Meade Instruments Infinity 80mm
Contents
1. oO E i Do c 3 MEADE INSTRUCTION MANUAL 80mm 3 1 90mm 3 5 Alt azimuth Refracting Telescope INFINITY SERI ES 102mm 4 0 80 90 102mm Telescopes WARNING Never use a Meade telescope to look at the Sun Looking at or near the Sun will cause instant and irreversible damage to your eye Eye damage is often painless so there is no warning to the observer that damage has occurred until it is too late Do not point the telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope or viewfinder as it is moving Children should always have adult supervision while observing INTRODUCTION Your telescope is an excellent beginner s instrument and is designed to observe objects in the sky and also on land It can be your personal window on the universe or allows you to intimately study the behavior of nesting birds on a distant hillside The telescope is shipped with the following parts Optical tube Alt azimuth mount with slow motion con trols e Stainless Steel tripod with accessory tray Three 1 25 eyepieces MA26mm MA9mm MA6 3mm 90 degree erect image diagonal prism 2X Barlow e Red dot viewfinder with bracket The Infinity series of telescopes come in sev eral sizes apertures of optical tubes The heart of the optical tubes is the front lens It collects and focuses the incoming light from distant objects The lens diameter is one of the most important pieces of i2. but bright and well resolved image is far superior to one that is larger but dim and poorly resolved Powers above 400x should be employed only under the steadiest atmospheric conditions first time you go out at night Pick a night when the Moon is a crescent No shadows are seen during a full Moon making it ap pear flat and uninteresting Look for different features on the Moon The most obvious features are craters In fact you can see craters within craters Some craters have bright lines about them These are called rays and are the result of material thrown out of the crater when it was struck by acolliding object The dark areas on the Moon are called maria and are composed of lava from the period when the Moon still had volcanic activity You can also see mountain ranges and fault lines on the Moon Use a neutral density filter often called a moon filter when observing the Moon Neutral density filters are available from Me ade as an optional accessory and enhance contrast to improve your observation of lunar features Spend several nights observing the Moon Some nights the Moon is so bright that it makes other objects in the sky difficult to see These are nights that are excellent for lunar observation Observe the Solar System After observing the Moon you are ready to step up to the next level of observation the planets There are four planets that you can easily observe in your telescope Venus Mars J
3. not look through the telescope as it is moving into the viewfinder and power on OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES Additional Eyepieces 1 25 barrel diameter For higher or lower magnifications with the telescopes that accommodate 1 25 eyepieces Meade Series 4000 Super Plossl eyepieces Push side here to open battery compartment CR2032 battery compartment available in a wide variety of sizes provide a high level of image resolution and color correction at an economical price Contact your Meade Dealer or see the Meade catalog for more information Visit us on the web at www meade com OBSERVING TIPS Try to pick an observing site away from street and house lights and car headlights While this is not always possible the darker the site the better Give your eyes about ten minutes to adjust to the darkness before observing Give your eyes a rest from observing every ten or fifteen minutes to relieve eyestrain Try not to use a standard flashlight Experienced observers use red LED flash lights the red utility light on the Autostar handbox or tape red cello phane over their flashlights to use for setup and map reading so they don t have to continually readjust their eyes to the darkness Be careful not to shine bright lights if there are other observers in the area Do not shine a flashlight into the telescope while someone is observing Dress warmly It gets chilly when you re sitting for prolonged periods of tim
4. of this procedure during the daytime and the last step at night 1 Point the telescope at an easy to find land object such as the top of a tele phone pole or a distant mountain or tower SE SUN WARNING not have a locking knob and can be Look through the eyepiece in and turn the UN NEVER USE YOUR TELESCOPE moved at any time focuser knob 21 until the image is sharp 3 Once an object is found re tighten ly focused Center the object precisely in TO LOOK AT THE SUN the horizontal lock knob 5 You can the eyepiece s field of view LOOKING AT OR NEAR THE SUN WILL CAUSE then rotate the slow motion controls 2 Turn on the red dot viewfinder by rotating INSTANT AND IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO YOUR 11 amp 12 to make smooth and precise the large knob under the viewfinder lens EYE EYE DAMAGE IS OFTEN PAINLESS SO movements and follow or track an ob clockwise 10 Turn the knob to adjust the THERE IS NO WARNING TO THE OBSERVER THAT ject horizontally and vertically as it moves intensity of the red dot as desired DAMAGE HAS OCCURRED UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE in the eyepiece 3 Look through the viewfinder Turn one or DO NOT POINT THE TELESCOPE OR ITS VIEW both of the viewfinder s alignment screws FINDER AT OR NEAR THE SUN DO NOT LOOK THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE 3 until the red dot is precisely over the THROUGH THE TELESCOPE OR ITS VIEWFINDER we have one very important rule that you same object as you centered in the eye AS IT IS MOVING CHILD
