3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 1 www.meade.com Polaris 60 AZ - AR POLARIS INSTRUCTION MANUAL 60mm | 2.
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Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 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 (78X) • 2X - 1.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR FIGURE 1 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. 26.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 5 Fig. 2 ASSEMBLE YOUR TRIPOD The tripod is the basic support for your telescope. Its height may be adjusted so that you can view comfortably. Note: Number in brackets, e.g., (3), refer to Fig. 1. 1. Make sure that as you attach the legs (7) to the mount that the leg braces (9) are facing inward. 2. Line up the holes at the top of one of the legs with the holes in the mount (10). See Fig. 2. 3. Thread one of the 2-inch bolts through the holes. 4.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 6 3.Place the optical tube (4) between the forks of the mount, oriented as 4 shown in Fig. 4. 4.Thread a lock knob (5) through each of the holes in the forks of the mount and tighten to a firm feel. ATTACH THE RED DOT VIEWFINDER An eyepiece (1) has a narrow field of view. The red dot veiwfinder (2) has a red dot to make it easier to line up more precisely with a target. Fig. 4 place tube between forks lock knob slide rod through hole lock knob 1.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 7 3. Check this alignment at night on a celestial object, such as the Moon or a bright star, and use the red dot viewfinder’s alignment screws to make any necessary refinements. TO MOVE THE TELESCOPE Your telescope is altazimuth mounted. Altazimuth is just a complicated way of saying that your telescope moves up and down and from side to side. Other telescopes may be mounted in different ways. 1. Slightly loosen one of the star-shaped altitude control knobs (5).
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 8 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. 6 Pick out an easy object to observe: A distant mountain, a large tree, a lighthouse or skyscraper make excellent targets. Point the optical tube so it lines up with your object.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 9 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. Observe the Solar System: After observing the Moon, you are ready to step up to the next level of observation, the planets. There are four planets that you can easily observe in your telescope: Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 10 Any small telescope can see the four Galilean moons of Jupiter (Fig. 5), 8 plus a few others, but how many moons does Jupiter actually have? No one knows for sure! Nor are we sure how many Saturn has either. At last count, Jupiter had over 60 moons, and held a small lead over Saturn. Most of these moons are very small and can only be seen with very large telescopes. Probably the most memorable sight you will see in your telescope is Saturn.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 11 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. They will appear as small, fuzzy clouds.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 12 By the way, you might have noticed something strange when you looked 10 through your eyepiece. Although the image is right-side up, it is reversed. That means reading words can be a problem. But it has no affect on astronomical objects. If you wish to have a fully corrected image, check out Meade’s optional Erecting Prism in the Optional Accessory section. Barlow lens: You can also change magnification by using a Barlow lens.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 13 Let your eyes “dark-adapt:” Allow five or ten minutes for your eyes to become “dark adapted” before observing. Use a redfiltered flashlight to protect your night vision when reading star maps, or inspecting the telescope. Do not use use a regular flashlight or turn on other lights when observing with a group of other astronomers. You can make your own red filtered flashlight by taping red cellophane over a flashlight lens.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM What do the specifications mean? Optical tube focal length is simply a measurement of the length of the optical tube. In other words, this is the distance light travels in the telescope before being brought to focus in you eyepiece. Your tube is 700mm long. 12 Objective lens diameter is how big the lens is on your scope. Telescopes are always described by how large their objective lens is. Your telescope is 60mm or 2.4 inches.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 15 Eyepiece’s magnification x 2 = Magnification with a 2X Barlow lens Your 25mm low-power eyepiece magnifies an object 28 times. Multiply 28 by 2 and you get 56 times magnification with your Barlow. It’s worth repeating: Keep in mind that a bright, clear, but smaller image is more interesting than a larger, dimmer, fuzzy one. Using too high a power eyepiece is one of the most common mistakes made by new astronomers.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 16 MEADE CONSUMER SOLUTIONS If you have a question concerning your telescope, call Meade Instruments Consumer Solutions Department at (800) 626-3233. Consumer Solutions 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.
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 17 OBSERVATION LOG OBSERVER: OBJECT NAME: DATE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLATION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMAGE
Polaris 60 AZ - AR 3/10/06 11:48 AM Page 18 OBSERVATION LOG OBSERVER: OBJECT NAME: DATE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLATION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMAGE
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