Orion AstroView 120ST Equatorial Refractor Telescope

by Orion

Product Details

Product Manual [695kb PDF]

• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• ASIN: B0000XMSIE
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,326 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
  • #79 in Camera & Photo > Binoculars, Telescopes & Optics > Telescopes > Refractors
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 1, 2003

Product Description

Our AstroView 120ST is a compact, rich-field refractor designed for observation of nebular clouds, star clusters, and even galaxies. Its multi-coated achromatic objective lens has a 120mm (4.7") clear aperture and has a focal length of just 600mm (f/5). Compared to our standard 120mm AstroView (f/8.3), that translates to a 66% wider field of view for any given eyepiece. The fast f/5 optical system also makes it an excellent telescope for astrophotography. The 120ST has a well-baffled optical tube to ensure good contrast. The cast-metal, 2" rack-and-pinion focuser accommodates either both 1.25" and 2" diagonals. The AstroView equatorial mount with adjustable aluminum tripod provides a sturdy platform for precision tracking. Add an optional EQ-3M electronic drive for fully automatic tracking. One-year limited warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Orion 120ST F/5 Richfield Refractor Telescope 4.7 inch, June 24, 2005

By 

W. Mcmurry (sterling, illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orion AstroView 120ST Equatorial Refractor Telescope (Electronics)

Rate myself as a casual observer, many years ago into astronomy as a teen with my first 60mm refractor which still survived thru the years. Now with the wonderful Goto Scopes quickly drew me back into the hobby. Focused on highly portable ones as even my heavier 6 inch Dynamax Schmidt Cassegrain collected dust so sold it. Currently use the famed ETX90 with Autostar, Celestron 102mm F/10 (4 inch) Refractor, and recently purchased Orion's compact 120mm (4.7 inch) F/5 Refractor.

On my first two outings with rather bad sky conditions the Orion still quickly showed its stuff ! With a 40mm eyepiece gave fantastic wideviews. Easily found show objects as M57 ring nebula even under a very low 15 power, at only 60X clearly showed the ring, in a not very dark sky. Also the Dumbell Nebula was found easily with this compact design (simply sighted down the scope). In Cygnus, the eyepiece filled w/stars and the famed Albiro Double Star had space between even at such a low power.

Next day(s) was attempting a visual on Mercury (as nearing Venus), elusive planet that seems to always stay inside the suns glow, unfortunately the horizon stayed cloudy, some visitors stopped to take a look, so quickly placed it on Jupiter, visible as higher in the sky, explaining this is a wide-view scope and not really for serious planetary view, but at plus 120X with a 4.8 Nagler eyepiece the two bands stood out very well even further hints of other detail, the disc was very clear with very slight Chromatic (color) distortion, nice suprise for such a short focal length ! Was in a bright downtown parking lot, so not able to view the Deep Sky. Hence, Jupiter view blew them away.

Update: Venus and Mercury getting even closer together, on June 26th able to view thru very hazy skys, found them minutes after sunset before Venus was visible to the naked eye, beautiful view in low power wide-field, Mercury less bright but nice reddish glow, even seen together in Higher Powers, sure the wide-field made this possible as well as the nice placement of these two planets-several visitors in the Pkg lot enjoyed it as well, could see the shape on Venus as well as mercury, but low horizon views took away some of the clarity. Wonderful site !

Update: July 1st Early Morining hours, tho many clouds in the south and crescent moon, viewed both companions of the famed M31 Andromeda Galaxy, M32 was easy,a nice soft round comet glow (even in the lowest power), M110 the other not as bright but popped into view nicely at 60X. Failed to view this very well in the ETX other than possible detection, actually can see it in the 120ST, in a not very dark sky, beginning to really like this Scope !

Update: Finally some clear sky, tho heavy haze, rated at 6 on 10 scale, but still able to view nearly all the Messier around the Archer (Teapot) well over a dozen Loose Clusters-Globulars and Nebula. Kept going back to M22, Majestic as the famed M13 Golbular. Even the Lagoon Nebula showed its stuff with so so sky. Loose Clusters, I simply don't have the words to describe their Beauty, other than, Simply Breath-Taking ! However Real Enjoyment was in the ease of locating these beauties. A 40mm eyepiece will give an astounding plus 3 degree field, in the future will add the 2 inch diagonal for even more fantastic wide views. Became more humid and hazy at the end of the viewing, but couldn't resist to check out Polaris the North Star and its 9th magnitude companion, conditions wouldn't permit higher power views but at only 30X to 40X its fainter twin glowed. Some consider this a good test for a 3 inch aperature, the 4.7 inch enhanced the view.

