Instruction Manual 6" LS-6 ACF and 6" LS-6 SC Telescopes with AutoStar III Hand Controller
WARNING! Never use a Meade® LS-6™ 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 Red-Dot Finder as it is moving. Children should always have adult supervision while observing.
CONTENTS Introduction The most sophisticated and easiest to use telescope ever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Getting Started Assembling the Telescope and using LightSwitch Assembling the tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Mounting the tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Installing the batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Using an AC Adapter or DC Power Cord . . . . . . . . . 6 Attaching Accessories . . . . . . . . . . .
INTRODUCTION The LS-6 LightSwitch® 6" ACF and LS-6 LightSwitch® 6" SC Telescope The most sophisticated and easiest to use telescopes ever Congratulations on receiving your new LS-6 6” telescope. You’ll find that this telescope system has all you need to explore the Universe we live in. Meade’s concept was to create a telescope that would be simple enough for anyone to use, yet capable enough for the experienced amateur to stretch their knowledge and skills.
You may want to perform the LS-6 assembly indoors in the light so that you become familiar with the parts and operation before moving the telescope outside into the dark for observing. This Getting Started Guide assumes you are too impatient to read the entire manual first and want to use your new telescope as quickly as possible. Just follow the simple steps below and you will be up and running before you know it. 1 It is best to set up the telescope in twilight or before sunset the first time you use it.
Center Hub Follow the battery polarity (orientation) as indicated by molded icons Thumb-Screw 5 Take the LS-6 from its packaging and place the entire telescope onto the top of the tripod head. Rotate the telescope head slowly until you feel the scope register on the center hub of the tripod head. Carefully screw the three attachment thumb-screws on the bottom of the plate to the base of the tripod. Hand tighten the screws so the telescope cannot spin or wobble on the tripod head.
Your Telescope is now Fully Assembled GETTING STARTED Attaching Accessories Now remove the dust cover from the front of the telescope tube. Be careful not to touch the glass lens. 8 Be sure the telescope master power switch is in the off position. Remove the LS-6 handbox and the coiled interface cable from the packing materials. Plug one end into the HNDBX port of the control panel and plug the other end into the Handbox port on the LS-6 handbox.
Focus Knob introductory message. You can press the “MEDIA” key to bypass the introduction if you like. If you have attached a video cable from the Video Out connection on the telescope to the composite video input of a NTSC TV monitor, you will also see graphics accompanying the telescope introduction. Slew Speeds: Speed 9: Fast ' ' Speed 5: Medium ' ' Speed 1: Slow Arrow Keys Number Keys At the end of this message, the telescope will immediately start its LightSwitch Automatic Alignment procedure.
Now that you have successfully setup and used your LS-6, it’s time for more information about all the capabilities of this amazing telescope system. The first step is to familiarize yourself with the AutoStar III handbox operation. The largest keys on the keypad are the motion control keys. Most of the time, these keys allow you to move, or slew, your telescope both up and down and right and left. Press them now and see how the telescope moves in response to the keys.
The telescope will now start to tell you the story of Andromeda. You can listen to the whole story, or press the “MEDIA” key to skip the story and more menu choices will appear. If you want to go from the menu, “BACK” to the story, just press the “MEDIA” key again to restart the story. A complete tree of the available menu choice is contained in figure 6 on page 23 of the manual. CHANGING MODES Menu Mode Up till now we have been exploring the Menu Mode.
5 LS-6 KEY FEATURES LS-6 KEY FEATURES 1 3 2 2& 1 Diagonal Eyepiece Holder 2 Diagonal Prism Telescope Input/Output Panel 3 1.
