Orion 9854 The Basic Components of Your Telescope, Optical tube, 2 90 Mirror star diagonal

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3. The Basic Components of Your Telescope

Figure 1 shows the fully assembled Observer 60 . All the major components of the telescope are described and numbered to help you identify each part and understand its use. Refer back to this figure when assembling the telescope.

1Optical tube

This is the main optical component of the telescope. The glass lens at the front of the tube gathers incoming light and focuses it by bending (or refracting) the light rays. The tube assembly has several parts built into it, which are shown and discussed in detail in the next section.

290° Mirror star diagonal

The diagonal contains a mirror that reflects the light gath- ered through the optical tube to the eyepiece. The diagonal is angled to allow you to view objects that are high in the sky from a comfortable position.

325mm Kellner eyepiece

The eyepiece is the part of the telescope that you actu- ally look through to see things. The focal length of the eyepiece and the telescope determines the magnifying power of the telescope. Magnification is discussed in more detail in the Using Your Telescope section.

4EZ Finder IITM reflex sight

This is a special “finder” that helps you aim the telescope and locate objects in the sky for close-up viewing with your telescope. The EZ Finder II generates a red LED “dot” that shows where your telescope is aimed. The use of the EZ Finder II is discussed in the Getting Started section.

5“Yoke” altazimuth mount

The mount couples the telescope to the tripod and allows you to move the optical tube easily both up-­and-down and right-and-left.

6Tripod legs

These aluminum tripod legs support the telescope and keep it steady. They can extend from 27" to 50" long.

7Accessory tray

This tray is a convenient place for holding extra eyepieces and other small pieces of equipment.

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