Meade ETX-90, Manual

Page 1: ...The Meade ETX Telescope A Tutorial for both Basic and Advanced Setup ...

Page 2: ...A Service Provided by the ...

Page 3: ...f the Optical Tube Assembly OTA and its ability of gather light from the darkness of the night sky Although this telescope is deemed as an entry level scope it is still a precision instrument in its own right It comes with an instruction manual that can be very frustrating to understand by a person just starting out Once there is an understanding of what the manual is trying to convey that knowled...

Page 4: ...st observation session The ETX is a long way away from the Hubble The ETX is great for viewing the moon and many of the various planets in our solar system Most of the Deep Sky Objects such as Nebulas and distant Galaxies that might be nothing more than a smudge in the night sky when viewed with the naked eye will be just a more defined smudge when viewed through the ETX Reading the manual at leas...

Page 5: ...ar on how to set the tripod up but there is one tip to keep in mind Don t extend the legs all the way out leave a little bit of length for leveling adjustment later With the legs fully extended a person sometimes has to adjust two legs whereas if there was some length left adjusting one leg would do the trick Adjusting the height of the tripod is an exercise in trial error and the correct height w...

Page 6: ...ion manual it might be necessary to lift the entire telescope tripod assembly in order to get the telescope pointed in the direction of either True North or Magnetic North after setting the scope to its Home Position The operation of leveling the scope might have to be repeated and the adjustments should be very minor There is no real Front or Back on the Telescope but on the bottom of the Telesco...

Page 7: ...and replace it with an eye piece Tighten the set screw to secure the eye piece in the holder Aligning the Finder Scope with the Optical Tube This is an important step Getting this done right will greatly increase one s chances for success when trying to locate something in the night sky All of the next several set up operations should be done outside in the daylight hours Pick something out in the...

Page 8: ...ft is right Make whatever adjustments are necessary to get the intended target in the viewing center of the Eye Piece Take your time this backwards way of looking at things is the same in most if not all telescopes available to the backyard astronomer This image can be corrected if a person wants to spend some money and if something might actually be available to do so just get use to it Once the ...

Page 9: ...ck down the horizontal lever Replace the eye piece with the combination bubble level compass that is included is the telescope package If that is missing put your cell phone on top of the eye piece holder and use the compass and level apps If necessary lift the entire assembly to achieve True or Magnetic North alignment of the optical tube Loosen the vertical lock knob on the right fork of the tel...

Page 10: ...ect an object a voice from the Handset will describe the object in detail Read the directions first before doing anything Sometimes there is a thing where the cart gets before the horse If you read the directions first there is less of a chance of that happening What Training the Drive does is help with aiming issues so the scope returns accurately from one celestial object to another The AudioSta...

Page 11: ... navigate through the AudioStar Menu tree Do yourself a favor and run off a copy of the menu tree in the instruction manual Have it laminated or at least put in a protective plastic sleeve This is great thing to have on hand and an easy reference in order to quickly find the menu item that will get you where you want to go If the scope is really going to show you the night sky it has to be first a...

Page 12: ...as to the significance of those stars Well fear not the techno geeks of the universe are here and they heard your anguished cries for help Apps such as Star Chart Night Sky Lite SkyPortal Sky Walk 2 and many more are available for both the iOS and Android platforms Some of the best ones are free and most of them are very reasonably priced Just open an app point the camera of the phone to the night...

Page 13: ... try and figure all this stuff out in the dark when you really don t have a plan Start off with the MOON It s big it s easy to find and most of the time it is so bright a lunar filter should be screwed into to bottom of the eye piece to knock the brightness level down a few notches There plenty to see on the moon and the best time to view the moon is when it isn t completely full There is a lot of...

Page 14: ...ckyard astronomer s tool kit The headlight is great to have strapped to your head and can be switched to a red light so as not to ruin your light vision The Planisphere can be ordered online and sometimes comes as an add on with certain astronomy books and instructional videos The headlamps are available at Costco and other retailers and the 3 pack shown was less than 20 You can get a good hiking ...

Page 15: ...n is one of those planets where every person that has viewed it through a telescope will remember when and where they were when they did it Jupiter is the big bully of the solar system and many times it s moons can be visible with just the use of binoculars With a decent telescope Jupiter becomes even more impressive Mars is the so called Red Planet Take a look at it you got to you might even be t...

