Dew Shield: In moist climates, water particles suspended in the atmosphere may condense on the front surface of the telescope's correcting plate. This dew formation may be inhibited to a significant extent by the addition of a dew shield, essentially an extension tube attaching to the front-cell of the telescope. #608 for Meade Schmidt- Cassegrain SC-8 model.
#905 Variable Polarizer (1.25"): #1A Skylight Filter: The #905 system includes 2 Polarizer filters mounted in a specially-machined cell, for glare-reduction in observ- ing the Moon. Rotate the thumbscrew at the side of the unit to achieve light trans- mission between 5% and 25% of its original value. The #905 inserts into the diago- nal of the telescope, followed by an eyepiece. The #1A Skylight Filter threads onto the rear cell of the Meade Schmidt-CassegrainsSC-8 model and effectively seals the interior of the telescope from dust. All other rear cell accessories may then be thread- ed to the #1A filter. The filter increases visual and photographic contrast, decreases glare, and helps to penetrate haze.
#1205 Electric focuser: For use with LXD55 Schmidt-Cassegrain SC-8 model. Meade electric focusers are uniquely designed to yield smooth, precise microfocus- ing of the image, without disabling the manual focus knob, which may be used for rapid coarse focusing. Includes push-button hand controller with self-contained (user provided) battery.
#1209 Microfocuser: For use with LXD55 Schmidt-Cassegrain SC-8 model. Supplied with a handbox, the microfocuser threads directly to the rear cell of model SC-8. Permits precise focusing of the image during visual or photographic applica- tion, during CCD applications maintains precise image centration on even the small- est CCD chips. Operates at four speeds, from extremely slow to fast; accepts both 2" and 1.25" eyepiece barrels. Requires 8 x AAA (user-supplied batteries).
Optional #497 Autostar™ Computer Controller for LXD55 EC Users: One of the most important advances in telescope control in the past 25 years, the Meade Autostar Computer Controller turns your LXD55 EC model into an automatic celestial object locating system. Just plug Autostar into the telescope’s HBX port in place of the standard-equipment Electronic Controller, do a quick telescope alignment, and you are ready to observe any object in the Autostar’s 30,000-object database.
Any of Autostar’s database objects can be called up and entered on the hand con- troller display in seconds. The observer then simply presses the GO TO pushbutton and watches as the telescope automatically slews to the object and places it in the field of view. Autostar moves the telescope to automatically track (follow) the object across the sky. Autostar brings into easy access objects that were previously unreach- able for all but the most dedicated of amateur astronomers.
To find out more about these and other accessories available for your telescope, check out the Meade General Catalog or contact your local Meade dealer.
