Meade Max 20 Acf Instruction Manual 14 7753 00 0806REV_B Mnl_2

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2015-05-15

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Instruction Manual

20" MAX-ACF Advanced Coma-Free Telescope on MAX Robotic

German Equatorial Mount

MEADE.COM

DANGER

Read this manual carefully before

attempting to assemble the

MAX-ACF mount and attaching the

OTA. Follow steps as outlined in

this manual in order to assemble

the telescope safely.

Failure to follow steps may result

in injury or death, and/or damage

to the telescope and mount.

Telescope Features ...................................................... 4

Autostar II Features ........................................................11

Assembly ........................................................................14

Tripod Assembly........................................................14

Pedestal Assembly and Adjusting Latitude ..............14

RA Assembly ............................................................16

Dec Saddle Assembly ..............................................16

Attach Counterweights..............................................18

Low Latitude Counterweights....................................18

Attach OTA to Dec Saddle ........................................20

Attach Autostar II ......................................................21

Electrical connections, Align Viewfinder with OTA ....22

Home Position and Balancing the OTA ..........................23

Balance RA Axis ......................................................23

Balance Dec Axis......................................................24

Getting Started ..............................................................25

Attach Handbox Holder ............................................25

Mounting, Focusing & Aligning the Viewfinder..........25

Focusing the Telescope ............................................25

To Change Focus Speed ....................................25

To Focus the Eyepiece ........................................26

Presets ................................................................26

To Define a Preset ............................................26

To Focus with a Microfocuser............................26

To Focus the MAX-ACF and a Microfocuser ....26

To Select a Preset ............................................27

To Sync on a Preset ..........................................27

Slew Speeds ..................................................................27

To Align for the First Time ..............................................28

Automatic Alignment ................................................28

Drift Align ..................................................................29

Collimation ................................................................29

Align the OTA ............................................................30

Calibrate Home ........................................................31

Basic Autostar II Operation ............................................32

Autostar II Menus ........................................................34

Menu Tree ................................................................34

Objects Menu............................................................35

Event Menu ..............................................................36

Glossary Menu, Utilities Menu ..................................36

Setup Menu ..............................................................38

Hot Button Menus ....................................................41

Advanced Autostar II Features ......................................42

Adding Observing Sites ............................................42

Creating User Objects ..............................................43

Observing Satellites..................................................44

Identify ......................................................................44

Browse ......................................................................45

Alternate Polar Alignment Methods ..........................46

To Download the Latest Autostar II Software............46

Periodic Error Correction ..........................................47

Optional Accessories......................................................48

Maintenance ..................................................................51

Specifications ................................................................52

Meade Consumer Solutions ..........................................53

Appendix A: Latitude Chart ............................................54

Appendix B: The Moon ..................................................55

Appendix C: Smart Mount ..............................................56

Appendix D: How to Read the Latitude Scale ................58

CONTENTS

WARNING!

Never use a Meade®MAX-

ACF™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 or its

viewfinder at or near the

Sun. Do not look through

the telescope or its

viewfinder as it is moving.

Children should always have

adult supervision while

observing.

® The names "Autostar," "Meade" and the Meade logo are

trademarks registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark

Office and in principal countries throughout the world.

"MAX-ACF" is a trademark of Meade Instruments

Corporation.

Patents:

US 6,304,376

US 6,392,799

US 6,563,636

D 422,610

Patent Pending.

If you have never focused a

MAX-ACF telescope before,

go to pages 25 to 27 for

detailed information.

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.

TELESCOPE FEATURES

Components of MAX

MAX features a unique modular design that allows a couple of

individuals to assemble, either permanently or transportably, a

mount twice the size of any other commercially available mount.

The mount breaks down into a Portable Pier (tripod), Pedestal,

RA Housing Assembly, and DEC Housing assembly. Together all

of the components and an OTA assembly fit easily into a station

wagon, SUV, minivan or small truck. When assembled, quick

release, but rock solid, dovetail plates allow OTA and instrument

packages up to 250 lbs to be quickly mounted and de-mounted.

Tripod

Counterweight

Assembly

Low Latitude

Counterweight

Assembly

[Optional:

Required if within

20° of the

Equator]

Declination

Housing

Assembly

Housing

Assembly

Eyepiece

Assembly

Pedestal

Assembly

Viewfinder

Assembly

Optical Tube

Assembly

(OTA)

Note:

Your telescope and

mount may look

slightly different

from the one shown

in some of the

images in this

manual. However,

your telescope will

still operate as the

one described in

this manual.

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.

Pedestal Assembly

MAX's Pedestal assembly can be configured to

cover three latitude ranges without the need of

disassembly. Together, the three ranges allow

the mount to operate anywhere on the planet.

PEDESTAL

(WEDGE)

ASSEMBLY

RA Lock

Knob

Latitude

Lock

Knobs (x4)

Dovetail

Ejector

Knob

Azimuth

Lock

Knobs (x5)

Azimuth

Adjustment

Knob

Latitude

Range

Bolts (8x)

Latitude

Scale

Azimuth

Adjust

Knob

Latitude

Adjust

Knob

Dovetail

Ejector

Knobs (2)

RA Female

Dovetail

Tripod/Pier

Interface

Plate

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.

Right Ascension Housing Assembly

The RA Housing mates to the Pedestal easily,

sliding firmly into a dovetail block that measures

over 100 square inches. When locked in place,

this broad footprint assures that your mount will

operate as a single rigid block delivering accu-

rate and repeatable pointing and tracking per-

formance. The RA Housing contains Meade's

patented Autostar II telescope control system, a

massive 13.625" pitch diameter worm gear

attached to a 3.84” diameter 6061-T6511 alu-

minum alloy main shaft supported by one 6020

Ball bearing (5.9055 OD x 3.9370 ID x 0.9449

wide) & one 6013 ball bearing (3.9370 OD x

2.5591 ID x 0.7090 wide) .

THE RA

ASSEMBLY

Declination

Lock

Knobs

Declination

Safety

Lock

Declination

Female

Dovetail

(not visible, on bottom side)

DB-25 connector

RA Male Dovetail

Control Panel

(see page 10)

Low Latitude

Counterweight plug

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.

Declination Housing Assembly

The Dec Housing mates to the RA Housing

using another huge dovetail block. The RA

Housing, DEC Housing and Pedestal are all

designed to allow you to track more than 6

degrees past meridian without interference.

This mount will let you cover the whole sky. In

addition to accepting quick change dovetail

plates, MAX has two generous wing mount plat-

forms that will allow you to attach guide scopes,

piggy back cameras, short focal length refractors

and a wide variety of secondary instruments

without interfering with Max's "all sky" design.

DEC

ASSEMBLY

DB-25 connector

Accessory

Wings (2x)

OTA Lock

Knobs (2x)

OTA Safety Lock

OTA

Female

Dovetail

Dec

Balance

Hard Stop

Bolt

Saddle

Panel

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.

Counterweights

The MAX counterweights are beautifully

crafted with sure locking, but quick

release, buttons. They allow you to quick-

ly locate balance so you can get back to

work.

MAX Tripod

The MAX-ACF tripod can be transported or permanently installed. It provides a wide stance to assure that it can safely

carry MAX's massive payload in all orientations, but still collapses down to a size that is easy to handle. Its design

assures that despite its wide stance, it will not interfere with optical systems observing on the meridian. Like Max, it sets

up, knocks down, and adjusts without the need of tools.

THE TRIPOD

THE COUNTER-

WEIGHTS

course adjustment

lock lever

Safety Cap

Adjustable

Counterweights

Fixed

Counterweights

(2)

Matching

Slots

Fixed

Counterweight

Knobs (8)

Counterweight

Shaft

Counterweight

Quick Release

Buttons

fine adjustment

turnbuckle

pedestal attachment lever

Optical Tube Assembly

MAX-ACF is delivered with a 20” Advanced Coma-Free™ Optical

Tube Assemblie. Its 20” OTA integrates seamlessly with MAX-ACF

German Equatorial Mount. Together you get pinpoint stars from

Meade's unique Advanced Coma-Free optical system:

• Zero expansion carbon fiber body

• Advanced Coma-Free optics

• Electronic Collimation

• Integrated Dew Heater

• OTA fan for quick cool down

• Digital Electronic Focus with Presets

THE OTA

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.

Dust Cover

Star

Diagonal

Eyepiece

Accessory

Adapter

OTA Alignment

Bolts

(concentric)

Visual

Back

OTA

Panel

OTA

Male

Dovetail

Viewfinder

Optical

Tube

Assembly

(OTA)

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.

Off/On USB Port AUX port

12vDC In

12VDC

Switched

12VDC

Switched

Out

HBX port

(Handbox

port)

Serial port

USB Ports

Reticle Port Focuser

HBX port

Auto Guider

Smart Accessory Ports

CONTROL

PANELS

AND PORTS

RA ASSEMBLY

CONTROL

PANEL

SADDLE

CONTROL

PANEL

RA TO DEC

JUMPER CABLE

BETWEEN OTA

AND SADDLE

PANEL

(may use either of

the Smart

Accessory ports)

Fig. 2: The Autostar II Handbox.

Tour the Cosmos with Just the Push of a Button

Control of MAX-ACF telescope is through the operation of the standard Autostar II

system. Nearly all functions of the telescope are accomplished with just a few push-

es of Autostar II’s buttons.

Because the Autostar II system uses flash (rewritable) memory, your system will be

able to grow when new features and enhancements become available. Download the

latest satellite data, star and object catalogs, tours, serial commands list, and software

revisions, directly from the Meade website (www.meade.com).

Some of the major features of the Autostar II system are:

쩦Automatically move the telescope to any of the more than 180,000 objects stored

in the object library, including:

Library # of Objects

New General Catalog (NGC): 7,840

Index Catalog (IC): 5,386

Messier Catalog (M): 110

Caldwell Catalog: 109

Named Objects: 227

Herschel Catalog: 400

Abell Catalog of Galaxy Clusters: 2,712

Arp Catalog of Irregular Galaxies: 645

Uppsala Galaxy Catalog: 12,940

Morphological Catalog of Galaxies: 12,939

General Catalog of Variable Stars: 28,484

SAO: 17,191

Hipparcos Star Catalog: 17,325

....plus more than 10,000 other objects from the Lunar 100, the Washington Star,

Gliese, Hickson, PK, Landolt, Lunar Features, and other catalogs!

AUTOSTAR II FEATURES









쐅









쐈

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.

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 Autostar II system provides control of virtually every telescope function. The

Autostar II handbox has soft-touch keys designed to have a positive feel. The LCD

(Liquid Crystal Display) is backlit with red LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) for easy view-

ing in the dark. The backlit display, key arrangement, and sequential menu structure

make Autostar II extremely user friendly.

B2-Line LCD Display: This screen displays Autostar II's menus and information

about the telescope.

•Top line: Lists the primary menu.

•Bottom line: Displays other menus that may be chosen, menu options,

telescope status, or information about a function that is being per-

formed.

cENTER Key: Press to go to the next menu level or to choose an option in a menu.

The ENTER key is similar to the RETURN or ENTER key on a computer.

dMODE Key: Press to return to the previous menu or data level. The top menu

level is “Select Item." The MODE key is similar to the ESCAPE key on a comput-

er.

Note: Pressing MODE repeatedly while in the “Select Item” level moves

Autostar II to the topmost screen: “Select Item: Object.”

Note: If MODE is pressed and held for two seconds or more, information

about the telescope's status displays. When the status displays, press the

Scroll keys (7, Fig. 2) to display the following information:

• Right Ascension and Declination (astronomical) coordinates

• Altitude (vertical) and Azimuth (horizontal) coordinates

• Local Time and Local Sidereal Time (LST)

• Timer and Alarm Status

• Date

• Site coordinates

• Battery status

Press MODE again to return to the previous menu.

eGO TO Key: Press to slew (move) the telescope to the coordinates of the cur-

rently selected object. While the telescope is slewing, the operation may be abort-

ed at any time by pressing any key except GO TO. Pressing GO TO again

resumes the slew to the object. Also, press during the alignment or GO TO pro-

cedures to activate a "spiral search."

fArrow Keys: The Arrow keys have several functions. Press an Arrow key to slew

the telescope in a specific direction (up, down, left, and right), at any one of nine

different speeds. See SLEW SPEEDS, page 26. Use the Up and Down Arrow keys

to move the telescope vertically up and down. The Left Arrow key rotates the tele-

scope horizontally counterclockwise, while the Right Arrow key rotates it clockwise

(unless reversed for Southern Hemisphere use).

Also, use the Arrow keys to scroll through numbers 0 through 9 and the alphabet.

The Down Arrow key begins with the letter "A;" the Up Arrow key begins with digit

"9."

Additionally, use the Arrow keys to move the cursor across the display: Use the

Right or Left Arrow key (5, Fig. 2) to move the cursor from one number to the next

in the display.

gNumber Keys: Press to input digits 0 to 9. Each Number key also has a specif-

ic function, which is printed on each key (these are commonly known as "hot but-

tons"—see page 40):

1 SPEED: Changes the slew speeds. To operate, press Speed and then a

Number key (1 is the slowest speed, 9 is highest speed).

2 CALD (Caldwell): Press to display the Caldwell catalog on the Autostar II

handbox.

3 M (Messier): Press to display the Messier catalog library.

4 FOCUS: Toggles between two functions. The first press allows you to

change the focus and focus speed. The next press allows you to create

presets that tell the telescope where to focus.

5 SS: Press to display the Solar System library.

6 STAR: Press to display the Star library.

7 RET (Reticle): Press to display the Reticle Control menu.

8 IC: Press to display the Index Catalog library.

9 NGC (New General Catalog): Press to display the NGC catalog library.

0 LIGHT: Press to turn on and off the red utility light on the top of the hand-

box.

hScroll Keys: Press to access options within a selected menu. The menu is dis-

played on the first line of the screen. Options in the menu are displayed, one at a

time, on the second line. Press the Scroll keys to move through the options. Press

and hold a Scroll key to move quickly through the options.

The Scroll keys also control the speed of text scrolling on the Autostar II display.

When text is scrolling, press and hold the Up Scroll key for a faster display speed

and the Down Scroll key for a slower display speed.

i? Key: Press to access the "Help" file. "Help" provides on-screen information on

how to accomplish whatever task is currently active.

Press the ? key and then follow the prompts on the display to access details of

Autostar II functions in the Help feature. The Help system is essentially an on-

screen instruction manual.

If you have a question about an Autostar II operation,

e.g.

, INITIALIZATION,

ALIGNMENT,

etc.,

press the ? key and follow the directions that scroll on the sec-

ond line. When satisfied with the Help provided, press MODE to return to the orig-

inal screen and continue with the chosen procedure.

jCoil Cord Port: Plug one end of the Autostar II coil cord (10, Fig. 2) into this port

located at the bottom of the Autostar II handbox.

1) Coil Cord: Plug one end of the Autostar II coil cord into the HBX port (F, Fig. 1d)

of the computer control panel of the telescope and the other end into the Autostar

II coil cord port. See jabove.

1! Utility Light: Use this built-in red light to illuminate star charts and accessories

without disturbing your eye's adaptation to darkness. Press "0" to turn the light on

and off.

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.

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.

A screwdriver or other

1/4" shaft that can be

used as a lever will be

useful during assembly.

Refer to images pages 4 to 10 for location of various

telescope features.

Tripod Assembly

Before you pull legs out of collapsed tripod, notice the

pattern of the pins on top of the tripod (photo). Set the

legs so the leg opposite the single pin is pointing North.

Above 20° latitude (or South in Southern hemisphere)—

if less than 20°, use the Low Latitude kit; see step #26.

Set up on a surface of concrete, or if on the ground,

must be a solid surface (such as granite).

CAUTION: AVOID GRASS AND DIRT. THE MAX

ASSEMBLY WILL SINK INTO GROUND, NOT REMAIN

LEVEL AND TIP OVER, CAUSING SERIOUS INJURY

TO THE ASSEMBLY AND OBSERVERS.

