Meade Autostar User Manual

1 ETX-Autostar Field Guide Book By Ringo Li Copyright 2002. All rights reserved

10 Precision Time Source Why is the Exact Time important? There are 1440 (24 x 60) minutes in a day while the Earth rotates 360°. That means the Ear

11 Setting Up the Telescope There are two setups for the telescope: the viewfinder and the DEC dial. Viewfinder and the Telescope The viewfinder

12 Setting Up the Telescope The Viewfinder Mounting Problem Aligning the viewfinder to the telescope is to find a distant stationary object, center

13 Setting up the Telescope Aligning the Viewfinder Step-by-step 1) Install the EVAT (the rubber band) on the viewfinder/mount assembly. Make sur

14 Setting up the Telescope Setting Up the DEC dial When the telescope Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) is horizontal, the DEC dial must read 0. It shou

15 Setting Up the Telescope Leveling the Fork Arm in the Polar Alignment Position Leveling the fork arm should be done every time prior to performin

16 Setting Up the Telescope The Telescope HOME Positions There is an option in the Autostar that sets the Mount for ETX telescopes. You can choose

17 Alt/Az Position: The characteristics for the ETX telescope Alt/Az position are: 1) Tripod/telescope base should level. 2) If you are facing nort

18 Setting Up the Telescope Polar Home Position: Step-by-step Setup 1) Set up the latitude of your location on the tripod setup and level the trip

19 If the latitude is set correctly on the tripod, you should see Polaris in the eyepiece. If you have a dial protractor or digital protractor, it

2 Table of Contents The Goal: Consistency, astronomy without frustration. What Gives You Consistency? What affects the ETX-Autostar Observation

20 Setting Up the telescope Alt/Az Home Position Step-by-step: 1) Aim the northern leg of the tripod to the general direction of North. 2) Attach

21 The Tripod The tripod is a very important component of your observation system. The following is my description of a good tripod. 1) Strong and

22 How to Set Up and Level a Tripod Some tripods have a leg marked “North”. Point this leg to the general direction of north. This is also the side

23 Gathering Information Before we start setting up the Autostar, we must gather the needed precision information. Much of the information you will

24 Gathering Information Exact Location If you live in one of the major cites listed in the Autostar, it’s location might be precise enough. Howe

25 Gathering Information Get the Precise Time It is possible to set up the time in the Autostar so that it is within one second of an atomic clock.

26 Figure 14 – Updating the PC clock

27 Synchronize the Autostar Time with Precise Date/Time Once Dimension 4 is installed on your computer, your computer time should now be very precise

28 Gathering Information What is Your Time Zone? If you do not know your time zone, you can check your computer’s clock. Double-click on the clock

29 Gathering Information Magnetic Declination Magnetic Declination Magnetic Declination is the difference or offset between the magnetic north and

3 Telescope/The Autostar Mechanical Electronic Troubleshooting North Where is North? Which North Do You Use? Polaris, the Pole Star, the North

30 Setting up the Autostar The Autostar Keys Basics: ENTER: The ENTER key has two functions - Confirm selection and Sync at current position. Co

31 The Autostar Setup User-entered Information in the Autostar The Autostar must be set up correctly so it can control the telescope precisely. Ther

32 Setting the Longitude Use the number keys to enter the longitude coordinates (generated by the above web site). Press the ENTER key when you are

33 The Autostar Setup Setting Up the Autostar Change/Edit Site Information: 1. Press the MODE key until “Select Item: Object” is displayed. 2. Pr

34 The Autostar Setup Setting the Basic Autostar Telescope Parameters The Autostar is designed for many types of telescopes. Each telescope has its

35 The Autostar Setup Fine-tuning the Autostar Fine-tuning the Autostar for Your Telescope Each telescope has its own mechanical characteristics.

36 The Autostar Setup Fine-tuning the Autostar Train Drive Train Drive is probably the most important telescope-specific setting on the Autostar. T

37 The Autostar Setup Fine-tune the Autostar Train Drive Step-by-step: 1) Level the tripod. 2) Use the arrow keys to center the distant target ob

38 The Autostar Setup Fine-tuning the Autostar The Az/RA and Alt/DEC Percentage Setting This percentage setting compensates for the slack of the dri

39 Telescope/The Autostar Mechanical/Electronic Troubleshooting Here are some of the most common mechanical problems that users encounter: 1) I a

4 The Meade ETX-Autostar Telescope Field Guide The Goal: Consistency, Astronomy without Frustration. I bought a Celestron telescope in 1982 around

