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INSTRUCTION MANUAL
®
Orion
™
®
SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope
#9988
Customer Support (800) 676-1343
E-mail: support@telescope.com
Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000
Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 P.O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061
IN 227 Rev. B 03/05
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Secondary mirror holder with Finder scope 4-vane spider (not visible) Finder scope bracket Eyepiece Focuser Navigation knob Optical tube Tensioning knob Right side panel Front brace Eyepiece rack Primary mirror cell Handle IntelliScope Controller Port Top baseplate modular jack Computerized Object Locator (optional) Left side panel Figure 1. The SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope 2
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Congratulations on your purchase of an Orion SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope Dobsonian. It is a high- performance astronomical instrument designed to provide dazzling views of celestial objects and unprecedented ease of use. With the addition of the optional IntelliScope Computerized Object Locator (controller), you gain the ability to locate and view thousands of celestial objects with the push of a but- ton. Searching for objects is a thing of the past, as the IntelliScope’s high-resolution digit
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1 Hex key (size 4mm) Warning: Once the rear end ring is removed from the tube, the raw edge of the tube itself will be exposed. Be 3 Plastic feet careful not to cut or otherwise hurt yourself on the tube’s 3 Feet attachment wood screws (length 1") edge. Also be careful not to pinch yourself when attach- ing the assembled mirror cell onto the tube. 5 Encoder board mounting wood screws 1 Brass bushing Next, assemble the rear end ring to the mirror cell. Find a clean, flat surface, and tur
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Figure 5. Thread the collimation thumbnuts, with nylon washers attached, through the rear end ring and onto the threaded shafts. Figure 7. Locate the area of tube that is bulging out and Make sure the thumbnuts have at least three full turns of engagement preventing the mirror cell from fully seating. on the shafts. Assembling the SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope mirror cell to the tube can be a bit tricky. This is because the large diameter and thin aluminum of the tube will cause the tube to bec
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C B L K M Encoder board D mounting screw Azimuth encoder board Figure 10. To install the azimuth encoder board, line up the large hole in the encoder board with the central hole in the top baseplate. E F encoder disk (J). Seat the bushing onto the encoder disk J so that the registration feature on the bushing goes into A the hole in the encoder disk. You may need to move the encoder disk around on the azimuth axis screw a bit in order for the bushing to seat properly. H 8. Carefully posit
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Encoder connector board Screws a. Figure 13. Attach the encoder connector board with four of the encoder board mounting screws. Installing the Vertical Stop Place the three flat washers onto the shaft of the vertical stop screw. Thread the vertical stop into the threaded insert on the inside of the front panel until tight (Figure 14). The position of the vertical stop is adjusted by adding or removing wash- ers. This is important when using the optional IntelliScope Computerized Object Lo
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Installing the CorrecTension Friction Optimization System An exciting feature of the SkyQuest IntelliScope Dobsonian is the redesigned CorrecTension (XT) system. Because of their relatively light weight, smaller Dobsonians (under 16") have always been plagued by insufficient friction on the altitude bearing surfaces. As a result, such telescopes move up and down much too freely. This causes problems when the observ- er tries to accurately center and track an object for viewing, especially
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now be known as the retaining knob. Push the shaft of the loaded tensioner on the bracket with your fingers (Figure retaining knob through the hole in the side panel opposite 19b). Push the finder scope through the bracket until the O- the one the retaining knob is in (Figure 18). Thread the ring seats just inside the front opening of the bracket. Now, knob into the altitude bearing as far as it will go. There will release the tensioner and tighten the two black nylon screws be a gap of about
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1.25" eyepiece adapter. The other eyepiece can be placed in To check collimation, remove the eyepiece and look down the the eyepiece rack until it is needed. focuser drawtube. You should see the secondary mirror cen- tered in the drawtube, as well as the reflection of the primary The basic assembly of your SkyQuest IntelliScope Dobsonian mirror centered in the secondary mirror, and the reflection of is now complete. It should appear as shown in Figure 1. The the secondary mirror (and your e
