Orion 9877 User Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

IN 215 Rev. A 11/02

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

Customer Support [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

Corporate Offices [phone]
P.O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061

Orion

®

SkyView™Pro 127mm EQ

#9877 Equatorial Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope

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Figure 1. The SkyView Pro 127mm EQ.

Declination lock lever
(opposite side)

Right Ascension lock lever
(opposite side)

Declination slow-motion
control knob

Safety thumbscrew
Mounting plate securing knob

Counterweight shaft
Counterweights

Counterweight
lock knobs

Tripod leg

Finder scope

Finder scope bracket

Eyepiece
Star diagonal
Focus knob (not shown)

Right ascension slow-motion
control knob

Right ascension axis
rear cover

Latitude scale

Latitude adjustment L-bolts
Center support shaft

Tripod support tray

Optical tube

Leg lock knobs

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Table of Contents

1. Unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2. Parts List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3. Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

4. Balancing the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

5. Using Your Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

6. Setting Up and Using the

Equatorial Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

7. Astronomical Observing . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

8. Astrophotography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

9. Care and Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

10. Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

1. Unpacking

The entire telescope will arrive in one box.Be careful unpack­ing the box.We recommend keeping the box and all original
packaging. In the event that the telescope needs to be
shipped to another location, or returned to Orion for warranty
repair, having the proper box and packaging will help ensure
that your mount will survive the journey intact.

Make sure all the parts in the Parts List are present. Be
sure to check each box carefully, as some par ts are small.
If anything appears to be missing or broken, immediately
call Orion Customer Support (800-676-1343) or email
[e-mail] for assistance.

2. Parts List

1 Tripod
1 Equatorial mount
1 Tripod support tray
1 Counterweight shaft
1 Large counterweight
1 Small counterweight
2 Slow-motion control knobs
1 Right ascension axis rear cover
1 Latitude adjustment L-bolt
1 Optical tube assembly
1 25mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece
1 10mm Sirius Plössl eyepiece
1 Star diagonal
1 Finder scope
1 Finder scope bracket with O-ring
1 Dust cover
1 Padded carrying case for optical tube

3. Assembly

Assembling the telescope for the first time should take about
30 minutes. No tools are needed other than the ones provid­ed.All screws should be tightened securely, but be careful not
to over-tighten or the threads may strip. Refer to Figure 1 dur­ing the assembly process.

During assembly (and anytime, for that matter), do not touch
the surfaces of the telescope’s front meniscus lens or the
lenses of the finder scope or eyepieces with your fingers.The
optical surfaces have delicate coatings on them that can eas­ily be damaged if touched inappropriately. Never remove any
lens assembly from its housing for any reason, or the product
warranty and return policy will be voided.

1. Stand the tripod legs upright and spread the legs out as far
as they will go.Keep the tripod legs at their shor test (fully
retracted) length, for now;you can extend them to a more
desirable length later , after the scope is fully assembled.

Congratulations on your purchase of an Orion telescope.Your new SkyView Pro 127mm EQ is designed

for, high-resolution viewing, and astrophotography of astronomical objects.With its precision optics and
sturdy equatorial mount, you’ll be able to enjoy hundreds of fascinating celestial denizens.

These instructions will help you set up, properly use, and care f or your telescope.Please read them over
thoroughly before getting started.

WARNING: Never look directly at the Sun
through your telescope or its finder scope—even
for an instant—without a professionally made
solar filter that completely covers the front of the
instrument, or permanent eye damage could
result.Young children should use this telescope
only with adult supervision.

2. Place the base of the equatorial mount into the tripod
head. Orient the equator ial mount so that the post on the
tripod head lines up between the azimuth adjustment
knobs on the equatorial mount (Figure 2).You may need
to loosen the azimuth adjustment knobs on the equatorial
mount in order to fit the mount onto the tripod head.

3. Thread the central support shaft into the equatorial mount
until tight.This will secure the equatorial mount to the tri­pod head.

4. Remove the knob and washer from the bottom of the cen­ter support shaft. Slide the tripod support tray up the bot­tom of the central support shaft until the three tray arms
are touching the legs of the tripod. The flat side of the
accessory tray should be facing up.Make sure the “V” of
each tray arm is against a tripod leg. Place the washer
back on the center support shaft against the tray, and
thread the securing knob all the way up the center support
shaft until it is tight against the tray.The tripod support tray
provides additional stability for the tripod, and holds five

1.25" eyepieces and two 2" eyepieces.

5. Thread the latitude adjustment L-bolt into the rear of the
equatorial mount as show in Figure 1.

6. Thread the counterweight shaft into the equatorial mount
at the base of the declination axis until tight.Make sure the
casting at the top of the counterweight shaft is threaded
clockwise as far as it will go before attaching the shaft.
Once the shaft is installed, turn the casting counter-clock­wise until the top of the casting is flush with the mount.

7. Remove the knurled “toe saver” retaining screw on the
bottom of the counterweight shaft and slide both counter­weights onto the shaft. Make sure the counterweight lock
knobs are adequately loosened to allow the counterweight
shaft to pass through the hole.Position the counterweights
about halfway up the shaft and tighten the lock knobs.
Replace the toe saver at the end of the bar.The toe saver

prevents the counterweights from falling on your foot if the
lock knobs happen to come loose.