6 Diagonal Thumbscrew 7 Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) 9 Focus Knob Integrated Sensor Module Dust Cover Battery Compartment Red Dot Finder Mini SD Card Slot USB-A for Future Expansion 6 2! 2@ 2# 2$ 2% 2^ USB-B connector to PC LS-6 KEY FEATURES Video Output Audio Output Electronic Focuser Jack Handbox (HNDBX) Port 12v Power Input Figure 2: LS-6 Right Side 2! Figure 3: LS-6 Front 2@ 2# 2$ 2% 2^ Figure 4: LS-6 Connectors 12
Diagonal Holder: Holds the eyepiece in place. 3 4 5 1.25" Eyepiece Holder 6 7 8 ECLIPS CCD Module: The integrated camera is part of the system that allows the telescope to align itself, and provides you with a wide field imager when a video monitor is attached to your telescope. Eyepiece: Place the Super Plössl 26mm eyepiece into the 90° diagonal prism (Fig. 1, 4) and tighten in place with the thumbscrews. The eyepiece magnifies the image collected in the optical tube.
LS-6 KEY FEATURES b. Images from the ECLIPS camera. e. Astronomer Inside videos and images of the moon, planets, and deep sky objects 2# Audio Output: This connection will allow you to pass the telescope’s stereo sound to external speakers, headphones or and external television monitor. Electronic Focuser Jack: Plug in the optional Meade Zero Image Shift Micro-Focuser (P/N 07080) for precision focusing control. 2$ d.
Adjusting the Red-Dot Finder On/Off & Brightness Adjustment Because your telescope has so much magnification, its field of view is very small. This can make it hard to know exactly where your telescope is pointing by simply looking at it. To help you point the telescope quickly and accurately, for terrestrial targets or when not using Auto Alignment and GO TO pointing, the LS-6 has a 1X Red-Dot Viewfinder. The Red-Dot Finder will aid you in pointing your telescope easily.
Meade makes a complete line of accessories to enable you to get the most fun and performance from your LS6 telescope. No matter what you want to accomplish, we have the equipment to help you get there. Choosing Eyepieces 26mm eyepiece, which gives a wide 53 ARC Minute (just a little less than 1 degree) field of view with 59x magnification.
Series 5000 Ultra Wide Angle OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES The Series 5000 Premium Eyepieces represent the highest level of eyepiece technology. Featuring advanced lens designs with 5, 6 and 7 elements, super fully multi-coated lenses and some of the widest fields of view available, they provide the user with the highest-contrast, pinpoint-sharp images and spectacular wide field views of the heavens.
Imagers and Accessories While the LS-6 will operate with 8 “C” cell batteries, you should consider several other power options that might work better for your situation and save you money. Deep Sky Imagers (DSI) OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES Power Supplies Universal AC Adapter (07584): This adapter supplies a constant regulated 12 volt DC at up to 5 Amps from either a standard 115 volt AC or 220 volt AC household supply. It is the only tested and recommended AC power supply for the LS-6 system.
4 1 “ENTER” Key 2 2 “BACK” Key 5 3 MODE Key 4 “GO TO” Key 5 Arrow Keys AUTOSTAR III HANDBOX AUTOSTAR III HANDBOX 6 6 Number / Shortcut Keys 8 7 Scroll Keys 8 “MEDIA” Key 3 9 Coil Cord Port Coil Cord 7 Figure 5: The AutoStar III Handbox Tour the Cosmos Push of a Button with Just 9 the The AutoStar III hand controller operates the LS-6 telescope with just a few pushes of AutoStar’s buttons.
“ENTER” Key: Selects the option on the second line of the display. When you are looking at descriptive object text, “ENTER” will synchronize the telescope’s coordinates with the object. This is most useful when synching on bright stars to achieve better pointing in the vicinity of the star. See NAVIGATING THE MENUS, page 9 and AUTOSTAR III MENU TREE, page 23. 2 “BACK” Key: Returns to the previous menu or data level in the AutoStar database until the top level, “Select Item,” is reached.
Arrow Keys: Slew the telescope in a specific direction (up, down, left, and right), at any one of nine different speeds. Speed selection is explained in “SLEW SPEEDS”, below. The following functions are also available with the Arrow keys: • • • 6 Moves the telescope – Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the telescope vertically up and down.
