Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product 114EQ-AR Meade
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MEADE INSTRUCTION MANUAL 114mm | 4.5" Equatorial Reflecting T elescope 114EQ-AR www .meade.com Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 1.
WARNING! Never use a Meade ® Telescope to look at the Sun! Looking at or near t he Sun will cause instant and irrev ersible damage to y our e y e. Ey e damage is of ten painless, so t here is no w arning to t he obser v er t hat damage has occurred until it is too lat e.
INTRODUCTION Y our telesc ope is an exc ellent beginner’ s instrument, and is designed to observe objects in the sky . It can be your personal window on the universe. The tel escope is shipped with the foll owing parts: • Optical tube • Aluminum tripod with an acc essory tray • T wo 1.
FIGURE 1 2 Inset C Inset B Inset A 1. T ripod legs 2. Equatorial Mount 3. Right ascension contr ol cable 4. Declination contr ol cable 5. Counterweights 6. Counterweight shaft 7. Counterweight lock knobs 8. Counterweight safety washer 9. Latitude adjustment lock 10.
ASSEMBLE YOUR TRIPOD The tripod is the basic support for y our tel escope. Its height may be adjusted so that you can view c omfortably . N N o o t t e e : : N N u u m m b b e e r r i i n n b b r r a a c c k k e e t t s s , , e e . . g g . . , , ( ( 3 3 ) ) , , r r e e f f e e r r t t o o F F i i g g .
1. Note the two thumbscr ews (16, Fig. 4) thr ead onto two bolts on the optical tube. Remov e the thumbscr ews from the tube. 2. Line up the two holes on the r ed dot viewfinder brack et over the two bolts. Slide the brack et over the bolts. 3. Replace the thumbscr ews on to the bolts and tighten to a firm f eel.
2. Tighten the cradl e ring attachment l ock knob (36) to a firm feel. ALIGN THE RED DOT VIEWFINDER Perf orm the first part of this pr ocedur e during the daytime and the last step at night. 1. Point the tel escope at an easy-to-find land object such as the top of a tel ephone pole or a dis tant mountain or tower .
In mapping the surfac e of the Earth, lines of longitude ar e drawn between the North and South Pol es and lines of latitude are drawn in an East-W est direction, parall el to the Earth's equator . Similarl y, imaginary lines have been drawn to f orm a latitude and longitude on the c elestial spher e.
equator ar e indicated with a plus (+) sign (e.g., the Dec. of the North cel estial pole is +90 ° ). Any point on the cel estial equator (such as thee const ellations of Orion, Vir go, and Aquarius) is said to have a Declination of zer o, shown as 0 ° 0' 0".
1. Release the Azimuth l ock (30)of the Azimuth base, so that the entir e tel escope-with-mounting may be r otated in a horizontal dir ection. Rotate the tel escope until it points due North. Use a compas s or locate Polaris, the North Star, as an accur ate ref erence t o North (See Fig.
who is one of the first as tr onomers to use a tel escope, discover ed four of the moons of Jupiter with a tel escope about the same size as yours (and his didn’t e ven f ocus very well!). OBSERVING Observe during the daytime : T ry out your tel escope during the daytime at first.
Use a neutral density filter (often c alled a “moon filter”) when observing the Moon. Neutral density filters ar e availabl e from Meade as an optional acc essory and enhanc e contrast to impr ove your observation of lunar f eatures. Spend sever al nights observing the Moon.
One of the most f ascinating sights of Jupiter ar e its moons. The four lar gest moons ar e call ed the Galilean moons, after the astr onomer Galileo, who observed them f or the first time.
col ors, how stars and planets ar e formed, r ed shift, the big bang, what are the diff er ent kinds of nebula, what ar e comets, aster oids and meteors and what is a black hol e. The mor e you learn about astr onomy, the mor e fun, and the mor e rewar ding your tel escope will become.
Moon and planets. If the image become fuzzy, switch back down to a l ower power . Changing eyepiec es changes the power or magnification of your t elesc ope. By the way, you might have notic ed something strange when y ou look ed through your ey epiece.
fuzzy one. Using too high a power ey epiece is one of the most common mis takes made by new astr onomers. Dr ess Warm : Ev en on summer nights, the air can f eel cool or cold as the night wears on. It is important to dr ess warm or to have a sweater, jack et, gloves, etc.
tube. In other wor ds, this is the distance light travels in the tel escope bef or e being br ought to focus in you ey epiece. Y our tube is 900mm long. Primary diameter is how big the mirr or is on your scope. T elescopes ar e always described by how lar ge their primary mirror is.
inter esting than a larger, dimmer, fuzzy one. Using too high a power eyepiec e is one of the most common mis takes made by new astr onomers. So don’t think that higher magnification is neces sarily.
familiarize y ourself with the f ollowing collimation pr ocedur e, so that you will r ecognize a properl y collimated instrument and can adjust the c ollimation yourself, if neces sary . A. CORRECT COLLIMA TION The pr operly collimated (aligned) mirr or system in the Meade 114 EQ-AR as sures the sharpest images possibl e.
must be unthr eaded slightly to the point of wher e you can tilt the diagonal holder fr om side-to-side by grasping the diagonal holder with your hand and tilt until you see the primary mirr or become as center ed in the r eflection of the diagonal mirr or as possible.
image will move acr oss the ey epiece field. Choose one of the 3 primary mirr or tilt scr ews and slightly move the shadow t o the center of the disk. Then slightl y move the tel escope using the fle xible cabl e contr ols to center the s tar disk image in the center of the e yepiece.
MEADE CONSUMER SOLUTIONS If you have a ques tion conc erning your tel escope, call Meade Instruments Consumer Solutions Department at (800) 626-3233. Consumer Solutions Department hours ar e 8:00AM to 5:00PM, Pacific Time, Monday thr ough Friday .
OBSERVER: OBJEC T NAME: DA TE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLA TION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMA GE OBSERV A TION LOG Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 23.
OBSERVER: OBJEC T NAME: DA TE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLA TION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMA GE OBSERV A TION LOG Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 24.
OBSERVER: OBJEC T NAME: DA TE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLA TION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMA GE OBSERV A TION LOG Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 25.
OBSERVER: OBJEC T NAME: DA TE & TIME OBSERVED: CONSTELLA TION: EYEPIECE SIZE: SEEING CONDITIONS: EXCELLENT GOOD POOR NOTES: DRAWING OF IMA GE OBSERV A TION LOG Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 26.
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www .meade.com Meade Instr uments Corporation 6001 Oak Canyon, Ir vine, Califor nia 926 18 1-800 626-3233 Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 28.
An important point after buying a device Meade 114EQ-AR (or even before the purchase) is to read its user manual. We should do this for several simple reasons:
If you have not bought Meade 114EQ-AR yet, this is a good time to familiarize yourself with the basic data on the product. First of all view first pages of the manual, you can find above. You should find there the most important technical data Meade 114EQ-AR - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, Meade 114EQ-AR you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get Meade 114EQ-AR will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of Meade 114EQ-AR, but have not read the manual yet, you should do it for the reasons described above. You will learn then if you properly used the available features, and whether you have not made any mistakes, which can shorten the lifetime Meade 114EQ-AR.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with Meade 114EQ-AR. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device Meade 114EQ-AR along with tips on how to solve them. Even if you fail to solve the problem, the manual will show you a further procedure – contact to the customer service center or the nearest service center
