Meade ETX-125EC Instruction Manual Download Page 16

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Chapter 5: OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES

CHAPTER

A wide assortment of professional Meade accessories is
available for both ETX model telescopes. Meade accessories
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 Au t o s t a r

™

Computer Contro l l e r: 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

the

standard-

equipment Electronic Cont-
roller, do a quick telescope
alignment, and you are ready
to observe any object in the
A u t o s t a r’s

14,000-object

database.

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

diff i c u l t

objects, such as the Ring
Nebula (M57) in Lyra, the
Spiral

Galaxy

(M33)

Triangulum, and the Som-
brero Galaxy (M104) in Virgo;
to very obscure objects near
the telescope’s threshold of
v i s i b i l i t y, such as spiral
galaxy NGC 3310 in Ursa
Major.

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
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
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

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.

E ye p i e c e s:

Meade

Super

Plössl (SP), Super Wide Angle
(SWA), and Ultra Wide Angle
( U WA)

eyepieces

the

standard American-size (1.25”)
barrel diameter (Fig. 25) permit
a  wide  range  of  magnifying
powers with both ETX models.
Powers  obtained  with  each
eyepiece  are  shown  in  the
following table.

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
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.

#126 2x Barlow Lens: A n
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. 25: Optional Eyepieces
yield higher and lower
magnifying powers with the
telescope.

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

Fig.23: #497 Autostar
Computer Controller.

ETX-90EC

ETX-125EC

Eyepiece

Power 2X Barlo w

SP6.4mm

195X

390X

297X

594X **