User manual MEADE MEADE114EQ-DS

[. . . ] INSTRUCTION MANUAL Meade114 EQ-DS 4. 5" Equatorial Reflecting Telescope Meade Instruments Corporation ­2­ WARNING!LOOKING AT OR NEAR THE SUN WILL CAUSE INSTANT AND IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO YOUR EYE. EYE DAMAGE IS OFTEN PAINLESS, SO THERE IS NO WARNING TO THE OBSERVER THAT DAMAGE HAS OCCURRED UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE. CHILDREN SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE ADULT SUPERVISION WHILE OBSERVING. Meade Limited Warranty Every Meade telescope, spotting scope, and binocular is warranted by Meade Instruments Corp. [. . . ] Level the mount, if necessary, by adjusting the heights of the three tripod legs. Determine the latitude of your observing location by checking a road map or atlas. 1c) and tilt the telescope mount with the latitude adjustment knob (11, Fig. 1) so that the pointer indicates the correct latitude of your viewing location on the latitude scale (29, Fig. 1c). Little Dipper Petite Ourse Polaris Polaire Big Dipper Grande Ourse Fig. Without moving the telescope on the Right Ascension and Declination axes, loosen the azimuth and latitude locks (9 and 30, Fig. 1c) and adjust the telescope until Polaris is centered in the telescope eyepiece. If steps 1 - 3 above were performed with reasonable accuracy, your telescope is now sufficiently well-aligned to the North Celestial Pole for visual observations. Once the mount has been polar-aligned as described above, the latitude angle need not be adjusted again, unless you move to a different geographical location (i. e. The only polar alignment procedure that need be done each time you use the telescope is to point the polar axis due North, as described in step 1 above. USING THE TELESCOPE With the telescope assembled, balanced and polar aligned as described above, you are ready to begin observations. Decide on an easy-to-find object such as the Moon, if it is visible, or a bright star to become accustomed to the functions and operations of the telescope. For the best results during observations, follow the suggestions below: ­ 10 ­ · To center an object in the main telescope, loosen the telescope's R. A. Use the aligned viewfinder to first sight-in on the object you wish to observe; with the object centered on the viewfinder's crosshairs, re-tighten the R. A. If you have purchased an assortment of eyepieces (see Section G on Calculating Power and Section J on Optional Accessories for higher and lower powers with the telescope), always start an observation with a low power eyepiece (e. g. , the H 25mm eyepiece); get the object well-centered in the field of view and sharply focused. If the image starts to become fuzzy as you work into higher magnifications, then back down to a lower power; the atmospheric steadiness is not sufficient to support high powers at the time you are observing. Keep in mind that a bright, clearly resolved but smaller image will show far more detail than a dimmer, poorly resolved larger image. The H 25mm eyepiece included with the Meade 114 EQ-DS presents a wide field of view, ideal for general astronomical observing of star fields, clusters of stars, nebulae, and galaxies; it is also probably the best eyepiece to use in the initial finding and centering of any object. Once centered, the object can be focused by turning one of the knobs of the focusing mechanism (31, Fig. You will notice that the astronomical object in the field of view will begin to slowly move across the eyepiece field. This motion is caused by the rotation of the Earth on its axis, as described in Section C, although the planets and stars, are, for practical purposes, fixed in their positions in the sky. The platform on which the telescope is sitting ( the Earth) rotates once every 24 hours under these objects. To keep astronomical objects centered in the field of the polar aligned telescope, simply turn the R. A. [. . . ] Then by trial-and-error, turn the primary mirror tilt Phillips-head screws (3, Fig. 6) until you develop a feel for which way to turn each screw to center the reflection of your eye. Star testing the collimation With the collimation performed, you will want to test the accuracy of the alignment on a star. Use the H 25mm eyepiece and point the telescope at a moderately bright (second or third magnitude) star, then center the star image in the telescope's field-of-view. [. . . ]