Meade Autostar User Manual download pdf (Page 4)

The Meade ETX-Autostar Telescope Field Guide

The Goal: Consistency, Astronomy without Frustration.

I bought a Celestron telescope in 1982 around the time that Comet Haley flew close enough for

us to see it in the night sky. It was a telescope with a 3” refracting lens. I used it to view Comet

Haley, the Moon, and even the planets Saturn and Jupiter. I became fascinated, so I bought

several books on astronomy. Eventually, my interest died down for several reasons. One of

which was the telescope. It was a very poorly made telescope. There was free-play everywhere

and accuracy was not precise. Additionally, the telescope’s instructions were badly written and

unhelpful. I was lucky just to get the viewfinder aligned with the telescope. Using the telescope

caused so much frustration that it was no longer worth the trouble to use. Before long, the

telescope was put in the corner to collect dust.

I have always wanted an ETX-90 ever since it was released into the market. After reading about

it magazines for years, the ETX-90EC came out with the Autostar. I thought, “Wow! That is

NICE!” The price was a little high, so I didn’t buy one right away. I waited for a few years to see

if the price would drop. The price remained the same, mostly, but its quality improved. Then last

year, the price finally did drop and I bought an ETX-90EC.

I bought the telescope, the tripod, hard-case and some other accessories, totaling almost a

thousand dollars. I was excited. Unfortunately, much like my first telescope, the instructions

included with it (and its accessories) were poor. As such, I had trouble getting it to function as

advertised. To make matters worse, there was no one to ask for support. Needless to say,

frustration overcame my initial excitement.

But I persisted. I had spent too much money on the equipment to simply give up. I decided to go

online to search for some help. Eventually, I found just about everything that I needed. With the

new information, I figured out how to make everything work and developed an entire system that

is precise, consistent, and easy to use.

I have organized and compiled all of the information that I have gathered from the Internet in

addition to my hard learning experience to achieve the goal: Consistent astronomy without

frustration. That is what this book is all about. With this book, you’ll be just a few minutes away

from star glazing

This guide is not meant to replace the official Meade manuals that are originally included with the

telescope, the Autostar, and tripod. As brief and unorganized as those original manuals are, they

still serve as a good reference. This guide is to supplement those manuals in the areas that are

only briefly mentioned or are not integrated with each other.

Even though this book was written initially for the ETX/Autostar (#497) telescopes, most of the

information here applies to all Meade Autostar-controlled telescopes. For example, the precision

principle applies to all telescopes, not just those made by Meade. The DS-xxxEC series of

telescopes operate only in the Alt/Az mode; the Polar alignment portion will not apply, otherwise

the DS-xxxEC telescope will operate precisely in all GOTO commands using my setup/alignment

procedures.

My Observation System:

Other than the ETX-90EC, I later bought a ETX-125EC and a DS-60EC. The DS-60EC was for

my son. The plan was to sell the ETX-90EC after I finished with this book and keep the ETX-

125EC.

DS-60EC with #494 Autostar

ETX-90EC with #497 Autostar, electric focuser

ETX-125EC with #497 Autostar, right-angle viewfinder

Eyepieces: 40 mm, 26 mm, 18 mm, 9.8 mm, 2X Barlow

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Meade Autostar User Manual Page 4

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