Meade LXD55 instruction manual Locating the Celestial Pole, One- and Two-Star Polar Alignment

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Little Dipper

Polaris

Big Dipper

Cassiopeia

Fig. 35: Locating Polaris.

star, and also of the object you wish to locate, in a star atlas. Point the object at the bright star. Then loosen the R.A. setting circle lock knob (32, Fig. 1d) and turn the R.A. setting circle to read the correct R.A. coordinate of the bright star; lock the R.A. setting circle lock knob onto the object. Next, loosen the R.A. lock (33, Fig. 1d) and turn the telescope in R.A. to read the correct R.A. coordinate of the object. Tighten the R.A. lock (33, Fig. 1d). If the procedure has been followed carefully, the desired object should now be in the telescopic field of a low-power eyepiece.

If you do not immediately see the object you are seeking, try searching the adjacent sky area. Keep in mind that, with the 26mm eyepiece, the field of view of the LXD55- Series is about 0.5°. Because of its much wider field, the viewfinder may be of signif- icant assistance in locating and centering objects, after the setting circles have been used to locate the approximate position of the object.

See USING AUTOSTAR TO FIND OBJECTS NOT IN THE LIBRARIES, page 33, for infor- mation on how to manually enter coordinates into Autostar.

Locating the Celestial Pole

To get basic bearings at an observing location, take note of where the Sun rises (East) and sets (West) each day. After the site is dark, face North by pointing your left shoul- der toward where the Sun set. To precisely point at the pole, find the North Star (Polaris) by using the Big Dipper as a guide (Fig. 35).

One- and Two-Star Polar Alignment

Autostar provides three different methods for Polar Alignment: Easy, One-Star and Two-Star. See EASY ALIGNMENT, page 21, for that procedure.

One-Star Polar Alignment

Polar One-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. Autostar pro- vides a library of bright stars and one star from this library is chosen by the observer for alignment. Polaris is chosen by Autostar. The rest of the procedure is almost iden- tical to the EASY ALIGNMENT, page 21, except that Autostar prompts you to point the telescope at Polaris and center it in the telescope's eyepiece.

Two-Star Polar Alignment

Polar Two-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. Autostar pro- vides a library of bright stars and two stars from this library are chosen by the observ- er for alignment. Polaris is chosen by Autostar. The rest of the procedure is almost identical to the EASY ALIGNMENT, page 21, except that Autostar prompts you to point the telescope at Polaris and center it in the telescope's eyepiece.

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Contents Meade Instruments Corporation Page Contents 1 1% g f e Telescope Features$2% LXD55-SeriesYour Personal Window to the Universe Computer Control Panel see e LXD55 Tips Features Autostar FeaturesTour the Cosmos with Just the Push of a Button Tip Telescope Assembly How to Assemble Your TelescopeAccessories Getting StartedViewfinder assembly Schmidt-Newtonian models Insert eyepiece into holder and tighten thumbscrews Balancing the TelescopeChoosing an Eyepiece Aligning the ViewfinderObserving by Moving the Telescope Manually Too Much Power?Slew Speeds Autostar Models Only Activate the Arrow Keys Autostar Models OnlyObserve the Moon Setting the Polar Home PositionTracking Objects 16bUsing Autostars GO to Capabilities Autostar Models Only Observe a Star using the Automatic Tracking FeatureInitializing Autostar Autostar Models Only Moving Through Autostar’s Menus Autostar Models OnlyTraining the Drive Autostar Models Only Go To Saturn Autostar Models Only Easy Alignment Autostar Models OnlyPlanet Saturn is over 800 million miles from the Earth Using the Guided Tour Autostar Models OnlyTo Calculate Sunset time Autostar Navigation ExerciseNavigating Autostar Entering Data into AutostarSelect Item Object Autostars MenusObject Menu MenusGlossary Menu Event MenuUtilities Menu LXD55-SeriesEnter Setup MenuObserving Considerations Setup Menu Daylight SAVING, Surf the Web To Add a Site to the user-defined site list Adding Observing SitesTo Edit a Site To GO to a user-entered object Using Autostar to Find Objects Not in the LibrariesLandmarks Observing SatellitesTo Add a landmark to the database To Select a landmark from the database To Check on the Available MemoryTo perform a Landmark Survey Few tips on photography with the LXD55-Seriestelescopes Photography10 f/4 Optional AccessoriesSeries 4000 Photo-Visual Page General Maintenance MaintenanceD e f g Page Defocused star images. Misaligned 1, 2, Aligned Inspecting the Optics Meade Customer Service5 Model SN-6, SN-6EC Specifications Specifications4 Model SN-8, SN-8EC Specifications 9.3 Model AR-5, AR-5EC Specifications 10 f/4 Model SN-10 Specifications 8 Model AR-6 Specifications Autostar Specifications 10 Model SC-8 SpecificationsAutostar Dimensions Appendix a Celestial Coordinates Setting CirclesOne- and Two-Star Polar Alignment Locating the Celestial PoleOne-Star Polar Alignment Two-Star Polar AlignmentProcedure #1 To correct for attitude misalignment Axis Alignment ProcedurePolar Alignment Viewfinder Method 1 Manual AlignmentPosition a Procedure #2 To correct for elevation misalignmentTips Star ChartsMethod 2 Axis Alignment Using Autostar Latitude Chart for Major Cities of the World Appendix C Latitude ChartCity State/Prov./Country Latitude City Country LatitudeAppendix D EC Handbox Modes of Operation To move the telescope using the Electronic ControllerSlew Speeds Tracking Rates Optional Autostar Computer Controller for LXD55 EC Users Changing the Polar ModeMounting the SC bracket and optical tube to the mount How to Attach the Optical Tube to the MountAutostar Glossary Appendix F Basic AstronomyObjects in Space MoonDeep-Sky Objects PlanetsFurther Study Page Meade Instruments Corporation
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