Orion 102mm EQ manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL IN 158 Rev . A 0501 Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 Customer Support (800) 676-1343 E-mail: support@telescope.com Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000 P .O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 Orion ® StarMax 102mm EQ ™ #9824 Equatorial Maksutov-Cassegrain T elescope[...]

2 Figure 1. StarMax 102mm EQ P arts Diagram Finder scope Finder scope brac k et Eyepiece Star diagonal Eyepiece adapter F ocus knob Latitude lock t-bolt Latitude adjustment t-bolt Dec. slo w-motion control cab le Azimuth loc k knob Meniscus lens 1/4"-20 adapter Dec. setting circle R.A. setting circle Counterweight Counterweight loc k knob Coun[...]

3 1. Unpacking The entire telescope system will arrive in one bo x. Be careful unpacking the bo x. W e recommend k eeping the original ship- ping containers. In the ev ent that the telescope needs to be shipped to another location, or returned to Or ion for warr anty repair , ha ving the proper shipping containers will help ensure that your telesco[...]

4 3. Assembly Assembling the telescope f or the first time should take about 30 minutes. No tools are needed other than the ones provid- ed. All bolts should be tightened securely to eliminate flexing and wobb ling, b ut be careful not to o v er-tighten or the threads ma y strip. Refer to Figure 1 during the assemb ly process. During assembly (and [...]

5 sure to loosen the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs bef ore doing this. Retighten the R.A. and Dec. loc k knobs once the equatorial mount is proper ly oriented. 7. Slide the counterw eight onto the counterweight shaft. Make sure the counterw eight lock knob is adequately loosened to allow the counterweight shaft to pass through the hole in the counterwei[...]

6 The telescope is now balanced on the R.A. axis. It is not nec- essar y to balance the telescope on the Dec. axis, since the optical tube’ s mounting block is positioned so that the tele- scope will automatically be balanced on that axis. Now when you loosen the loc k knob on one or both ax es of motion and manually point the telescope, it shoul[...]

7 Focusing the Finder Scope If , when looking through the finder scope, the images appear somewhat out of f ocus, you will need to ref ocus the finder scope f or your e y es. Loosen the lock ring located behind the objective lens cell on the body of the finder scope (see Figure 5). Back the lock ring off by a f ew turns, for no w . Refocus the find[...]

8 The equatorial mount is now polar aligned f or casual obser v- ing. More precise polar alignment is recommended f or astrophotograph y . F rom this point on in your obser ving session, you should not make an y further adjustments in the azimuth or the latitude of the mount, nor should you mo v e the tripod. Doing so will undo the polar alignment.[...]

9 Figure 7. For Northern Hemisphere obser vers, use the lower set of number s on the R.A. setting circ le. The R.A. coordinate indicator arr ow is between the “R” and the “A” on the plastic gear cover . The telescope (not shown) is pointing north of the celestial equator , so the appro ximate coordinates of the mount in the image are R.A. 8[...]

10 Figure 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d. This illustration shows the telescope pointed in the four car dinal directions: (a) north, (b) south, (c) east, (d) west. Note that the tripod and mount have not been mo ved; only the telescope tube has been moved on the R.A. and Dec. axes. 6. Using Y our T elescope— Astr onomical Obser ving Choosing an Observing Site Wh[...]

11 an obser v er to own five or more e yepieces to access a wide range of magnifications. This allo ws the observer to choose the best ey epiece to use depending on the object being vie w ed. T o calculate the magnification, or power , of a telescope and ey epiece combination, simply divide the f ocal length of the telescope by the f ocal length of[...]

12 SA TURN The ringed planet is a breathtaking sight when it is well positioned. The tilt angle of the r ings varies ov er a per iod of many y ears; sometimes they are seen edge-on, while at other times they are broadside and look lik e giant “ears” on each side of Saturn’s disk. A steady atmosphere (good see- ing) is necessar y f or a good v[...]

13 Continue using stars as guideposts in this wa y until you are at the appro ximate position of the object you are trying to find (Figure 9). Look in the telescope’ s ey epiece, and the object should be somewhere within the field of vie w . If it’s not, s weep the telescope carefully around the immediate vicinity until the object is f ound. If[...]

10. Specifications Optical design: Maksutov-Cassegr ain Aper ture: 102mm Eff ective f ocal length: 1300mm F ocal ratio: f/12.7 Central obstruction diameter : 31mm Primar y mirror coating: Aluminum with ov ercoat Meniscus lens coating: Anti-reflection multi-coatings on both sides of lens Eyepiece adapter: Accepts 1.25" accessories, camera t-thr[...]

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16 One-Y ear Limited W arranty This Orion StarMax 102mm EQ ™ is warranted against def ects in mater ials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase. This warranty is f or the benefit of the original retail purchaser only . During this warranty period Orion T elescopes & Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion’ s o[...]

Collimating is the process of aligning a telescope’ s optics. Y our StarMax or Apex’ s pr imary mirror was aligned at the f actor y and should not need adjustment unless the telescope is handled roughly . This man ual contains inf ormation on how to test the collimation of your telescope and instructions f or proper alignment should that be nee[...]

Once you are ready to collimate , look into rear opening of the tube. If your telescope is out of collimation, it will resemble Figure 2a, a properly collimated scope will resemble Figure 2b . The direction of the misalignment in your telescope ma y diff er from Figure 2a, but the diag ram will giv e you the gen- eral idea of how things will look. [...]

If the alignment screw is a lar ge screw First, using the 3mm Allen wrench, turn t he large screw cloc k- wise a small amount, no more than a 1/4 turn. (Figure 4a) Now , with the 2mm Allen wrench tur n the two adjacent small screws (Figure 4b) countercloc kwise no more than 1/4 turn. Locate the small screw that is 180 ° opposite the first scre w ([...]