5. see the object It will be easier to locate an object using the viewfinder rather than locating with the eyepiece Line up the object using the viewfinders red dot Look through the eyepiece Once you have the object lined up in the viewfind er look through the optical tube s eye piece If you have aligned your viewfinder you will see the object in your eyepiece Focus Look through the eyepiece and prac N Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving tice focusing on the object you have chosen Try out the coarse and fine adjustment controls Practice using the fine adjustment control 11 amp 12 to move the telescope These can come in very handy especially when you wish to move the telescope in very small fine control steps Observe the Moon When you feel comfort able with the viewfinder the eyepieces the locks and the adjustment controls you will be ready to try out the telescope at night The Moon is the best object to observe the TOO MUCH POWER Can you ever have too much power If the type of power you re referring to is eyepiece magnification yes you can The most common mistake of the beginning observer is to overpower a telescope by using high magnifications which the telescope s aperture and atmospheric conditions cannot reasonably support Keep in mind that a smaller
6. sights in the universe are but that s OK Just point and observe at first You will enjoy your telescope even more as you learn more about it But don t be scared off by difficult terms or complicated proce dures Don t panic Just relax and enjoy your Scope You will begin to grow and learn more about astronomy the more you observe Browse the internet or go to the library and read some books about the stars and planets Read about astronomers of old Many of them had telescopes no bigger than the one you are using right now Galileo who is one of the first astronomers to use a telescope discovered four of the moons of Jupiter with a telescope about the same size as yours and his didn t even focus very welll OBSERVING Observe during the daytime Try out your telescope during the daytime at first It is easier to learn how it operates and how to observe when it is light Pick out an easy object to observe A dis tant mountain a large tree a lighthouse or skyscraper make excellent targets Point the optical tube so it lines up with your object Unlock the lock knob To move the tele scope horizontally you will need to unlock the horizontal lock knob just rotate to unlock or lock when locking only tighten to a firm feel do not over tighten Use the viewfinder If you have not done so align the viewfinder 2 with the telescope s eyepiece 1 as described earlier Look through the viewfinder until you can
7. sometimes called gas giants If they Meade Factoid Jupiter s four brightest moons are easily visible in a telescope When Galileo Galilei first observed them rotating around Jupiter in 1610 he saw proof that the earth wasn t the center of everything in the universe as many then supposed had grown much bigger they may have become stars Pluto is made mostly of ice Jupiter is quite interesting to observe You can see bands across the face of Jupiter The more time you spend observing these bands the more details you will be able to see One of the most fascinating sights of Jupiter are its moons The four largest moons are called the Galilean moons after the as tronomer Galileo who observed them for the first time If you ve never watched the Galilean moons in your telescope before Meade Factoid Saturn s rings of ice dust and gas are huge and small at the same time The main rings are so large they could almost reach from the earth to the moon But they are only about a half of a mile just a few city blocks wide you re missing a real treat Each night the moons appear in different positions around the Jovian sky This is sometimes called the Galilean dance On any given night you might be able to see the shadow of a moon on the face of Jupiter see one moon eclipse another or even see a moon emerge from behind Jupiter s giant disk Drawing the posi tions of the moons each night is
8. table to find out your telescopes focal Meade Factoid The Sun is gigantic It would take 109 earths side by side to make up the diameter of the sun and 1 3 million Earth s to fill its volume Yet due to distance the Sun looks exactly the same size as the moon in our sky length Objective lens diameter is how big the front lens is on your scope Telescopes are always described by how large their objec tive lens is Depending on your telescope model the lens diameter is either 80mm 90 or 102mm Other telescopes are 50mm 8 inches 16 inches or even 3 feet in diameter The Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving Hubble Space Telescope s objective lens has a diameter of 2 4 meters that s 7 8 feet across The focal ratio helps determine how fast the photographic speed of a telescope is The lower the focal ratio number the faster the exposure f 5 is faster than f 10 The faster the ratio the shorter the exposure time is needed when a camera is hooked up to the telescope For example the Infinity 80 tele scope has fast focal ratio at f 5 Sometimes astronomers use focal reducers to make slow exposure telescopes have faster focal ratios Alt azimuth mounting simply means your telescope moves up and down altitude or alt and side to side azimuth or az Other mo
