The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory "Orion"

A description of the construction, optical and kinematic parts of the astrophysical observatory "Orion" installed in the orbital station "Salyut" is given. The "Orion" consists of a mirror telescope of the Mersenne system (280 mm diameter) and a slitless spectrograph of the Wadsworth system with a diffraction lattice. The camera with a film gate is fastened firmly; the spectrograph is adjusted and focused by shifting the part of the diffraction lattice. The part is given elastic swings to enlarge the spectrogram up to 0.4 mm. A stellar photo guide designed to catch and guide stars up to 4^m is fastened to the body of the telescope, parallel to its optical axis. The part of the modulator of the stellar guide is hermetically sealed. The telescope is mounted on a biaxial installation of the Cardan suspension type. In flight the telescope is sealed by means of two separation charges to the body of the spaceship. The unsealing is affected after the station is put into orbit. The "Orion" is equipped with a vision guidance system and a control desk with a programming device.