Turn the three coarse adjustment leg lock levers to

unlock the legs of the tripod. See Photo 5 for a close up

of a lock lever.

Extend the legs outward. Note that the legs need not be

extended fully. Extend them so that the base of the tri-

pod coarsely level with the horizon. You can make fine

leveling adjustments later.

Pedestal Assembly and Adjusting Latitude Position

Mount Pedestal onto the tripod...

CAUTION: THE PEDESTAL REQUIRES TWO PEOPLE TO

LIFT THE ASSEMBLY.

...Using the 3 lock pins on the base of the tripod as a

guide, place the Pedestal over the lock pins. Note that

these pins are spring-loaded and are self-locating.

ASSEMBLY

Pointing to ± 5°

of the pole

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.

Tighten (rotate) the lock knobs below the Pedestal to a

"tight" feel. First loosely tighten all three knobs, then

tighten all three securely.

Back off the ejector knobs on the Pedestal.

Adjust legs until they are level. Adjust the turnbuckle for

fine adjustment of level.

The bubble levels will assist you. in determining level.

Latitude Adjustment

The telescope comes set for mid-range latitudes (30° to

60°).

If you need to set for low range or high range

loosen all four latitude lock knobs (2 on each side)

remove the 4 latitude bolts from each side of the

pedestal (8 total) using a supplied hex wrench (see

photo above). The pedestal will now swing freely.

Swing the pedestal so that the bolt portholes match up

with another set of bolt holes on the underneath plate

(there are three sets of bolt holes, one for each latitude

range).

Move the pedestal until it lines up your latitude tick

mark with the indicator on the latitude scale.

Replace and tighten the latitude bolts. Note: If you are

setting for low-range latitude, you will need to replace

only three bolts on each side. There isn't a fourth hole

on either side. Relock latitude locks knobs.

Latitude Range Bolts

Latitude

Lock

Knob

"Porthole"

Move and line up

latitude tick mark

with indicator

Latitude

Lock

Knob

Slide the RA assembly onto the Pedestal dovetail.

CAUTION: MAKE SURE THAT YOUR FINGERS ARE

CLEAR OF THE TRACK BEFORE YOU SLIDE THE RA

ASSEMBLY INTO THE PEDESTAL TRACK. THE RA

ASSEMBLY REQUIRES TWO PEOPLE TO LIFT.

Tighten the RA lock knob on the pedestal assembly to

help secure the RA assembly in place.

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.

Fine tune the latitude adjustment using the Latitude

Adjust knob. See APPENDIX Dif you need help reading

the latitude scale.

Is your telescope pointing North?

Is your telescope level?

Make sure you are pointing North and are level

before proceeding.

Latitude

Adjust

Knob

THE RA ASSEMBLY

Turn the Dec Lock knobs on the RA assembly until there

is NO a gap in the clamps.

no gap

THE DEC SADDLE ASSEMBLY

Turn the Dec lock knob so there is no gap (see step

10). Note, in the photos, the Dec assembly is already

shown as attached. However, adjust this knob before

you attach the assembly.

CAUTION: MAKE SURE THAT YOUR FINGERS ARE

CLEAR OF THE TRACK BEFORE YOU SLIDE THE RA

ASSEMBLY INTO THE PEDESTAL TRACK. THE RA

ASSEMBLY REQUIRES TWO PEOPLE TO LIFT.

With a person on each side of the assembly, lift and

slide the DEC assembly in from the top...

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.

...Slide down to the hard stop.

Slide safety pin into the hole.

ATTACH COUNTERWEIGHT ASSEMBLY

Note that there are two types of counterweights used

with Max. One is the typical round counterweight you're

probably used with other telescopes; this is the

adjustable counterweight. The other type is uncommon

and is called a fixed counterweight. See photo at left.

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.

CAUTION: DUE TO THE WEIGHT OF THE FIXED

COUNTERWEIGHTS, ATTACHING THESE PIECES

REQUIRES TWO PEOPLE. ONE PERSON MUST HOLD

THE FIXED COUNTERWEIGHT WHILE THE OTHER

PERSON TIGHTENS IT IN PLACE.

Retighten the Dec clamp knob.

Plug in the RA to Dec jumper cables; there are two (2)

such cables. The first being a 25 pin to 25 pin cable

and the second a USB to USB cable. Hint: You may

wish to plug into the RA connector before attaching the

counterweights. Then attach the jumper cable to the

Dec assembly after the weights are attached. Some

users may find it difficult to reach in below the Dec

assembly to connect the cable after the counterweights

are attached.

adjustable

counterweights

fixed

counterweights

Line up a fixed counterweight's 4 bolts with the four

threaded holes in the Dec assembly base. The weights

can only be positioned with indentations facing the front

and back of the assembly (see photos 21A and 21B).

Slide the bolts into the threaded holes and tighten each

securing knob by hand until it reaches the top. Then

use a 1/4" shaft, such as a Phillips screwdriver, as a

lever, to turn the knob very tight.

Screw in counterweight shaft into the bottom of the

fixed counterweight assembly until it reaches the hard

stop.

Slide a screwdriver or shaft into into the hole on the

head of the shaft (see photo). Using the screwdriver as

a lever, rotate the counterweight shaft until it tightened.

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.

close up of

Indentation on

fixed counterweights

CAUTION: PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR HANDS AS YOU

ATTACH THE COUNTERWEIGHTS SO NOT TO PINCH

THEM DURING ASSEMBLY. ALSO TAKE CARE NOT TO

DROP COUNTERWEIGHTS. THE COUNTERWEIGHTS

CAN CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY IF DROPPED,

ESPECIALLY ON THE FOOT.

27 ATTACH OPTICAL TUBE TO THE DEC SADDLE

Turn the OTA lock knobs on the Dec Assembly so that

there is NO a gap.

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.

no gap

Screw the safety cap on the end of the shaft after the

counterweights are attached.

CAUTION: IF THE COUNTERWEIGHT(S) EVER SLIP,

THE SAFETY CAP PREVENTS THE COUNTERWEIGHT

FROM SLIDING ENTIRELY OFF THE SHAFT. ALWAYS

LEAVE THE SAFETY CAP IN PLACE WHEN THERE ARE

COUNTERWEIGHTS ON THE SHAFT.

ATTACH LOW LATITUDE COUNTERWEIGHTS

(ONLY IF USING A TRIPOD—OPTIONAL ACCESSORY)

If your observing site is within 20° of the equator, you

must attach the optional counterweight kit. See page 4

to see overview of the assembly.

See the assembly sheet that is included with the Low

Latitude Counterweight kit for assembly instructions.

Put on adjustable counterweights (three for 20 inch

models, two for 16 inch models). The weights can be

attached more easily if you make this a two person job.

One person holds weight and holds in button. Other per-

son pushes the weight up the shaft; slide up to within

one inch of the end of travel. Push counterweights up

against one another.

The OTA should have its dust cover attached when left

stored on the ground in an upright position. You can

also store it on its side.

A minimum of four people are needed to lift the optical

tube.

DANGER!: MAKE SURE THAT THE COUNTERWEIGHTS

ARE ATTACHED BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THIS

STEP. SEE STEPS 17 THROUGH 22.

IMPORTANT! DANGER!: DUE TO THE WEIGHT AND

SIZE OF THE 20" OPTICAL TUBE, PLEASE USE

EXTREME CAUTION WHENEVER ASSEMBLING, DISAS-

SEMBLING, LIFTING, TRANSPORTING OR STORING

THIS PRODUCT. FOUR OR MORE PERSONS (TWO ON

EACH SIDE) SHOULD ALWAYS BE USED WHEN ASSEM-

BLING OR DISASSEMBLING THE TUBE TO THE DEC

SADDLE. DISREGARD FOR THE ABOVE WARNING

COULD RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.

Before performing this step, make sure that the OTA

lock knobs are loosened as described in step 27.

Lift the tube up over the low end (the rear) of the Dec

assembly and drop it into the dec assembly track. Hint:

It is not necessary to lift the OTA all the way over the

top end of the slide (as depicted in Fig. 28D). You will

only need to lift the OTA so that the rear of the OTA

dovetail clears the clamps—at which point you will be

able to drop the OTA dovetail into the slide (as depict-

ed in Fig. 28E; inset shows close up view). In other

words, this trick allows you drop the OTA into the slide

at a lower point and requires less lifting stress and

energy.

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.

When end of

dovetail clears

clamp, drop

OTA into slide

OTA

lock knob

clamp

Not necessary to

lift all the way over

top end of Dec

Assembly

Close up: Drop into slide

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.

Slide in the included 2" accessory adapter, a diagonal

eyepiece holder and an eyepiece. Tighten thumbscrews

to secure.

ALIGN THE VIEWFINDER WITH THE OTA:

(See page 25 to learn how to attach the viewfinder to

the telescope.)

During the daytime, point the telescope at a distant

object (at least 200 yards away), such as a telephone

pole or a street sign. Center the object in the tele-

scope's eyepiece.

Look through the viewfinder and loosen or tighten, as

appropriate, one or more of the collimation screws until

the viewfinders crosshairs are precisely centered on the

object in the OTA. Notice that the left rear knob is

spring-loaded, to make the adjustment of the two other

rear knobs easier.

Fine tune this alignment on a bright star during the

nighttime.

spring loaded knob

Attach the OTA cable to the saddle plate. Plug in

"12VDC IN;" make sure power switch is turned off first.

Plug in handbox to HBX and plug in any other acces-

sories.

ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS

Connect the Smart Accessory port on the Saddle

control panel to OTA using the 9-pin jumper cable. You

may use either of the Smart Acc ports on the control

panel.

HOME POSITION AND BALANCING THE OTA

After power is applied and Autostar has initialized, press

MODE to move to the vertical home position (see photo

at left).

CCAAUUTTIIOONN:BEFORE DDIISSAASSSSEEMMBBLLIINNGG, THE TELE-

SCOPE MUST BE

PUT INTO THE

HOME POSITION.

Before using the telescope, you will need to balance it in

both the RA and Dec axes. Before you balance, attach

the eyepiece assembly, the viewfinder and all the acces-

sories you will be using with the telescope (cameras,

guide scopes, etc.). In other words, you need to balance

the unit with all the "weight" that will be attached to it.

TO BALANCE THE RA ASSEMBLY:

First you will balance the RA axis. You will balance it,

first, with the telescope positioned at a 45° angle and

then at a 90° angle perpendicular to the home position).

Use the scroll keys to position the RA axis at 45° (Photo

33).

Go to the Utilities menu. Scroll down to "Balance

Scope." Press the down arrow key to see the two

choices available: Balance RA and Balance Dec. With

"Balance RA" displayed, press ENTER.

With "Balance RA" displayed, press ENTER (Photo 34).

The telescope assembly will move back and forth

slightly on the RA axis. It is now determining the torque

needed to move on this axis.

A balance readout will be displayed on the handbox. The

readout will display fractions close to the number one.

For example, ".95" and ".91."

Move the bottom adjustable counterweight one-half to

one full turn. You will only need to move the weights in

small increments. Then move the other adjustable

counterweights to butt up against it (Note: The

telescope will continue to move back and forth, while

you adjust the counterweights).

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.

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.

When the display readout is close to "1" (perhaps .99

or 1.01) and remains close to 1 while it is moving, it is

balanced. Press MODE. This stops the Balance

procedure.

Next move the telescope so that it is 90° perpendicular

to the Home Position. Select Balance RA once again

and press ENTER.

Repeat the same procedure in the perpendicular posi-

tion. Once again, move the weights to get the balance

readouts to get close to 1.

BALANCE THE DEC AXIS

DANGER!!! YOU WILL NEED 4 PEOPLE TO PERFORM

THIS PROCEDURE.

Next move the tele-

scope so that it is 90° perpendicular to the Home

Position (Photo 36).

Select "Balance Dec" and press ENTER. The Dec axis

will move back and forth, like the RA axis did. Check

and see how close the Dec axis is from balance.

Press MODE. Move the telescope to the home position.

Position 4 people to hold onto the tube securely and

loosen the Dec lock knobs. See Photo 37.

Move the OTA forward or backward within the female

dovetail track and tighten the lock knobs. Move the tele-

scope back to the position that is 90° perpendicular to

the Home Position, as shown in Photo. 36. Select

"Balance Dec" and press ENTER. Check and see how

close the Dec axis is from "1" in the Dec Balance menu.

Move the OTA back to the Home position. Move the OTA

forward or backward again. Continue this procedure,

moving back and forth between both the home (Photo.

38A) and the perpendicular position (Photo 36), and

adjust the OTA until the telescope is balanced in this

axis. Make sure you tighten the lock knobs after each

adjustment of the OTA.

When the axis is finally balanced, press ENTER.

Tighten the lock knobs and turn the Dec Balance hard

stop bolt so that it butts up against the OTA plate—it

remembers your Dec Balance point. You should not

have to balance the telescope again unless you change

the amount of weight attached to the scope.

Perpendicular to home position

Home or 90° position

Dec Balance Hard Stop bolt

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.

To Attach the handbox holder:

Remove the handbox holder from the plastic bag. If necessary, loosen the lock

knob (1, Fig. 39a) and place the clamp (2, Fig. 39a) about one of the telescope's

handles. Tighten the lock knob to a firm feel. Slide the AutoStar II handbox into

the holder (3, Fig. 39a).You may also snap the handbox into the holder: Slide one

side of the handbox into the holder and then firmly press the other side of the

handbox into the holder until it snaps in place. Adjust the tilt of of the holder by

loosening the lock knob and then moving the holder clamp to the desired angle.

Retighten the lock knob.

To attach the visual back and diagonal mirror:

Attach Visual back and Diagonal mirror: Thread the ring of the 2" accessory

adapter over the rear cell and rotate the ring, tightening to a firm feel. Slide the

diagonal into the 2" accessory adapter and secure it in place using the visual

back thumbscrew.

To Insert eyepiece:

Remove the UltraWide 24mm eyepiece from its container and slide it in the

diagonal mirror. Tighten the thumbscrew located on the diagonal mirror to a firm

feel only.

Mounting and Focusing the Viewfinder for the First Time

The first time you mount and focus the viewfinder, follow the these steps:

1. Attach the viewfinder mounting bracket assembly: The mounting bracket assem-

bly is shipped attached to the viewfinder bracket. Loosen the thumbscrews (5,

Fig. 40a) and slide the bracket out of the mounting assembly (the photo depicts

one thumbscrew removed for the sake of clarity).

2. Place the bracket assembly over the pre-drilled holes on th back outer rim of the

telescope, Thread and tighten the two supplied locking screws (4, Fig. 40a).

3. Attach the viewfinder bracket: Slide the track on the bottom of the viewfinder

bracket into the slot in the viewfinder mounting assembly. See Fig. 40b. To secure

the viewfinder to the mounting assembly, tighten the two thumbscrews to a firm

feel only.

4. Slide the viewfinder tube (see Fig. 40c) into the viewfinder bracket. Loosely tight-

en the adjustment screws (12, Fig. 40d). You will use the adjustment screws to

align the viewfinder (see page 21).

5. Look through the viewfinder. Rotate the eyepiece/focuser until you sharply focus

the crosshairs. Rotate the tube so that the crosshairs align with the Dec and RA

axes.

6. Loosen (rotate clockwise) the objective lens locking ring (11, Fig. 40c).

7. Rotate the objective lens (9, Fig. 40c) until you sharply focus on an object

located at infinity.

8. Tighten the locking ring (11, Fig. 40c).

9. You may now rotate the eyepiece (10, Fig. 40b) to focus on objects.

Align the Viewfinder

During the daytime, point the telescope at a distant object (at least 200 yards away),

such as a telephone pole or a street sign. Center the object in the telescope's eye-

piece.

