User manual MEADE MODEL 114EQ-AR

[. . . ] Meade114EQ_AR 4/13/06 4:08 PM Page 1 www. meade. com MEADE INSTRUCTION MANUAL 114mm | 4. 5" Equatorial Reflecting Telescope 114EQ-AR Meade114EQ_AR 4/13/06 4:08 PM Page 2 Meade114EQ_AR INTRODUCTION Your telescope is an excellent beginner's instrument, and is designed to observe objects in the sky. It can be your personal window on the universe. 4/13/06 4:08 PM The telescope is shipped with the following parts: · Optical tube · Aluminum tripod with an accessory tray · Two 1. 25" eyepieces: MA25mm (28X), MH9mm (78X) · Red dot viewfinder with bracket · Telescope mount · Hardware used in the assembly: The tube has a focal length of 900mm, and its reflective mirror has a diameter of 114mm. The lens diameter is one of the most important pieces of information about the telescope. The size of the primary mirror determines how much detail you will be able to see in your telescope. [. . . ] You will probably be able to see a black opening in the rings, known as the Cassini band. Fig. 9 Meade114EQ_AR The first thing you will notice is that not all stars are the same colors. The color of stars sometimes can tell you about the age of a star and the temperature that they burn at. 4/13/06 4:08 PM Page 13 What's Next?Beyond the Solar System: Once you have observed our own system of planets, it's time to really travel far from home and look at stars and other objects. You can observe thousands of stars with your telescope. At first, you may think stars are just pinpoints of light and aren't very interesting. There is much information that is revealed in stars. Saturn is not the only planet that has rings, but it is the only set of rings that can be seen with a small telescope. Jupiter's rings cannot be seen from Earth at all--the Voyager spacecraft discovered the ring after it passed Jupiter and looked back at it. It turns out, only with the sunlight shining through them, can the rings be seen. Optional color filters help bring out detail and contrast of the planets. Meade offers a line of inexpensive color filters. You will also be able to see some nebulas with your scope. The two easiest to see in the Northern Hemisphere are the Almost all the stars you can see in the sky are part of our galaxy. A galaxy is a large grouping of stars, containing millions or even billions of stars. Some galaxies form a spiral (like our galaxy, the Milky Way) and other galaxies look more like a large football and are called elliptical galaxies. There are many galaxies that are irregularly shaped and are thought to have been pulled apart because they passed too close to--or even through--a larger galaxy. You may be able to see the Andromeda galaxy and several others in your telescope. Only very large telescope will reveal spiral or elliptical details. Other stars to look for are multiple stars. Very often, you can find double (or binary) stars, stars that are very close together. Does one seem brighter than the other? Orion nebula during the winter and the Triffid nebula during the summer. These explosions are called supernovas. · · · · · · SURF THE WEB When you become an advanced observer you can look for other types of objects such as asteroids, planetary nebula and globular clusters. And if you're lucky, every so often a bright comet appears in the sky, presenting an unforgettable sight. The more you learn about objects in the sky, the more you will learn to appreciate the The Meade 4M Community: http://www. meade4m. com Sky & Telescope: http://www. skyandtelescope. com Astronomy: http://www. astronomy. com Astronomy Picture of the Day: http://antwrp. gsfc. nasa. goc/apod Photographic Atlas of the Moon: http://www. lpi. ursa. edu/research/lunar_orbiter Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures: http://oposite. stsci. edu/pubinfo/pictures. html 11 Meade114EQ_AR Use a compass to make a circle, or trace around the lid of a jar. The best exercise for drawing is to observe the moons of Jupiter every night or so. [. . . ] 13), you will notice that the out-of-focus star disk image will move across the eyepiece field. Choose one of the 3 primary mirror tilt · To adjust the primary mirror tilt screws (3, Fig. 13), first unscrew several turns the 3 hex-head primary mirror cell locking screws (2, Fig. 13), to allow free turning movement of the tilt knobs. · If the out-of-focus star disk appears elongated (Fig. [. . . ]