Meade ETX-90EC instruction manual Optional Accessories, ETX-125EC, Eyepiece, 2X Barlow, Power

16 Chapter 5: OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES

CHAPTER A wide assortment of professional Meade accessories is available for both ETX model telescopes. Meade accessories

5 greatly extend many important applications of the telescope, from low-power, wide-field terrestrial viewing to high-power lunar and planetary observing. The premium quality of these accessories is well suited to the quality of the instrument itself.

Meade telescopes and accessories, including optional accessories for ETX telescopes, are available at more than 2000 dealer locations in the U.S. and Canada and through Meade international distributors worldwide. Once you have identified the accessories you wish to order, contact your local Meade authorized dealer.To find a dealer near you, call

(949)451-1450 or visit the Meade website at www.meade.com.

#497 Autostar™ Computer Controller: One of the most important advances in telescope control in the past 25 years, the Meade #497 Autostar Computer Controller (Fig. 23) turns either ETX model into an automatic celestial object locating system. Just plug Autostar into the telescope’s HBX port in place of the standard-

equipment Electronic Cont- roller, do a quick telescope alignment, and you are ready to observe any object in the

Autostar’s 14,000-object database.

Connector Set, included with each astro software package), the observer can point and

click on any object shown on the PC display. The telescope then slews to the object at a speed of 5° per second on both telescope axes and places the object in the telescopic field of view.

Eyepieces: Meade Super

Plössl (SP), Super Wide Angle

(SWA), and Ultra Wide Angle (UWA) eyepieces in the standard American-size (1.25”)

barrel diameter (Fig. 25) permit Fig. 25: Optional Eyepieces

awide range of magnifying yield higher and lower powers with both ETX models. magnifying powers with the Powers obtained with each telescope.

eyepiece are shown in the following table.

	ETX-90EC		ETX-125EC
Eyepiece	Power	2X Barlow	Power	2X Barlow
SP6.4mm	195X	390X	297X	594X **
SP9.7mm	129X	258X	196X	392X
SP 12.4mm	101X	202X	153X	306X
SP 15mm	83X	166X	127X	253X

Best of all, the Meade Autostar is easy to use. Even the most novice observer will locate dozens of fascinating objects the very first night out

—from commonly observed objects, like the rings of Saturn, the satellites of Jupiter, and the Orion Nebula (M42), to more difficult objects, such as the Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra, the Spiral Galaxy (M33) in Triangulum, and the Som- brero Galaxy (M104) in Virgo; to very obscure objects near the telescope’s threshold of visibility, such as spiral galaxy NGC 3310 in Ursa Major.

Fig.23: #497 Autostar Computer Controller.

SP 20mm	63X	126X		95X	190X
SP 26mm *	48X	96X		73X	146X
SP 32mm	39X	78X		59X	119X
SP 40mm	31X	62X		48X	96X
SWA 13.8mm	91X	182X		138X	275X
SWA 18mm	69X	138X		106X	211X
SWA 24.5mm	51X	102X		78X	155X
UWA 4.7mm	266X	N/A		404X	N/A
UWA 6.7mm	187X	374X	**	284X	567X	**

*Included as standard-equipment with both ETX models.

**Use these eyepieces only under extremely steady atmospheric conditions.

Meade SP and SWA eyepieces are ideal for general-purpose astronomical or terrestrial observing. The typical ETX user may wish to add two or three of these eyepieces to his or her telescope. An introductory selection might include the SP 9.7mm and SP 15mm eyepieces. The more advanced observer

Any of Autostar’s database

objects can be called up and entered on the hand controller 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 brings into easy access objects that were previously unreachable for all but the most dedicated of amateur astronomers.

Astro Software/Cable Connector Kit:

Meade ETX–90ECand

might select the SP 9.7mm, SP 12.4mm, and SWA 18mm. Meade SWA eyepieces yield extremely wide fields of view, perfect for the examination of star fields or diffuse nebulae, or for terrestrial applications. Under steady viewing conditions, Meade UWA 4.7mm and

6.7mm eyepieces present the widest fields of view obtainable at high powers and are excellent eyepieces for viewing the Moon and planets.

ETX-125EC Astro Telescopes equipped with the Autostar Computer Controller maybe used in conjunction with Meade astro software to operate the telescope in the GO TO mode directly from the display of a personal

computer. With the Meade Fig.24: Astro software. astro software loaded into

the PC, and with the PC connected to the telescope through Autostar’s RS-232 serial interface (using the #505 Cable

#126 2x Barlow Lens: An amplifying lens, the #126 2x Barlow Lens (Fig. 26) doubles the powers of all eyepieces with which it is used. Insert the #126 into the telescope’s eyepiece holder first, followed by an eyepiece. Example: By itself the SP 26mm eyepiece yields a power of 73X with the ETX-125EC; when used with the #126 2X Barlow Lens, this eyepiece yields 146X.

Fig. 26: Use the #126 2x Barlow Lens to double the magnification of the eyepiece employed.