“0/Mode” – This key lets you cycle through the telescope’s modes, (See the entry above). 7 8 Scroll Keys: Accesses options within a selected menu. The menu is displayed on the first line of the screen. Options within 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.
AUTOSTAR III MENU TREE AUTOSTAR III MENU TREE Menu Mode Scope Info Mode Sky Map Mode Select Item: Scope Info Select Item: Sky Map (FOV=xx) up/down zooms RA DEC AZ EL Date Local Time LST Battery Near LaT Lon Free Mem Ser. Version Select Item: Guided Tour Solar System Moon Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto Asteroids Comets Constellation Andromeda ...
followed by the Moon, asteroids, and comets. When Guided Tours is selected, LS-6 shows you a list of theme tours that will help you explore the night sky. These tours are pre programmed presentations of objects that are visible for the user’s particular location, time and date. Constellation is a database of all 88 Northern and Southern Hemisphere constellations.
• Select – To select a Landmark already in the database (see ADD below), choose the “Select” option and scroll through the list. Press “ENTER” to select a Landmark, then press “GO TO” and the telescope slews to the object. • Add – To add a Landmark, choose the “Add” option. Enter a name for the Landmark. Locate and center the Landmark in the eyepiece, then press “ENTER”. Event Menu The Event menu provides access to dates and times of astronomical events.
includes AutoStar Suite which automatically sorts, aligns and combines the best images, resulting in a highly detailed color image. The setting after “Cont. Deep9” is Cust.Cont. (Custom Contrast). This setting allows you adjust the Contrast AND Brightness to create your own setting. Contrast is controlled using the LEFT/ RIGHT Arrow Keys. Brightness is controlled using the UP/DOWN Arrow Keys. NOTE: to fully utilize these the Custom Contrast setting you will need the use of an external monitor.
Off – Selects full-time color video. Sleep Scope is a power and time saving option that shuts down the LS-6 telescope without forgetting its alignment. With “Sleep Scope” selected, press “ENTER” to activate the Sleep function. LS-6 goes dark, but the internal clock keeps running. Press any key, except “ENTER”, to re-activate LS-6. Preferences allows you to configure the telescope’s behaviors to suit your own viewing tastes.
Use GPS allows you to disable use of the GPS to determine the time and your telescope’s location. If your scope is mounted in an observatory, or on a permanent mount, disabling the GPS can speed your startup. When the GPS is disabled, you are presented a menu that offers you the choice of using the previous locations, and the internal clock time, entering the date, time and location manually, taking a GPS fix, or starting in a Demo/Terrestrial mode. • Rev.
Two Star Alt Az Alignment 1. Select Alt. Az. 2 Star alignment from the Align menu to begin two star alignment. 2. “Automatic Alignment” displays. The system now performs the following routines (press any ETX LS key to abort Automatic Alignment). Caution: As the telescope performs the following operations, it will swing and rotate. Keep a safe distance from the telescope.
One-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. LS-6 provides a library of bright stars. OneStar Alignment is identical to Two-Star Alt/Az: Alignment (see TWO-STAR ALT/AZ ALIGNMENT above), except only one star from the database is chosen by the observer for alignment. Finding Objects Not in the Database Although LS-6 contains an extensive database of celestial objects (stars, nebulae, planets, etc.
“Center Landmark. Press “ENTER”” displays. Using only the Arrow keys (do not manually move the telescope), move the telescope to the desired landmark and center the object in the eyepiece. Press “ENTER”. The object is now stored in memory. 9. “Landmark: Add” displays. If you wish to add more landmarks, repeat steps 5 through 7. To view a landmark in the database 1. Make sure the telescope is located and aligned exactly as when the desired landmark was entered into memory. 2.
The LS-6 is an excellent high-resolution, terrestrial (land) telescopes. Viewing terrestrial objects requires looking along the Earth’s surface through heat waves. These heat waves often cause degradation of image quality. Lower power eyepieces, like the Super Plössl 26mm eyepiece, magnify these heat waves less than higher power eyepieces. Therefore, lower power eyepieces provide a steadier, higher quality image.
