Meade LX70 Series, Instruction Manual

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coloring on the planet’s surface may be visible.
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system 
and is eleven times the diameter of Earth. The 
planet appears as a disk with dark lines stretch-
ing across the surface. These lines are cloud 
bands in the atmosphere. Four of Jupiter’s 
moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Calisto) can 
be seen as “star-like” points of light when using 
even the lowest magnification. These moons 
orbit Jupiter so that the number of moons vis-
ible on any given night changes as they circle 
around the giant planet.

Saturn is nine times the diameter of Earth and 
appears as a small, round disk with rings ex-
tending out from either side. In 1610, Galileo, 
the first person to observe Saturn through a 
telescope, did not understand that what he was 
seeing were rings. Instead, he believed that 
Saturn had “ears.” Saturn’s rings are composed 
of billions of ice particles ranging in size from a 
speck of dust to the size of a house. The ma-
jor division in Saturn’s rings, called the Cassini 
Division, is occasionally visible through medium 
sized telescopes. Titan, the largest of Saturn’s 
moons can also be seen as a bright, star-like 
object near the planet.

Deep-Sky Objects: Star charts can be used to 
locate constellations, individual stars and deep-
sky objects. Examples of various deep-sky ob-
jects are given below: 

Stars are large gaseous objects that are self-illu-
minated by nuclear fusion in their core. Because 
of their vast distances from our solar system, all 
stars appear as pinpoints of light, irrespective of 
the size of the telescope used.

Nebulae are vast interstellar clouds of gas and 
dust where stars are formed. Most impressive 
of these is the Great Nebula in Orion (M42), a 
diffuse nebula that appears as a faint wispy gray 
cloud. M42 is 1600 light years from Earth.

Open Clusters are loose groupings of young 
stars, all recently formed from the same diffuse 
nebula. The Pleiades is an open cluster 410 
light years away. Through the LX70 telescope 
numerous stars are visible.

Constellations are large, imaginary patterns of 
stars believed by ancient civilizations to be the 
celestial equivalent of objects, animals, people, 
or gods. These patterns are too large to be seen 
through a telescope. To learn the constellations, 

start with an easy grouping of stars, such as the 
Big Dipper in Ursa Major. Then, use a star chart 
to explore across the sky.

Galaxies are large assemblies of stars, nebu-
lae, and star clusters that are bound by gravity. 
The most common shape is spiral (such as our 
own Milky Way), but galaxies can also be ellip-
tical, or even irregular blobs. The Andromeda 
Galaxy (M31) is the closest spiral-type galaxy to 
our own. This galaxy appears fuzzy and cigar-
shaped. It is 2.2 million light years away in the 
constellation Andromeda, located between the 
large “W” of Cassiopeia and the great square of 
Pegasus. 

Figure 45:

 Saturn

Figure 46:

 Craters on the 

Moon

Figure 47:

 Jupiter