Orion StarMax User 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 Telescope
2
Figure 1. StarMax 102mm EQ Parts Diagram
Finder scope
Finder scope bracket
Eyepiece
Star diagonal
Eyepiece adapter
Focus knob
Latitude lock t-bolt
Latitude adjustment t-bolt
Dec. slow-motion control cable
Azimuth lock knob
Meniscus lens
1/4"-20 adapter
Dec. setting circle
R.A. setting circle
Counterweight
Counterweight lock knob
Counterweight shaft
R.A. slow-motion control cable
Accessory tray
Accessory tray bracket
Accessory tray bracket
attachment point
Leg lock knob
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1. Unpacking
The entire telescope system will arrive in one box.Be careful
unpacking the box.We recommend keeping the original shipping containers. In the event that the telescope needs to be
shipped to another location, or returned to Orion for warranty
repair, having the proper shipping containers will help ensure
that your telescope will survive the journey intact.
Make sure all the parts in the Parts List are present. Be sure
to check boxes carefully, as some parts are small. If anything
appears to be missing or broken, immediately call Orion
Customer Support (800) 676-1343 or email support@telescope.com for assistance.
2. Parts List
Qty. Description
1 Optical tube assembly
1 Optical tube dust cover
1 25mm (52x) Sirius Plössl eyepiece (1.25")
1 Mirror star diagonal
1 6x26 correct-image finder scope
1 Dovetail finder scope bracket with O-ring
1 Equatorial mount
3 Tripod legs
1 Counterweight shaft
1 Counterweight
1 Tripod accessory tray
1 Accessory tray bracket
2 Slow-motion control cables
1 1/4"-20 adapter
1 Soft carry case
3 Assembly tools (wrench, Phillips screwdriver,
flathead screwdriver key)
Welcome to a new world of adventure.Your new StarMax 102mm EQ is designed for high-resolution
observing of astronomical objects, and can also be used for terrestrial exploration. With its precision
optics and equatorial mount, you’ll be able to locate and enjoy hundreds of fascinating celestial objects,
including the planets, Moon, and a variety of deep-sky galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters.
If you have never owned a telescope before, we would like to welcome you to amateur astronomy.Take
some time to familiarize yourself with the night sky. Learn to recognize the patterns of stars in the major
constellations. With a little practice, a little patience, and a reasonably dark sky away from city lights,
you’ll find your telescope to be a never-ending source of wonder, exploration, and relaxation.
These instructions will help you set up, properly use and care for your telescope. Please read them over
thoroughly before getting started.
Table of Contents
1. Unpacking................................................................................................................................3
2. Parts List..................................................................................................................................3
3. Assembly.................................................................................................................................4
4. Getting Started ........................................................................................................................5
5. Setting Up and Using the Equatorial Mount ............................................................................7
6. Using Y our T elescope—Astronomical Observing...................................................................10
7. T errestrial Viewing..................................................................................................................13
8. Photography...........................................................................................................................13
9. Care and Maintenance ..........................................................................................................13
10. Specifications.........................................................................................................................14
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.
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3. Assembly
Assembling the telescope for the first time should take about
30 minutes. No tools are needed other than the ones provided. All bolts should be tightened securely to eliminate flexing
and wobbling, 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 surface of the telescope’s meniscus lens or the
lenses of the finder scopes 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. Lay the equatorial mount on its side.Attach the tripod legs
one at a time to the mount by sliding the bolts installed in
the tops of the tripod legs into the slots at the base of the
mount and tightening the wing nuts finger-tight. The
accessory tray bracket attachment point on each leg
should face inward.
2. Tighten the leg lock knobs on the bottom braces of the tripod legs. For now, keep the legs at their shortest (fully
retracted) length;you can extend them to a more desirab le
length later, after the telescope is completely assembled.
3. With the tripod legs now attached to the equatorial mount,
stand the tripod upright (be careful!) and spread the legs
wide enough to connect each end of the accessory tray
bracket to the attachment point on each leg. Use the
screw that comes installed in each attachment point to do
this. First remove the screw using the supplied screwdriver, then line up one of the ends of the bracket with the
attachment point and reinstall the screw. Make sure that
the accessory tray bracket is oriented so that the ribs in its
plastic molding face downward.