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Preparing the Telescope for Collimating If the entire primary mirror reflection is not visible in the sec- ondary mirror, as in Figure 21c, you will need to adjust the tilt Once you get the hang of collimating, you will be able to do it of the secondary mirror. This is done by alternately loosen- quickly even in the dark. ing one of the three alignment set screws while tightening the For now, it is best to collimate in daylight, preferably in a other two, as depicted in Figure 24. Do not mak
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Aligning the Primary Mirror The final adjustment is made to the primary mirror. It will need adjustment if, as in Figure 21d, the secondary mirror is cen- tered 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 the “dot” of the collimation cap) is off-center. The tilt of the primary mirror is adjusted with the three large spring-loaded collimation knobs on the back end of the opti- cal tube
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4. Using Your Telescope One of the great benefits of the SkyQuest XT IntelliScope Dobsonian is its ability to point to more than 14,000 celes- tial objects, when used with the optional IntelliScope F i g u re 2 8 . Computerized Object Locator (controller). Use of the control- T h e S k y Q u e s t ler is completely optional, and your telescope will function Intelliscope has two perfectly well without it. However, the controller will greatly axes of motion; alti- enhance your observing exp
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If you have trouble focusing, rotate the focusing knob so the drawtube is in as far as it will go. Now look through the eyepiece while slowly rotating the focusing knob in the opposite direction. You should soon see the point at which focus is reached. The thumb screw on the top of the body of the focuser (Figure 20) will lock the focuser drawtube in place once the telescope is properly focused. Before focusing, remember to first loosen this thumb screw. Do not loosen the thumb screw too m
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Aiming/Pointing the Telescope Of course, such magnification will only yield reasonable imag- es if atmospheric conditions are favorable. With the finder scope aligned, the telescope can be quickly and accurately pointed at anything you wish to observe. The More typically, useful magnifications will be limited to 200x finder scope has a much wider field of view than the tele- or less, regardless of aperture. This is because the Earth’s scope’s eyepiece, and therefore it is much easier to find
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the retaining and tensioning knobs until they are free of the base and tube (make certain the spacer does not fall off the retaining knob). Then, using both hands, carefully lift the tube off the base. The tube is somewhat heavy, so don’t hesitate 1.9 to have a friend help lift the tube, if necessary. Do not use the navigation knob as a carry handle! It is not designed to sup- port the weight of the telescope tube and could break off or 4.9 damage the tube. 2.4 2.4 3.4 1.7 When putting the
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your eyes become dark-adapted, more stars will glimmer into A. The Moon view and you will be able to see fainter details in objects you With is rocky and cratered surface, the Moon is one of the view in your telescope. Exposing your eyes to very bright day- most interesting and easy subjects to view with your tele- light for extended periods of time can adversely affect your scope. The best time to view it is during its partial phases night vision for days. So give yourself at least a little
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the sky, excluding the Sun and the Moon. It is so bright that Certain photograph aids, such as the Orion SteadyPix, can sometimes it is visible to the naked eye during full daylight! help in taking photos by the afocal method. Ironically, Venus appears as a thin crescent, not a full disk, when at its peak brightness. Because it is so close to the Sun, 6. Optional IntelliScope it never wanders too far from the morning or evening horizon. No surface markings can be seen on Venus, which is alw
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the ID button. You can even add up to 99 objects of your own scratch mirror coatings, so the fewer times you have to clean choosing to the IntelliScope controller’s database. the mirrors, the better. Small specks of dust or flecks of paint have virtually no adverse effect on the visual performance of The backlit, two-line liquid crystal display on the controller the telescope. shows you the object’s catalog number, its common name if it has one, the constellation in which it resides, its ri
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8. Specifications Primary mirror: 305mm diameter, Pyrex, parabolic, center- marked Focal length: 1500mm Focal ratio: f/4.9 Focuser: Rack-and-pinion. accepts 2" and 1.25" eyepieces Altitude bearing diameter: 5.75" Optical tube material: Rolled steel Azimuth pad material: Teflon Altitude bearing material: Ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) polyethylene Eyepieces: 25mm & 10mm Sirius Plössl, multi-coated, 1.25" barrel diameter Eyepiece magnifications: 60x and 150x Finder scope: 9x power, 50mm apertu
