Instruction Manual DSX Series Altazimuth Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescopes Meade Instruments Corporation
CONTENTS WARNING! Never use a Meade® DSX™ 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.
QUICK-START GUIDE 1 3 Mounting Arm Shaft Mounting Plate 1. Open the tripod: Remove the tripod from the giftbox and stand vertically. Gently pull the legs apart to a fully open position. Turn the center tripod lock knob to secure and stabilize the tripod. Tighten to a firm feel. Caution: Make sure you loosen the tripod lock knob before collapsing the tripod at the end of your viewing session. 3a. Remove 4 screws from the mounting arm shaft: Locate the four screws on the mounting shaft.
7 5 D J F E G I 7. 5. 6 Insert the eyepiece: Remove the supplied 26mm eyepiece (D) from its container and place it in the eyepiece holder (E) Tighten the thumbscrew (F) to a firm feel only. Remove the dust cover from the end of optical tube assembly. Use the focus knob (G) to bring objects into focus. Connect Autostar: Be certain that the power switch (I) on the computer control panel is in the OFF position. Plug the coil cord of the Autostar Controller into the HBX port (J).
A B 6 5 4 3 A Fig. 1b (Inset): (A) Altitude Setting Circle; (B) Altitude Lock B C 2 D Fig. 1c (Inset): Computer Control Panel. (A) Handbox port; (B) Power indicator light, (C) ON switch; (D) Auxiliary port. 7 8 (not visible) 11 1 (on opposite side) 10 9 Fig. 1d (Inset): Back view of optical tube. 6 12 25 13 17 14 18 15 16 19 (on bottom of base, not visible) 20 21 22 23 24 Fig. 1a: DSX Series Telescope.
TELESCOPE FEATURES An important array of features and manual controls facilitates operation of a DSX telescope. Be sure to become acquainted with all of these controls before attempting observations through the telescope. b Focus Knob: Moves the telescope’s focus drawtube in a finely-controlled motion to achieve precise image focus. Rotate the focus knob clockwise to focus on distant objects, and counterclockwise to focus on nearby objects. c Eyepiece Holder: Holds the eyepiece in place.
1* Azimuth Setting Circle: Displays Azimuth (horizontal) coordinates. 1( Tripod Legs: Spread the legs out as far as they will open for a secure viewing platform. 2) Inner Support Struts (3): Make the tripod more secure and stable. 2! Tripod Lock Knob: Tighten to a firm feel to secure tripod legs. Caution: Loosen the tripod lock knob before collapsing tripod at the end of a viewing session. 2@ Accessory Tray: Conveniently holds extra eyepieces, Autostar handbox, and other accessories when not in use.
AUTOSTAR FEATURES Tour the Cosmos with Just the Push of a Button Control your DSX system with the standard-equipment Autostar. Nearly all functions of the telescope are accomplished with just a few pushes of Autostar’s buttons. Some of the major features of Autostar are: • • • • • • Automatically move the telescope to any of over 30,000 objects stored in the database or manually enter the astronomical coordinates of any celestial object.
DEFINITION: Throughout this manual, you will notice the term "Alt/Az." Alt/Az is frequently used to refer to Altitude (vertical) and Azimuth (horizontal). Alt/Az is just one of many methods used by amateur astronomers to help locate stars in the night sky. • Alt/Az Alignment:Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the telescope vertically up and down. The Left Arrow key rotates the telescope horizontally counterclockwise, while the Right Arrow key rotates it clockwise.
GETTING STARTED Packing List Getting the telescope ready for first observations requires only a few minutes. When first opening the packing box, note carefully the parts listed on your giftbox. How to Assemble Your Telescope The telescope attaches directly to the tripod. The telescope in this way is mounted in an “Altazimuth” (“Altitude-Azimuth,” or “vertical-horizontal”) format.
3 2 . 1 Fig. 9: Insert eight AA-size batteries inside the battery compartment: (1) Battery compartment (2) Battery holder (3) 9v connector Remove the battery holder (2, Fig. 9) from the compartment and carefully lift the 9v connector (3, Fig. 9) out from the compartment. Take care not to accidentally detach the wires of the battery connector from the base. Whenever you replace the batteries, to safeguard the wires, disconnect the 9v connector from the battery holder before removing the batteries.
DSX-90 Viewfinder 1. Remove the viewfinder by slightly unthreading the four alignment screws (4 and 6, Fig. 12) and slipping it out of the bracket. 2. Loosen the knurled lock-ring (2, Fig. 12) located near the DSX-125 viewfinder’s front lens cell (1, Fig. 12). Unthread this ring (counterclockwise, as seen from the eyepiece-end of the viewfinder) by several turns. DSX-90 3. Look through the viewfinder and focus on a distant object.
Your telescope comes supplied with a low-powered 26mm eyepiece which gives a wide, comfortable field of view with high image resolution. Low power eyepieces offer a wide field of view, bright, high-contrast images, and eye relief during long observing sessions. To find an object with a telescope, always start with a lower power eyepiece such as a 26mm.