8. Attach the slow-motion control knobs to the right ascen­sion and declination worm gear shafts of the equatorial
mount by sliding them onto the shaft. Line up the flat on
the end of the shaft with the corresponding feature on the
interior of the knob.The knobs can be attached to either
end of the shafts; use whichever end is most convenient.

9. Loosen the black mounting plate securing knob as well as
the metal safety thumbscrew on the top of the equatorial
mount.Place the optical tube’ s mounting plate in the dov e­tail slot so that it is positioned midway in the dovetail slot.
Tighten the mounting plate securing knob and safety
thumbscrew to secure the optical tube.

10. Place the right ascension rear axis cover on the equatori­al mount.

Figure 3a. The 6x30 finder scope.

Figure 2. Orient the equatorial mount so that the post on the

tripod head lines up between the azimuth adjustment knobs on the
equatorial mount.

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Finder scope

Finder scope bracket

Nylon
alignment
thumbscrews
(2)

Focus lock ring

Figure 3b. Pull back on the tensioner and slide the finder scope

into its bracket until the O-ring is seated in the bracket ring.

Tensioner

Post

Azimuth
adjustment
knobs

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Installing the Finder Scope

To place the finder scope (Figure 3a) in the finder scope
bracket, unthread the two black nylon thumbscrews until the
screw ends are flush with the inside diameter of the bracket.
Place the O-ring that comes on the base of the bracket over
the body of the finder scope until it seats into the slot on the
middle of the finder scope. Slide the eyepiece end (narrow
end) of the finder scope into the end of the bracket’s cylinder
opposite the adjustment screws while pulling the chrome,
spring-loaded tensioner on the bracket with your fingers
(Figure 3b). Push the finder scope through the bracket until
the O-ring seats just inside the front opening of the bracket
cylinder. Release the tensioner and tighten the two black
nylon thumbscrews a couple of turns each to secure the find­er scope in place. Inser t the base of the finder scope bracket
into the dovetail holder on the top of the focuser. Lock the
bracket into position by tightening the kn urled thumbscre w on
the dovetail holder.

Inserting the Star Diagonal and Eyepiece

Remove the dust cap from the ey epiece adapter and insert the
chrome barrel of the star diagonal into the eyepiece adapter
and secure it with the thumbscrews. Remove the dust cap
from the star diagonal and insert the 25mm Plössl eyepiece
into the star diagonal and secure it in place with the thumb­screws on the diagonal. (Always loosen the thumbscrews
before rotating or removing the diagonal or an eyepiece.)

Your telescope is now completely assembled and should
appear as shown in Figure 1.

4. Balancing the Telescope

To ensure smooth movement of the telescope on both ax es of
the equatorial mount, it is imperative that the optical tube is
properly balanced. We will first balance the telescope with
respect to the right ascension (R.A.) axis, then the declination
(Dec.) axis.

1. Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen
the R.A.lock lev er .Make sure the Dec.lock lever is locked.
The telescope should now be able to rotate freely about
the R.A.axis. Rotate it until the counterweight shaft is par­allel to the ground (i.e., horizontal)

2. Now loosen the counterweight lock knobs and slide the
weights along the shaft until they exactly counterbalance
the telescope (Figure 4a). That’s the point at which the
shaft remains horizontal even when you let go of the tele­scope with both hands (Figure 4b).

3. Retighten the counterweight lock lever.

Loosen the metal safety thumbscrew on the top of the equa­torial mount.Then with one hand on the optical tube, loosen
the mounting plate securing knob.(Figure 4c)

Slide the mounting plate along the dovetail slot until the
mounting plate is positioned midway in the dovetail slot.
Retighten the mounting plate securing knob.

Loosen the Dec. love lever and test the balance of the optical
tube by letting go with both hands.If the optical tube does not
move in either direction (Figure 4d) then the tube is balanced
in Dec. If the optical tube does move, then retighten the Dec.
lock and repeat from the step 4 above, this time sliding the
mounting plate to a new position and testing the balance
again.

When the tube is balanced in Dec., retighten the metal safety
thumbscrew. The telescope is nopw balanced in both axes.
When you loosen the lock lev er on one or both axes of motion
and manually point the telescope, it should not drift from
where you point it.

5. Using Your Telescope

Focusing the Telescope

With the 25mm eyepiece inserted in the star diagonal, move
the telescope so the front (open) end is pointing in the gener­al direction of an object at least 1/4-mile away. Now, with your
fingers, slowly rotate the focus knob until the object comes
into sharp focus. Go a little bit beyond sharp focus until the
image just starts to blur again, then reverse the rotation of the
knob, just to make sure you’ve hit the exact focus point.

NOTE:The image in the telescope will appear reversed
from left to right.This is normal for telescopes that utilize
a star diagonal.The finder scope view will be rotated 180°
(see Figure 5).

Figure 4a-d. Proper operation of the equatorial mount requires that the telescope tube be balanced on both the Right ascension and

Declination axes.(a) With the R.A. lock lever released, slide the counterweights along the counterweight shaft until it just counterbalances the
tube. (b) When you let go with both hands, the tube should not drift up or down.(c) With the Dec. lock knob released, loosen the tube ring
lock clamps a few turns ands slide the telescope forward or back in the tube rings. (d) When the tube is balanced about the Dec. axis, it will
not move when you let go.