3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 1 www.meade.com Meade114EQAR MEADE INSTRUCTION MANUAL 114mm | 4.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 2 WARNING! Never use a Meade® Telescope to look at the Sun! Looking at or near the Sun will cause instant and irreversible damage to your eye. Eye damage is often painless, so there is no warning to the observer that damage has occurred until it is too late. Do not point the telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope or SmartFinder™ as it is moving. Children should always have adult supervision while observing.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 3 INTRODUCTION Your telescope is an excellent beginner’s instrument, and is designed to observe objects in the sky. It can be your personal window on the universe. The telescope is shipped with the following parts: • Optical tube • Aluminum tripod with an accessory tray • Two 1.
Meade114EQAR 2 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 3/28/07 9:52 AM FIGURE 1 Tripod legs Equatorial Mount Right ascension control cable Declination control cable Counterweights Counterweight shaft Counterweight lock knobs Counterweight safety washer Latitude adjustment lock Polar axis (see Fig. 5) Latitude adjustment knob Main optical tube (OTA) Optical tube saddle plate (see Fig.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 5 ASSEMBLE YOUR TRIPOD The tripod is the basic support for your telescope. Its height may be adjusted so that Note: Number in you can view comfortably.N brackets, e.g., (3), refer to Fig. 1 unless noted otherwise. 1. Make sure that as you attach the legs (1) to the mount that the leg braces (41) are facing inward. Fig. 3 2. Attach the triangular accessory tray to the leg brace supports using the 3 supplied one-half inch bolts and screwdriver tool (See Fig. 3). 3.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 6 1. Note the two thumbscrews (16, Fig. 4) thread onto two bolts 4 on the optical tube. Remove the thumbscrews from the tube. 2. Line up the two holes on the red dot viewfinder bracket over the two bolts. Slide the bracket over the bolts. 3. Replace the thumbscrews on to the bolts and tighten to a firm feel. INSERT THE EYEPIECE 1. Slide the MA25mm eyepiece (19) into eyepiece holder on the focuser (17). 2. Tighten the focuser thumbscrew to hold the eyepiece securely.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 7 thumbscrew (7) and slide the counterweights (5) along the shaft until the telescope remains in any given position without tending to drift up or down around the polar axis. Retighten the counterweight lock (31).The telescope is now balanced. PREPARE MOUNT 1. Attach the flexible cables (3) and (4). These cables are secured in place with a firm tightening of the thumbscrews located at the attachment ends of each cable. 2.
Meade114EQAR 6 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 8 UNDERSTANDING CELESTIAL MOVEMENTS AND COORDINATES Understanding where to locate celestial objects and how those objets move across the sky is the key to enjoying the hobby of astronomy. Most amateur astronomers practice "star-hopping" to locate celestial objects. They use star charts or astronomical software to identify bright stars and star patterns as "landmarks" in their search for astronomical objects.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 9 There are 24 primary lines of R.A., located at 15-degree intervals along the celestial equator. Objects located further and further East of the zero R.A. grid line (0hr 0min 0sec) carry higher R.A. coordinates. • Declination (Dec.): This celestial version of latitude is measured in degrees, arcminutes, and arc-seconds (e.g., 15° 27' 33"). Dec. locations North of the celestial equator are indicated with a plus (+) sign (e.g., the Dec.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 10 1. Release the Azimuth lock (30)of the Azimuth base, so that the entire 8 telescope-with-mounting may be rotated in a horizontal direction. Rotate the telescope until it points due North. Use a compass or locate Polaris, the North Star, as an accurate reference to North (See Fig. 7). 2. Level the mount with the horizon, if necessary, by adjusting the heights of the three tripod legs. 3.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 11 who is one of the first astronomers to use a telescope, discovered four of the moons of Jupiter with a telescope about the same size as yours (and his didn’t even focus very well!). OBSERVING Observe during the daytime: Try out your telescope during the daytime at first. It is easier to learn how it operates and how to observe when it is light. Pick out an easy object to observe: A distant mountain, a large tree, a lighthouse or skyscraper make excellent targets.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 12 Use a neutral density filter (often called a “moon filter”) when observing the 10 Moon. Neutral density filters are available from Meade as an optional accessory and enhance contrast to improve your observation of lunar features. Spend several nights observing the Moon. Some nights, the Moon is so bright that it makes other objects in the sky difficult to see. These are nights that are excellent for lunar observation.