Meade Changing the Polar Mode, Optional Autostar Computer Controller for LXD55 EC Users

Step 3. Step 4.

Step 5. Step 6. Step 8.

Fig. 47: Indicator Light Key for Changing the Polar Mode.

Note: The tracking rate can be increased by up to 65%.

4.To use a rate slower than sidereal, press OUT (6, Fig. 3) until light 4 blinks again (sidereal rate). Press OUT key and light 4 goes out, signifying a tracking rate 0.5% slower than sidereal. Note that when the Mode function is active, the tracking motor stops. To restart the tracking motor, press MODE again. Experiment with this function to get the right speed: Press OUT to set the track- ing rate. Then press MODE and look through the eyepiece. Continue pressing OUT and MODE until the object remains centered with little or no drifting in the eyepiece.

Note: The tracking rate can be decreased by up to 65%.

5.Press and hold MODE until only a single light is on. This exits the Mode function. If Northern or Southern Hemisphere polar mode was chosen, the motor drive starts operating at the sidereal rate.

6.Use the four Arrow keys (1, Fig. 3) to slew the telescope to the desired object. To change the slew speed, press SPEED.

Changing the Polar Mode

To use the Electronic Controller to change to Northern or Southern Hemisphere polar mode, use the following procedure. This procedure also allows you to select a "Tracking Disabled" setting. Refer to Fig. 47.

1.Complete the SETTING THE POLAR HOME POSITION procedure, described on page 17.

2.Complete steps 2 through 8 as described in TO MOVE THE TELESCOPE USING THE ELECTRONIC CONTROLLER, page 56, to initialize the Electronic Controller.

3.Press and hold MODE until lights 1 and 2 are on steady Ignore lights 3 and 4; they may or may nor appear as depicted in the figures to the left (how these lights appear depend upon what has previously has been set).

4.Press SPEED once. This changes the system to polar mode for the Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, with the motor drive set to operate at the sidereal rate.

5.Press SPEED a second time. This changes the system to polar mode for the Earth’s Northern hemisphere, with the motor drive set to operate at the sidereal rate.

6.Press SPEED a third time to disable tracking.

7.Use the SPEED key as described in the above steps to cycle among these three modes (Southern Hemisphere polar, Northern Hemisphere-polar, or Tracking Disabled) until the desired mode is shown by the appropriate light configuration.

8.Press and hold MODE until just one light is on. This exits the Mode function. If you choose Northern or Southern Hemisphere polar mode, the motor drive starts operating at the sidereal rate.

9.Use the four Arrow keys to slew the telescope to the desired object. To change the slew speed, press SPEED.

Optional 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 align- ment, and you are ready to observe any object in the Autostar’s 30,000-object data- base.

Best of all, the Meade Autostar is easy to use. Even the most novice observer will locate dozens of fascinating celestial objects the very first night out. Study Saturn and its ring system; the primary cloud belts of Jupiter as well as its four major satellites; the moon-like phases of Mercury and Venus; prominent features on Mars. The Moon stands out in stark, almost three-dimensional detail— craters, mountain ranges, and fault lines. In our galaxy, the telescope displays hundreds of nebulae, star clusters, double and multiple stars, and variable stars— plus dozens of external galaxies in all their variation of form and structure.

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.

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