Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product RCX400TM Meade
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Instruction Manual 10", 12", 14” RCX400 ™ Ad v anced Ritche y-Chrétien T elescopes with A utoStar II ® Hand Contr oller and Digital Fr ont Focus MEADE.
Focusing the T elescope As you look o v er your ne w RCX telescope, one of the first things you will notice is that it has no Focus Knob! Because this design is of ke y impor tance, we are presenting this inf or mation on how to f ocus your telescope on the inside front cov er so that it is immediately accessible.
F ocusing your T elescope.........................Inside front cov er Quic k-Start Guide .......................................................... 4 T elescope Features ...................................................... 8 A utostar II F eatures .
4 QUICK-ST ART GUIDE Assemb le Y our T r ipod STEP 1: Attach the legs of the tripod to the base: Slide each leg (1) into a leg receptacle (2) . STEP 2: Rotate the leg: Rotate the leg until the trigger release pin (3) is next to the thruster bar latch (4).
5 Attach the Mount to the T r ipod Mo v e the Optical T ube and Install the Batter ies STEP 6: P osition the mount over the tripod: T ake note of the T -handle/rod (8) that goes through the tr ipod base. The T -handle/rod is spr ing-mounted into position.
6 QUICK-ST ART GUIDE {CONTINUED} Inser t the T elescope Diagonal Mirror and Ey epiece STEP 10: Attach the visual bac k and diagonal mirror: 1. Thread the ring of the visual back (16) ov er the rear cell (15) and rotate the r ing, tightening to a fir m feel.
7 P oint, F ocus and Obser v e STEP 14: Tighten the R.A. and Dec. Locks: Mov e the R.A. lock (27) and tighten to a firm feel. Rotate the Dec. Lock (28) and tighten to a firm feel, also . STEP 15: Focus: T o change the focus speed: Press the F ocus ke y (2() once.
8 TELESCOPE FEA TURES Fig. 1a : The RCX400 T elescope; Dec. Setting Circle (inset). B d f e g h i j 1) 1! 1@ 1# 1$ 1% 1^ 1& 1* 1( 2) 2! ey epiece c diagonal mirror rear cell and 2” visual back O T A control panel left f or k ar m battery compar tments R.
9 locking ring adjustment screws viewfinder ey epiece/focuser viewfinder brack et and dov etail mount tr ipod base with leg receptacles leg attachment loc k sliding leg tr igger release locking latch .
10 RCX400: YOUR PERSONAL WINDOW TO THE UNIVERSE The Meade RCX 400 models are e xtremely versatile , high-resolution telescopes. With high-precision optics, pushb utton controls, precise GPS alignment,.
11 1# ) in the unlock ed position. Set the R.A. Lock to a "par tially lock ed" position to create a comf or table drag f or the R.A. Slow Motion Control.
12 only) pre vents the telescope from being mo ved manually , but engages the v er ti- cal motor drive f or AutoStar II operation. 1* Dust Co ver: Gently pr y the dust cov er from the front lens of the telescope. Note: The dust cov er should be replaced after each obser ving session and the power turned off to the telescope.
Fig. 2: The Autostar II Handbo x. T our the Cosmos with Just the Push of a Button Control of the RCX400 telescope models is through the operation of the standard A utostar II system. Nearly all functions of the telescope are accomplished with just a f e w pushes of A utostar II’ s buttons.
14 The A utostar II system provides control of virtually ev er y telescope function. The A utostar II handbo x has soft-touch ke ys designed to have a positiv e feel. The LCD (Liquid Cr ystal Displa y) is backlit with red LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) f or easy view- ing in the dark.
4 FOCUS : T oggles between two functions . The first press allows y ou to change the f ocus and f ocus speed. The next press allo ws you to create presets that tell the telescope where to f ocus. 5 SS : Press to displa y the Solar System library . 6 ST AR: Press to display the Star library .
16 P ar ts Listing Getting the telescope ready f or first obser v ations requires only a f ew minutes . When first opening the pac king bo x, note carefully the follo wing par ts: J RCX400 T elescope .
Caution: Use care to install batter ies as indicated by the battery compar tment. Follo w batter y manufacturer's precautions . Do not install batter ies backwards or mix ne w and used batter ies. Do not mix batter y types. If these precautions are not follo wed, batteries may e xplode, catch fire , or leak.
18 2. Inser t ey epiece: Remov e the UltraWide 24mm e yepiece from its container and slide it in the diagonal mirror . Tighten the thumbscrew ( Fig. 20 ) located on the diagonal mirror to a firm feel only . 3. Remov e dust cover: Remove the dust co ver ( 18, Fig.
OBSERVING Choosing an Eyepiece A telescope’ s eyepiece magnifies the image f or med by the telescope’ s main optics. Each ey epiece has a focal length, e xpressed in millimeters, or “mm. ” The smaller the f ocal length, the higher the magnification.
20 Sync On Preset men u if y ou do not park y our telescope (this men u will reset all your f ocus presets after you turn off and tur n on your scope again ).
Y ou can also obser v e stars and objects in the night sky using this method, but note that objects begin to slowly drift across the ey epiece field. This motion is caused by the rotation of the Ear th.
22 Speeds 4, 5, or 6: Enab le center ing of an object in the field of a low-to-moder ate po wer e yepiece, such as the standard UltraWide 24mm. Speeds 7 or 8: Best used f or rough centering of an object in the viewfinder . Speed 9: Mo v es the telescope quickly from one point in the sky to another .