Look through the viewfinder and loosen or tighten, as appropriate, one or more of

the collimation screws (12, Fig. 40d) until the viewfinders crosshairs are precisely

centered on the object in the OTA. Notice that the left rear collimation screw is

spring-loaded (12, Fig. 40d)—you don't need to adjust it—to make the adjustment of

the two other rear knobs easier.

Fine tune this alignment on a bright star during the nighttime.

GETTING STARTED

Fig. 39a: Handbox holder: (1) Lock

knob; (2) Clamp; (3) Holder.

Fig. 40b: Viewfinder bracket assem-

bly: Slide the track (7) into the mount-

ing slot (6). Tighten the thumbscrews

(8) to secure.

Fig. 40c: 8x50 Viewfinder tube:

Objective lens (7), eyepiece/focuser

(8) and locking ring (9).

Fig. 40a: Viewfinder mounting

bracket assembly : Mounting screws

(4), locking screws (5). Remove back

locking screw so you can thread in

and tighten mounting screws.

j1)

Focusing the Telescope

All focusing is performed digitally, using AutoStar II’s Focus key

(number key 4). The Focus key functions as a toggle key:

쩦Press the Focus key the first time to focus the telescope eyepiece and to control

the speed at which you focus.

쩦Press the Focus key again to set and adjust up to nine focus presets.

To change the focus speed:

1. Press the Focus key once. “Focuser: Fast (or the current speed)” displays for two

seconds. Use one of the Scroll keys to scroll through the list of 5 available focus

speeds: Fast, Medium, Slow, Fine, S. Fine. Scroll through the list until the speed

you desire displays. Choose a focus speed with which you feel comfortable.

To focus the telescope eyepiece:

1. Press the Focus key once. “Focuser: Fast (or the current speed)” displays. After

two seconds, “Focuser: Position = XX” displays. “XX” stands for a number value in

decimal millimeters.

2. Point the telescope at a distant object. Look in the eyepiece and use the Arrow

keys until the image in the eyepiece is in sharp focus.

3. Press MODE to leave Focus menu.

Presets:

Nine preset focus positions are available, and they operate much like presets on a car

radio—everyone can have their own favorite station, or in this case, their own person-

alized focus. You can set one preset to take into account your own eyesight, one for

your observing partner (who may wear glasses), one for your camera’s focus, and so

forth.

Three preset menus are available. Use the Define Preset menu to assign a preset, use

the GoTo Preset menu to select a preset you have previously assigned, and use

Sync On Preset menu if you do not park your telescope (this menu will reset all your

focus presets after you turn off and turn on your scope again ).

To define a preset:

1. Point the telescope at a distant object, press FOCUS and use the Up and Down

Arrow keys to focus the telescope until the object is sharply focused as previous-

ly explained.

2. Press the Focus key again (FOCUS toggles between the Focus menu and the

Preset menu). “Focuser Preset: Go To” displays. Use a Scroll key and scroll down

the list of options until “Focuser Preset: Define Preset” displays. Press ENTER.

3. A list of presets displays. If no preset is currently assigned, “1- Unnamed” displays

(followed by 2- Unnamed, up to 9 - Unnamed).

4. Use the up and down Scroll keys to scroll through the alphabet and the right and

left Arrow keys to move to cursor right or left across the display.

5. When you have finished typing in a name and focusing the telescope, press

ENTER. That number preset is now defined. You can enter 9 names. For exam-

ple, you may enter “Joe,” “Jill,” “Deep Sky Imager” and so forth.

6. To select one of these presets, you will use the “Focuser Preset: Go To” menu.

Focusing Telescopes Equipped with a Microfocuser

To focus telescopes other than an MAX-ACF with one of Meade's microfocusers (e.g.,

LX200 GPS 16"), perform the following procedure. Make sure you have the microfo-

cuser attached to the telescope and plugged into the Focuser port on the saddle plate:

• Press the Number Key 4 and Autostar displays "Saddle Focus: Speed Fast."

• Use the Up/Down keys to scroll through the four microfocuser speeds (fast,

medium, slow, fine).

• Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move the focus in or out.

Focusing both MAX-ACF focusers and Telescopes Equipped with Microfocusers

If you are using both an MAX-ACF and a telescope with a microfocuser (as a guiding

Fig. 40d: Viewfinder adjustment

screws (12); spring loaded screw (13)

Fig. 40e: Align the viewfinder on a

distant object, such as a light or

telephone pole.

Important Note:

Press MODE at any time to exit

Focus modes.

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.

scope), you can use Autostar to control both the MAX-ACF and the microfocuser.

Make sure you have connected the saddle plate to the MAX-ACF and the microfo-

cuser to your telescope and also the saddle plate's Focuser port. Follow this proce-

dure:

• Press the Number Key 4 and Autostar displays "OTA: Fast" displays. You are

now in control of the MAX-ACF focuser.

• Use the Up/Down keys to scroll through the MAX-ACF focuser speeds.

• Press the Number Key 4 again and "Define Presets" displays. Define the

MAX-ACF presets as described earlier.

• Press the Number Key 4 and Autostar displays "Saddle Focus: Speed Fast."

You are now in control of the microfocuser focuser.

• Use the Up/Down keys to scroll through the four microfocuser speeds.

• Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move the focus in or out.

Press MODE to exit the Focus menu at any time.

To select a previously defined focus preset

1. Press the Focus key twice. “Focuser Preset: Go To Preset” displays. Press

ENTER to select this menu.

2. Use a Scroll key and scroll down the list of previously defined presets. When the

desired preset displays (for example, “Deep Sky Imager”), press ENTER.

Important Note: If you do not park your telescope, you will need to select

one of the presets and refocus your telescope using the Sync On menu. See

TO SYNC ON A FOCUS PRESET below.

To sync on a focus preset

If you park your telescope, AutoStar II remembers all the focus positions you defined

as presets and you will not need this menu.

If you do not park your telescope, you will need to select just one of the presets and

refocus your telescope using the Sync On menu. Then AutoStar II will reset all the

other presets back to the focus preset positions you previously defined.

1. Press the Focus key twice. “Focuser Preset: Go To Preset” displays. Use a Scroll

key and scroll until “Focuser Preset: Sync On Preset” displays and press ENTER

to select this menu.

2. Use a scroll key to choose one of the previously entered presets from this list (the

most likely preset you will choose will be one that accounts for your own

eyesight).

3. Use the Up or Down Arrow keys to focus the eyepiece.

4. Press ENTER. AutoStar II now “remembers” the relative focus positions of the

eyepiece.You can now choose any preset and it will be correctly focused.

To exit the focus operation at any time:

1. Press MODE.

Slew Speeds

Autostar II has several slew speeds that move the optical tube at rates that are directly

proportional to the sidereal rate and have been calculated to accomplish specific func-

tions. Press the Speed key (Number key "1") and then press a Number key to change

the slew speed, which is shown for about two seconds on Autostar II’s display.

The available speeds are:

Number Key 1 = 0.01x to1.0x sidereal, variable in 0.01x increments Guide Rate

Number Key 2 = 2x = 2 x sidereal (0.5 arc-min/sec or 0.008°/sec)

Number Key 3 = 8x = 8 x sidereal (2 arc-min/sec or 0.033°/sec)

Number Key 4 = 16x = 16 x sidereal (4 arc-min/sec or 0.067°/sec)

Number Key 5 = 64x = 64 x sidereal (16 arc-min/sec or 0.27°/sec)

Number Key 6 = 128x = 28 x sidereal (32 arc-min/sec or 0.25°/sec)

Number Key 7 = 5° = 45 arc-min/sec or .5°/sec

Number Key 8 = 1° = 60 arc-min/sec or 1°/sec

Number Key 9 = Max Slew Speed (2°/sec)

Important Note:

Press MODE at any time to exit

Focus modes.

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.

Aligning for the First Time

If you wish to have precise pointing accuracy, the first time you align your telescope

you will need to align it to using Automatic Alignment and Drift Alignment. You will

then electronically collimate the telescope, square the OTA and finally calibrate home.

Once you do this. you will need only to park your scope and you will keep this

alignment. When you turn the telescope back on after parking, it will be very nearly

perfectly aligned from this point on.

To prepare your telescope for Automatic Alignment:

1. Connect Autostar II to the HBX port of the RA Control Panel (or Dec Control

Panel).

2. Flip the power switch of the RA Control Panel to the ON position.

The Autostar II screen is activated and a copyright message displays briefly.

3. "Press 0 to Align or Mode for Menu" displays. Press 0.

4. The telescope will seek the home position. Autostar II initializes the Smart Drive.

The R.A. and Dec. motors operate briefly and "Initializing: Smart Drive" displays.

5. "Automatic Alignment" displays. Press ENTER. The system now performs the fol-

lowing routines (press any Autostar II key to abort Automatic Alignment) :

Attempts a "GPS Fix." The MAX-ACF's GPS receiver attempts to acquire

and sync up with signals from GPS satellites.

After performing these operations, Autostar II now knows:

쩦The telescope's limiting positions

쩦The observing site's location

쩦The date and time

6. "CTR Polaris: Slewing" displays. When the telescope stops slewing, center

Polaris in the eyepiece using only the latitude and azimuth adjust knobs

(see Fig. 41a). DO NOT USE THE HANDBOX TO CENTER POLARIS. When

Polaris is centered, press ENTER.

9. Autostar II then chooses another star to align upon. "Searching...." displays. The

telescope then slews to a bright star for alignment. If it does not appear in the field

of view in the eyepiece, look through the viewfinder—in most cases, the star will

be visible. Use the Arrow keys to move the telescope until the star is visible and

centered in the eyepiece. The alignment star should be easily recognized and be

the brightest star in the area of the sky where the telescope is pointing. Press

ENTER. "Align Successful" displays. If "Align Unsuccessful displays," repeat the

procedure.

Next, you will drift align the telescope.

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.

Azimuth

Adjust

Knob

Latitude

Adjust

Knob

Fig. 41a: The latitude and azimuth adjust knobs.

Important Note:

First time you align the

telescope, perform the

following procedures to insure

precision pointing:

1. Automatic Align

2. Drift Align

3. Collimation

4. OTA Align

(if non -MAX-ACF model)

5. Calibrate home.

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.

How to Drift Align Max (Northern Hemisphere)

Important Note: You will need a reticle to perform this procedure

1. Center your reticle on a bright star near the Eastern horizon.

2. Look through the reticle while pressing Autostar's right and left Arrow keys.

This will slew the mount back and forth in the R.A. axis.

3. Loosen and rotate the reticle until one of the crosshairs matches the right-left

path of the star as you press the Arrow keys. This crosshair is now on the R.A.

axis. The other axis is therefore on the Dec. axis. Carefully secure the reticle in

place (do not move the crosshairs).

4. Observe the bright star you have chosen. If, over time, it drifts off the R.A. axis,

use the latitude adjustment knob to bring it back

past

center. Experience will

teach you how much to move the alt knob. If the star drifts slowly, use only a

small amount of correction; if it moves quickly, use a much larger amount of

correction.

5. Use Autostar's up and down keys to bring the star back to center. Perform step

4 repeatedly until it does not drift on the Dec axis for a few minutes.

6. Next, center on a bright, Southern star. This star should be within 10° to 20° of

the celestial equator.

7. If the star drifts above the RA axis, use the Azimuth adjustment knob to move

the star to the right and down until the star is almost out of the field of view. If it

drifts below the R.A. axis, use the Azimuth adjustment knob to move the star to

the left and up.

8. Use Autostar arrow keys to center the star again. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until

the star no longer drifts off the R.A. axis for a few minutes.

9. Go back and check the first star and see if it is drifting again. And then recheck

the second star also. Keep repeating steps 4, 7 and 8, until there is no more

drift in either of the stars you have chosen for a few minutes.

Your telescope is now drift aligned. Next, collimate your telescope.

Collimation

This collimation procedure is for Meade MAX-ACF models only. The optical collima-

tion (alignment) of any astronomical telescope used for serious purposes is impor-

tant, but in the case of the MAX-ACF design, such collimation is absolutely essential

for good performance. Take special care to read and understand this section well so

that your telescope will give you the best optical performance.

As part of final optical testing, every Meade MAX-ACF telescope is precisely colli-

mated at the Meade factory before shipment. However, vibrations in shipping can

cause the optical system to become misaligned. Re-aligning the optics is, however, a

straightforward process with the MAX-ACF.

Test your Collimation

Before collimating an MAX-ACF model, you will need to test your collimation.

To test the collimation, center a bright star that is overhead, or use a “hot spot” of

reflected Sunlight from a chrome car bumper, with the supplied 24mm eyepiece. Allow

the telescope to adjust to the temperature of your observation site before proceeding;

temperature differences between the optics and the outside air can cause distortion

in the images. Autostar II offers two options in the Utilities menus that take tempera-

ture readings: “OTA Temperature” (the temperature of the corrector plate) and

“Ambient Temperature” (the temperature of the air around the fork arms).

When the star or hot spot is centered, de-focus the image.You will notice that the out

of focus star image looks like a ring of light surrounding a dark central spot; the dark

central spot is in fact the shadow of the secondary mirror. You may notice multiple

rings; these are called diffraction rings. Focus until the diffraction rings fills about 10%

of the eyepiece field-diameter. If the dark central spot is offset in (i.e., not concentric

with) the diffraction rings, your telescope’s optical system is misaligned and requires

collimation.

Note:

See:

http://www.astrocruise.com

/polarnew.htm

for a website dedicated to

drift alignment of Meade

telescopes. Site offers

extensive tips from an

experienced drift align

specialist.

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.

Follow these steps for collimation of the optical system:

The only adjustments possible, or necessary, on the MAX-ACF models is performed

with the AutoStar handbox. No adjustment screws are necessary (or provided), as with

traditional telescopes. A high-powered eyepiece, such as a 9mm eyepiece, or a 9mm

eyepiece with a 2x barlow, is required for collimation. A good rule of thumb to follow is

to select the highest power eyepiece you will use with your telescope, and double it (a

2x barlow is ideal for doubling). See Fig. 42a below, to see images of an aligned and

misaligned image.

a. Select the “Collimation” option in the Setup/Telescope menu. Once this option is

selected, you will be able to use Autostar’s Arrow keys to adjust the image of the

star you have selected.

b. While looking through the eyepiece, Use Autostar II's Arrow keys at the slowest

slew speed, begin to move the defocused center ring so that the rings become

more concentric. You will most likely need to press more than one Arrow key.

c. You will notice that the star image will move across the field of view of the eye-

piece. If while using the Arrow key, the defocused star image moves out of the

eyepiece field, press MODE to temporarily leave the collimation menu.

d. When you have left the “Collimation” menu, use the Arrow keys to bring the image

back to the center of the eyepiece field.

e. Press ENTER to select the “Collimation” option again.

f. Use the Arrow keys to continue to adjust the image until it becomes concentric. If

the image moves out of the eyepiece field, perform steps c through e as many

times as necessary.

g. Carefully examine the concentricity of the diffraction rings. Always double check

the image in the center of the field of the eyepiece. The star point should appear

as a small central dot (commonly referred to as an “Airy disc”) with a diffraction

ring surrounding it. You now have the best alignment of the optics possible with

this telescope.

Set Default and Restore Default Options: The factory has collimated your telescope

and saved the settings in the Restore Default option. You may retain this setting and

recall it if the telescope needs collimation. Or you may overwrite this setting using the

Set Default option after performing precise collimation and recall it again when need-

ed with the Restore Default option.

Align (Squaring) the OTA: If you are using a non-MAX-ACF telescope or if you have

changed your MAX-ACF collimation or mounting significantly from the factory defaults,

you must align the OTA. When you select this menu, Autostar will ask you to center

two stars in the telescope that are on opposite sides of the sky.