4. With the accessory tray bracket attached, spread the tripod legs apart as far as they will go, until the bracket is
taut. Attach the accessory tray to the accessory tray
bracket with the three wing screws already installed in the
tray. Do this by pushing the wing screws up through the
holes in the accessory tray bracket, and threading them
into the holes in the accessory tray.
5. Tighten the bolts at the tops of the tripod legs, so the legs
are securely fastened to the equatorial mount. Use the
larger wrench and your fingers to do this.
6. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 2, at a
latitude of about 40°, so the pointer next to the latitude
scale (located directly above the latitude lock t-bolt) is
pointing to the mark at “40.” To do this, loosen the latitude
lock t-bolt, and turn the latitude adjustment t-bolt until the
pointer and the “40” line up. Then retighten the latitude
lock t-bolt. The declination (Dec.) and right ascension
(R.A.) axes may need re-positioning (rotation) as well.Be
D
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C
L
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A
X
IS
Latitude scale
Latitude adjustment t-bolt
Latitude lock t-bolt
Azimuth lock knob
Dec. slow-motion control cable
Dec. setting circle
R.A. setting circle
lock thumbscrew
R.A. setting circle
R.A. slow- motion control cable
R
IG
H
T
A
S
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Figure 2a.The equatorial mount.
(“Front” view.)
Figure 2b. “Rear” view.
Dec. lock knob
R.A. lock knob
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sure to loosen the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs before doing
this. Retighten the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs once the
equatorial mount is properly oriented.
7. Slide the counterweight onto the counterweight shaft.
Make sure the counterweight lock knob is adequately
loosened to allow the counterweight shaft to pass through
the hole in the counterweight.
8. With the counterweight lock knob still loose, grip the counterweight with one hand and thread the shaft into the
equatorial mount (at the base of the declination axis) with
the other hand.When it is threaded as far in as it will go,
position the counterweight about halfway up the shaft and
tighten the counterweight lock knob.The retaining screw
and washer on the bottom of the shaft prevent the counterweight from falling off (and onto your foot!) if the
counterweight lock knob becomes loose.
9. Attach the 1/4"-20 adapter to the top of the equatorial
mount using the bolts and washers that come with the
adapter. Push the bolts, with washers attached, up
through the holes in top of the mount and thread them into
the bottom of the adapter.Tighten the bolts securely with
the supplied wrench.
10. Connect the optical tube assembly to the 1/4"-20 adapter
on the mount by threading the adapter’s shaft into the hole
in the optical tube’s mounting bloc k.Orient the optical tube
so that is parallel to the length of the adapter, as it is in
Figure 1. Tighten this connection firmly by rotating the
knurled thumb wheel on the adapter counter-clockwise.
11.Attach the two slow-motion cables to the R.A. and Dec.
worm gear shafts of the equatorial mount by positioning
the thumb screw on the end of the cable ov er the indented
slot on the worm gear shaft and then tightening the thumb
screw. We recommend that the shorter cable be used on
the R.A.worm gear shaft and the longer cable on the Dec.
worm gear shaft. The Dec. worm gear shaft and cable
should extend toward the rear of the optical tube, as is
shown in Figure 1.If it does not, you will need to rotate the
optical tube 180° on the 1/4"-20 adapter. Do this by first
loosening the adapter’s knurled thumb wheel.
12. To place the finder scope in the finder scope bracket, first
unthread the two black nylon screws 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 groove 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 that does not have the alignment screws
while pulling the chrome, spring-loaded tensioner on the
bracket with your fingers (see Figure 3).Push the finder
scope through the bracket until the O-ring seats just inside
the front opening of the bracket’s cylinder. Now, release
the tensioner and tighten the two black nylon screws a
couple of turns each to secure the finder scope in place.
The tips of the tensioner and nylon screws should seat
into the wide groove on the rear of the finder scope’ s body.
Figure 3. To install the finder scope in the finder
scope bracket, pull the spring-loaded tensioner while
inserting the eyepiece end of the finder scope into
the bracket.
13. Inser t the base of the finder scope bracket into the dovetail holder on the optical tube. Lock the bracket into
position by tightening the knurled thumb screw on the
dovetail holder.
14.Remove the cap from the eyepiece adapter on the rear of
the optical tube and insert the chrome barrel of the mirror
star diagonal. Secure the diagonal with the thumb screws
on the eyepiece adapter.
15.Insert the chrome barrel of the eyepiece into the star diagonal. Secure the eyepiece with the thumb screws on the
star diagonal.
