Orion warranties against defects in materials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase for Orion brand products. This warranty is for the benefit of the original retail purchaser only. During this warranty period Orion Telescopes & Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion’s option, any warranted instrument that proves to be defective, provided it is returned postage paid to: Orion Warranty Repair, 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076. If the product is not registered, proof of purchase (such as a copy of the original invoice) is required. This warranty does not apply if, in Orion’s judgment, the instrument has been abused, mishandled, or modified, nor does it apply to normal wear and tear. This warranty gives customer’s specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights, which vary from state to state. For further warranty service information, contact: Customer Service Department, Orion Telescopes & Binoculars, 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville CA 95076; (800) 676-1343.
Some items may be covered by a warranty period shorter or longer than the standard one year warranty. Specific warranty information is available on the product detail page of the website.

Collimation is the process of adjusting the telescope’s mirrors so they are perfectly aligned with one another. Your telescope’s optics were aligned at the factory, and should not need much adjustment unless the telescope is handled roughly. 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 centered 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. If anything is off-center, proceed with the collimation procedure, as described in the telescope manual. The faster the f/ratio of your telescope, the more critical the collimation accuracy.

To calculate the magnification, or power, of a telescope with an eyepiece, simply divide the focal length of the telescope by the focal length of the eyepiece. Magnification = telescope focal length ÷ eyepiece focal length. For example, the Orion 190mm Mak-Newt Telescope, which has a focal length of 1000mm, used in combination with a 25mm eyepiece, yields a power of: 1000 ÷ 25 = 40x.
It is desirable to have a range of telescope eyepieces of different focal lengths to allow viewing over a range of magnifications. It is not uncommon for an observer to own five or more eyepieces. Orion offers many different eyepieces of varying focal lengths.
See this link to the eyepiece category on our website.
Every telescope has a theoretical limit of power of about 50x per inch of aperture (i.e. 380x for the Orion 190mm Mak-Newt). Atmospheric conditions will limit the usefullness of magnification and cause views to become blurred. The highest useful magnification of a telescope of the Orion 190mm Mak-Newt is 300x. Claims of higher power by some telescope manufacturers are a misleading advertising gimmick and should be dismissed. Keep in mind that at higher powers, an image will always be dimmer and less sharp (this is a fundamental law of optics). With every doubling of magnification you lose half the image brightness and three-fourths of the image sharpness. The steadiness of the air (the “seeing”) can also limit how much magnification an image can tolerate. Always start viewing with your lowest-power (longest focal length) eyepiece in the telescope. It’s best to begin observing with the lowest-power eyepiece, because it will typically provide the widest true field of view, which will make finding and centering objects much easier After you have located and centered an object, you can try switching to a higher-power eyepiece to ferret out more detail, if atmospheric conditions permit. If the image you see is not crisp and steady, reduce the magnification by switching to a longer focal length eyepiece. As a general rule, a small but well-resolved image will show more detail and provide a more enjoyable view than a dim and fuzzy, over-magnified image.

One of the problems with a solar filter on a telescope is that it’s a bit tricky to aim it at the sun. You can’t look through the finder to point the scope or you’ll cause injury to your eye. So, cap off or remove the finder. Also, because with the very dark filter on the front if the sun is slightly outside the field of view of the eyepiece you’ll see pitch blackness in the field. With the solar filter properly mounted, try looking at the shadow of the optical tube on the ground, move the tube until the shadow is at a minimum. You’ll be pointed at the sun, or at least close enough to find it with a little sweeping and a low-power eyepiece to bring it into view. It can be difficult, even with the shadow method. An other trick to try after you’ve got it close with the shadow if your still not having any luck getting the sun in the field...take the eyepiece out of the focuser. Then look into the focuser...you won’t see an image but when the sun gets close you’ll see a flicker of brightness coming through the mirrors. Then pop the eyepiece back in and you should have it.

Atmospheric conditions play a huge part in quality of viewing. In conditions of good “seeing”, star twinkling is minimal and objects appear steady in the eyepiece. Seeing is best over-head, worst at the horizon. Also, seeing generally gets better after midnight, when much of the heat absorbed by the Earth during the day has radiated off into space. Typically, seeing conditions will be better at sites that have an altitude over about 3000 feet. Altitude helps because it decreases the amount of distortion causing atmosphere you are looking through. A good way to judge if the seeing is good or not is to look at bright stars about 40 degrees above the horizon. If the stars appear to “twinkle”, the atmosphere is significantly distorting the incoming light, and views at high magnifications will not appear sharp. If the stars appear steady and do not twinkle, seeing conditions are probably good and higher magnifications will be possible. Also, seeing conditions are typically poor during the day. This is because the heat from the Sun warms the air and causes turbulence. Good “transparency” is especially important for observing faint objects. It simply means the air is free of moisture, smoke, and dust. These tend to scatter light, which reduces an object’s brightness. One good way to tell if conditions are good is by how many stars you can see with your naked eye. If you cannot see stars of magnitude 3.5 or dimmer then conditions are poor. Magnitude is a measure of how bright a star is, the brighter a star is, the lower its magnitude will be. A good star to remember for this is Megrez (mag. 3.4), which is the star in the “Big Dipper” connecting the handle to the “dipper”. If you cannot see Megrez, then you have fog, haze, clouds, smog, light pollution or other conditions that are hindering your viewing. Another hint: Good seeing can vary minute to minute. Watch the planets for a while to pick-up those moments of good seeing.