Once you have centered them, the telescope will slew back to the first star. You will

then be asked to center the star using the OTA align bolt. These are two bolts, with

one in the center of the other. Using a 9/16 flat wrench, loosen the center bolt and hold

this one so it doesn't move. Then place 13/16 open ended or combination spanner

wrenches on the outer bolt. Turn the outer bolt until the star is centered in the vertical

direction (perpendicular to the plane of the saddle). Note: The vertical direction is

when the 90° diagonal is positioned as shown in image #30 on page 22. The OTA

alignment bolt will only move the OTA in this direction. The horizontal direction cannot

be adjusted using the alignment bolts and is compensated for during the electronic

Fig. 42a: Defocused star images. Misaligned (1, 2), Aligned (3).

Fig. 42b: The OTA align bolt.

Misaligned (1, 2), Aligned (3).

12 3

OTA Alignment

Bolts

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.

Calibrate Home:

After aligning your telescope, select this menu and the alignment settings—North,

time, alignment stars—are stored in Autostar II's memory and are remembered after

you power off the telescope. After Calibrating Home, you may park your telescope any

time you wish and the next time you turn on the telescope, you will be precisely

aligned.

Parking the Scope

Designed for a telescope that is not moved between observing sessions. Align the

telescope one time, then use this function to park the telescope. Once parked, the

screen prompts to turn off power.

The advantage of parking is that you do not need to align the telescope the next time

you turn on Autostar; it remembers your alignment. Tip: When waking their telescope,

some users select a bright star from the Objects menu and perform a Go To on that

star. If the star is not in the exact center of the eyepiece, move the star to the center

using the arrow keys and then hold ENTER down for more than two seconds.This acti-

vates the Enter to Sync function and fine tunes and improves the telescope's align-

ment.

Important Note: When the "Park Scope" option is chosen and the display

prompts you to turn off the telescope's power, Autostar II is unable to be

returned to operation without turning the power off and then back on.

Most users just need to place the telescope in the home position (default park posi-

tion) and select Park from the Autostar II menu to park their scope.

However if you are storing your telescope in a location where it cannot be stored in

the home position, for example, such as an observatory with a top that slides back,

just move your telescope to the position you want to store it. Choose "Park Position"

from the Setup: Telescope menu. When "Park Position" displays, use the down arrow

key to scroll through the choices. Select "Use Current" if your position is anything

other than the Home Position. If you are using the Home Position, select "Use

Default."

alignment routine. When centered, tighten just the center bolt. This will hold the bolts

securely in that position.

Note that there is a bolts on either side of the OTA align bolt (Fig. 42b). These bolts

must be loosened during the procedure and tightened afterward.

It is important to understand that menu selections are set in a loop (Fig. 44

This means

that pressing the Scroll Down key cycles down through all the available options within a

given category, then returns to the first option. The Scroll Up key cycles up through the

options in the opposite order. Note that this capability is a quick way to get to an option

that is near the bottom of the list. The following example demonstrates this capability.

Example:

To navigate to the “Select Item: Setup” menu option when the “Select Item: Object”

menu is displayed:

1. Press the Scroll Down key five times or the Scroll Up key once.

The screen in Fig. 44a displays two lines of information. The top line shows the cur-

rent menu, "Select Item." The second line displays an option within that menu,

"Object."

Some options are choices that select the next menu level down. The Scroll keys move

up and down within the list of available options, showing one option at a time. The

example in Fig. 44a shows the Select Item menu with the Object option displayed on

the second line.

When the desired option (Object) is displayed on the second line, press the ENTER

key to choose that option and move down one menu level. In the example, press Enter

and the display now reads "Object: Solar System." You have moved down to the

Object menu level. See Fig. 44b. You can now use the up and down keys to scroll

through the other options available for the Objects menu: Constellations, Deep Sky,

etc.

Press the MODE key to leave a menu level;

e.g.,

the wrong menu option is chosen.

Important Note: No matter how many levels into Autostar II are traveled,

each press of the MODE key moves up a level, until the top level, "Select

Item," is reached. Once in the Select Item level, press MODE to return to

the topmost level, "Select Item: Object."

Autostar II Navigation Exercise

To demonstrate how the Autostar II menu structure works, the following exercise cal-

culates Sunset time so an evening observing session can be planned.

To Calculate Sunset time:

1. Press the MODE key several times, until “Select Item: Object” is displayed.

2. Press the Scroll Down key once to display the “Event” option in the “Select Item”

menu.

3. Press the ENTER key to choose the "Event" option and move down a level.

"Event: Sunrise" is displayed..

BASIC AUTOSTAR II

Select Item:

Setup

Select Item:

Utilities

Select Item:

Glossary

Select Item:

Guided Tour

Select Item:

Event

SETUP MENU

Automatic alignment

permits all telescope

operations with only

minimal setup.

UTILITIES MENU

Calculate eyepiece

magnifications;

set timer alerts;

create your own

landmark survey.

GLOSSARY

What is an elliptical galaxy?

How far away is the Sun?

Expand your knowledge of

astronomy by displaying terms

and definitions, and other information.

OBJECT MENU

Want to see Mars? The Orion nebula?

The Andromeda galaxy? Select from

over 180,000 objects and press

GO TO to move the telescope

automatically to an object.

EVENT MENU

Display the time of

past, present, and future

astronomical events,

such as Moon phases

or meteor showers.

GUIDED TOUR

Autostar II escorts you

on a tour of tonight's

best celestial objects

at your viewing location.

Select Item:

Object

Autostar I I

The Universe o f

Autostar Iutostar I I

Fig. 45: The Autostar II Universe: The six primary categories listed in the Select Item menu

of Autostar II.

Object

Event

Guided Tours

Glossary

Utilities

Setup

Event

Guided Tour

Glossary

Utilities

Setup

Select Item

Objects

Fig. 44a: The menu displays on the

top line and Menu options display

on the second line. Use the Scroll

keys to move up or down through the

list of options. Press ENTER to

select the desired option.

Constellations

Deep Sky

Star

Satellite

User Objects

etc.

Objects

Solar System

Fig. 44b: Object menu is selected by

pressing ENTER. Use the Scroll

keys to move up or down through the

list of options for the Object menu.

Press ENTER to select the desired

option.

Fig. 43: Menus set in a loop.

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.

4. Press the Scroll Down key once to display the "Sunset" option in the Event menu.

5. Press the ENTER key to choose the "Sunset" option and move down another

level.

6. Autostar II calculates the Sunset time based on the current date, time, and loca-

tion. Autostar II then displays the results of the calculation.

7. Press MODE once to start moving back up through the Autostar II levels. The first

level up is the Event menu.

8. Press MODE again to move up another level. This is the top level, "Select Item."

9. Press MODE again to return to the starting point of "Select Item: Object."

Example of Locating a menu

As you typically will be using menus after you initialize and align your telescope, this example

will assume you have just completed aligning your scope. AutoStar II displays “Select Item:

Object” after the alignment procedure; this will be our starting point. In this example, we will

locate the “Owner Info” option. See Fig. 45 for the location of the Autostar II keys used in this

example.

1. “Select Item: Object” displays.

2. As the Owner Info option is in the Setup menu, you will have to use one of the Scroll keys

to navigate through the list of menus. Press the Scroll Down Key. “Select Item: Event” dis-

plays

3. Keep pressing the Scroll Down key. Notice that all the menus display as you press the key:

Guided Tour, Glossary, Utilities, Setup. Stop when “Select Item: Setup” displays. If you press

the Scroll Down key one more time, “Select Item: Object” will display again. This is because

the list of menus or options cycles through each choice over and over again when you press

one of the Scroll keys.

4. With “Select Item: Setup” displayed, press ENTER. Pressing ENTER selects the menu or

option currently displayed.

5. “Setup: Align” displays.

6. Press the Scroll Down key again. “Select Item: Telescope” displays. Press ENTER. Autostar

II will now display all the choices that are available with the Telescope menu.

7. Continue to press the Scroll Down key until “Setup: Owner Info” displays.

8. Press ENTER. “Owner Info: Name” displays. Press ENTER again. “Name” displays, with the

second line blank. On this line you may enter your first and last name into Autostar II’s mem-

ory.

9. Press the Up or Down Arrow key. Notice that a letter of the alphabet displays. Continue to

press one of the Arrow keys until the first letter of your name displays.

10. Use the Right Arrow key to move to the next position so you can choose the second letter

of your name. Continue to use the Arrow keys to enter your full name.

11. Press ENTER when you are finished. Your name is now entered into AutoStar II’s

memory.

12. “Owner Info: Name” displays again (if you wish, you can press the Scroll Down key—“Owner

Info: Address” will display and you can enter your address if you wish).

13. Press MODE and “Setup: Owner Info” displays. Press MODE again. “Select Item: Setup”

displays. MODE allows you to backup and exit through the menu structure.

Navigating Autostar II

Autostar II's menus are organized for quick and easy navigation:

쩦Press ENTER to go deeper into Autostar II's menu levels.

쩦Press MODE to move back toward the top menu level.

쩦Press Number key "1" to engage the Speed mode, and then press Number keys

1 through 9 to change speeds.

쩦Press Number key "4" to access the Focus menus.

쩦Press Number key "7" to access the Reticle menu.

쩦Press the Scroll keys to move up and down through the options or lists.

쩦Press the Arrow keys to move the cursor across the display.

쩦Press the Help (?) key to access on-line help.

Tip:

When multiple choices

are available within a

menu option, the current

option is usually dis-

played first and highlight-

ed by a right pointing

arrow (>).

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.

Fig. 45: Some of the features of the

Autostar II handbox.

Scroll

Down

Scroll

Display

MODE

Arrow

keys

ENTER

AUTOSTAR II's MENUS

Figure 46: The Complete Autostar II Menu Tree Structure.

Hold down MODE for two seconds and the

following data displays:

• Right Ascension and Declination coordinates

• Altitude and Azimuth coordinates

• Local Time and Local Sidereal Time (LST)

• Timer and Alarm Status

• Date

• Site coordinates

• Battery status

Hot Buttons

Press the following keys to display

the corresponding menu:

Key Menu

1 Speed

2 Caldwell catalog (C)

3 Messier catalog (M)

4 Focus

5 Solar System (SS)

6 Star library

7 Reticle (RET)

8 Index catalog

9 New General catalog (NGC)

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.

Select Item

Object

Solar System

Mercury

Venus

etc.

Moon

Asteroids

Comets

Constellations

Andromeda

etc.

Deep Sky

Named Objects

Galaxies

Nebulas

Planetary Neb.

etc.

Star

Named

SAO Catalog

etc.

Satellite

Select

Add

Delete

Edit

Identify

Browse

Start Search

Edit Parameters

Select Item

Event

Sunrise

Sun Transit

Sunset

Moonrise

Moonset

Moon Phases

Next Full Moon

Next New Moon

Next 1st Qtr

Next 3rd Qtr

Meteor Showers

Quadrantids

etc.

Solar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse

Autumn Equinox

Vernal Equinox

Winter Solstice

Summer Solstice

Select Item

Guided Tour

Tour Objects

Tonight's Best

How Far is far

etc.

Select Item

Glossary

Accretion Disk

etc.

Select Item

Utilities

Balance OTA

OTA Fan

Dew Heater

OTA Temperature

Ambient Temperature

Timer

Set

Start and Stop

Eyepiece Calc

Field of View

Magnification

Suggest

Brightest Star

Brightness Adjust.

Contrast Adjust.

Panel Light

Aux. Port Power

Beep

Temperature

Battery Alarm

Sleep Scope

Park Scope

Select Item

Setup

Align

Easy

One-Star

Two-Star

Align on Home

Telescope

Telescope Model

Collimation

Max Past Meridian

Focal Length

Max Slew Rate

Park Position

Calibrate Home

Anti-Backlash

Train Drive

Tracking Rate

Guiding Rate

Dec Guiding

North and South

Off

North Only

South Only

Reverse L/R

Reverse U/D

Home Sensors

GPS Alignment

RA PEC

High Precision

Targets

Astronomical

Terrestrial

Date

Time

GPS-UTC Offset

Smart Mount

Configuration

Off

Train

Load

Save As

Delete

Erase

Owner Info

Clone

Download

Statistics

Reset

Moon

Overview

Landing Sites

Apollo 11

etc.

Craters

Abbot

etc.

Mountains

Mons Bradley

etc.

Mare, Lakes

Lacus Aestatis

etc.

Valley, Rills

Rima Agatharchid

etc.

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.

Object Menu

Almost all observing with Autostar II is performed using the Object menu category.

(

Note: Exceptions include Guided Tour and Landmark Survey.

)

Autostar II contains many libraries of viewable objects, such as stars, planets, comets,

nebulae and so forth. When one of these objects is selected from a library, Autostar II

moves your telescope (if properly aligned) and points it at the selected object. Six of the

most popular libraries can be accessed directly using the hot buttons.

The Object Menu options include:

Solar System: A library of the eight planets (Earth is not included) in order out from

the Sun, followed by the Moon, asteroids, and comets (Number key "5").

Constellation: A library of all 88 Northern and Southern Hemisphere constellations.

When this menu option is chosen and a constellation name appears on the first line

of the screen, press GO TO and the telescope goes to the center of the constellation

and will display coordinates. Then, use the Scroll keys to cycle through the list of the

most significant stars in the constellation. Then it will display deep space objects and

so forth in the constellation.

Deep Sky: A library of objects outside our Solar System such as nebulae, star clus-

ters, galaxies, and quasars.

Star: A catalog of stars listed in different categories such as named, double, variable,

or nearby. Also included are the Hipparcos, SAO, HD, and HR catalogs. The Star cat-

alog may also be accessed directly by pressing Number key "6."

Satellite: A library of Earth-orbiting objects such as the International Space Station,

the Hubble Space Telescope, Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, and geo-

synchronous orbit satellites.

Other Catalogs are accessed directly using the Autostar II "hot keys": Caldwell (key

"2"), Messier catalog ("3"), Solar System ("5"), IC ("8"), and NGC ("9").

To slew the telescope to catalog objects:

Enter the catalog number of the object using the Number keys and then press ENTER.

For example

: To slew to NGC 6720, press Number Key "9," then using the Number

keys, enter the digits "6-7-2-0." Then press ENTER.

Autostar II displays the common name and alternate names of the object, if available.

Press one of the Scroll keys to display some or all of the following information about

that object: Type of object (galaxy, nebula, etc.), Dec. and R.A. coordinates, constella-

tion it is located within, magnitude, size, distance, and star-type classification, if the

object is a star. If further information is available, it displays as scrolling text.

Press GO TO. The telescope, if aligned, will slew to that chosen object. Press MODE

repeatedly to return to previous menu levels.

User Objects: Allows the user to define and store in memory deep-sky objects of spe-

cific interest that are not currently in the Autostar II libraries. See CREATING USER

OBJECTS, page 42, for more information.

Identify: An exciting feature for an observer who wants to scan the night sky and start

exploring. After the telescope has been properly aligned, use the Autostar II Arrow

keys to move about in the sky. Then follow this procedure:

Important Note: Only use the Arrow keys to move the telescope during

the Identify procedure. Do not loosen the telescope locks or move the

base or alignment is lost.

1. When a desired object is visible in the eyepiece, keep pressing MODE until the

“Select Item: Object” menu is displayed. Press ENTER to select this menu.

2. Scroll through the Object menu options until the “Object: Identify” screen appears.

3. Press ENTER. Autostar II searches the libraries for the identity of the object being

observed.

4. If the telescope is not directly on an Autostar II library object, the nearest library

object is located and displayed on the screen. Press GO TO and the telescope

slews to that object.

Browse: Allows you to search the library for objects with certain parameters, much

like a search engine. "Edit Parameters" lets you set various parameters for the search,

such as: Object Type, Minimum Elevation, Largest,

etc

. Once you have set the param-

eters of the search, select "Start Search" and press ENTER. Autostar II will display the

results of the search.

Event Menu

The Event menu provides access to dates and times of astronomical events. The

Event database includes:

Sunrise, Sun Transit, and Sunset: Calculate the time of Sun rise, Sun transit, or Sun

set on the current date. Find rise and set times for other dates by entering a new date

into the “Setup: Date” menu.