40 North There are three Norths: Geological North, Magnetic North, and Celestial North Geological North: The physical North of the axis along which

41 North North alignment How which North you choose affects GOTO? You have a choice of how precise you want your alignment to be. Assuming you hav

42 North Using a Compass The Geological North Pole is not the same at Magnetic North. If fact, the North indicated on a magnetic compass could be

43 North Using a Compass Setting Magnetic Declination In order to obtain an accurate reading from the compass, first, you must determine the Magneti

44 North Using a Compass Using the Compass to Find North on the Telescope 1) Place the telescope in the Alt/Az home position. 2) Place the compass

45 North Celestial Pole Note: if you are using your telescope in the Alt/Az position, you will not need to find NCP or do a NCP offset. All you will

46 North Celestial Pole Where is Kochab? Kochab rotates around the NCP on the opposite side of Polaris. Just like a clock, Kochab rotates to diffe

47 What if Kochab is in between the cardinal points? If Kochab is in between the cardinal points, you can complete the same procedure - put Polaris

48 NCP Offset and Viewfinders Straight-through Viewfinder (8 x 21 mm) Figure 27 - Kochab at the 4 o’clock position Note: The Xs near Polaris in th

49 Offset with a Right-angle Viewfinder (8 x 25mm) Figure 29 - Kochab at the 4 o’clock position Note: The Xs near Polaris in the above picture are

5 What Gives You Consistency? There will be no consistency without precision steps. All of the stars are many light-years away. Therefore, a smal

50 Other Viewfinders For other viewfinders you must first find the field of view from the manufacturer, sub-divide the field of view and offset acco

51 Offset Polaris to North Celestial Pole You must have azimuth (horizontal turn) micro-adjustment on your tripod for this procedure to work. The az

52 Offset Polaris to North Celestial Pole What if I Do Not Have a Right-angle Viewfinder? You must use the eyepiece to offset Polaris to NCP if you

53 Star Alignment Why the Autostar Requires Star Alignment The Autostar stores the coordinates of the stars in its database. It then calculates th

54 Star Alignment Star Alignment Here is a brief description of the Autostar alignment process: The Autostar has two alignment positions (also kn

55 Star Alignment Star Alignment Checklist This is the checklist you should go through before you start the star alignment. You do not want to redo

56 The Autostar Pre-alignment Check Step-by-Step: 1) Press the MODE key until “Object” is displayed. 2) Press the SCROLL down key until “Setup” is

57 Star Alignment Star Alignment Step-by-step Assuming the tripod and telescope are already set up for alignment for the desired telescope mount po

58 Star Alignment Troubleshooting If anything goes wrong, always check the basic setup and information. If your observation system is setup corre

59 Permanent Telescope Stands or Piers You might be asking, “Do I have to go through all these steps to level, offset, and align everything time I ta

6 The ETX-Autostar Observation System The ETX-Autostar Observation System consists of the ETX telescope, the Autostar, and a tripod. The manner in

60 Star Gazing Autostar-Guided Star Gazing Once you have successfully completed all of the setup and alignment procedures, the Autostar and telescop

61 Telescope Eyepieces Magnification/Field of View Chart ETX-60/70 Focal Length Magnification Field of View 26 mm 13.5X 3.9° 20 mm 17.5X 3.0° 15

62 The ETX-The Autostar PC Observation System If you like the GOTO ability of the ETX-Autostar Observation System, you will be interested the ETX-Au

63 WinStars Telescope Control Software Controlling your Meade ETX 90/105/125 EC telescope from your computer I. Downloading and Installing Winstar

64 III. Initializing the Autostar Press the appropriate key sequence to get out of the Warning Message, the Getting Start message, Date, Time, Align

65 VI. Aligning Your Telescope Check all of your basic settings before alignment! If your alignment procedure is NOT precise, it will affect the pr

66 6) Double-right click (not double-left click) on the star on the screen to select the star. Selecting the star put the star in the center of th

67 The ETX/Autostar PDA observation system: The Autostar does not have a graphic interface. PC or PDA have a graphic interface to do point and click

68 The Planetarium for Palm OS PDA Yes, point your stylus on the Palm organizer screen and control the telescope. Point to a Planet, a star, a galaxy

7 The Tripod The tripod is very important in the ETX/Autostar observation system. It must provide a level platform. It must be strong and sturdy to

8 Tools of the Trade These are some of the basic tools that you need to help set up the observation system efficiently: The Flashlight I use a small

9 The digital level Digital levels are more a convenience measure than anything else. They are no more accurate than a regular bubble level. Howeve