9. REN SHOULD ALWAYS should always follow when using your tele piece HAVE ADULT SUPERVISION WHILE OBSERVING scope 4 Check this alignment at night on a ce 1 Wi a lestial object such as the Moon or la ve I a bright star and use the viewfinder s ing that your telescope moves up and down alignment screws to make any necessary eli ee Toy reinemente 1 To move the telescope in the horizontal 5 When finished turn off the viewfinder p a p THE MEADE 4M COMMUNITY direction azimuth slightly loosen the by turning the large knob 10 under the lens eodhtericlociw senti it horizontal lock knob 5 Loosening this lock You haven t just bought a telescope you have em clicks ES 2 x side hetei T tical di membership in the 4M community of astronomers To move the telescope in the vertical direc TO MOVE THE TELESCOPE tion altitude use the pan handle on the Go to www Meade4M com to activate your membership Your telescope is alt azimuth mounted rear of the mount to make coarse adjust Alt azimuth is just a complicated way of say ments Note the vertical direction does Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving Have a good time when you re observ ing You may not know everything that there is to know about a telescope or what all the
10. an excellent exercise for novice astronomers Any small telescope can see the four Gal ilean moons of Jupiter Fig 6 plus a few others but how many moons does Jupiter actually have No one knows for sure Nor are we sure how many Saturn has either At last count Jupiter had over 60 moons and held a small lead over Saturn Most of these moons are very small and can only be seen with very large telescopes Probably the most memorable sight you will see in your telescope is Saturn Although you may not see many features on the surface of Saturn its ring structure will steal your breath away You will probably be able to see a black opening in the rings known as Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving the Cassini band 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 Uranus and Neptune also have faint rings Optional color filters help bring out detail and contrast of the planets Meade offers a line of inexpensive color filters What s Next Beyond the Solar System Once you have observed our own system o
11. cal library The internet contains a huge amount of astronomical information both for children and adults Check out astronomy books from your library Look for star charts these are available on a monthly basis in Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines ASTRONOMY RESOURCES The Meade 4M Community 27 Hubble Irvine CA 92618 Astronomical League Executive Secretary 5675 Real del Norte Las Cruces NM 88012 The Astronomical Society of the Pacific 390 Ashton Ave San Francisco CA 94112 The Planetary Society 65 North Catalina Ave Pasadena CA 91106 International Dark Sky Association Inc 3225 N First Avenue Tucson AZ 85719 2103 HAVE A GOOD TIME ASTRONOMY IS FUN SPECIFICATIONS Infinity 80 model Objective lens diameter Optical tube focal length Focal ratio Mounting type Viewfinder Infinity 90 model Objective lens diameter Optical tube focal length 80mm 3 2 400mm f 5 Alt azimuth Red dot 90mm 3 5 600mm Focal ratio f 6 7 Mounting type Alt azimuth Viewfinder Red dot Infinity 102 model Objective lens diameter 102 1 4 0 Optical tube focal length 600mm Focal ratio f 5 9 Mounting type Alt azimuth Viewfinder Red dot What do the specifications mean Optical tube focal length is the distance light travels in the telescope before being brought to focus in you eyepiece Depending on the telescope model the focal length is either 400mm or 600mm long Look at the specifi cation
12. cope Public Pictures http oposite stsci edu pubinfo pictures html in your eyepiece inside the circle 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 are the different kinds of nebula what are comets asteroids and meteors and what is a black hole The more you learn about astronomy the more fun and the more rewarding your telescope will become SOME OBSERVING TIPS Eyepieces Always begin your observa tions 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 You can also change magnification by using a Barlow lens The Barlow lens included with your telescope doubles the power of your telescope Place the Barlow
13. e Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving Meade w leirel e Just below the constellation Orion s famous belt of three stars in the middle of his sword is The Great Orion Nebula This wonderful telescope target is really a cosmic star factory where a glowing gas cloud surrounds hot young stars 2014 Meade Instruments Corp OBSERVATION LOG OBSERVER OBJECT Na AX DATE amp TIME OBSERVED CONSTELLATION EYEPIECE SIZE SEEING CONDITIONS EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES DRAWING OF IMAGE photocopy this page O z O hu E CO CO NI op Ke NI Ko 92619
