INSTRUCTION MANUAL Meade 114ST EQ-D 4.5" Equatorial Reflecting Telescope Meade Instruments Corporation ­2­ WARNING! NEVER USE A MEADE 114ST EQ-D TELESCOPE TO LOOK AT THE SUN! 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. DO NOT POINT THE TELESCOPE OR ITS VIEWFINDER AT OR NEAR THE SUN. DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THE TELESCOPE OR ITS VIEWFINDER AS IT IS MOVING. CHILDREN SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE ADULT SUPERVISION WHILE OBSERVING. Meade Limited Warranty Every Meade telescope, spotting scope, and binocular is warranted by Meade Instruments Corp. (MIC) to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ONE YEAR from date of original retail purchase in the U.S.A. MIC will repair or replace the product, or part thereof, found upon inspection by MIC to be defective, provided the defective part or product is returned to MIC, freight prepaid, with proof of purchase. This warranty applies to the original purchaser only and is non-transferable. Meade products purchased outside North America are not included in this warranty, but are covered under separate warranties issued by Meade International Distributors. RGA Number Required: Prior to the return of any product or part, a Return Goods Authorization (RGA) number must be obtained by writing to MIC or calling 949-451-1450. Each returned part or product must include a written statement detailing the nature of the claimed defect, as well as the owner's name, address, phone number, and a copy of the original sales invoice. This warranty is not valid in cases where the product has been abused or mishandled, where unauthorized repairs have been attempted or performed, or where depreciation of the product is due to normal wear-and tear. MIC specifically disclaims special, indirect, or consequential damages or lost profit, which may result from a breach of this warranty. Any implied warranties which can not be disclaimed are hereby limited to a term of one year from the date of purchase by the original retail purchaser. This warranty gives you specific rights. You may have other rights which vary from state to state. MIC reserves the right to change product specifications or to discontinue products without prior notice. This warranty supersedes all previous Meade product warranties. ­3­ TABLE OF CONTENTS Telescope Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Unpacking and Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. Balancing the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2. Alignment of the Viewfinder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Understanding Celestial Movements and Coordinates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Lining Up with the Celestial Pole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Using the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Using Setting Circles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Calculating Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Mount and Tripod Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Collimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 a. Correct Collimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 b. Diagonal Holder Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 c. Primary Mirror Adjustments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 d. Star Testing the Collimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Specifications: Model 114ST EQ-D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Optional Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ­4­ Key to Figs. 1a - 1g 1. Eyepiece 2. Equatorial mount 3. Right Ascension (R.A.) flexible cable control 4. Declination (Dec.) flexible cable control 5. Counterweights 6. Counterweight shaft 7. Counterweight lock 8. Safety washer/thumbscrew 9. Viewfinder Dustcover 10. Polar axis 11. Latitude lock knob 12. Optical tube assembly 13. Optical tube saddle plate 14. Optical tube mounting thumbscrews 15. Equatorial mount base 16. Viewfinder bracket mounting bolts 17. Focuser drawtube and eyepiece holder 18. Eyepiece holder thumbscrew 19. Focuser 20. Viewfinder bracket 21. Focus knobs 22. R.A. lock 23. Dec. lock 24. 5 x 24 viewfinder 25. Viewfinder focuser 26. Viewfinder adjustment thumbscrews 27. R.A. setting circle 28. Dec. setting circle 29. Latitude dial 30. Azimuth lock 31. Declination axis 32. Tripod leg brace 33. Tripod leg brace support 34. Tripod legs 35. Tripod-to-mount wingnuts 36. Accessory tray 37. Eyepiece holder slots 38. Mounting bolt hole 39. Telescope front dust cover 40. Collimating Screws 41. Counterweight shaft attachment location ­5­ 9 18 1 39 19 17 21 16 26 24 25 20 12 41 6 7 13 11 4 3 2 40 5 8 30 Fig. 1a: Model 114ST EQ-D: Optical tube assembly. 38 31 10 23 13 23 29 28 22 27 Fig. 1b: Bolt hole for tray assembly. Fig. 1c: Mount features. 14 Fig. 1d: Optical tube attachment (underside view). 14 34 37 36 11 3 30 32 Fig. 1e: More mount features. Fig. 1f: Leg brace and tray assembly. 33 15 35 Fig. 1g: Attaching tripod leg to mount. ­6­ INTRODUCTION The Meade 114ST EQ-D is an easy-to-operate, high performance 4.5" (114mm) reflecting telescope, intended for astronomical observing. Equipped with a deluxe equatorial mount and aluminum tripod, the telescope's motion is continuously adjustable for tracking celestial objects. Your telescope comes to you ready for adventure; it will be your companion in a universe of planets, galaxies, and stars. Please note that the Meade 114ST EQ-D is a Newtonian reflecting telescope optimized for astronomical observing performance, and is not intended for terrestrial observing. We recommend that you take a few minutes to read all of this manual before making first observations through the telescope. As you read this manual, the technical terms associated with telescopes will be made clear. Standard Equipment · · · Complete optical tube assembly with a 4.5" (114mm) diameter primary mirror, viewfinder mounting bolts with mounting nuts and rack-and-pinion focuser. Mirror focal length = 1000mm; f/8.8 Equatorial mount with aluminum tripod and leg braces. Accessories: MA 25mm (40x) eyepiece (1.25"O.D.), MA 12mm (83x) eyepiece (1.25"O.D.) 2x Barlow lens 5 x 24 viewfinder and bracket Counterweight with counterweight shaft Flexible cable controls for both telescope axes Accessory tray with mounting knob Astronomy software (separate instructions supplied in software package UNPACKING AND ASSEMBLY (Numbers in brackets below refer to Fig. 1) 1. Remove and identify the telescope's components, using the listing above. 