User manual ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS SPACEPROBE130E

[. . . ] INSTRUCTION MANUAL Orion® SpaceProbe 130mm EQ #9851 Equatorial Newtonian Reflector Telescope Customer Support (800) 676-1343 E-mail: support@telescope. com Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000 Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 P. O. A 05/02 Alignment thumb screws(2) Finder scope Dovetail slot Spring-loaded tensioner Finder scope bracket Piggyback adapter Focuser Dec. slow-motion control cable Tube mounting rings Tube ring clamps Eyepiece Primary mirror cell Dec. lock knob Counterweight shaft Counterweight lock knob Counterweight R. A. [. . . ] Collimating the Optics (Aligning the Mirrors) Collimation is the process of adjusting the 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. Accurate mirror alignment is important to ensure the peak performance of your telescope, so it should be checked regularly. 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, as in figure 8a. If anything is off-center, as in figure 8b, proceed with the following collimation procedure. The Collimation Cap and Mirror Center Mark Your SpaceProbe 130 EQ comes with a collimation cap. This is a simple cap that fits on the focuser drawtube like a dust cap, but has a hole in the center and a silver bottom. In addition to providing the collimation cap, you'll notice a tiny ring (sticker) in the exact center of the primary mirror. This "center mark" allows you to achieve a very precise collimation of the primary mirror; you don't have to guess where the cen- 10 b. c. a. d. e. Figure 8. (a) When the mirrors are properly aligned, the view down the focuser drawtube should look like this. (b) With the collimation cap in place, if the optics are out of alignment, the view might look something like this. (c) Here, the secondary mirror is centered under the focuser, but it needs to be adjusted (tilted) so that the entire primary mirror is visible. (d) The secondary mirror is correctly aligned, but the primary mirror still needs adjustment. When the primary mirror is correctly aligned, the "dot" will be centered, as in (e). If the entire primary mirror reflection is not visible in the secondary mirror, as in Figure 8c, you will need to adjust the tilt of the secondary mirror. This is done by alternately loosening one of the three alignment setscrews while tightening the other two, as depicted in Figure 10. The goal is to center the primary mirror reflection in the secondary mirror, as in Figure 8d. Don't worry that the reflection of the secondary mirror (the smallest circle, with the collimation cap "dot" in the center) is off-center. Adjusting the Primary Mirror The final adjustment is made to the primary mirror. It will need adjustment if, as in Figure 8d, the secondary mirror is centered under the focuser and the reflection of the primary mirror is centered in the secondary mirror, but the small reflection of the secondary mirror (with your eye inside) is off-center. The tilt of the primary is adjusted with the three pairs of collimation screws on the back end of the optical tube (bottom of the mirror cell, see Figure 11). The collimation screws can be turned with a Phillips head screwdriver. [. . . ] If it's not, sweep the telescope carefully around the immediate vicinity until the object is found. If you have trouble finding the object, start the starhop again from the brightest star near the object you wish to view. This time, be sure the stars indicated on the star chart are in fact the stars you are centering in the eyepiece. Remember, the finder scope (and main telescope eyepiece, for that matter) 15 Figure 15. Remove the three collimation screws indicated to remove the mirror cell from the tube. Wipe the mirror under water with clean cotton balls, using extremely light pressure and stroking in straight lines across the surface. [. . . ]