Meade Infinity 102, Instruction Manual

times. The 9mm eyepiece magnifies objects 

66.7 times.

If you obtain other eyepieces, you can calcu-

late how much magnification they have with 

your telescope. Just divide the focal length 

of the telescope by the focal length of the 

eyepiece.

Focal Length of the Telescope

÷

Focal Length of the Eyepiece

=

Magnification

Look at the specifications. For the Infinity 

90, you will see that the focal length of this 

scope is 600mm. Let’s say that you have 

obtained a 13mm eyepiece. You can tell that 

what the focal length of your eyepiece is as 

it is always printed on the side of an eye-

piece. Divide:  600 ÷ 13, which equals 46.15. 

Round this off to the nearest whole number 

and the new 13mm eyepiece magnifies 

objects 46 times.

A great accessory for your telescope is 

a Barlow lens

  If you use a Barlow lens 

with one of your eyepieces, it doubles the 

magnification of your eyepiece.  Other types 

of Barlows can triple or further increase the 

power of an eyepiece.  To find out how much 

the magnification is when you use a Barlow, 

multiply your eyepiece’s magnification  

by two.

Eyepiece’s magnification x 2

= 

Magnification with a 2X Barlow lens

For the Infinity 90 the 26mm low-power eye-

piece magnifies an object 23 times. Multiply 

23 by 2 and you get 46 times magnification 

with a Barlow.

It’s worth repeating:  Keep in mind that a 

bright, clear, but smaller image is more 

interesting than a larger, dimmer, fuzzy one. 

Using too high a power eyepiece is one of 

the most common mistakes made by new 

astronomers. So don’t think that higher 

magnification is necessarily better—quite 

often the best view is with lower magnifica-

tion value!

TAKING CARE OF YOUR TELESCOPE

Your telescope is a precision optical instru-

ment designed for a lifetime of reward-

ing viewing. It will rarely, if ever, require 

factory servicing or maintenance. 

Follow these guidelines to keep your 

telescope in the best condition:

•  Avoid cleaning the telescope’s lenses. 

A little dust on the front surface of the 

telescope’s correcting lens will not cause 

loss of image quality.

•   When absolutely necessary, dust on the 

front lens should be removed with very 

gentle strokes of a camel hair brush or 

blown off with an ear syringe (available 

at most pharmacies).

Looking at or near the 

Sun

 will cause 

irreversible

 damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving.

JOIN AN ASTRONOMY CLUB, ATTEND A STAR 

PARTY

One of the best ways to increase your knowledge of 

astronomy is to join an astronomy club. Check your 

local newspaper, school, library, or telescope dealer/ 

store to find out if there’s a club in your area.

Many groups also hold regularly scheduled Star 

Parties at which you can check out and observe 

with many different telescopes and other pieces of 

astronomical equipment. Magazines such as Sky and 

Telescope and Astronomy print schedules for many 

popular Star Parties around the United States and 

Canada.

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