Moonrise, Moon Transit, and Moonset: Calculate the time of Moon rise, Moon tran-

sit, or Moon set on the current date. Find rise and set times for other dates by enter-

ing a new date into the “Setup: Date” menu.

Moon Phases: Displays the date and time of the next Full, New, 1st Quarter, and 3rd

Quarter Moon.

Meteor Showers: Provides information

on upcoming meteor showers, such as the

Perseids, the Leonids,

etc.

Also lists the dates of the showers and when they reach

maximum.

Note: Meteors are fast moving objects that cover large areas of the sky and

are usually best observed with the naked eye.

Solar Eclipse: Lists upcoming Solar Eclipses, including the date and type (total,

annular, or partial) of eclipse. Use the Scroll Up and Down keys to display the avail-

able data. This option is dependent on your location.

Lunar Eclipse: Lists upcoming Lunar Eclipses, including the date and type (total, par-

tial, penumbral) of eclipse. Use the Scroll Up and Down keys to display the available data.

Min. (Minimum) of Algol: Displays the minimum brightness of the dramatic eclipsing

binary star system, Algol. It is relatively close at a distance of 100 light years. Every

2.8 days during a 10-hour period, Algol undergoes a major change in apparent mag-

nitude as one of the two stars passes behind the other. The combined magnitude of

the two stars thus dips from +2.1 to a minimum of +3.4 halfway through the eclipse as

the second star is hidden. Autostar II calculates minimum magnitude time at mid-

eclipse.

Autumn and Vernal Equinox: Calculate the time and date of the fall or spring equi-

nox of the current year.

Winter and Summer Solstice: Calculate the time and date of the winter or summer

solstice of the current year.

Glossary Menu

The Glossary menu provides an alphabetical listing of definitions and descriptions for

common astronomical terms and Autostar II functions. Access directly through the

Glossary menu or through hypertext words embedded in Autostar II. A

hypertext word

is any word in [brackets], usually found when using the Autostar II Help function or

when reading a scrolling message such as a description of a planet or star. Press

ENTER whenever a hypertext word is on screen and Autostar II goes to the glossary

entry for that word.

To access directly from within the Glossary menu, use the Scroll keys to scroll through

the alphabet. Press ENTER on the desired letter. Scroll to the desired entry and then

press ENTER to read the description.

Utilities Menu

The Utilities menu provides access to several extra features within Autostar II, includ-

ing a countdown timer and an alarm. The Utilities functions include:

Balance OTA: Use while you're balancing the OTA (see pages 22 - 23 for complete

procedure). Allows to balance on both axes.

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.

OTA Fan: Allows you to turn the fan off or on if you have an MAX-ACF model. The fan

assists with the stabilization of the optics. The fan should be activated at the begin-

ning of an observing session and run until the optics have achieved an equilibrium

with the environment. Fan operation time should range from about 5 to 25 minutes.

Note that the fan may introduce a slight vibration and this may cause noticeable move-

ment observed with sensitive optics.

Dew Heater: Allows you to adjust heater level, setting from 0 to 100.

OTA Temperature: Provides a temperature reading at the edge of the corrector plate.

Ambient Temperature: Provides a temperature reading at the fork arm.

Timer: Selects a countdown timer. This feature is useful for functions such as

astrophotography and tracking satellites. To use the Timer, press ENTER, then

choose “Set” or “Start/Stop."

쩦

Set: Enter the time to be counted down, in hours, minutes, and seconds, then press

ENTER.

쩦Start/Stop: Activates the timer set previously. Use the Scroll keys to toggle between

ON and OFF. When ON is displayed, press ENTER to activate the timer. When the

timer runs out, four beeps sound and the timer is deactivated.

Alarm: Selects a time for an alarm signal to sound as a reminder. To use the Alarm,

press ENTER, then choose "Set" or "Start/Stop."

쩦

Set: Enter the time of day for the alarm to sound, in hours, minutes, and seconds,

then press ENTER.

쩦Start/Stop: Activates the alarm set previously. Use the Scroll keys to toggle

between ON and OFF. When ON is displayed, press ENTER to activate the

alarm. When the alarm time arrives, Autostar II beeps. Press ENTER to deacti-

vate the alarm.

Eyepiece Calc: Calculates information about an eyepiece for the specific telescope

to which Autostar II is connected.

쩦Field of View: Scroll through a list of available eyepieces. When an eyepiece is

selected, the field of view is calculated.

쩦Magnification: Scroll through a list of available eyepieces. When an eyepiece is

selected, the magnification is calculated.

쩦Suggest: Autostar II calculates and suggests the best eyepiece for viewing,

based on the telescope and the object being viewed.

Brightest Star: Gives you a choice of Autostar displaying "CTR Bright Star" or identify-

ing the star by name during alignment.

Contrast Adj: Adjusts the contrast of the display using the Scroll keys. When complete,

press ENTER.

Panel Light:

Allows you to turn off LED panel light.

Aux Port Power:

Allows you turn off and on the 12vDC OUT power port.

Beep: Turns the beep alerts on or off.

Temperature: Gives a temperature reading of the ambient air. This reading is not always

available.

Sleep Scope: A power saving option that shuts down Autostar II and the telescope

without forgetting its alignment. With "Sleep Scope" selected, press ENTER to acti-

vate the Sleep function. Autostar II goes dark, but the internal clock keeps running.

Press any key, except ENTER, to re-activate Autostar II and the telescope.

Park Scope: Designed for a telescope that is not moved between observing sessions.

Align the telescope one time, then use this function to park the telescope. The next

time it is powered up, pressing ENTER causes the telescope to move to its predeter-

mined Park position. Once parked, the screen prompts to turn off power.

Important Note: When the "Park Scope" option is chosen and the display

Tip:

The Contrast Adjustment

feature is usually only

required in very cold

weather.

If you adjust the contrast so

that you can no longer

read the display, turn off

the power and turn it on

again. When Version

appears on the display (the

initial display screens are

not affected by the

Contrast control), press

MODE.

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.

prompts you to turn off the telescope's power, Autostar II is unable to be

returned to operation without turning the power off and then back on.

Setup Menu

There are numerous other features available within the Setup menu, including:

Align: Let's you choose a method of alignment.

Align on Home: If Calibrate Home has been performed, power up your telescope and

select this menu to return the previously calibrated home position. In other words, the

telescope is fully aligned according to the setting that were stored in Autostar II's

memory during the Calibrate Home procedure. See CALIBRATE HOME, below, for

more information.

Telescope: Accesses several options, including:

쩦Telescope Model: Allows you to select the type of OTA mounted on Max.

쩦Collimate: Allows you use the Arrow keys to collimate the telescope. See pages

28 - 29 for more details.

쩦Align OTA: Allows you to align the OTA properly if you are not using an MAX-

ACF model or if you have changed your MAX-ACF collimation or mounting sig-

nificantly from the factory defaults. When you select this menu, Autostar will ask

you to center two stars in the telescope that are on opposite sides of the sky.

Once you have centered them, the telescope will slew back to the first star. You

will then be asked to center the star using the OTA align bolt. See page 30 for

more information.

쩦Max Past Meridian: Allows you to set how far the OTA axis can tilt past the

meridian. 2° is the default setting.

쩦Focal Length: Displays the focal length of the selected telescope.

쩦Max Slew Rate: Sets the upper limit for the slew rate. 2.4° degrees per second is

the fastest setting.

쩦Park Position: After aligning your telescope, select this menu and power down

the telescope. The alignment settings—North, time, alignment stars—are stored

in Autostar II's memory and are remembered after you power off the telescope.

When you power on the telescope, "Automatic Alignment" displays after the start

up routine. Press MODE (do not press ENTER). The telescope remembers its

alignment and you can continue viewing or performing other operations without

aligning the telescope again.

Park Position provides two options. Use Current Position uses the last position set

by the user. Default Position places scope in the home position.

쩦Calibrate Home: For permanently mounted telescopes only. After aligning your

telescope, select this menu and the alignment settings—North, time, alignment

stars—are stored in Autostar II's memory and are remembered after you power

off the telescope. You can enable Autostar II to retrieve and automatically align

your telescope using these settings the next time you power up by choosing the

Align on Home menu. This menu helps improve auto alignment.

쩦Anti-Backlash: This option allows you to change the backlash along either the

R.A. and the Dec. axes by entering a number from 0% to 199%.This sets the back-

lash in the way the Arrow keys move the telescope along an axis. If you enter a

value near 199%, telescope responds more quickly as you hold down an Arrow

key. If you enter a value near 0%, it takes longer for the tube to respond as you

hold down an Arrow key. Experiment with this option: Try changing the values until

the motion of the telescope (while holding down an Arrow key) feels comfortable

to you.

쩦Train Drive: All telescopes have a certain amount of "backlash" (looseness in the

interplay of gears). This menu allows you to compensate for the backlash in the

the R.A. and Dec motors—which helps locate objects with more precision.

쩦Tracking Rate: Changes the speed at which the telescope tracks targets

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.

Tip:

If the "ENTER to Sync" fea-

ture is accessed by mistake

(holding the ENTER key for

more than 2 seconds),

press MODE to return to

the previous screen.

in the sky.

a. Sidereal: The default setting for Autostar II; sidereal rate is the standard rate

at which stars move from East to West across the sky due to the rotation of

the Earth.

b. Lunar: Choose this option to properly track the Moon over long observing

sessions.

c. Solar: Choose this option when observing the Sun.

c. Custom: Allows entry of user-defined tracking rates.

Note: Custom Tracking Rate allows you to enter values from -999.999 to 999.999.

The lower the number, the slower the rate; the higher the number the faster the rate.

If you enter -999, the telescope will move so slow as to appear to be stopped. If you

enter 999, the telescope will be moving at approximately twice the tracking rate.

쩦Guiding Rate: Allows you to change the base slew speed, 1x. Enter a percent-

age of the speed (less than 100%) and press ENTER. This function may be use-

ful in guiding the telescope during CCD and long-exposure photography. See

SLEW SPEEDS, page 26, for more information.

쩦Dec Guiding: Allows a user using an autoguider to disengage autoguider inputs.

Allows you to select N & S, North only, South only, and off.

쩦Reverse L/R: Reverses the functions of the Left and Right Arrow keys for con-

trolling the telescope's motion (

i.e.

, the Right key moves the telescope to the left

쩦Reverse U/D: Reverses the functions of the Up and Down Arrow keys for con-

trolling the telescope's motion (

i.e.

, the Up key moves the telescope down

쩦Home Sensor: Turns off or on the True North sensor, if preferred, for Easy, One-

Star, and Two-Star alignment. The default setting for this menu is "On."

쩦GPS Alignment: Allows three options. Select "Off" if you wish to align the tele-

scope manually (turns off GPS). Select "On" (default setting) if you wish to auto-

matically align your telescope and want the telescope to get the GPS fix when it

is needed during alignment. Select "At Start Up" if you want the telescope to get

a GPS fix when the telescope is powered up.

쩦R.A. PEC: Allows you to perform periodic error correction on the R.A. drive worm

gear. Must be performed with a high-power reticle (

eg.,

9mm). You may restore

the factory default setting by selecting “On.”

쩦High Precision: If High Precision is turned on, when looking for a faint celestial

object (

e.g.

, a nebula or galaxy), Autostar II first slews to a nearby bright star and

displays "ENTER to Sync." Center the star in the eyepiece, then press ENTER.

At that point the telescope has a high precision alignment to that part of the sky

and it then slews to the object that was originally requested.

Time: Changes the time entered into Autostar II. Setting the correct time is critical for

Autostar II to properly calculate locations and events. Time may be set to "AM," "PM,"

or 24-hour mode (military time). To select the 24-hour mode, press ENTER when the

the "blank" option displays (

i.e.

, neither "AM" nor "PM" is displayed).

Targets: Switches between Astronomical targets and Terrestrial targets. If

"Astronomical" is selected, the telescope tracking motor is activated and any object

you observe in the sky will remain centered in the eyepiece. If "Terrestrial" is select-

ed, the tracking motor is turned off.

Date: Changes the date used by Autostar II. This function is useful to check events in

the past or future.

For example

: Set the Date menu for a day three months in the

future.Then check the "Select Item: Event" menu for the Sunset time on that date. See

EVENT MENU, page 35.

Daylight Saving: Enables or disables the Daylight Savings time setting.

Note: Daylight Savings Time may be referred to by different names in vari-

ous areas of the world. Check local time to verify.

Smart Mount: See page 55 for detailed information.

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.

GPS-UTC Offset: Universal Time (UTC) allows you to add leap seconds to its time

calculations, GPS does not. The offset is the number of leap seconds added since the

establishment of GPS.

Site: Site provides access to several options including:

쩦Select: Displays the currently selected observing site. Use the Scroll keys to cycle

through all available sites (see ADD below). Press ENTER when the site you wish

to select displays. Use this option when you move to a different geographic loca-

tion.

쩦Add: Allows you to add new observing sites to the database. Scroll through the list

of Countries/States. Press ENTER when the site you wish to add displays. Then

choose the desired city in the same manner.

However, when the GPS signal is received, the site is normally selected automati-

cally and the site list is updated automatically. Use of this option is not necessary

and is included for the convenience of those users who may wish to enter a site

manually. You may edit the name of a site using the Edit option (see below).

쩦Delete: Deletes a stored site from the database.

쩦Edit: Edits a selected site, including: the name, latitude, longitude, and time zone.

Time Zone refers to the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) time zone shift. Users West

of Greenwich, England use “-” hours, East of Greenwich use “+” hours. For the

United States, look up the time zone shift in Table 1.

Note: Autostar II compensates for daylight savings time, if selected. See

SETUP MENU: DAYLIGHT SAVING

, above.

Owner Info: Accesses the owner information menu, including:

쩦Name: Users may enter both their first and last names using the Up and Down

Arrow keys to cycle through the alphabet. Use the Right and Left Arrow keys to

move through the text. Press ENTER when the entry is complete.

쩦Address: Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to enter your street address, city,

state, and zip code. Press ENTER when the entry is complete.

Clone: Uploads information from one Autostar II handbox to another. Three options

are available:

쩦Catalogs: Sends only user-defined object information, such as new satellite

orbits or comet data to another Autostar II handbox.

쩦Software: Sends only the basic Autostar II software. This is useful if one user has

downloaded a new version of Autostar II software from the Meade website

(www.meade.com) and wants to pass this software along to friends.

쩦All: Everything—user-defined information and Autostar II software—is sent to

another Autostar II.

Download: Transfers information from another Autostar II. During the operation, the

warning “Downloading Do Not Turn Off” appears.

쩦Catalogs: Receives only user-defined object information, such as new satellite

orbits or comet data to another Autostar II handbox.

쩦Software: Receives only the basic Autostar II software. This is useful if one user

has downloaded a new version of Autostar II software from the Meade website

(www.meade.com) and wants to pass this software along to friends.

쩦All: Everything—user-defined information and Autostar II software—is received

by another Autostar II handbox.

Statistics: Provides basic statistical data about Autostar II, including:

쩦Characters Free: Displays how much room is available in user-defined object

memory.

쩦Version: Displays the current version of the Autostar II software.

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.

Time Zone Shift

Atlantic -4 Hours

Eastern -5 Hours

Central -6 Hours

Mountain -7 Hours

Pacific -8 Hours

Alaska -9 Hours

Hawaii -10 Hours

Table 1: Time Zone Shift.

Calculations are for standard

time.

Note:

The Download function

requires the USB cable sup-

plied with the

MAX-ACF

telescope

See page 49 for

more information on how to

download.

Important Note:

If your download fails in the

middle of the download

attempt (e.g., your PC

crashes), turn off the tele-

scope. Turn the telescope

back on and as soon the

Autostar II display lights up,

press "999." Then attempt

the download again.

쩦Serial Number: Displays the unit's serial number.

Reset: Completely resets Autostar II. Most values entered into the menus revert to

factory defaults. Autostar II requires initialization again after a Reset before proceed-

ing with observations.

