User manual MEADE TELESTAR 60AZ-A2

[. . . ] 40-04135 8 Page Manual Template 6/29/05 10:54 AM Page 1 www. meade. com TELESTAR INSTRUCTION MANUAL 60mm | 2. 4" Altazimuth Refracting Telescope 60AZ-A2 40-04135 8 Page Manual Template 6/29/05 10:54 AM Page 2 40-04135 8 Page Manual Template 6/29/05 10:54 AM Page 3 INTRODUCTION Your telescope is an excellent beginner's instrument, and is designed to observe objects in the sky and also on land. It can be your personal window on the universe or allows you to intimately study the behavior of nesting birds on a distant hillside. The telescope is shipped with the following parts: · Optical tube · Aluminum tripod with an accessory tray · Two 1. 25" eyepieces: MA25mm (28X), MH9mm · 2x 1. 25" Barlow lens · Diagonal mirror · 5x24mm viewfinder with bracket · Telescope mount · Hardware used in the assembly: 3 bolts (2" long) with wing nuts and washers 3 screws (1/2" long) with nuts The tube has a focal length of 700mm, and its objective lens has a diameter of 60mm. The lens diameter is one of the most important pieces of information about the telescope. [. . . ] The color of stars sometimes can tell you about the age of a star and the temperature that they burn at. Other stars to look for are multiple stars. Very often, you can find double (or binary) stars, stars that are very close together. Does one seem brighter than the other? Almost all the stars you can see in the sky are part of our galaxy. A galaxy is a large 40-04135 8 Page Manual Template 6/29/05 10:54 AM Page 11 grouping of stars, containing millions or even billions of stars. Some galaxies form a spiral (like our galaxy, the Milky Way) and other galaxies look more like a large football and are called elliptical galaxies. There are many galaxies that are irregularly shaped and are thought to have been pulled apart because they passed too close to--or even through--a larger galaxy. You may be able to see the Andromeda galaxy and several others in your telescope. The two easiest to see in the Northern Hemisphere are the Orion nebula during the winter and the Triffid nebula during the summer. When you become an advanced observer you can look for other types of objects such as asteroids, planetary nebula and globular clusters. And if you're lucky, every so often a bright comet appears in the sky, presenting an unforgettable sight. The more you learn about objects in the sky, the more you will learn to appreciate the sights you see in your telescope. The best exercise for drawing is to observe the moons of Jupiter every night or so. Try to make Jupiter and the moons approximately the same size as they look in your eyepiece. As you get better at drawing, try more challenging sights, like a crater system on the moon or even a nebula. Go your library or check out the internet for more information about astronomy. Learn about the basics: light years, orbits, star colors, how stars and planets are formed, red shift, the big bang, what are the different kinds of nebula, what are comets, asteroids and meteors and what is a black hole. The more you learn about astronomy, the more fun, and the more rewarding your telescope will become. SOME OBSERVING TIPS 9 Eyepieces: Always begin your observations using the 25mm low-power eyepiece. The 25mm eyepiece delivers a bright, wide field of view and is the best to use for most viewing conditions. Use the high-power 9mm eyepiece to view details when observing the Moon and planets. If the image become fuzzy, switch back down to a lower power. SURF THE WEB · · · · · · The Meade 4M Community: http://www. meade4m. org Sky & Telescope: http://www. skyandtelescope. com Astronomy: http://www. astronomy. com Astronomy Picture of the Day: http://antwrp. gsfc. nasa. goc/apod Photographic Atlas of the Moon: http://www. lpi. ursa. edu/research/lunar_orbiter Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures: http://oposite. stsci. edu/pubinfo/pictures. html 40-04135 8 Page Manual Template 6/29/05 10:54 AM Page 12 10 By the way, you might have noticed something strange when you looked through your eyepiece. If you wish to have a fully corrected image, check out Meade's optional Erecting Prism in the Optional Accessory section. [. . . ] A little dust on the front surface of the telescope's correcting lens will not cause loss of image quality. · When absolutely necessary, dust on the front lens should be removed with very gentle strokes of a camel hair brush or blown off with an ear syringe (available at most pharmacies). · Fingerprints and organic materials on the front lens may be removed with a solution of 3 parts distilled water to 1 part isopropyl alcohol. You may also add 1 drop of biodegradable dishwashing soap per pint of solution. [. . . ]