14. f 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 But look again There is much information that is revealed in stars The first thing you will notice is that not all stars are the same colors See if you can find blue orange yellow white and red stars The color of stars sometimes can tell you about the age of a star and the temperature that they burn at Other stars to look for are multiple stars Very often you can find double or binary stars stars that are very close together These stars orbit each other What do you notice about these stars Are they different colors Does one seem brighter than the other 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 They will appear as small fuzzy clouds Only very large telescope will reveal spiral or ell
15. g brace supports 9 then remove ATTACH THE SLOW MOTION CONTROLS The slow motion control cables 11 amp 12 allow you to make fine adjustments to the pointing position of the optical tube When viewing objects in the night sky you will notice that the object moves slowly in the eyepiece This is caused by the Earths rotation Use the slow motion controls to follow or track these Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving objects as you observe Note that each axis has its own slow motion control which is independently controlled To install attach the flexible cables 11 amp 12 to the mount as shown in Fig 3 The cables are secured in place with a firm tightening of the thumbscrews located at the attachment ends of each cable ow motion cable ATTACH THE OPTICAL TUBE TO THE MOUNT The optical tube gathers distant light which is focused in the eyepiece It attaches to the mount using the optical tube attaching knob 24 and dovetail mounting rail 6 1 To attach the optical tube first locate the threaded hole on the bottom side of the dovetail mounting rail 6 Fig 4 2 Using the optical tube attaching knob 24 place the dovetail onto the top of the mount lining up the threaded Vounting ho 65 Viounting screw Attachment knob 24 hole near the center of t
16. he dovetail rail 3 Turn the optical tube attachment knob 24 counter clockwise until firm 4 To remove the optical tube first support the optical tube in one hand Next turn the attachment knob 24 clockwise until the OTA detaches from the mount ATTACH THE VIEWFINDER An eyepiece 1 has a narrow field of view The included viewfinder 2 has a wider field of view and red dot to make it even easier to locate the viewing object The red dot viewfinder also comes with an easy to install dovetail bracket 1 To install the red dot viewfinder slide the viewfinder bracket into the dovetail adapter Fig 5 2 Next secure the viewfinder in place with the single locking knob ATTACH THE DIAGONAL PRISM AND EYEPIECE The erect image diagonal prism reflects the light from the optical tube to a more com fortable viewing position It also corrects the Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving image orientation so the image is right side up and correct left to right 1 To install slide the diagonal prism 13 into the focuser draw tube 15 2 Tighten the draw tube thumbscrew to hold the diagonal prism securely 15 3 Next slide the MA 26mm eyepiece 1 into diagonal prism 4 Tighten the diagonal prism thumbscrew to hold the eyepiece securely ALIGN THE VIEWFINDER Perform the first part
17. into the eye piece holder before you insert the eyepiece Meade offers a complete line of eyepieces and Barlows for your telescope Most astron omers 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 tele scopess field of view To keep astronomical Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving objects centered in the field simply move the telescope on one or both of its axes vertically and or horizontally as needed try using the telescopes coarse and fine adjust ment controls 11 amp 12 At higher powers astronomical objects will seem to move through the field of view of the eyepiece more rapidly Place the object to be viewed at the edge of the field and without touching the tele scope watch it drift through the field to the other side before repositioning the telescope so that the object to be viewed is again STAR CHARTS Star charts and planispheres are useful for a variety of reasons In particular they are a great aid in p
18. iptical details You will also be able to see some nebulas with your scope Nebula means cloud Most nebulas are clouds of gas The two easiest to see in the Northern Hemisphere are the Orion nebula during the winter and the Triffid nebula during the summer These are large clouds of gas in which new stars are being born Some nebulas are the remains of stars exploding These explosions are called supernovas When you become an advanced observer you can look for other types of objects such Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving 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 sights you see in your telescope Start a notebook and write down the observations you make each night Note the time and the date Use a compass to make a circle or trace around the lid of a jar Draw what you see SURF THE WEB The Meade 4M Community http www meade4m com Sky amp 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 Teles