"Hot Button" Menus

Two menus, six object libraries and two functions can be accessed directly using the

Number keys (commonly referred to as "hot buttons"). The two functions, the Speed

mode and the Utility light are described earlier in the manual.

Focus Control Menus: Press Number key "4" to select these menus directly from

Autostar II's keypad. Each time you press Focus, the key toggles between focus/focus

speed menus and the preset control menus. When “Focuser: Fast” displays, press the

Up or Down Scroll keys to select a focus speed (fast, medium, slow or fine). When

“Focuser: Position” displays, use the Up or Down Arrow keys to achieve fine focus of

the object.

You can toggle the Focus key to display the “Focuser: Preset” menus. The Focuser

preset menu allows you to assign nine focus positions. If you “park” the telescope, you

can set your own focus, focus for your observing partners and the focus for your cam-

era or imager. Other Preset menus allow you to select a focus you have assigned and

also to Sync on a Focus Preset. The Sync on a Focus Preset allows you retrieve focus

positions when you do not park your telescope. See page 37 for information about

parking your telescope.

Reticle Control Menu: Press Number key "7" to select this menu directly from

Autostar II's keypad. "Reticle Control: Set Intensity" displays. Press ENTER. The

Intensity menu allows you to change the intensity of the Reticle Eyepiece Illuminator.

Use the Scroll keys to change the value. As you change the value, look through the

reticle to note how the Intensity changes.

Note:You may continue to change the values using the Scroll keys (and thus

changing the intensity) until you press ENTER again. This allows you to

experiment with the intensity level until you decide which intensity level

works best for you. This feature operates in the same manner in the Rate

and Duty Cycle menus.

When you have finished adjusting the intensity, press ENTER. Press Number key "7"

again and the Rate menu displays. Press ENTER again. Use the Scroll keys to change

the value of the the rate at which the Reticle Eyepiece blinks. As you change the value,

look through the reticle to note how the Blink Rate changes.

When you have finished adjusting the rate, press ENTER. Next, Press Number key "7"

again and the Duty Cycle menu displays. Press ENTER again. The Duty Cycle menu

controls how long the Reticle Eyepiece Illuminator is on during a blink cycle. Use the

Scroll keys to change the value. As you change the value, look through the reticle to

note how the Duty Cycle changes. When you have decided on a Duty Cycle value,

press ENTER.

To exit the Reticle menu, press MODE once.

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.

ADVANCED AUTOSTAR II FEATURES

Before trying out the examples in this section, familiarize yourself with the basic oper-

ations of Autostar II described earlier in this manual. The following examples assume

that you have a basic knowledge of Autostar II and understand how to scroll to a

desired menu or menu option, and how to enter numbers and text. It also assumes

that you have initialized and aligned your telescope.

Adding Observing Sites

If you plan to observe using Autostar II at different geographic locations, you can store

observation sites in Autostar II's memory to help simplify your telescope setup.

Perform these procedures using the Site options (Add, Select, Delete, Edit) of the

Setup menu.

To Add a Site to the user-defined site list:

In this example, you will choose a city and add it to the database list. You will then

select the site to enable it.

1. Navigate to the "Setup: Site" menu. Press ENTER,

2. Scroll through the options until "Site: Add" displays. Press ENTER.

3. Scroll through the list of countries/states. Press ENTER when the country/state

you wish to add displays.

4. Scroll through the list of cities. Press ENTER when the city you wish to add dis-

plays. The Site is now added to the database. You may add sites using this

method.

5. To choose a site, navigate to "Setup: Select." Press ENTER. Scroll through the

list of sites. When the desired site displays, press ENTER.

To Edit a Site:

In this procedure, you will enter a location that is not available in the Autostar II data-

base by editing data of a nearby site. You will edit the location's name, latitude, longi-

tude, and the time zone shift. You will then select the site to enable it.

You will need to know the latitude and longitude of your location to perform this pro-

cedure.

1. Using the Add option, choose a site on the list that is closest to your observing

site and press ENTER so that the site is added to your observing sites list.

Choosing a site already on the list (as opposed to using the "Custom" feature)

makes it easier to edit, as the "Time Zone" value may not need to be changed.

2. Scroll to "Site: Edit" and press ENTER. "Edit: Name" displays. Press ENTER.

3. The name of the site you have just entered to your list displays; if it does not,

scroll to the site.

4. Using the Arrow keys, change the name of the site so that it now reads the name

of your observing location. Press ENTER. "Edit: Name" displays again.

5. Press the Scroll Down key and "Edit: Latitude" displays. Press ENTER.

6. Using the Number Keys, enter the latitude of your observing site and then press

ENTER. "Edit: Latitude" displays again.

7. Press the Scroll Down key and "Edit: Longitude" displays. Press ENTER.

8. Using the Number Keys, enter the longitude of your observing site and then press

ENTER. "Edit: Longitude" displays again.

9. Press the Scroll Down key and "Edit: Time Zone" displays. Press ENTER. (If the

site you chose from the list in step 1 has the same Time Zone as the site you are

editing, just press ENTER again to go on to the next step.) "Time Zone" refers to

the Greenwich Time Zone shift. Users West of Greenwich, use "-" hours (one hour

per time zone) and users East of Greenwich use "+" hours. For the United States,

look up the shift in TABLE 1, page 39.

10. After entering the shift, press ENTER. "Edit Time Zone" displays.

Important Note:

The Site information is

stored in the Site menu. If

you move the telescope

more than 5 miles of your

initial observing location,

Autostar II automatically

determines your location

when it gets a GPS Fix,

and adds the new location

to the Site menu.

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.

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.

11. Press MODE. "Site: Edit" displays.

12. Using the Arrow keys, scroll to "Site: Select." The site you have just edited dis-

plays. Press ENTER to select the site.

Creating User Objects

In this procedure, you will enter coordinates of celestial objects that do not appear in

any of the Autostar II libraries.You will enter the object's name and R.A. and Dec. coor-

dinates (required information). You may also enter the object's magnitude and size

(optional information).

Although Autostar II contains an extensive database of celestial objects (stars, nebu-

lae, planets, etc.) that you can observe, you may eventually want to view objects that

are not part of a library. Autostar II provides a feature that allows you to enter an

object's R.A and Dec. coordinates in the "User: Objects" option of the Object menu

and allows automatic slewing of the telescope to the user-entered coordinates.

In order to use this menu option, you first need to look up the R.A and Dec. coordi-

nates of the object or objects you wish to observe. Check your local library, computer

store, or bookstore for astronomy books, CD Roms, or magazines (such as

Sky &

Telescope

Astronomy),

to find coordinates of celestial objects. The objects/coordi-

nates you enter become part of your own permanent database, called "User Objects."

To enter coordinates of an object into the "User: Objects" option of the Object

menu:

1. Make sure Autostar II has been initialized and the telescope has been aligned.

2. After the telescope is aligned, "Select Item: Object" displays. (If necessary, use

the Scroll keys to scroll through the menus, as previously described, to find this

option.) Press ENTER.

3. "Object: Solar System" displays. Keep pressing the Scroll Up key until "Object:

User Object" displays and press ENTER.

4. "User Object: Select" displays. Press the Scroll Down key once. "User Object:

Add" displays. Press ENTER.

5. "Name" displays on the top line and a blinking cursor on the second line. Use the

Arrow keys, as previously described, to enter the name of the object you wish to

add to the database. When you are finished, press ENTER.

6. "Right Asc.: 00.00.0" displays. Use the Number keys to enter the digits for the

Right Ascension coordinate of your object. When you are finished, press ENTER.

7. "Declination: +00°.00'" displays. Use the Number keys to enter the digits for the

Declination coordinate of your object. If necessary, use the Scroll Keys to change

"+" to "-." When you are finished, press ENTER.

8. Autostar II then prompts you to enter the size of the object. This step is optional.

Use the Number keys to enter the size (in arc-minutes), if so desired, and press

ENTER to go to the next display. If you do not wish to enter this information, sim-

ply press ENTER.

9. Autostar II then prompts you to enter the magnitude of the object.This step is also

optional. Use the Number keys to enter this information, if so desired, and press

ENTER to go to the next display. "User Object: Add" displays again.

To GO TO a user-entered object:

In this procedure, you will choose an object from the User Object list and GO TO the

object.

1. With "User Object: Add" displayed, press the Scroll Up key once. "User Object:

Select" displays. Press ENTER.

2. Use the Scroll keys (if necessary) to scroll to the desired object. Press ENTER.

3. The name of the object and the Right Ascension and Declination coordinates display.

4. Press GO TO and the telescope slews to the object.

Observing Satellites

In this procedure, you will prepare your telescope to observe a satellite pass.

1. Navigate to the "Object: Satellite" menu option and press ENTER.

2. Use the Scroll keys to scroll through the list of satellites.

3. Select a satellite from the list and press ENTER.

4. "Calculating...." and then "Tracking..." displays. If the satellite is going to make a

pass, "Located" displays.

5. Use the Scroll keys to display data about the pass: aos—acquisition of signal and

los—loss of signal. If you subtract the aos from the los, you can calculate how

long the satellite will be visible. Location information also displays.

6. "Alarm" displays after the location information. Press ENTER and Autostar II

automatically sets the alarm to sound a minute before the satellite's scheduled

appearance. You may return to regular observations until the alarm goes off.

7. When the alarm goes off, return to the Satellite menu and press a Scroll key until

the desired satellite is on the top line of the display.

8. Press GO TO. Autostar II slews the telescope to where the satellite should

appear. The motor drive stops and a countdown is displayed.

NOTE: If the scheduled appearance position of the satellite is obstructed

(i.e., by a building, tree, or hill), press ENTER and Autostar II starts to

move the telescope along the expected satellite track. When the track

clears the obstruction, press ENTER again to pause the telescope, then

continue with this procedure.

9. With about 20 seconds left on the countdown timer, start watching through the

telescope viewfinder for the satellite to enter the field of view.

10. When the satellite enters the viewfinder field of view, press ENTER. The tele-

scope starts to track with the satellite.

11. Use the Autostar II Arrow keys to center the object in the viewfinder, then look

through the eyepiece to view the object.

Satellite orbits change and new satellites (including the Space Shuttle) are launched.

Visit the Meade website (www.meade.com) approximately once a month to get

updated information and instructions on how to download this data to Autostar II. If

orbital parameters are more than one month old, the satellite pass may not happen at

the time predicted by Autostar II. Downloading requires the USB cable supplied with

your telescope.

Note: Satellite observing is an exciting challenge. Most satellites are in

low orbit, travelling at approximately 17,500 mph. When visible, they move

quickly across the sky and are only in the field of view for a few minutes,

requiring Autostar II to slew the telescope rapidly. Best viewing is near

Sunrise or Sunset when the sky is still dark. Viewing in the middle of the

night can be problematic because a satellite may pass overhead, but not

be visible as it is in the Earth's shadow.

Identify

This procedure allows you to use Autostar II to identify objects you have found in the

night sky using the Arrow keys. If the object is not in Autostar II's database, Autostar

II displays information about an object in its database that is closest to the one you

queried about.

Important Note: For this function to operate properly, you must first ini-

tialize and align Autostar II. If you physically move the telescope after ini-

tialization, this function will fail to operate properly.

In this procedure, you will center an object you wish to have identified by Autostar II

in the telescope eyepiece and use the "Identify" menu to find out information about

the object or the nearest object to it in the Autostar II database.

1. Center the object you wish to have identified in the telescope's eyepiece.

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.

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.

2. Navigate to the "Object: Identify" option and press ENTER.

3. "Searching..." displays. When Autostar II finishes calculating, the name of the

closest object displays.

4. Press a Scroll key to display information about this object. Autostar II displays

some or all of the following information about the object with each press of a

Scroll key:

Displayed information: Example:

Catalog or common name of object Messier 107, NGC6171, Orion Nebula, etc

Type of object Globular Cluster, Nebula, Black Hole, etc.

Right Ascension 16:32:4

Declination 13°03'

Constellation Virgo, Orion, etc.

Magnitude 3

Size 2'

Scrolling message "This Globular Cluster is 10,000 light years

away...."

Browse

This menu allows you to search the libraries for objects with certain parameters, much

like a search engine. "Edit Parameters" lets you set various parameters for the search,

and "Start Search" activates the search. A typical search might be performed as fol-

lows:

1. Select "Browse" from the Object menu. Press ENTER. "Browse: Start Search"

displays.

2. Press one of the Scroll Keys and "Browse: Edit Parameters" displays. Press

ENTER.

3. "Edit Parameters: Largest (mins)" displays. "Mins" stands for arc-minutes. Press

ENTER.

4. "Largest (mins)" and a value displays. Using the Number keys, enter a size in arc-

minutes. Autostar II will search for objects

up to

this size and no larger. Press

ENTER.

5. "Edit Parameters: Largest (mins)" displays again. Press the Scroll Down key. "Edit

Parameters: Smallest (mins)" displays. Enter the value for the smallest size of an

object that Autostar II will search for in the database. Continue with "Brightest,"

Faintest," and "Minimum Elevation," using the procedure described in steps 3 and

6. After "Minimum Elevation," "Object Type" displays. Press ENTER." "+Black Hole"

displays. If you do

not

wish to have "Black Holes" in your search, press ENTER

and the "+" changes to a "–." Press the Scroll Down key to scroll to the next item.

"+Diffuse Nebula" displays. Continue to scroll through the list and press ENTER

if you wish to change the "+" to a "–" or vice-versa.

7. After you have scrolled to the last item on the "Object Type" list, press MODE

twice and the Scroll Down key once. "Browse: Start Search" displays. Press

ENTER. "Start Search: Next" displays. Press ENTER. Autostar II searches the

database and displays the first object that matches the search parameters you

have entered. Use the scroll keys to display information about the object. Press

MODE and "Start Search: Next" displays again. Press ENTER and the next item

matching the parameters displays. Repeat this procedure to display all the

objects. Press GO TO to slew telescope to a displayed object.

8. Press MODE repeatedly to leave this menu.

Note:

Autostar II locates align-

ment stars based on the

date, time, and location

entered. The alignment

stars may change from

night to night. All that is

required is for the observer

to center the selected stars

in the eyepiece when

prompted.

Tip:

Try a Spiral Search

The GO TO key also allows

you to perform a "spiral

search." A spiral search is

useful when the telescope

slews to an object, but that

object is not visible in the

eyepiece after the tele-

scope finishes its search.

(This sometimes occurs

during an alignment proce-

dure.) Press GO TO when

the slew is finished and the

telescope starts slewing in

a spiral pattern at a very

slow speed around the

search area. Look through

the eyepiece and when the

object does become visible,

press MODE to stop the

spiral search. Then use the

Arrow keys to center the

object.

Alternate Polar Alignments

If you would rather set up your telescope without using automatic alignment, Autostar

II offers alternative alignment methods for equatorial mounting. During the One-Star

and Two-Star alt/az alignment procedures, you will (unlike the Automatic and Easy

alignment procedures) manually place the telescope in the home position.

Initialize Autostar II

First, you need to initialize Autostar II.

1. Connect Autostar II to the HBX port of the RA Control Panel (or Dec Control

Panel).

2. Flip the power switch of the RA Control Panel to the ON position.

The Autostar II screen is activated and a copyright message displays briefly.

3. "Press 0 to Align or Mode for Menu" displays. Press 0.

4. The telescope will seek the home position. Autostar II initializes the Smart Drive.

The R.A. and Dec. motors operate briefly and "Initializing: Smart Drive" displays.

5. "Automatic Alignment" displays.

You are now ready to align your telescope using one of the alternate polar alignment

procedures.

Two-Star Polar Alignment

Two-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. Autostar II provides a

library of bright stars and two stars from this library are chosen by the observer for

alignment.

1. Alignment Option Screen. "Align: Automatic" displays.

2. Select Alignment. Press the Scroll keys until "Align: Two Star" displays. Press

ENTER.