OBSERVING Observing by Moving the Telescope Manually If you wish to observe a distant land object, such as a mountain top or a bird, you can observe by merely pointing the telescope and looking through the eyepiece. 1. Loosen the telescope’s tripod base lock knob (16, Fig. 1a) and Altitude lock (B, Fig. 1b). 2. Move your telescope to observe distant street signs, mountains, trees, and other structures. Use your viewfinder to help site-in on an object. 3.
NOTE: Do not look through the telescope's eyepiece or viewfinder while it is rapidly moving. Children should always have adult supervision while observing. TIP: When a message is scrolling across the display, press and hold the Up Arrow key to increase the scrolling speed or press and hold the Down Arrow key to decrease the scrolling speed.
Pointer to 0° on the Altitude Setting Circle North The "Alt/Az" Home Position 1. Loosen the telescope’s Altitude lock (see Figs. 16 and 17, also see Fig 1b). 2. Make sure the tripod base (15, Fig. 1a) is level. Level the optical tube by lining up 0° on the Altitude setting circle (Fig. 17) with the triangular pointer. 3. Tighten the Altitude lock (B, Fig. 1b) to a firm feel only. 4. Loosen the tripod base lock knob (16, Fig. 1a) and turn the telescope horizontally until it points North.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Autostar requests the Country/State, City, and Telescope Model information only the first time Autostar is activated. If you wish to change this information, use the "Site" and "Telescope Model" options in the Setup menu. See pages 26 28 for more information. IMPORTANT NOTE: While performing the automatic tracking procedure, only use the Arrow keys to move the telescope. Once the telescope has been set in the Alt/Az home position, do not loosen the telescope locks (9 and 16, Fig.
How to Easy Align Your Telescope If you have just applied power to Autostar, perform steps 1 through 5. If you have already performed the initialization procedure, go to step 6. 1. Sun Warning - Press the key prompted by Autostar to accept. 2. Getting Started - Press ENTER to continue. 3. Enter Date - Enter the current date as previously described, then press ENTER. 4. Enter Time - Enter the current time, as previously described. Select "AM," "PM," or 24-hour clock (blank). Then press ENTER. 5.
Two other methods of alignment are available to the observer: Two-Star and One-Star. These methods are included in case the observer prefers to pick out his or her own alignment stars. Two-Star Alt/Az Alignment Two-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. Two-Star Alignment is identical to Easy: Align (see EASY (TWO-STAR) ALIGN, page 18), except Autostar displays a database of bright stars and two stars are chosen by the observer from this database for alignment.
BASIC AUTOSTAR OPERATION OBJECT Select from over 30, 220 database objects and press GO TO to move the telescope automatically to the object and place it in the telescopic field of view. SETUP Quick, easy alignment permits all telescope operations with only a 2-minute setup. Select Item: Object Select Item: Setup UTILITIES Calculate eyepiece magnifications; set the timer for an observing session; or change the display brightnes.
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. 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.
MENUS AND MENU OPTIONS Object Menu Almost all observing with Autostar is performed using the Object menu category. (NOTE: Exceptions include Guided Tour and Landmark Survey.) See GO TO SATURN, page 20, for an example of observing using the Object menu. Also see USING THE GUIDED TOUR, page 20. Many Autostar menu categories contain databases. An Autostar database is a list of viewable objects, such as stars, planets, comets, nebulae and so forth.
Landmarks stores the location of terrestrial points of interest in the permanent Autostar database. IMPORTANT NOTE: To use the Landmark function, the telescope must be located and aligned exactly as when the landmark was added to the database. ■ 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.
Min. (Minimum) of Algol is 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 10hour period, Algol undergoes a major change in apparent magnitude 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 calculates minimum magnitude time at mid-eclipse.
■ Set: Enter the time of day for the alarm to sound, in hours, minutes, and seconds, then press ENTER. ■ Start/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 beeps. Press ENTER to deactivate the alarm. Eyepiece Calc calculates information about an eyepiece for the specific telescope to which Autostar is connected.
Time changes the time entered into Autostar. Setting the correct time is critical for Autostar to properly calculate locations and events. Time may be set to 24-hour mode (military time) by selecting the "blank" option which follows the "AM" and "PM" options. Daylight Saving is used to enable or disable Daylight Savings time. NOTE: Daylight Savings Time may be referred to by different names in various areas of the world. Check local time to verify.
■ Tracking Rate: Changes the speed at which the telescope tracks targets in the sky. a. ■ Sidereal: The default setting for Autostar; 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. Custom: Allows entry of user-defined tracking rates. Reverse L/R: Reverses the functions of the Left and Right Arrow keys (i.e.
■ Software: Sends only the basic Autostar software. This is useful if one user has downloaded a new version of Autostar software from the Meade website (www.meade.com) and wants to pass this software along to friends. ■ All: Everything—user-defined information and Autostar software—is sent to another Autostar. Statistics provides basic statistical data about Autostar, including: ■ Characters Free: Shows how much room is available in user-defined object memory.