19. lanning 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 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 placed at the edge of the field ready to be further observed Vibrations Avoid touching the eyepiece while observing through the telescope Vibra tions resulting from such contact will cause the image to move Avoid observing sites where vibrations cause image movement for example near railroad tracks Viewing from the upper floors of a building may also cause image movement Let your eyes dark adapt Allow five or ten minutes for your eyes to become dark adapted before observing Use a red fil tered flashlight to protect your night vision when reading star maps or inspecting the telescope Do not use a regular flash light or turn on other lights when observing with a group of other astronomers You can make your own red filtered flashlight by taping red cellophane over a flashlight lens Viewing through windows Avoid setting up the telescope inside a room and observ ing through an opened or closed window pane Images may appear blurred or distort ed due to temperature differences between inside and outside air Also it is a go
20. nformation about the telescope The size of the objective lens determines how much detail you will be able to see in your telescope Each optical tube also has a focal length which is the distance the light travels inside the optical tube before it comes to focus The focal length information is also important and will help later on to calculate magnifica tion Setting up your telescope involves these simple steps e Setting up your tripod e Attach the accessory tray Attach the slow motion controls e Attach the optical tube to the mount Attach the viewfinder Attach the diagonal prism and eyepiece Align the viewfinder Study the picture on the next page and become acquainted with the parts of your telescope Then proceed to Setting up your tripod ee quem Des 18 19 20 21 Red dot viewfinder power switch Azimuth slow motion control knob Altitude slow motion control knob 90 degree erect image prism Objective lens cell Focuser drawtube and thumbscrews Alt azimuth mount Adjustable sliding center leg extension Focusing knob 22 23 24 25 FIGU RE Figure 1 Meade Infinity Alt azimuth Refracting Telescope Accessory Tray Assembly Tripod Leg Viewfinder Assembly Inset A Inset B Eyepiece Inset C Viewfinder see Inset C Viewfinder alignment screws 2 see Inset C Optical tube assembly Horizontal lock knob Dovetail mounting rail Tripod legs Accesso
21. o find out if there s a club in your area Many groups also hold regularly scheduled Star Parties at which you can check out and observe with many different telescopes and other pieces of astronomical equipment Magazines such as Sky and Telescope and Astronomy print schedules for many popular Star Parties around the United States and Canada e Fingerprints and organic materials on the front lens may be removed with a solution of 3 parts distilled water to 1 part isopropyl alcohol You may also add 1 drop of biodegradable dishwashing soap per pint of solution Use soft white facial tissues and make short gentle strokes Change tissues often CAUTION Do not use scented or lotioned tissues or damage could result to the optics DO NOT use a commercial photographic lens cleaner CHANGING THE VIEWFINDER BATTERY If the viewfinder red dot does not illumi nate verify the viewfinder is on by rotating the knob 10 below the viewfinder lens clockwise If the red dot does not illumi nate the battery may need replacing To replace the battery press the left side of the viewfinder housing labeled push The battery compartment will slide out on the right side of the viewfinder see Fig Replace the battery with a Lithium CR2032 battery with the positive side up Then push the battery compartment back Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do
22. od idea to allow your telescope to reach the ambient Surrounding outside temperature before starting an observing session When to observe Planets and other objects viewed low on the horizon often lack sharpness the same object when ob served higher in the sky will appear sharper and have greater contrast Try reducing power change your eyepiece if your image is fuzzy or shimmers Keep in mind that a bright clear but smaller image is more interesting than a larger dimmer fuzzy one Using too high a power eyepiece is one of the most common mistakes made by new astronomers Dress Warm Even on summer nights the air can feel cool or cold as the night wears on It is important to dress warm or to have a sweater jacket gloves etc nearby Know your observing site If possible know the location where you will be observ ing Pay attention to holes in the ground and other obstacles Is it a location where wild animals such as skunks snakes etc may appear Are there viewing obstructions such as tall trees street lights headlights and so forth The best locations are dark Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving locations the darker the better Deep space objects are easiest to see under dark skies But it is still possible to observe even in a city Surf the Web and visit your lo