3. Set Home Position. Place the telescope in the home position.

4. Star Alignment. "Select Star" displays. Autostar II then displays a library of stars

for the observer to choose from. Use the Scroll keys to scroll to a star on the list

that you wish to align upon. Select a star that you can easily locate in the night

sky. Press ENTER.

5. Center Star. The telescope slews to the star. Use the Arrow keys to move the tel-

escope until the star is centered in the eyepiece. Press ENTER.

6. Center Star. Repeat procedure for the second alignment star. The telescope is

aligned and you are now ready to use Autostar II's GO TO capabilities for a night

of observing.

Easy Polar Alignment

Easy Alignment is similar to Two-Star Polar Alignment, except it requires no knowl-

edge of the night sky. Autostar II, rather than the user, chooses two stars its library

and merely asks the user to center them in the eyepiece.

One-Star Polar Alignment

One-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. Autostar II provides a

library of bright stars. One-Star Alignment is identical to Two-Star Polar: Alignment,

except only one star from the database is chosen by the observer for alignment.

Align on Home

Allows recovery of alignment. Selecting this alignment slews telescope to sensor

home position. It then performs an automatic alignment on the telescope based on a

GPS fix and the home position sensor.

To Download the Latest Version of Autostar II Software

Included with your telescope is a CD ROM and a USB cable. You need to install the

USB drivers, that are included on the CD ROM, BEFORE plugging in the cable:

1 Select MAX-ACF Users (the fourth selection on the list) from the CD Rom.

2 Follow on screen instructions (click “Next” and “Finish” buttons when asked to

do so).

3 Plug in the USB cable. Plug one end into one of the MAX-ACF USB ports on a

Important Note:

If you disable the automatic

alignment/GPS function and

then use the alternate align-

ments described in this sec-

tion, you will be prompted to

enter the Time, Date, and

Daylight Savings status.

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.

computer control panel/ Plug the other end into a USB port of your PC Next,

you will install the Autostar Suite software from the CD ROM. This software pro-

vides a menu that allows you to download the latest version of Autostar II

software into the Autostar II handbox.

4. Select Autostar Suite on the CD ROM to install Autostar Suite onto your PC.

Follow the on-screen instructions.

5. Once the Autostar Suite software installs, double-click the new “Autostar Suite”

icon on the desktop.

6. Go to the Telescope menu and select “Update Autostar.” The “Autostar Update”

screen displays. Click the “Upgrade Autostar Software Now” button.

7. The application detects your telescope type and the version of Autostar soft-

ware on your handbox.

8. A window displays asking if you wish to download the latest version of Autostar

from your hard drive (if you previously downloaded it separately from the

Meade website) or from the internet. Select one of the choices and follow

on-screen instructions.

9. The download will take several minutes (download time depends on your inter-

net connection, speed of your computer and so forth). When the download is

complete, the new version of the Autostar software displays.

Periodic Error Correction

If you wish to perform high-precision astrophotography, you may wish to "train" your

telescope in order to keep objects that you are imaging dead center in the telescope's

field of view during the photographic exposure. Periodic error correction (PEC) helps

to remove the slight perturbations from center that occur due to the mechanical

nature of a telescope. To perform this procedure, you need to use a high-power reti-

cle, such as the 9mm reticle (see OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES, pages 48 - 50). PEC

training is available for both drives.

Train Menu Option

Important Note: The Train option overwrites any previous PEC data.

1. Select "Train" from the RA PEC menu (in the "Setup: Telescope" menu) and press

ENTER.

2. Look through the reticle. Use the Arrow keys to keep the star centered in the reticle

cross-hairs. Autostar II displays a count of the 64 positions of the worm gear. When

the count reaches 64, one cycle is complete. A full cycle takes about 2 minutes.

3. Select "Train" from the R.A. PEC menu (in the "Setup: Telescope" menu) and press

ENTER.

4. Press MODE to exit.

Update Menu Option

Use the Update option to further refine your training; it is recommended that you

update your original training two or three times when first using your telescope.

Update does not overwrite the data, but updates the training using information gath-

ered from both the last and the current training sessions. Press the MODE key to exit

from this option. If you wish to further refine your training, select this menu again and

repeat the procedure.

Erase Menu Option

Select this option to erase all PEC training data.

On and Off Menu Options

Select "On" when you want the telescope to use the training information. Select "Off"

when you do not want for the telescope to use the training information. Select "On" to

enable the Smart Drive.

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.

OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES

A wide assortment of professional Meade accessories is available for the MAX-ACF

telescope models. The premium quality of these accessories is well-suited to the qual-

ity of the instrument itself. Consult the Meade General Catalog for complete details

on these and other accessories.

Meade Series 4000 Eyepieces:

Series 5000 TeleXtenders: An advanced 4-element design flattens the field of view,

and the fully coated lenses deliver the maximum light transmission, the highest con-

trast and an image free of color fringing. Maintains a comfortable eye relief of longer

focal length eyepieces, while increasing magnification.

Series 4000 8 - 24mm Zoom Eyepiece: The internal zoom optics of this eyepiece

move on smooth, precisely machined surfaces which maintain optical collimation at

all zoom settings. A scale graduated in 1mm units indicates the zoom focal length in

operation. An excellent addition to any eyepiece set.

Series 4000 Photo-Visual Color Filters: Color filters significantly enhance visual

and photographic image contrast of the Moon and planets. Each filter threads into the

barrel of any Meade 1.25" eyepiece, and into the barrels of virtually all other eyepiece

brands as well. Meade filters are available in 12 colors for lunar and planetary appli-

cations, and in Neutral Density as a lunar glare-reduction filter.

Fig. 46: Series 5000 5 Element

Plossl Eyepieces.

Fig. 47: Series 5000 Super Wide

Angle Eyepieces.

Fig. 48: Series 5000 Ultra Wide

Angle Eyepieces.

Fig. 49: Series 5000 TELEXTEN-

DERS.

16” f/8 20” f/8

Eyepiece

Power/Actual Field Power/Actual Field

Plössl Eyepieces (5 elements; 1.25” O.D., except as noted)

5.5mm (6-elements) 591/0.10° 739/0.08°

9 mm 361/0.17° 452/0.13°

14mm 232/0.26° 290/0.21°

20mm 63/0.37° 203/0.30°

26mm 125/0.48° 156/0.38°

32mm

(2" O.D.)

102/0.59° 127/0.47°

40mm

(2" O.D.)

81/0.74° 102/0.59°

Super Wide Angle Eyepieces (6-elements; 1.25” O.D., except as noted)

16mm 203/0.33° 254/0.27°

20mm 163/0.42° 203/0.33°

24mm 135/0.50° 169/0.40°

28mm 116/0.41° 145/0.47°

34mm

(2" O.D.)

96/0.59° 120/0.57°

40mm

(2" O.D.)

81/0.74° 102/0.67°

Ultra Wide Angle Eyepieces (8-elements; 1.25” O.D., except as noted)

4.7mm 691/0.12° 865/0.09°

6.7mm 485/0.17° 607/0.14°

8.8mm 369/0.22° 462/0.18°

14mm 232/0.35° 290/0.28°

18mm 181/0.45° 226/0.36°

24mm

(2” O.D.)

135/0.60° 169/0.49°

30mm

(2” O.D.)

108/0.76° 135/0.61°

Magnification

Barrel Size # of elements

2x 1.25” 4

3x 1.25 4

5x 1.25 4

2x 2.00 (w/1.25” adapter) 4

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.

Series 4000 Nebular Filters: A modern boon to the city-dwelling deep-space

observer, the interference nebular filter effectively cancels out the effects of most

urban light pollution, while leaving the light of deep-space nebular emissions virtual-

ly unattenuated. Meade Series 4000 Nebular Filters utilize the very latest in coating

technology, and are available with threaded cells for eyepieces or for attachment to

the rear cells of Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain models.

Variable Tele-Extender: For eyepiece-projection photography of the Moon and the

planets, a Tele-Extender is required. The Variable Tele-Extender threads onto the

telescope's eyepiece-holder, into which is inserted an eyepiece of typically about

26mm focal length; the 35mm camera body couples to the tele-extender by means of

a T-Mount. The Meade Variable Tele-Extender permits a range of projection images.

#928 45° Erect-Image Diagonal Prism: Diagonal mirrors and prisms result in images

that are correctly oriented up-and-down but reversed left-for-right. For terrestrial

observing a fully correctly oriented telescopic image is desirable; the #928 Diagonal

Prism accomplishes this image correction and places the eyepiece at a convenient

45° viewing angle. The #928 is for use with the 1.25" Eyepiece-Holder.

Series 4000 Plössl 9mm Illuminated Reticle Eyepiece: The most advanced com-

mercially-available illuminated reticle eyepiece, the Series 4000 Plössl 9mm model,

greatly facilitate locking onto the guide star: Turn the finely-threaded controls and

place the reticle’s crossline pattern precisely at the desired position in the field. The

sharp, high-power imaging of the 4-element, multi-coated Plössl optical system is

complemented by a rubber eyecup (foldable for eyeglass wearers) that shuts out dis-

tracting stray light from the observer’s eye. The upper (lens) section of the eyepiece

rotates on a fine thread for precise diopter adjustment to the user’s eye. Reticle pat-

tern is a double crossline with two concentric circles.

#62 T-Adapter: The T-Adapter is the basic means of prime-focus photography through

all Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain models. Thread the T-Adapter on to the rear cell of

your telescope, followed by a T-Mount for your 35mm camera, and the camera body

is rigidly coupled to the telescope.

#777 Off-Axis Guider: The Off-Axis Guider provides a means during long-exposure

astrophotography for the photographer to monitor the tracking of the telescope to

assure that the telescope remains precisely positioned on the object being pho-

tographed. Like the T-Adapter, the Off-Axis Guider couples the camera body to the

telescope but it also causes a small amount of the guidestar’s incoming light to be

diverted at a right angle, where the star’s position can be examined for tracking errors

with an illuminated reticle eyepiece; position corrections can then be effected using

Autostar II.

Piggyback Brackets (not available for 20" model): Piggyback photography is one

of the most popular and easiest ways to get started in astrophotography. Attach your

35mm camera, with its own 35mm-to-250mm lens, atop your MAX-ACF in equatorial

mode, and guiding the camera through the main telescope, wide-field photos of the

Milky Way of remarkable detail and clarity can be taken.

Dew Shields (not available for 20" model): In moist climates, water particles sus-

pended in the atmosphere may condense on the front surface of the telescope's cor-

recting plate. This dew formation may be inhibited to a significant extent by the addi-

tion of a dew shield, essentially an extension tube attaching to the front-cell of the tel-

escope.

#905 Variable Polarizer (1.25"): #1A Skylight Filter: The #905 system includes 2

Polarizer filters mounted in a specially-machined cell, for glare-reduction in observ-

ing the Moon. Rotate the thumbscrew at the side of the unit to achieve light trans-

mission between 5% and 25% of its original value. The #905 inserts into the diago-

nal mirror of the telescope, followed by an eyepiece. The #1A Skylight Filter threads

onto the rear cells of all Meade MAX-ACF models and effectively seals the interior of

the telescope from dust. All other rear cell accessories may then be threaded to the

Fig. 51: #905 Variable Polarizer and

#1A Skylight Filter.

Fig. 50: Series 4000 8 - 24mm Zoom

Eyepiece.

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.

Fig. 52: Illuminated Reticle Eyepiece.

Fig. 53: #62 T-Adapter.

#1A filter. The filter increases visual and photographic contrast, decreases glare, and

helps to penetrate haze.

MAX-ACF AC Wall Adapter: Permits powering from a standard home (115v AC) out-

let.

Cigarette Lighter Adapter: Powering the MAX-ACF telescope by means of an auto-

mobile cigarette lighter plug.

#644 Flip Mirror System: Has an X/Y adjustment mechanism for the diagonal mirror

with locks for the precise centering, and multiple rotating adapters for T-thread and

1.25” camera attachment. Accepts 1.25” O.D. eyepieces and has a clear aperture of

22mm. Use with small to medium size chip CCD cameras.

#647 Flip Mirror System: Has an X/Y adjustment mechanism for the diagonal mirror

with locks for the precise centering, and multiple rotating adapters for T-thread and

1.25” camera attachment. Accepts 1.25” O.D. and 2.00” eyepieces and has a clear

aperture of 40mm. Use with medium to large size chip CCD cameras. CCD Framing

Ocular: Displays rectangular frame of all popular CCD chip sizes. Inserts directly into

the eyepiece holder or flip mirror. Includes variable LED illumination control and bat-

teries.

Astrometric Eyepiece: A high-precision 3-element achromatic eyepiece for a wide

range of astronomical measurements. Measure double star separations, position

angles, planetary diameters, lunar crater diameters and so forth. Includes variable

LED illumination control and batteries.

Deep Sky Imager: The Deep Sky Imager combines the power of an electronic astro-

nomical imager with the simplicity of a web cam, allowing you to capture deep sky

images on your PC.

Low Latitude Counterweight Kit: This optional feature is necessary if you wish to

use the mount if your site is 0° to 30° away from the equator. Contact your Meade deal-

er for more information.

Mounting Plate: This optional feature allows you to mount non-MAX-ACF models to

Max. Contact your Meade dealer for more information.

More accessories will soon be available for your MAX-ACF model. To find out more

about these and other accessories available for your telescope, check out the new

Meade General Catalog or contact your local Meade dealer. Also check out Meade’s

latest ads in Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazine.

Fig. 54: The Deep Sky Imager.

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.

MAINTENANCE

MAX-ACF telescopes are precision optical instruments designed to yield a lifetime of

rewarding applications. Given the care and respect due any precision instrument, your

MAX-ACF will rarely, if ever, require factory servicing. Maintenance guidelines include:

a. Avoid cleaning the telescope’s optics: A little dust on the front surface of the tele-

scope’s correcting lens causes virtually no degradation of image quality and

should not be considered reason to clean the lens.

b. When absolutely necessary, dust on the front lens should be removed with gen-

tle strokes of a camel hair brush or blown off with an ear syringe (available at any

pharmacy). DO NOT use a commercial photographic lens cleaner.

c. Organic materials (e.g., fingerprints) 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.

d. Do not, for any reason, remove the correcting plate from its machined housing for

cleaning or other purposes. You will almost certainly not be able to replace the

corrector in its proper rotational orientation and serious degradation of optical

performance will result. Meade Instruments assumes no liability for damage

incurred to the telescope in this way.

e. If the MAX-ACF is used outdoors on a humid night, water condensation on the

telescope surfaces will probably result. While such condensation does not nor-

mally cause any damage to the telescope, it is recommended that the entire tel-

escope be wiped down with a dry cloth before the telescope is packed away. Do

not, however, wipe any of the optical surfaces. Rather, simply allow the telescope

to sit for some time in the warm indoor air, so that the wet optical surfaces can

dry unattended.

f. Do not leave your MAX-ACF inside a sealed car on a warm summer day; exces-

sive ambient temperatures can damage the telescope’s internal lubrication and

electronic circuitry.

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.

Total instrument capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 lbs.

Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20"

Optical design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advanced Coma-Free

Optical coatings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UHTC™

Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robotic Equatorial

Gear pitch diameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.625"

Periodic error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 arc sec.

Latitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-90°

No. of drive gear teeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652 (RA & DEC)

MAX-ACF

Optical Design Advanced Coma-Free

Clear Aperture 20"

UHTC™ Coatings Standard Ultra-High Transmission Transmission Coatings (UHTC™

Resolving Power (Dawes Limit) .228 arc seconds

Focal Length, Focal Ratio 4064mm, f/8

Telescope Mounting MAX Robotic Equatorial Mount

Periodic Error Correction

Both axes Ten (10) arc seconds (raw); Two (2) arc seconds with PECTOOL

Control Panel 2 multi-function, multi-port panels

Focus 4-speed front focusing

mechanism included

GPS, North sensors included 16-channel GPS receiver (on Mount)

Pointing Precision High Precision Mode 1-arc min.

