKYQUEST XT 4.5 REFLECTOR TELESCOPE

1. Get Stellarium or another fine astronomy program
2. During the day, point the telescope at a part of the landscape about 100 yards away.
3. Use the lowest power eyepiece (highest number) in the focal tube.
4. Center the landscape object in the telescope.
5. Align the finder scope so that it points exactly where the main telescope is.
6. At night, leave the scope out to reach thermal equilibrium (about an hour for small reflectors and refractors)
7. If the scope is on a EQ mount, polar align.
8. Point the finder at the moon. The moon should be in the main scope also.
9. Practice finding the moon before you start on the planets
10. Once you are comfortable with the moon and planets, you can go for the deep sky objects

You can download a user manual here
http://www.telescope.com/Product-Support/Telescopes/Reflector-Telescopes/Orion-StarBlast-45-Equatorial-Reflector-Telescope/pc/191/c/241/sc/247/p/99441.uts?refineByCategoryId=null

Magnification is the LEAST important property of a telescope. Quality optics and aperture are much more important.

The best bang for the buck is a reflector style telescope ion a Dobsionian mount. You get the most aperture for the least amount of money. Like this one--
http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/Classic-Dobsonians/Orion-SkyQuest-XT6-Classic-Dobsonian-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/13/p/8942.uts?refineByCategoryId=13


The scope above has 6 inches of aperture and is mounted on a very stable alt az mount called a Dobsonian mount.



www.telescopeman.org
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Read these two articles-

http://texasastro.org/telescope.php

http://texasastro.org/mounts.php

A 6 inch or 8 inch Dobsonian mounted reflector is what we usually recommend for a beginner. Like this one:

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/Classic-Dobsonians/Orion-SkyQuest-XT6-Classic-Dobsonian-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/13/p/8942.uts?refineByCategoryId=13

Watch this video by Andy:
http://www.andysshotglass.com/Collimating.html

Put the eyepiece with the largest number written on it into the focuser. Go outside during the day time and practice focusing on a distant object.

Watch this video --
http://www.andysshotglass.com/Collimating.html

A star is always just a point of light no matter what magnification you use! If you are seeing a "disk" when you focus on a star you are NOT focused! Make it a tiny dot.

Why not try focusing on the moon or Mars and Saturn. You will always need to re=focus slightly when you move to another sky object.

Here is the info page on the Orion web site:
http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=intelliscopedobs/~pcategory=dobsonians/~product_id=27183

You can also call Orion Customer Service. Some eyepieces will not come to focus. Try the one with the largest number written on it.

Also your scope could be way out of collimation. Watch this video:
http://www.andysshotglass.com/Collimating.html

An Orion XT 8 DOB cannot be polar aligned??? The mount is ALT AZ ---

You would need an equatorial platform to polar align. There are no setting circles on a stock XT??

Mars is a tiny object at best, needing about 400x to view. We are now fairly well past opposition, so it is even smaller. That power would call for a 3mm eyepiece (6mm with 2x barlow is the equivalent). Try the highest power eyepiece that you have.