23. ry tray Leg brace see Inset B Tripod leg lock thumbscrew see Inset B Dew shield lens shade Front lens cap not shown Viewfinder bracket see Inset C Viewfinder bracket locking knob see Fig 5 Optical tube attachment knob Focuser lock knob SETTING UP YOUR TRIPOD The tripod is the basic support for your tele scope and comes pre assembled from the factory except for the accessory tray The tripod height may be adjusted so that you can view comfortably Note Number in brackets e g 3 refer to the item numbers in Fig 1 1 To setup the tripod spread the legs out evenly and place it on a solid surface 2 Set the height of your tripod a Rotate and loosen the leg lock thumb screw 18 to unlock the leg lock b Slide the inner portion of the leg 17 in or out to the desired length Repeat for the other two legs c Rotate and tighten the leg lock thumb screw to re lock the leg lock d Repeat for the other two legs ATTACH THE ACCESSORY TRAY The accessory tray attaches at the center of the tripod legs and is a convenient place to hold eyepieces and other Meade accessories while observing such as the Barlow lens To attach place the hole in the center of the accessory tray over the attachment point as shown in Fig 2 Then rotate the tray until the wings of the tray snap into place on the tripod leg brace supports 9 To remove the tray rotate the tray so it unlocks from the le
24. the 26mm low power eye piece magnifies an object 23 times Multiply 23 by 2 and you get 46 times magnification with a Barlow It s worth repeating Keep in mind that a bright clear but smaller image is more interesting than a larger dimmer fuzzy one Using too high a power eyepiece is one of the most common mistakes made by new astronomers So don t think that higher magnification is necessarily better quite often the best view is with lower magnifica tion value TAKING CARE OF YOUR TELESCOPE Your telescope is a precision optical instru Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving ment designed for a lifetime of reward ing viewing It will rarely if ever require factory servicing or maintenance Follow these guidelines to keep your telescope in the best condition Avoid cleaning the telescope s lenses A little dust on the front surface of the telescope s correcting lens will not cause loss of image quality e When absolutely necessary dust on the front lens should be removed with very gentle strokes of a camel hair brush or blown off with an ear syringe available at most pharmacies JOIN AN ASTRONOMY CLUB ATTEND A STAR PARTY One of the best ways to increase your knowledge of astronomy is to join an astronomy club Check your local newspaper school library or telescope dealer store t
25. unting configurations are available for other telescopes such as equatorial mounting USE THE SPECIFICATIONS TO CALCU LATE THE MAGNIFICATION OF YOUR EYEPIECE The power of a telescope is how much it magnifies objects For an Infinity 90 the 26mm eyepiece magnifies an object 23 1 times The 9mm eyepiece magnifies objects 66 7 times If you obtain other eyepieces you can calcu late how much magnification they have with your telescope Just divide the focal length of the telescope by the focal length of the eyepiece Focal Length of the Telescope Focal Length of the Eyepiece Magnification Look at the specifications For the Infinity 90 you will see that the focal length of this scope is 600mm Let s say that you have obtained a 13mm eyepiece You can tell that what the focal length of your eyepiece is as itis always printed on the side of an eye piece Divide 600 13 which equals 46 15 Round this off to the nearest whole number and the new 13mm eyepiece magnifies objects 46 times A great accessory for your telescope is a Barlow lens If you use a Barlow lens with one of your eyepieces it doubles the magnification of your eyepiece Other types of Barlows can triple or further increase the power of an eyepiece To find out how much the magnification is when you use a Barlow multiply your eyepiece s magnification by two Eyepiece s magnification x 2 Magnification with a 2X Barlow lens For the Infinity 90
26. upiter and Saturn Nine planets maybe more travel in a fairly circular pattern around our Sun Any system of planets orbiting one or more stars is called a solar system Our Sun by the way is a single yellow dwarf star It is average as far as stars go and is a middle aged star Beyond the planets are clouds of comets icy planetoids and other debris left over from the birth of our sun Recently astronomers have found large objects in this area and they may increase the number of planets in our solar system The four planets closest to the Sun are rocky and are called the inner planets Mercury Venus Earth and Mars comprise the inner planets Venus and Mars can be easily seen in your telescope Venus is seen before dawn or after sunset because it is close to the Sun You can Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun Do not look through the telescope as it is moving observe Venus going through crescent phases But you cannot see any surface detail on Venus because it has a very thick atmosphere of gas When Mars is close to the Earth you can see some details on Mars and sometimes even Mars polar caps But quite often Mars is further away and just appears as a red dot with some dark lines crisscrossing it Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune and Pluto comprise the outer planets These planets except for Pluto are made mostly of gases and are
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