Use a compass to make a circle, or trace
around the lid of a jar. Draw what you see
in your eyepiece inside the circle. Or, use
the observing logs located in the back of this
manual. The best exercise for drawing is
to observe the moons of Jupiter every night
or so. Try to make Jupiter and the moons
approximately the same size as they look in
your eyepiece. You will see that the moons
are in a different position every night. As you
get better at drawing, try more challenging
sights, like a crater system on the moon or
even a nebula.
Go your library or check out the internet for
more information about astronomy. Learn
about the basics: light years, orbits, star
colors, how stars and planets are formed, red
shift, the big bang, what the different kinds
of nebula are, what are comets, asteroids
and meteors and what a black hole is. The
more you learn about astronomy, the more
fun, and the more rewarding your telescope
will become.
SOME OBSERVING TIPS
Eyepieces:
Always begin your observations
using the 26mm low-power eyepiece. The
26mm eyepiece delivers a bright, wide field
of view and is the best to use for most
viewing conditions. Use the high-power 9mm
eyepiece to view details when observing
the Moon and planets. If the image become
fuzzy, switch back down to a lower power.
Changing eyepieces changes the power or
magnification of your telescope.
By the way, users of reflecting (mirrored)
telescopes may have noticed something
strange when looking through your eyepiece.
The image is upside down and reversed. That
means reading words can be a problem. But
it has no effect on astronomical objects.
Optional Accessory Barlow lens: You can
also change magnification by using a Barlow
lens. The Barlow lens doubles the power of
your telescope (See Fig. 7).
Meade offers a complete line of
eyepieces for your telescope. Most
astronomers have four or five low-power
and high power eyepieces to view
different objects and to cope with different
viewing conditions.
Objects move in the eyepiece:
If you are
observing an astronomical object (the Moon,
a planet, star, etc.) you will notice that the
object will begin to move slowly through the
telescopic field of view. This movement is
caused by the rotation of the Earth and makes
an object move through the telescope’s field of
view. To keep astronomical objects centered
in the field, simply move the telescope on
STAR CHARTS
Star charts and planispheres are useful for a variety of
reasons. In particular, they are a great aid in planning a
night of celestial viewing.
A wide variety of star charts are available in books,
in magazines, on the internet and on CD Roms.
Meade offers AutoStar Suite
TM
software. Contact your
local Meade dealer or Meade’s Customer Service
department for more information.
Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines print
star charts each month for up-to-the-minute maps of
the heavens.
13
(c) nimax GmbH
