Orion StarBlast ii 4.5 Equatorial Review

This versatile telescope offers a wide range of features and capabilities, making it an excellent choice for both beginners and experienced stargazers. In this post, we’ll take a detailed look at the telescope’s optical design, aperture, focal length, focal ratio, user experience, pros and cons, and conclude with a final verdict.

Optical Design:

The Orion StarBlast II 4.5 EQ Reflector Telescope features a reflector optical design. This telescope uses a curved mirror to gather and focus light, producing sharp and detailed images. Reflector telescopes are known for their ability to capture bright deep-sky objects, such as galaxies and nebulae, making them a popular choice among amateur astronomers.

Aperture:

A telescope’s aperture refers to the mirror or objective lens size that gathers light. The Orion StarBlast II 4.5 EQ Reflector Telescope has an aperture of 4.5 inches, making it a great option for viewing the Moon, planets, and many bright deep-sky objects.

Focal Length:

The focal length of a telescope refers to the distance between the lens or mirror and the point where the image is formed. The Orion StarBlast II 4.5 EQ Reflector Telescope has a focal length of 500 millimetres, which is considered to be a moderate focal length. This allows for a native magnification of around 90x, providing great views of the Moon, planets, and other celestial objects.

Focal Ratio:

The focal ratio of a telescope is determined by dividing the focal length by the aperture. A lower focal ratio, such as f/4, means that the telescope can gather more light and produce brighter images. The Orion StarBlast II 4.5 EQ Reflector Telescope has a focal ratio of f/4.4, providing a great balance between aperture and focal length, allowing it to gather enough light for bright and clear images.

User Experience:

The Orion StarBlast II 4.5 EQ Reflector Telescope comes with an equatorial mount designed to track celestial objects' movement across the sky. This makes it easy to keep the telescope pointed at a specific object, even as it moves across the sky. The telescope also comes with a manual focus, allowing precise adjustments to the focus. Additionally, the telescope is equipped with a reflex finderscope, which helps with aiming the telescope at a specific object. The telescope also includes a 2x Barlow lens, which doubles the magnification of the eyepieces.

How do You Use Orion StarBlast?

Orion StarBlast is a highly popular telescope suitable for amateur and professional astronomers. It is renowned for its portability, ease of use, and high-quality images, making it an ideal choice for observing celestial objects. This blog post will take a detailed look at how to use the Orion StarBlast telescope to get the best out of it.

Set up the telescope:

The first step in using the Orion StarBlast is properly set it up. To do this, you’ll need to find a level surface to place the tripod on and then attach the telescope to the tripod using the appropriate hardware. Once the telescope is securely attached, you can adjust the tripod’s height so that the eyepiece is comfortable for observation.

Align the finder scope:

The next step is to align the finder scope. The finder scope is a small telescope mounted on the main telescope, which helps you point the main telescope in the right direction. To align the finder scope, point it at a bright star or planet and adjust it until the object is centred in the crosshairs.

Choose an object to observe:

Once the finder scope is aligned, you can choose an object to observe. A good starting point is to look for the Moon or one of the brighter planets, such as Jupiter or Venus. You can use a star chart or smartphone app to help locate the object in the sky.

Point the telescope in the right direction:

Once you have chosen an object to observe, use the finder scope to point the telescope in the right direction. You can then use the slow-motion control to make fine adjustments and center the object in the eyepiece.

Focus on the eyepiece:

The final step is to focus on the eyepiece. To do this, rotate the focus knob until the object is in sharp focus. You may need to make slight adjustments to the focus as you observe different objects, as the focus can change with different lighting conditions.

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