Autostar® II Hand Controller Included (147,541 object database)

Alignment Equatorial

North electronic sensors Included

Temperature Control Thermal stabilization fan

Power 12VDC, 5amp power supply required

Slew Speeds: RA and Dec: 0.01x to1.0x sidereal, variable in 0.01x increments; 2x, 8x, 16x, 64x, 128x

sidereal; 1°/sec. to 2°/sec., variable in 0.1° increments All models

Tracking Rates Sidereal, lunar, solar or custom-selected from 2000 incremental rates All models

Primary, Secondary Mirrors Pyrex® glass, fine-annealed

Correcting Plate/Lens Borofloat

Adjustable Counterweights Requires 3 - 35lb.

Counterweights (included)

Fixed Counterweights Requires 2 - 43lb.

Counterweights (included)

Accessories 8 x 50mm viewfinder, 2.0" diagonal mirror with 1.25" adapter,

UltraWide 24mm eyepiece.

Net Weight 694 pounds

TELESCOPE SPECIFICATIONS

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.

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.

Weights and Dimension Weights Dimensions

RA Housing Assembly 66 pounds L = 20.75"; W = 18.85"; H = 20.34".

Dec Housing Assembly 75 pounds L = 18.25"; W = 15"; H = 20.45".

Counterweight Shaft Assembly

Individual Counterweight 35 pounds L = 5.9"; W = 5.9"; H = 2.96".

Portable Tripod 81 pounds Height: 26.5 inches;

Footprint radius: 30 inches

Permanent Pier 39 pounds Minimum Height: 22"; Maximum

Height: ??

Tube Diameter: 11.9"

Optical Tube Assembly (OTA)

20” MAX-ACF OTA 190 pounds L = 40"; W = 25.7"; H = 25.7".

20" OTA + MAX-ACF + Counterweights 694 pounds L = 40"; W = 25.7"; H = 99.67".

Optional Accessories 20 pound Counterweight

Dovetail Instrument mount assembly

Advanced Autostar II System Specifications

Processors ........................................................10 processors arranged in a Distributed

Intelligent Network Architecture to

facilitate parallel task management

(U.S. Patent 6,304,376)

Flash Memory ............................................4 MB, reloadable

Database......................................................180,000 objects

Drive Control................................................Smart Mount, plus

185-speeds on both axes

Autostar II Handbox Specifications

Keypad ........................................................20 key alphanumeric

Display ........................................................2 line, 16 character LCD

Backlight ......................................................Red LED

Utility Light ..................................................Yes

Coil Cord......................................................24"

Length ..........................................................6.56" (16.6cm)

Width (LCD end) ..........................................3.19" (80cm)

Width (Connector end) ................................2.25" (57cm)

Depth ..........................................................0.81" (21cm)

Autostar II net weight ..................................1.12 lbs (0.51kg)

Meade Consumer Solutions

If you have a question concerning your Max-ACF contact the Meade Instruments Consumer Solutions Department at:

Telephone: (800) 626-3233

Consumer Solutions hours are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. In the unlikely event that your MAX-

ACF requires factory servicing or repairs, write or call the Meade Consumer Solutions Department first, before returning the

telescope to the factory, giving full particulars as to the nature of the problem, as well as your name, address, and daytime tele-

phone number. The great majority of servicing issues can be resolved by telephone, avoiding return of the telescope to the fac-

tory. If factory service is required, you will be assigned a Return Goods Authorization (RGA) number prior to return.

APPENDIX A: LATITUDE CHART

Latitude Chart for Major Cities of the World

To aid in the polar alignment procedure, latitudes of major cities around the world are listed below. To determine the latitude of an observing

site not listed on the chart, locate the city closest to your site. Then follow the procedure below:

Northern hemisphere observers (N): If the site is over 70 miles (110 km) North of the listed city, add one degree for every 70 miles. If the

site is over 70 miles South of the listed city, subtract one degree per 70 miles.

Southern Hemisphere observers (S): If the site is over 70 miles (110 km) North of the listed city, subtract one degree for every 70 miles. If

the site is over 70 miles South of the listed city, add one degree per 70 miles.

NORTH AMERICA

City State/Prov./Country Latitude

Albuquerque New Mexico 35° N

Anchorage Alaska 61° N

Atlanta Georgia 34° N

Boston Massachusetts 42° N

Calgary Alberta 51° N

Chicago Illinois 42° N

Cleveland Ohio 41° N

Dallas Texas 33° N

Denver Colorado 40° N

Detroit Michigan 42° N

Honolulu Hawaii 21° N

Jackson Mississippi 32° N

Kansas City Missouri 39° N

Kenosha Wisconsin 45° N

Las Vegas Nevada 36° N

Little Rock Arkansas 35° N

Los Angeles California 34° N

Mexico City Mexico 19° N

Miami Florida 26° N

Minneapolis Minnesota 45° N

Nashville Tennessee 36° N

New Orleans Louisiana 30° N

New York New York 41° N

Oklahoma City Oklahoma 35° N

Ottawa Ontario 45° N

Philadelphia Pennsylvania 40° N

Phoenix Arizona 33° N

Portland Oregon 46° N

Salt Lake City Utah 41° N

San Antonio Texas 29° N

San Diego California 33° N

San Francisco California 38° N

Seattle Washington 47° N

Washington District of Columbia 39° N

EUROPE

City Country Latitude

Amsterdam Netherlands 52° N

Athens Greece 38° N

Bern Switzerland 47° N

Copenhagen Denmark 56° N

Dublin Ireland 53° N

Frankfurt Germany 50° N

Glasgow Scotland 56° N

Helsinki Finland 60° N

Lisbon Portugal 39° N

London England 51° N

Madrid Spain 40° N

Oslo Norway 60° N

Paris France 49° N

Rome Italy 42° N

Stockholm Sweden 59° N

Vienna Austria 48° N

Warsaw Poland 52° N

SOUTH AMERICA

City Country Latitude

Bogotá Colombia 4° N

São Paulo Brazil 23° S

Buenos Aires Argentina 35° S

Montevideo Uruguay 35° S

Santiago Chile 34° S

Caracas Venezuela 10° N

ASIA

City Country Latitude

Beijing China 40° N

Hong Kong China 23° N

Seoul South Korea 37° N

Taipei Taiwan 25° N

Tokyo Japan 36° N

Sapporo Japan 43° N

Bombay India 19° N

Calcutta India 22° N

Hanoi Vietnam 21° N

Jedda Saudi Arabia 21° N

AFRICA

City Country Latitude

Cairo Egypt 30° N

Cape Town South Africa 34° S

Rabat Morocco 34° N

Tunis Tunisia 37° N

Windhoek Namibia 23° S

AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA

City State/Country Latitude

Adelaide South Australia 35° S

Brisbane Queensland 27° S

Canberra New South Wales 35° S

Alice Springs Northern Territory 24° S

Hobart Tasmania 43° S

Perth Western Australia 32° S

Sydney New South Wales 34° S

Melbourne Victoria 38° S

Auckland New Zealand 37° S

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.

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.

APPENDIX B: THE MOON

The Moon option of the Object menu allows you to observe the moon in a way never

possible before. You will be able locate many specific features of the lunar surface,

including hundreds of craters, mare, valleys, and mountains. One special feature

allows you to view all six Apollo landing sites. While you won't be able to see details

such as any of the lunar landers or lunar excursion modules left behind by the astro-

nauts (the best earth-based telescopes can only resolve features of about a half-mile

across), you'll be able pinpoint the landing sites and study the terrain surrounding

these sites.

When Autostar II syncs to a lunar feature, the telescope switches to Selenographic

coordinates,

i.e.

, lunar latitude and longitude.

To observe the Apollo 15 landing site using the Moon option:

1. Initialize and align the telescope system as previously described.

2. Press "5" on the Autostar II keypad. "Solar System: Mercury" displays.

3. Press a Scroll key until "Solar System: Moon" displays. Press ENTER.

4. "Moon: Overview" displays. Press GO TO. The telescope slews to the Moon.

5. With "Moon: Overview" on Autostar II's display, use the Scroll keys to browse

through the menus options. Five categories of features are available: Landing

Sites, Craters, Mountains, Mare and Lakes, and Valleys and Rills.

6. Select a distinct lunar crater with which you are familiar, such as Copernicus or

Kepler, from the Craters option and press ENTER.

7. Then press GO TO to slew to that feature. Center the feature in the eyepiece

and hold down ENTER for more than two seconds to ENTER TO SYNC. The

telescope is now synced to Selenographic coordinates.

8. Press MODE twice to return to the features list. Press a Scroll key until "Moon:

Landing Sites" displays.

9. Press ENTER. "Landing Sites: Apollo 11" displays.

10. Press a Scroll key until "Landing Sites: Apollo 15" displays.

11. Press GO TO. The telescope slews to the Apollo 15 site.

12. Press MODE to return to the previous menu option. Continue to press MODE to

exit this menu.

Use this method to find other lunar features and points of interest. When you have

selected a feature, press the "?" key or use the Scroll keys to display detailed infor-

mation about the feature. Press MODE to return to the menu options.

Copernicus

Kepler

Tycho

Figure 56: Some easily recognized lunar craters.

APPENDIX C: Smart Mount

Introduction

Smart Mount improves the pointing accuracy of your MAX-ACF telescope's "Go to"

system. Despite careful efforts to calibrate and align telescopes, they may fail to

precisely center objects. Smart Mount allows your telescope to learn about, and then

correct for, any systematic pointing errors, regardless of the cause.

Because training your mount takes some time, we recommend that it be primarily

used on permanently mounted instruments or when imaging requires very accurate

pointing. Once Smart Mount training has been performed, the scope will benefit from

it so long as you carefully park the telescope at the end of each session and do not

modify the mounting.

For portable instruments, we recommend training Smart Mount each time you set up

your telescope to insure best results.

We recommend that you use an

illuminated reticle

during the training procedure. An

illuminated reticle allows you to precisely center celestial objects in a telescope’s

eyepiece. The more precisely you center objects during Smart Mount training, the

more pointing precision your telescope will be able to achieve.

Operation

The Smart Mount feature is located in the Autostar II Setup menu.

In order to use Smart Mount, create a model that allows Smart Mount to improve your

telescope's accuracy. This is normally done by training Smart Mount. Once training

has been completed, you will save your model. Autostar II allows you to save

several models under different names. This allows you to, for example, save one

model for a heavy imaging camera configuration on a permanently aligned scope, and

another when you have a lighter load on the mount.

Training

In order to obtain solid, repeatable results, perform the following procedures

before

you create a model:

• Auto align

• Drift align

• Collimate

• Align OTA

• Calibrate Home

• Then train both the RA and Dec training calibration

Once you have calibrated and aligned your telescope, if you wish to start a new

model, go to the Smart Mount main menu. Locate and select "Erase" to clear the

current model. Next, proceed with the steps below:

Note: If you do not erase the current model, the training session will refine

the current model.

• Locate “Train” in the Smart Mount Configuration menu and press enter.

• The telescope will select and slew to several (over 40) stars.

• When requested to do so, carefully center each star and then press ENTER.

If you find that you cannot see a star because there is an obstruction blocking your

view:

• Press MODE briefly to skip this star. Another star will be chosen.

To exit the training sequence before it is completed:

• Press and hold MODE for about two seconds and then release it.

When you have completed training:

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.

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.

• Save your model, using a good, descriptive name, using the “Save As” menu.

Upon completion of the training, Smart Mount is enabled and

remains on

until

you choose “Off” from the Smart Mount Configuration menu.

Permanently Mounted Scopes

For permanently mounted telescopes, it is not necessary to have more than one

model unless the weight and balance of auxiliary equipment introduces balance or

flexure changes that significantly affect pointing. The best practice is to train the Smart

Mount and then run a couple of sessions with Update enabled. Thereafter, simply

leave Smart Mount On as the installation default.

Other Menus Options

Save As and Load

The Smart Mount system allows you to save several models you have created (see

TRAINING on the previous page) using the Save As command. Choose which model

will be the "Current Model” using the Load command.

Update

The Update mode allows you to update training for the current model you have

enabled. You will sync on several stars as previously described, which will further

refine the pointing of your telescope. Save your model after running in update mode,

otherwise the update will be lost when the telescope is powered off.

Load a model from memory (see SAVE AS AND LOAD above) and then Select Smart

On. When Smart Mount is "On," the telescope will use the currently loaded model to

refine your telescope's pointing, but will not update the model (see SMART MOUNT

UPDATE above). If Smart Mount was "On" when you last powered off your telescope, it

will be "On" when you start the next session.

Off

When Smart Mount is "Off," the telescope will not use any model you have created to

refine pointing accuracy.

Erase

The Erase command clears the Current Smart Mount table values to allow a new

model to be created.

Delete

The Delete command allows you to delete any model from memory. To delete a

model, just scroll through the names and select the model to you wish to delete and

press ENTER.You will be asked to confirm your choice. Press ENTER again and it will

be removed from memory.

APPENDIX D: How to

Read the Latitude Scale

Introduction

As Max needs to be polar aligned, you will need to set the latitude scale for you lati-

tude range. The Latitude scale has three sets of measurements, one for each latitude

range: 0 to 30°, 30° to 60° and 60 to 90°. Note that there are five extra degrees beyond

both 0 and 90°. This allows you to add for latitudes just slightly below 0 and just slight-

ly above 90 degrees. For instructions as to how to set up the pedestal (or wedge) for

you latitude range, see step 8, page 15.

A short tick marks on the scale represents one-half degree, a long tick marks repre-

sents one degree. Line up your latitude with the indicator line at the edge of scale.

Line up your

latitude with

the indicator

Count the longer

tick marks down to

the indicator

In the example above, lets say you have chosen the latitude range of 30 to 60

degrees. This is the middle set of numbers (30, 40, 50 and 60). Count the number of

longer tick marks from 40 down to the indicator. Always count from the set of num-

bers closest to the indicator. As there are four longer ticks down to the indicator, the

scale reads 44 degrees. If you had chosen the 0 to 30 degree range, the scale

reads 14 degrees. Additionally, if you chosen the 60 to 90 degree range, the scale

reads 74 degrees.

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.

14-7753-00 8/06 REVB

27 Hubble, Irvine, California 92618

(800) 626-3233 www.meade.com

MEADE LIMITED WARRANTY

Every Meade telescope, spotting scope, and telescope accessory is warranted by Meade Instruments Corporation (“Meade”)

to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ONE YEAR from the date of original purchase in the U.S.A.

and Canada. Meade will repair or replace a product, or part thereof, found by Meade to be defective, provided the defective

part is returned to Meade, freight-prepaid, with proof of purchase. This warranty applies to the original purchaser only and is

non-transferable. Meade products purchased outside North America are not included in this warranty, but are covered under

separate warranties issued by Meade international distributors.

RGA Number Required: Prior to the return of any product or part, a Return Goods Authorization (RGA) number must be

obtained from Meade by writing, or calling (800) 626-3233. Each returned part or product must include a written statement

detailing the nature of the claimed defect, as well as the owner’s name, address, and phone number.

This warranty is not valid in cases where the product has been abused or mishandled, where unauthorized repairs have been

attempted or performed, or where depreciation of the product is due to normal wear-and-tear. Meade specifically disclaims

special, indirect, or consequential damages or lost profit which may result from a breach of this warranty. Any implied warranties

which cannot be disclaimed are hereby limited to a term of one year from the date of original retail purchase.

This warranty gives you specific rights. You may have other rights which vary from state to state.

Meade reserves the right to change product specifications or to discontinue products without notice.

This warranty supercedes all previous Meade product warranties.

Meade Max 20 Acf Instruction Manual 14 7753 00 0806REV_B Mnl_2

Meade-Max-Acf-Users-Manual-398026 meade-max-acf-users-manual-398026

MAX-ACF to the manual b3b76528-215c-4b36-9ee2-e5be036ccfad

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