The telescope system is now fully assembled. Keep the dust
cover ov er the front end of the telescope when it is not in use .
It is also a good idea to cover the ey epiece;use the cover cap
that came with it.
4. Getting Started
Balancing the Telescope
To insure smooth movement of the telescope on both axes of
motion (R.A. and Dec.) of the equatorial mount, it is imperative that the optical tube be properly balanced.
1. Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen
the R.A.lock knob.Make sure the Dec.lock knob 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. Loosen the counterweight lock knob and slide the counterweight along the shaft until it exactly counterbalances 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 knob.
Spring-loaded
tensioner
Eyepiece end of
finder scope
Alignment thumb screws
O-ring
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The telescope is now balanced on the R.A.axis. It is not necessary to balance the telescope on the Dec. axis, since the
optical tube’s mounting block is positioned so that the telescope will automatically be balanced on that axis. Now when
you loosen the lock knob on one or both axes of motion and
manually point the telescope, it should move without resistance and should not drift from where you point it.
Figure 4a, b. Proper operation of the equatorial mount
requires balancing the telescope tube on the R.A. axis.
(a) With the R.A. lock knob released, slide the
counterweight 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.
Focusing the Telescope
Point the telescope so the front end is aimed in the general
direction of an object at least 1/4-mile away. Now, with your
fingers, slowly rotate the focusing knob until the object comes
into sharp focus. Go a little bit beyond sharp focus until the
image starts to blur again, then reverse the rotation of the
knob, just to make sure you’ve hit the exact focus point. You
will have to readjust the focus when aiming at subjects of
varying distance, or after changing eyepieces.
If you have trouble focusing, rotate the focus knob counterclockwise as far as it will go. Now look through the eyepiece
while slowly rotating the focus knob clockwise. You should
soon see the point at which focus is reached.
Do You Wear Eyeglasses?
If you wear eyeglasses, you may be able to keep them on
while you observe. In order to do this, your eyepiece must
have enough “eye relief” to allow you to see the entire field of
view with glasses on.You can try this by looking through the
eyepiece first with your glasses on and then with them off, to
see if the glasses restrict the view to only a portion of the full
field. If the glasses do restrict the field of view, you may be
able to observe with your glasses off by refocusing the telescope the needed amount.
If your eyes are astigmatic, images will probably appear best
with glasses on. This is because a telescope’s focuser can
accommodate for nearsightedness or farsightedness, but not
astigmatism. If you have to wear your glasses while observing and cannot see the entire field of view, you may want to
purchase additional eyepieces that have longer eye relief.
Aligning the Finder Scope
The finder scope must be aligned accurately with the telescope for proper use.To align it, aim the main telescope in the
general direction of an object at least 1/4-mile away, such as
the top of a telephone pole, a chimney, etc. Do this by first
loosening the R.A.and Dec.lock knobs.Position the telescope
so the object appears in the eyepiece’s field of view and then
retighten the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs. Use the slow-motion
control cables to center the object in the eyepiece.
Now, look in the finder scope. Is the object visible? Ideally, it
will be somewhere in the finder’s field of vie w. If it is not, some
coarse adjustments of the two black nylon finder scope alignment thumb screws will be needed to get the finder scope
roughly parallel to the main tube.
Note:The image in the telescope’s eyepiece will appear
inverted from left-to-right (mirror reversed), which is normal for telescopes that utilize a star diagonal.The image
in the finder scope is oriented the same as the naked eye.
By loosening or tightening the alignment thumb screws, you
change the line of sight of the finder scope. Continue making
adjustments to the alignment thumb screws until the image in
both the finder scope and the telescope’s eyepiece is exactly
centered. Check the alignment by moving the telescope to
another object and fixing the finder scope’s crosshairs on the
exact point you want to look at.Then look through the telescope’s eyepiece to see if that point is centered in the field of
view .If it is, the job is done.If not, make the necessary adjustments until the two images match up.
The finder scope alignment needs to be checked before e v ery
observing session. This can easily be done at night, before
viewing through the telescope. Choose any bright star or
planet, center the object in the telescope eyepiece, and then
adjust the finder scope’s alignment screws until the star or
planet is also centered on the finder’s crosshairs.The finder
scope is an invaluable tool for locating objects in the night
sky;its usage for this purpose will be discussed later, in detail.
b.
a.
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