ADVANCED AUTOSTAR FEATURES Before trying out the examples in this section, familiarize yourself with the basic operations of Autostar described earlier in this manual. The following examples assume that you have a basic knowledge of Autostar 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 Autostar and have placed the telescope in the "Home" position (when appropriate).
How to Create Your Own Guided Tour When a Guided Tour is selected, Autostar slews your telescope to a predetermined list of objects and displays information about each object, such as type of object, constellation location, R.A. and Dec coordinates, and so forth. Autostar contains a few Guided Tours which are programmed at the factory. But it is also possible for an observer to create a custom Guided Tour. A tour is basically an ASCII text file that contains a list of directions and descriptions.
Writing a Tour Using the list of commands listed above, a custom tour can be created. Placing the word AUTO SELECT before any of the command lines activates Automatic Mode and, when selected, Autostar automatically searches and finds the designated object. The following is a list of command lines, complete with keywords and necessary strings: TITLE Title must be the first keyword in your tour after any comment lines and must be 15 characters or less.
COMET "name" Enter COMET and then the name of the desired comet in quotes. Autostar displays information about the comet from its database. For example: COMET: "Halley" LUNAR ECLIPSE If LUNAR ECLIPSE is part of the tour, Autostar checks its database every time the tour is activated to see if a lunar eclipse is visible that evening. If no eclipse is visible, this option is skipped and the tour proceeds on the the next object.
students would have to manually slew to the last two objects. He would then place AUTO SLEW ON before his first required object and AUTO SLEW OFF after the fourth object. #END To end a tour, type the command #END on a separate line at the very end of the tour. Downloading Tours Once a tour is written and stored as an ASCII file (saved either as a "text only" or "MS DOS text" file), load it into Autostar using the Autostar Update Utility on your PC.
3. Use the Scroll keys to scroll through the list of objects you have previously entered. When the desired object displays, press ENTER to select the object. Use the Scroll keys to scroll through location information about the object, if desired. Press GO TO to slew the telescope to the landmark. 4. Press MODE to exit.
Browse This menu allows you to search the database 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 follows: 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.
OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES A wide assortment of professional Meade accessories are available for the for DSX telescopes. Meade accessories greatly extend many important applications to the telescope, from lowpower, wide-field terrestrial viewing to high-power lunar and planetary observing. The premium quality of these accessories is well-suited to the quality of the instrument itself.
CARING FOR YOUR TELESCOPE Your DSX telescope is a precision optical instrument designed to yield a lifetime of rewarding observations. Given the care and respect due any precision instrument, your telescope 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 telescope’s correcting lens causes virtually no degradation of image quality and should not be considered reason to clean the lens. b.
SPECIFICATIONS DSX-90AT Optical design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maksutov-Cassegrain Diameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90mm (3.5”) Focal length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250mm Focal ratio (photographic speed). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . f/13.8 Near focus (approx) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5 ft (3.5m) Resolving power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.
APPENDIX A Celestial Coordinates It is helpful to understand how to locate celestial objects as they move across the sky. +90 Dec. Star 1 17 18 19 16 15 14 13 12 11 ation clin De A celestial coordinate system was created that maps an imaginary sphere surrounding the Earth upon which all stars appear to be placed. This mapping system is similar to the system of latitude and longitude on Earth surface maps.
APPENDIX B Using Autostar to Find Objects Not in the Database TIP: Entering R.A. and Dec. Coordinates of an object without using the menus: If you do not wish to navigate through the menus, a more direct way to enter coordinates is to press and hold MODE for two seconds or more. R.A. and Dec. coordinates display. Press GO TO. "Object Position" and a set of coordinates displays. Enter the R.A. and Dec.
APPENDIX C Observing Satellites In this procedure, you will prepare your telescope to observe a satellite pass. 1. Go 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.
APPENDIX D Training the Drive Train the telescope motors using Autostar. Perform this procedure if you are experiencing any pointing accuracy problems. Fig. 27 depicts the complete Drive Training procedure. NOTE: Use a terrestrial object, such as a telephone pole or lamp post, to train the drive. Complete this exercise once every 3 to 6 months to maintain the highest level of telescope pointing accuracy. 1 2 Verify that AUTOSTAR INITIALIZATION is complete. Press MODE until Select Item is displayed.
BASIC ASTRONOMY In the early 17th century Italian Scientist Galileo, using a telescope smaller than your DSX model, turned it skyward instead of looking at the distant trees and mountains. What he saw, and what he realized about what he saw, has forever changed the way mankind thinks about the universe.
Planets Planets change positions in the sky as they orbit around the Sun. To locate the planets on a given day or month, consult a monthly astronomy magazine, such as Sky and Telescope or Astronomy. You can also consult Autostar for information about planets. Scroll to the "Object: Solar System" menu and scroll through the lists of planets. When a planet you are interested in displays, press ENTER.
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.
