Instruction Manual 7" LX200 Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope 8", 10", and 12" LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes Meade Instruments Corporation NOTE: Instructions for the use of optional accessories are not included in this manual. For details in this regard, see the Meade General Catalog. (2) (1) Ray (2) Ray (1) 8.218" 8.016" (2) (1) 8.0" Focal Plane Secondary Mirror Primary Baffle Tube Field Stops Primary Mirror Correcting Plate (1) (2) 1/2° 8.0" Secondary Baffle The Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain Optical System (Diagram not to scale) In the Schmidt-Cassegrain design of the Meade 8", 10", and 12" models, light enters from the right, passes through a thin lens with 2-sided aspheric correction ("correcting plate"), proceeds to a spherical primary mirror, and then to a convex aspheric secondary mirror. The convex secondary mirror multiplies the effective focal length of the primary mirror and results in a focus at the focal plane, with light passing through a central perforation in the primary mirror. The 8", 10", and 12" models include oversize 8.25", 10.375" and 12.375" primary mirrors, respectively, yielding fully illuminated fieldsof-view significantly wider than is possible with standard-size primary mirrors. Note that light ray (2) in the figure would be lost entirely, except for the oversize primary. It is this phenomenon which results in Meade 8", 10", and 12" Schmidt-Cassegrains having off-axis field illuminations 10% greater, aperture-for-aperture, than other Schmidt-Cassegrains utilizing standard-size primary mirrors. The optical design of the 4" Model 2045D is almost identical but does not include an oversize primary, since the effect in this case is small. LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes now feature new baffle tube designs. These computer-optimized designs incorporate a series of 7 to 11 (depending on the focal ratio and size of the LX200) internal field-stops to eliminate almost all internal reflections, yielding the best image contrast available in any Schmidt-Cassegrain available today. Field Stops 8.25" Focal Plane 7" Primary Baffle Tube Secondary Baffle Primary Mirror (f/2.5) The Meade 7" Maksutov-Cassegrain Optical System (Diagram not to scale) The Meade 7" Maksutov-Cassegrain design optimizes imaging performance by utilizing a combination of two-sided spherical meniscus lens (right), a strongly aspheric f/2.5 primary mirror, and a spherical secondary mirror. The convex secondary mirror multiplies the effective focal length of the primary by a factor of six, resulting in an overall f/15 system at the Cassegrain focus. The oversize 8.25" primary mirror results in a fully-illuminated (unvignetted) field of view significantly wider than can be obtained with Maksutov optics incorporating primary mirrors of the same aperture as their meniscus correcting lenses. Computer-optimized primary and secondary mirror baffles, as well as a sequence of field stops internal to the primary mirror baffle, yield lunar, planetary, stellar, and deep-space images of uncommonly high contrast and resolution. -3- 0 WARNING! 0 Never use the LX200 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. 1 18 2 14 3 13 4 6 5 12 7 8 9 10 11 15 16 17 Fig. 1: 8" LX200 Telescope. Captions for Figure 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Viewfinder Dew Shield Viewfinder Collimation Screws Declination (Dec) Setting Circle Declination Pointer Focus Knob Eyepiece Holder Right Ascension (R.A) Lock Right Ascension Slow-Motion Controls Right Ascension Vernier Pointer 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Right Ascension Setting Circle Power Panel Keypad Hand Controller Diagonal Mirror Eyepiece Bubble Level Hour Angel (HA) Pointer Drive Base Viewfinder Focus Lock Ring -4- Contents 7" LX200 Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope 8", 10", & 12" LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1. What is the LX200? An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 a. Heavy-Duty Mounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 b. Built-In 64,359 Object Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 c. Altazimuth Mode Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 d. Terrestrial Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 e. Keypad and Power Panel Functions . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2. Standard Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Unpacking and Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. What You Should Have . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2. Please Look Everything Over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3. Inspecting the Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4. Caution: All LX200 Owners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5. Caution: 10" and 12" LX200 Owners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6. Keypad Version Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Telescope Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1. The Field Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2. Mounting the Viewfinder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 a. Attaching the Viewfinder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 b. Focusing the Viewfinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 c. Collimating the Viewfinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3. Attaching the Diagonal Mirror and Eyepiece . . . . . . . . 8 4. Collimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5. 12" Tube Swing-Through Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6. 7" Tube Swing-Through Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7. Maksutov Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1. Using the LX200 Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2. Using the LX200 in LAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3. Using the LX200 in ALTAZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 a. Entering Basic Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 b. Location of the Observing Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 c. Local Time and Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 d. Setting Up the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 e. Using the MODE key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 f. Library Object Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4. Star Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 a. 1-Star with Known SITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 b. 2-Star with Known SITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 c. Unknown SITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 d. Which Alignment Method to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The LX200 Keypad Hand Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1. ENTER Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2. MODE Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3. GO TO Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 4. Direction Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 5. Speed Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 6. RET Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 7. FOCUS Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 8. MAP Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 9. Object Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 10.PREV and NEXT Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The LX200 Power Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 1. ON/OFF Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2. N/S Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3. Ammeter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 4. DEC Motor Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 5. CCD Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 6. Power 12vDC Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 7. Keypad Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 8. Reticle Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 9. Focuser Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 10.RS-232 Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 11. Aux Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Mode Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 1. Mode 1: Telescope/Object Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 a. Telescope Menu File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 b. Object Library Menu File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2. Mode 2: Coordinates/GO TO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 a. Coordinates Menu File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 b. GO TO Menu Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3. Mode 3: Clock/Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 4. Mode 4: TIMER/FREQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 a. TIMER = Menu Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 b. FREQ = Menu Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 5. Mode 5: Keypad Off/Brightness Adjust . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Magnification and Field of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 1. Magnification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2. Apparent Field and Actual Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Appendix A: Equatorial Wedge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 1. 8" Equatorial Wedge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 a. Azimuth Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 b. Deluxe Latitude Adjuster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2. Superwedge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3. Mounting the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 4. Magnetic Compass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 a. Setting Magnetic Declination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 b. Compass Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 c. Finding True North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Appendix B: Equatorial Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 1. Celestial Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2. Lining Up with the Celestial Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3. Precise Polar Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Appendix C: Star Library and Star Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 1. Alignment Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2. Star Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Appendix D: Object Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 1. The LX200 64,359 Object Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 a. SAO Catalog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 b. UGC Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 c. CNGC Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 d. IC Catalog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 e. GCVS Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 f. Star Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 g. M (Messier) Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 h. Planet Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2. CNGC Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 3. STAR Catalog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 4. M (Messier) Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Appendix E: Maintaining Your LX200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 1. Keeping Your Telescope Clean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 2. Collimation of the Optical System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 3. Right Ascension Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 4. Behind the Power Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 5. Factory Servicing and Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Appendix F: Personal Computer Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 1. The RS-232 Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 2. LX200 T ...