Any quality optical lens cleaning tissue and optical lens cleaning fluid specifically designed for multi-coated optics can be used to clean the exposed lenses of your eyepieces or finder scope. Never use regular glass cleaner or cleaning fluid designed for eyeglasses. Before cleaning with fluid and tissue, blow any loose particles off the lens with a blower bulb or compressed air. Then apply some cleaning fluid to a tissue, never directly on the optics. Wipe the lens gently in a circular motion, then remove any excess fluid with a fresh lens tissue. Oily finger-prints and smudges may be removed using this method. Use caution; rubbing too hard may scratch the lens. On larger lenses, clean only a small area at a time, using a fresh lens tissue on each area. Never reuse tissues.

Any quality optical lens cleaning tissue and optical lens cleaning fluid specifically designed for multi-coated optics can be used to clean the front meniscus lens or exposed lenses of your eyepieces or finder scope. Never use regular glass cleaner or cleaning fluid designed for eyeglasses. Before cleaning with fluid and tissue, however, blow any loose particles off the lens with a blower bulb or compressed air. Then apply some cleaning fluid to a tissue, never directly on the optics. Wipe the lens gently in a circular motion, then remove any excess fluid with a fresh lens tissue. Oily fingerprints and smudges may be removed using this method. Use caution; rubbing too hard may scratch the lens. For the large surface of the meniscus lens, clean only a small area at a time, using a fresh lens tissue on each area. Never reuse tissues.

As a general rule, telescopes should be allowed to cool down (or warm up) before they are used. If you bring optics from a warm air to cold air (or vice versa) without giving it time to reach thermal equilibrium, your telescope will give you distorted views. Allow your telescope 30 minutes to an hour to reach the temperature of the outdoors before using. When brining your telescope from cool temperatures to warm temperatures, leave any protective caps off until the telescope has warmed-up to prevent condensation. Storing your telescope in the garage or shed where the temperature is closer to the outside temperature will reduce cool down times.

Periodic Error Correction, or PEC for short, is a system that improves the track accuracy for the drive by reducing the number of the user corrections. PEC is designed to improve photographic quality by reducing the amplitude of the worm errors. Using the PEC function is a two-step process. First you guide for at least 5 ½ minutes (the time it takes the worm to make one revolution) during which the system records the corrections you make. This “teaches” the PEC chip the characteristics of the worm. The second step is to play back the corrections you made during one recording phase. Keep in mind, this feature is for the advanced astrophotographer and requires careful guiding.

By attaching a camera body to a telescope, in effect using the scope as a telephoto lens, you can take striking photographs of the Sun. Only attempt this if the telescope is equipped with the proper solar filter. Solar filters are coated to a neutral density of 5, which reduces the light about 100,000 times. Depending on the aperture and focal length of your telescope and “seeing” conditions, you will need to experiment to find the best exposure time for your equipment. We recommend starting with an ISO rating of around 400. At prime focus, start with an exposure of about 1/250 second. Experiment with different shutter speeds. When using higher magnifications, longer exposures will generally be necessary. If you are a beginner in astrophotography and need further information, there are books available that cover this subject completely. Do not be discouraged if your first attempts at solar photography are less than desired. The Sun is very difficult to photograph because of poorer “seeing” conditions caused by unavoidable heat currents associated with daytime viewing. The highest possible resolution for any land-based telescope, regardless of location, is about 1 arc second. Ideal seeing for any location will be available less than 5% of the time. It may be some consolation to consider that your results could equal those at professional observatories, as larger apertures and location have little, if any, advantage. During bad seeing conditions, it may help to “stop down” apertures over 5" with an off-axis mask.

One of the problems with a solar filter on a telescope is that it’s a bit tricky to aim it at the sun. You can’t look through the finder to point the scope or you’ll cause injury to your eye. So, cap off or remove the finder. Also, because with the very dark filter on the front if the sun is slightly outside the field of view of the eyepiece you’ll see pitch blackness in the field. With the solar filter properly mounted, try looking at the shadow of the optical tube on the ground, move the tube until the shadow is at a minimum. You’ll be pointed at the sun, or at least close enough to find it with a little sweeping and a low-power eyepiece to bring it into view. It can be difficult, even with the shadow method. An other trick to try after you’ve got it close with the shadow if your still not having any luck getting the sun in the field...take the eyepiece out of the focuser. Then look into the focuser. . . you won’t see an image but when the sun gets close you’ll see a flicker of brightness coming through the mirrors. Then pop the eyepiece back in and you should have it.