Even tho used only a few outings can verify the following:

1. VERY EASY TO USE WITH ITS COMPACT DESIGN.

2. WONDERFUL WIDE VIEWS EVEN DOWN TO 15 X

3. NICE OPTICS DELIVER SHARP STAR IMAGES ALL THE WAY OUT TO THE EDGE.

4. THO NOT DESIGNED FOR, WILL SHOW PLANETARY VIEWS OVER 120 X .

5. IS VERY WELL MADE, SMOOTH FOCUS, ATTRACTIVE BLACK TUBE FINISH.

6. Great Deep Sky For the Messier and Brighter NGC'S

7. Locating Deep Sky Becomes A Breeze Due To The Wide Views

8. SORRY, CAN'T FIND ANY DEFECT ON THIS SCOPE AT ALL.

Is slightly heavy, about 9 lbs, but because of its compact size, works well on my CG4 mount. Objective is 4.7 inch, big enough to give majestic views of Loose Clusters, should cover all the Messier as well as the brighter NGC'S with ease. Super Scope, I purchased the tube assembly only as hoped it would work on my current mount which fortunately it does ! Tube assemblys can be found at about only $319. Great Buy !

May want to add the following to enhance its performance:

1. Will accept larger 2 Inch Diagonal to give even wider views.

2. Mine also included a 30mm finder but may wish to change to 50mm Note can simply site down the tube.

3. Easier zenith (straight overhead position) with longer tripod, however a portable chair helps.

4. Tracking devices, for photograpy, won't need these to enjoy low power views however.

Summing this all up:

In my case portability is a must and helps explain my current selection of scopes. Aperature (Size of your front Objective) always wins, but doen't mean a darn thing if it stays in the closet. Even these smaller scopes can pull in a single leaf, but a wider richfield shows you there's an entire forest to experience. Orion did a nice job on this one, hate to part with any of my current models, only wish I found this one earlier, with abit of knowledge of the sky, MAKES A WONDERFUL BEGINNER'S SCOPE AS WELL, HIGHLY PORTABLE, ITS EASE OF USE (DUE TO ITS COMPACT SIZE AND WIDE VIEWS) SURPASES ALL MY SCOPES TO DATE. COMPLIMENTS MY OTHERS BEAUTIFULLY. LOOKING FORWARD TO YEARS OF VIEWING PLEASURE---PERHAPS THERE'S NOT ONE SCOPE THAT WILL SATISFY EVERYONE'S NEEDS--BUT THIS ONE IS DARN CLOSE !---THANK YOU ORION !!..<>..

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great scope for the price, February 7, 2008

By 

The DINK (Upstate SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orion AstroView 120ST Equatorial Refractor Telescope (Electronics)

When I first saw the Orion 120st I was intrigued by the idea of a 4.7" 600mm F/5 Rich Field Telescope. I was looking for something I could just throw up and start observing here at my apartment without having to go through a lot of trouble, and this scope seemed like a good answer.
The scope itself is well made. Good finish, no obvious dings or scratches. It is a bit larger than I'd originally imagined, but it isn't too big. The mount is also a lot more robust than I'd originally thought it would be as well, but that's not a bad thing. I did notice that the bracket to hold the finder scope on the OTA is a bit too wide, and had to use some cardboard to shim the finder. Mine also came with the cover for the polar scope cracked, and with a different polar scope than the one in the manual. The assembly instructions aren't particularly well written, but it isn't exactly rocket science to figure out how to put this thing together. It comes with 2 counterweights, but it really only needs the larger one.
Optically this scope is surprisingly good given the price. There is some chromatic aberration, but it isn't that bad. Orion got the maximum magnification pretty close. A 5mm EP (120x) seems to provide the best overall high power view. I can still get an acceptable view at 150x (4mm EP), but it looks as if it's pushing it just a bit. This is definitely not the scope for high power jobs. But then, that's not really what it was meant for anyway. On those things that are best viewed with low power, this scope struts it's stuff. Viewing the Orion nebula, this scope does a better job than my 8" SCT. I can see the entire Pleides in a 32mm EP. And despite it's lack of high magnification, Saturn is still one heck of a fine view at 120x.
*UPDATE* I took it out and tried some high power observation of Saturn recently. At 300x, the view was mostly fuzzy, and not very inspiring, but every now and then it would clear up and be razor sharp just for a moment. Not bad for an f/5 *UPDATE*
Putting on a finder scope is useless extra weight. I have a 70mm finder that I was going to use, but with a 40mm 2" EP this scope has a wider FOV. With the included 25mm it has about the same FOV. I may use a red dot eventually, but right now I'm just using the joints on the side of the scope tube rings to sight down the scope. I find that the focuser is a bit stiff, but it will probably be just fine after I get around to taking it apart, cleaning it, and re-greasing it. I'd read that some people have had some trouble with the eq mount, but mine is as smooth as butter. The only possible flaw I've seen in the mount is that dampening time is about 5-6 sec. at higher power. Part of that is probably due to the fact that I don't attach the accessory tray like the instructions say. Instead of screwing the wingnuts in from the bottom and physically attaching the tray to the spreader, I screwed them in through the top so the bolts hang down from the tray and just loosely fit down in the holes of the spreader. That way I can just set it down on the spreader without having to mess with the wingnuts each time I set up and take down.
Overall I'd say this scope is a steal, as long as you keep in mind what it was intended for. For those who find the idea of an eq mount daunting, it isn't as bad as it seems. This is my first eq. Unless you're planning on doing astrophotography (you probably shouldn't use this mount for that anyways, but...), it doesn't really have to be polar aligned all that well. Just point it in the right general direction and it'll be fine. I can't even see Polaris from the spot I usually set up, and it hasn't been a problem yet.