Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product 4500 Meade
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© 1995 Rev . B 4/95 Instruction Manual Model 4500: 4.5" Equatorial Reflecting T elescope 0 3 0 60 9 0 3 0 6 0 9 0 MEADE AD V ANCED PRODUCTS DIVISION Meade Instruments Corporation World’ s Lead.
– 2 – W ARNING NEVER A TTEMPT TO OBSER VE THE SUN THROUGH YOUR MEADE TELESCOPE! OBSERVING THE SUN, EVEN FOR THE SHORTEST FRACTION OF A SECOND, WILL CAUSE INST ANT AND IRREVERSIBLE EYE DAMAGE. WHEN OBSERVING DURING THE DA YTIME, DO NOT POINT THE TELESCOPE EVEN CLOSE TO THE SUN.
– 3 – T ABLE OF CONTENTS A. Introducing the Meade Model 4500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 1. This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 2. Standard Equipment . . . . . . .
– 4 – 1. T ripod legs 2. Equatorial mount 3. R.A. flexible cable control 4. Dec. flexible cable control 5. Counterweight 6. Counterweight shaft 7. Counterweight lock 8. Safety washer/thumbscrew 9. Latitude lock 10. Polar axis 1 1. Latitude adjustment knob 12.
– 5 – Fig. 1: Meade Model 4500: 4.5" Equatorial Reflecting T elescope 0 3 0 60 90 3 0 60 90 MEADE 2 4 3 40 41 42 43 1 38 39 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 20 25 26 27 28 .
– 6 – A. Introducing the Meade Model 4500 The Model 4500 is an easy-to-operate, high performance 4.5" (1 14mm) reflecting telescope, intended for astronomical observing. Equipped with a deluxe equatorial mount and aluminum tripod, the telescope’s motion is continuously adjustable for tracking celestial objects.
– 7 – • Release the latitude lock (9) of the equatorial mount, and tilt the polar axis (10) of the telescope to roughly a 45 ° angle by turning the latitude adjustment knob (1 1). With the polar axis thus tilted, firmly re-tighten the latitude lock.
– 8 – Fig. 2: Celestial Sphere 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 12 11 10 9 8 7 5 6 4 3 2 13 Earth ’ s Rotation 0 ° Dec. South Celestial Pole Right Ascension Star Celestial Equator -90 ° Dec. +90 ° Dec. North Celestial Pole (Vicinity of Polaris) D e c l i n a t i o n C.
(which passes, for example, through the constellations Orion, Virgo and Aquarius) is specified as having 0 ° 0'0" Declination. The Declination of the star Polaris, located very near the North Celestial Pole, is +89.2 ° . The celestial equivalent to Earth longitude is called “ Right Ascension, ” or “ R.
– 10 – • T o center an object in the main telescope, loosen the telescope ’ s R.A. lock (22) and Dec. lock (23). The telescope can now turn freely on its axes. Use the aligned viewfinder to first sight-in on the object you wish to observe; with the object centered on the viewfinder ’ s crosshairs, re-tighten the R.
– 11 – • The Moon: A veritable treasury of craters, mountain ranges and fault lines. The best contrast for viewing the Moon is during its crescent phase.
– 12 – H. Maintenance 1. Cleaning As with any quality instrument, lens or mirror surfaces should be cleaned as infrequently as possible. Front surface aluminized mirrors, in particular , should be cleaned only when absolutely necessary . In all cases avoid touching any mirror surface.
– 13 – falls directly through the center of the focuser drawtube (17, Fig. 1). These mirror tilt adjustments are made with the diagonal assembly (Fig. 5) and the primary mirror cell (Fig. 6), and will be discussed later . T o inspect the view of the mirror collimation, look down the focuser drawtube with the eyepiece removed.
– 14 – b. Spider vane adjustments If the diagonal mirror (1, Fig. 8) is left or right of center within the drawtube (2, Fig. 8), loosen the spider vane adjustment/lock knobs (1, Fig.
– 15 – spot dead center within the out-of-focus star disk (this is the shadow of the secondary mirror), as shown in Fig.1 1C. (An improperly aligned telescope will reveal elongated circles (Fig. 1 1A), with an off-center dark shadow .) • If the out-of-focus star disk appears elongated (Fig.
AD V ANCED PRODUCTS DIVISION Meade Instruments Corporation World’ s Leading Manuf acturer of Astronomical T elescopes for the Serious Amateur 6001 Oak Canyon, Irvine, California 92618 ■ (949) 451-1450 F AX: (949) 451-1460 ■ www .
An important point after buying a device Meade 4500 (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 4500 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 4500 - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, Meade 4500 you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get Meade 4500 will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of Meade 4500, 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 4500.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with Meade 4500. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device Meade 4500 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