2. Attach the 3 aluminum tripod legs (6, Fig. 1f) to the base of the equatorial mount (15, Fig. 1g) with the 3 leg braces supports (32, Fig. 1f) facing inward. Three bolts each about 32 2.5"" long, with washers and wing nuts (35, Fig. 1g), are provided for this purpose in a hardware package. Stand the telescope upright, spreading the tripod legs evenly apart so that the accessory tray can be positioned to attach to the 3 leg braces. 3. Use the provided 3 short screws, washers and bolts to attach the accessory tray (36, Fig. 1f) to the tripod. Line up one of the leg braces (32, Fig. 1f) between the opening of one of the tripod leg brace supports 33 (33, Fig. 1f) on the tripod so that one of the short screws will be able to pass through the holes of the leg brace support and the leg brace. Using Fig. 2: Tripod leg brace support a Phillips-head screwdriver, thread one of the short screws through the assembly. hole. Place a washer on the other end, followed by the matching nut. Tighten to a firm feel. Repeat this procedure until all 3 leg braces are mounted on the 3 leg brace supports. See Fig. 2. 4. To attach the accessory tray (36, Fig. 1f) to the leg braces (32, Fig. 1f), place the round accessory tray over the over mounting bolt hole (38, Fig. 1b). Threading the attachment knob into the the mounting hole on top of the tray and turning the knob clockwise. Tighten to a firm feel, but do not overtighten--you will need to Leg lock remove the tray if you wish to collapse the tripod. To remove the tray, just knob rotate the knob counterclockwise and remove the knob. You can then lift Sliding and remove the tray. 5. Extend the sliding center portion of the adjustable height tripod leg to the desired length for all 3 legs. Lock the tripod legs by tightening the leg lock thumbscrew to a firm feel. See Fig. 3. inner leg extension 6. Holding the counterweight (5, Fig. 1a) firmly in one hand, slip the counterweight onto the counterweight shaft (6, Fig. 1a). Attach the Fig. 3: Adjust the height of the counterweight and counterweight shaft, by supporting the unlocked tripod. counterweight firmly in one hand while threading the counterweight shaft into the base of the Declination axis of the telescope's equatorial mount (41, Fig. 1a). Once firmly attached, slide the counterweight about 2 inches from the bottom of the counterweight shaft and secure it in place with ­7­ the counterweight lock (7, Fig. 1a) of the counterweight. Note: If the counterweight ever slips, the secured threaded safety washer/screw (8, Fig. 1a) will not let the weight slide entirely off the counterweight shaft. Be certain that this safety washer/screw is always in place. 7. Attach the flexible cables (4, Fig. 1a) and (3, Fig. 1a and 1e), as shown. These cables are secured in place with a firm tightening of the thumbscrews located at the attachment ends of each cable. 8. Tilt the polar axis (10, Fig. 1c) of the telescope to roughly a 45° angle with the horizon. This tilt is accomplished by first loosening the latitude adjustment lock (11, Fig. 1a and 1e), adjusting the mount and firmly re-tightening the latitude control lock. 9. Remove the optical tube attachment thumbscrews (14, Fig. 1d) from the optical tube mounting bolts that are on the underside of the main optical tube (12, Fig. 1a). Then lay the telescope optical tube assembly onto the saddle plate (13, Fig. 1a) passing the mounting bolts through the holes in the saddle of the mount. Re-attach the attachment thumbscrews to the mounting bolts, and tighten to a firm feel. See Fig. 1d. 10. Attach the viewfinder bracket (20, Fig. 1a) to the telescope using the 2 thumbscrews provided (16, Fig. 1a). The bracket fits over the two small bolts. Thread the thumbscrews over the bolts and tighten to a firm feel. Slide the Viewfinder tube (24, Fig. 1a) into the bracket and loosely tighten the tube using the Viewfinder adjustment screws. Remove the Viewfinder dustcover (9, Fig. 1a). See "Aligning the Viewfinder" below. 11. Insert the 25mm eyepiece (13, Fig. 1) into the eyepiece holder (17, Fig. 1a). Secure the eyepiece in place by tightening the eyepiece holder thumbscrews (18, Fig. 1a) to a firm feel. The telescope is now completely assembled. Before it can be affectively used, however, the viewfinder (24, Fig. 1a) must be aligned with the main telescope. ALIGNING THE VIEWFINDER The wide field of view provided by the 5 x 24mm viewfinder permits easy object sighting prior to observation in the higher-power main telescope. The 5 x 24 Viewfinder (24, Fig. 1a) and viewfinder bracket (20, Fig. 1a) attaches to the telescope tube assembly as described above. In order for the viewfinder to be functional, however, it must be aligned to the main telescope, so that both the viewfinder and main telescope point at the same position in the sky. With this simple alignment performed, finding objects is greatly facilitated, since you will first locate an object in the wide-field viewfinder, then you will look in the eyepiece of the main telescope for a detailed view. To align the viewfinder follow these steps: 1. Remove the telescope front dust cover (39, Fig. 1), and the dust cover of the viewfinder (9, Fig. 1a). 2. Place the low- power (MA 25mm) eyepiece into the focuser of the main telescope. 3. Unlock the Right Ascension (R.A.) lock (22, Fig. 1c) and the Declination (Dec.) lock (23, Fig. 1c) so that the telescope turns freely on both axes. Then point the main telescope at some well-defined land object (e.g. the top of a telephone pole) at least 200 yards distant, and re-lock the R.A and Dec. axes. Turn the flexible cable controls, (4, Fig. 1a) and (3, Fig. 1a and 1e), to center the object in the telescopic field. 4. With the ...