Page 16: ...through the eye piece is wire sharp That is why you should view things for a period of time because conditions are constantly changing and from one minute to the next can be quite dramatic A good rule of thumb is when the stars aren t twinkling that is the best time to observe because the atmosphere is clear and not bouncing the light around Don t get discouraged it takes a few times to get that a...

Page 17: ...derneath the telescope s Optical Tube That space is a Do Not Enter No Trespassing Zone You might have noticed that when the scope as aimed at something nearly straight up in the sky there is hardly any clearance between the scope and the bottom of the mount There is a clear potential to cause damage to the Slewing Motor gears if things get jammed in that space Did you put your hand on the scope or...

Page 18: ...d set to match the Global Latitude of the Telescope s current location Then a Polar Alignment must be used when setting up the scope for viewing That is another can of worms best explained in the back of the Instruction Manual If you want to set your scope as such then you must have advanced knowledge and most likely know what you are doing With a raised Equatorial mount the scope will now have en...

Page 19: ...n telescope s magnifying power Objective Lens Size In a telescope the objective is the lens at the front end of a refractor or the image forming primary mirror of a reflecting or catadioptric telescope A telescope s light gathering power and angular resolution are both directly related to the diameter or aperture of its objective lens or mirror Telescope F Stop The f stop f number is the lens spee...

Page 20: ...Going Over To The DARKSIDE ...

Page 21: ...person isn t really a true practitioner of the art of Astronomy and observing the night sky until you can name and locate many if not all of the classical constellations along with naming the major stars that make up those constellations Some purists feel that a true observer is one who has their eye glued to the eye piece of the telescope and anything else is fake astronomy practiced by individua...

Page 22: ...ake for granted something we can freely do today that would get you burned alive at the stake several hundred years ago There is the basics of past history there is the basics of the science involved and there is the basics of what was the equipment of the past and the journey from the past to the present But another argument can be made that things are advancing so rapidly that new cutting edge t...

Page 23: ...ure software There is many more similar software packages on the market that might be superior and the job of these software packages is to get what the telescope is currently viewing in real time onto the computer screen A further connection is Meade s STELLA WiFi adapter which is hardwired into the AudioStar Handset A handheld tablet computer is wirelessly connected to the Stella Adapter which c...

Page 24: ...sing the Meade 505 Cable Set going from the handset to the Stella There is a newer updated version of the 505 Cable Set available online which comprises of a 4 pin plug on one end that connects into the Handset and a USB style plug that connects into the Stella To the right of the Stella is battery pack that can be plugged into the Stella to augment it s internal battery power source Above the bat...

Page 25: ...s actually going to be used The set up is very intuitive and shouldn t be any trouble Stella shows what is available for viewing depending on what direction the device is pointed The device then has to be connected to the Stella WiFi network but before connecting the device to the Stella make sure the telescope is set up aligned and ready for viewing Once that is done touch the on screen CONNECT b...

Page 26: ...asy to do and a real joy once everything is set up This is a Meade LPI G Color Advanced camera On the top there is two ports one for the included cable if the camera is to be used as a guider and the other port for the included USB3 0 cable Put one end of the USB cable into the camera and the other into the USB port on a computer From there drop the camera into the Telescope s Eye Piece Holder Fir...

Page 27: ...o get something else Providing Power To The System Providing power to run all the equipment is something that should be thought of Some things that will come into play will be how long is the observing or imaging session going to last Things that might have their own built in battery power supply are smaller Telescopes such as the Meade ETX the STELLA WiFi Adapter Laptop Computer and Handheld Tabl...

Page 28: ...e In this day and age of people that make a sport out of complaining about something best check ahead of time as to what the rules might be if any before taking a long trip to some star gazing venue that is not in your immediate backyard Make sure to use a Surge Protector or UPS Uninterruptable Power Supply between the generator and your system Generator power can be dirty and a Surge protector or...

Page 29: ... without it becoming a hassle to break the system out set it up and then pack it away after an observing session Sometimes after adding all the accessories in order to achieve what one might feel is the ultimate telescope system a person can find themselves really wishing for simpler times There is a limitation as to how far a person can go and that is up to the individual There is big market for ...

Page 30: ...series of telescopes have been answered This presentation is not meant to be the definitive first and last word on the subject The Internet channel YouTube has a bunch of videos from both Meade and other owner s of the ETX Telescope that are sharing their tips and tricks to get the system up and operational Just Google It Clear Skies and Happy Observing ...