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 13 One of the most fascinating sights of Jupiter are its moons. The four largest moons are called the Galilean moons, after the astronomer Galileo, who observed them for the first time. If you’ve never watched the Galilean moons in your telescope before, you’re missing a real treat! Each night, the moons appear in different positions around the Jovian sky. This is sometimes called the Galilean dance.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 14 Almost all the stars you can see in the sky are part of our galaxy. A galaxy is a 12 large grouping of stars, containing millions or even billions of stars. Some galaxies form a spiral (like our galaxy, the Milky Way) and other galaxies look more like a large football and are called elliptical galaxies. There are many galaxies that are irregularly shaped and are thought to have been pulled apart because they passed too close to—or even through—a larger galaxy.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 15 Moon and planets. If the image become fuzzy, switch back down to a lower power. Changing eyepieces changes the power or magnification of your telescope. By the way, you might have noticed something strange when you looked through your eyepiece. The image is upside down and reversed. That means reading words can be a problem. But it has no affect on astronomical objects. Optional Accessory Barlow lens: You can also change magnification by using a Barlow lens.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 16 and outside air. Also, it is a good idea to allow your telescope to reach the 14 ambient (surrounding) outside temperature before starting an observing session. When to observe: Planets and other objects viewed low on the horizon often lack sharp-ness—the same object, when observed higher in the sky, will appear sharper and have greater contrast. Try reducing power (change your eyepiece) if your image is fuzzy or shimmers.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 17 tube. In other words, this is the distance light travels in the telescope before being brought to focus in you eyepiece. Your tube is 900mm long. Primary diameter is how big the mirror is on your scope. Telescopes are always described by how large their primary mirror is. Your telescope is 114mm or 4.5 inches. Other telescopes are 90mm, 8 inches, 16 inches, or even 3 feet in diameter. The Hubble Telescope’s objective mirror has a diameter of 2.4 meters (that’s 7.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 18 interesting than a larger, dimmer, fuzzy one. Using too 16 high a power eyepiece is one of the most common mistakes made by new astronomers. So don’t think that higher magnification is necessarily better—quite often the best view is with lower magnification value! TAKING CARE OF YOUR TELESCOPE Fig.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 19 Fig. 13 3 Fig. 14 1 1 2 2 Fig. 15 3 2 3 4 5 2 Diagonal Mirror Misalignment Correct Collimation Fig. 16 Primary Mirror Cell familiarize yourself with the following collimation procedure, so that you will recognize a properly collimated instrument and can adjust the collimation yourself, if necessary. 1 2 4 3 (3, Fig. 14), the spider vanes (4, Fig. 14), and your eye (5, Fig. 14). Properly aligned, all of these reflections will appear concentric (i.e.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 20 must be unthreaded slightly to the point of where you can tilt the diagonal 18 holder from side-to-side by grasping the diagonal holder with your hand and tilt until you see the primary mirror become as centered in the reflection of the diagonal mirror as possible. Once you are at the best position, thread in the 3 Phillips-head diagonal tilt screws to lock the rotational position.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 21 image will move across the eyepiece field. Choose one of the 3 primary mirror tilt screws and slightly move the shadow to the center of the disk. Then slightly move the telescope using the flexible cable controls to center the star disk image in the center of the eyepiece. • If any further adjustments are necessary, repeat this process as many times as needed until the out-of-focus star disk appears as in Fig.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 22 MEADE CONSUMER SOLUTIONS If you have a question concerning your 20 telescope, call Meade Instruments Consumer Solutions Department at (800) 626-3233. Consumer Solutions Department hours are 8:00AM to 5:00PM, Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. 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 telephone number.
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 23 OBSERVATION LOG OBSERVER: OBJECT NAME: DATE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLATION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMAGE
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 24 OBSERVATION LOG OBSERVER: OBJECT NAME: DATE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLATION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMAGE
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 25 OBSERVATION LOG OBSERVER: OBJECT NAME: DATE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLATION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMAGE
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 26 OBSERVATION LOG OBSERVER: OBJECT NAME: DATE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLATION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMAGE
Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 27
9:52 AM Page 28 www.meade.