The LS-6 is a precision optical instrument designed to yield a lifetime of rewarding viewing. Given the care and respect due any precision instrument, the LS-6 will rarely, if ever, require factory servicing. Maintenance guidelines include: 1. Avoid cleaning the telescope’s optics: a little dust on the front surface of the telescope’s correcting lens causes virtually no degradation of image quality and should not be considered reason to clean the lens. 2.
Follow these optical system: steps for collimation of the 1. The only adjustments possible, or necessary, on the LS-6 are from the three inner most screws Collimation Screws located at the inner surface of the secondary mirror housing. CAUTION: Do not force the three collimation screws past their normal travel and do not loosen them more than two full turns in a counterclockwise direction or the secondary mirror may come loose from its support.
A Note About the “Flashlight Test”: If a flashlight or other high-intensity light source is pointed down the main telescope tube, the view (depending upon the observer’s line of sight and the angle of the light) may reveal what appears to be scratches, dark or bright spots, or just generally uneven coatings, giving the appearance of poor quality optics.
Your LS-6 telescope comes with a “Mini SD Card” slot located in the front edge of the fork arm. With a user supplied “Mini SD Card”, or a “Micro SD Card” in a Mini Card Adapter, you can update your telescope firmware or save images made with the ECLIPS CCD. Only use SD Cards bearing the official SD logo. Each card must be properly formatted, using a PC utility or AutoStar Suite, before use in the LS-6. The card must be formatted with the FAT32 File System.
TRAINING THE DRIVE Perform this procedure if you are experiencing any pointing accuracy problems. Fig. 9 depicts the complete Drive Training procedure. 11 BACK Guided Tour NOTE: Use a terrestrial object, such as a telephone pole or lamp post, to train the drive. Calibrate Azmiuth Drive twice. 12 Press the scroll down key once Complete this exercise once every 3 to 6 months.
CREATING USER OBJECTS and TOURS User Object are catalogs of deep sky objects you can create or import that are not in the LS-6 telescope. You can define your own objects and create your own titles. Tours, similar to the three preloaded guided tours (Tonight’s Best”, “A Star’s Life” and “How Far Is Far”), can also created. You can chose your own theme and objects.
BASIC ASTRONOMY In the early 17th century Italian Scientist Galileo, using a crude telescope considerably smaller than the LS-6, turned it to look towards the sky instead of distant trees and mountains. What he saw, and what he realized about what he saw, forever changed the way mankind thought of the universe.
Mars is about half the diameter of Earth, and appears through the telescope as a tiny reddish-orange disk. It may be possible to see a hint of white at one of the planet’s Polar ice caps. Approximately every two years, when Mars is closest to Earth in its orbit, additional detail and coloring on the planet’s surface may be visible. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and is 11 times the diameter of Earth. The planet appears as a disk with dark lines stretching across the surface.
Model and Product Number 6"LS-6 ACF # 0610-03-10 Optical System Optical Design Advanced Coma-Free (ACF) Primary Mirror Diameter 6” (152mm) Primary Mirror Material Pyrex® Glass Focal Length, Focal Ratio 1524mm, f/10 Optical Coatings Ultra-High Transmission Coatings (UHTC™) Resolving Power (arc seconds) 0.76 Limiting Visual Stellar Magnitude 14 SPECIFICATIONS SPECIFICATIONS Mount Mount Type Aluminum Single-Arm Fork Altazimuth Drives 4.
Model and Product Number 6" LS-6 SC # 0610-03-12 Optical System Optical Design Schmidt Cassegrain (SC) Primary Mirror Diameter 6” (152mm) Primary Mirror Material Pyrex® Glass Focal Length, Focal Ratio 1524mm, f/10 Optical Coatings Ultra-High Transmission Coatings (UHTC™) Resolving Power (arc seconds) 0.76 Limiting Visual Stellar Magnitude 14 SPECIFICATIONS SPECIFICATIONS Mount Mount Type Aluminum Single-Arm Fork Altazimuth Drives 4.
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.