23 4. A utostar II initializes the Smart Dr ive if "On" has been pre viously chosen from both the R.A. and Dec. PEC menus in the "Setup: T elescope" menu (the very first time the system is tur ned on, the Smar t Drive f eature will not be enabled).
24 When the procedure is perf ormed correctly , "Alignment Successful" displa ys. If A utostar II does not displa y this message, perf or m this procedure again. Note: Alignment stars ma y change from night to night. All that is required is f or the obser v er to center the selected stars in the ey epiece when prompted.
5. Press MODE to return to the T our list. Press the Scroll keys to scroll through the list. Press ENTER when you find the next object y ou wish to obser ve . 6. Press and hold down MODE f or two seconds to leav e the Guided T our menu. Other Guided T ours are av ailable, such as "Ho w F ar is F ar" and "A Star's Life.
26 It is impor tant to understand that menu selections are set in a loop ( Fig. 28 ). This means that pressing the Scroll Down k ey ( 7, Fig. 2 ) cycles down through all the a v ailable options within a given categor y , then retur ns to the first option.
4. Press the Scroll Down k ey once to displa y the "Sunset" option in the Event menu. 5. Press the ENTER ke y to choose the "Sunset" option and move do wn another le vel. 6. A utostar II calculates the Sunset time based on the current date, time , and loca- tion.
28 OT A F an Dew He ater OT A T empe rat ure Ambie nt Te m p. Tim er Set St ar t & Stop Alarm Set On & Off Eye pie ce Calc. Fi eld of View Ma gni fic ation Su ggest Sun W a rni ng Brig htne ss Adj.
29 Object Menu Almost all obser ving with A utostar II is perf ormed using the Object menu categor y . ( Note: Exceptions include Guided T our and Landmark Sur ve y . ) See GO T O SA TURN , page 24, f or an e xample of obser ving using the Object menu.
30 Identify: An e xciting f eature f or an obser ver who w ants to scan the night sky and star t e xploring. After the telescope has been properly aligned, use the Autostar II Arro w ke ys to move about in the sky . Then f ollow this procedure: Important Note: Only use the Arro w keys to mo ve the telescope during the Identify procedure .
Glossary Menu The Glossar y menu pro vides an alphabetical listing of definitions and descriptions for common astronomical ter ms and Autostar II functions. Access directly through the Glossar y menu or through h yper text words embedded in A utostar II.
32 P anel Light: Allows y ou to turn off LED panel light. A ux P or t P ower: Allows y ou turn off and on the 12vDC OUT power por t. Beep : T urns the beep aler ts on or off. T emperature : Gives a temperature reading of the ambient air . This reading is not alwa ys av ailable.
Smart Mount: See page 69 f or detailed information. GPS-UTC Offset: Univ ersal Time (UTC) adds leap seconds to its time calculations, GPS does not. The offset is the number of leap seconds added since the establish- ment of GPS .
34 J Calibrate Sensor s: This men u allo ws you to improv e your telescope's pointing accuracy to alignment stars. It calibrates to correct slight mechanical misalign- ment due to transpor t, vibration, or aging. It is recommended that calibration be perf ormed once on a new telescope after the user initially assembles it.
to select displa ys. Use this option when you mov e to a different geographic location. J Add : Allows you to add ne w obser ving sites to the database. Scroll through the list of Countries/States. Press ENTER when the site you wish to add displays . Then choose the desired city in the same manner .
36 "Hot Button" Menus T wo menus, six object libraries and two functions can be accessed directly using the Number k e ys (commonly referred to as "hot buttons"). The two functions, the Speed mode and the Utility light are described ear lier in the manual.
ADV ANCED AUTOST AR II FEA TURES Bef ore tr ying out the e xamples in this section, f amiliarize yourself with the basic oper- ations of A utostar II described ear lier in this manual.
38 11. Press MODE. "Site: Edit" displays . 12. Using the Arrow k eys, scroll to "Site: Select." The site you ha ve just edited dis- pla ys. Press ENTER to select the site. Creating User Objects In this procedure, y ou will enter coordinates of celestial objects that do not appear in an y of the A utostar II libraries.
Observing Satellites In this procedure, y ou will prepare your telescope to observe a satellite pass . 1. Navigate to the "Object: Satellite" menu option and press ENTER. 2. Use the Scroll ke ys to scroll through the list of satellites. 3. Select a satellite from the list and press ENTER.
40 those in the Landmar k database. Be sure to change this option back to "Astronomical" when you wish to vie w celestial objects again. 3. Press MODE once. "Select Item: Setup" displays . 4. Press the Scroll Down k ey once and "Select Item: Object" displays.
In this procedure , y ou will center an object you wish to ha ve identified by A utostar II in the telescope ey epiece and use the "Identify" menu to find out information about the object or the nearest object to it in the A utostar II database.
42 Alternate Alt/Az Alignments If you w ould rather set up your telescope without using automatic alignment, A utostar II off ers alternative alignment methods f or both alt/az and equatorial mounting.
3. Set Home P osition . Place the telescope in the home position. T o Set the Home Position Manuall y: a. See Figs. 32 and 33, page 34. Loosen the telescope’ s Dec. lock ( 17, Fig. 1a ). Set the optical tube to 0° on the Dec. setting circle ( Fig. 33 ).
44 P eriodic Error Correction If you wish to perf or m high-precision astrophotograph y , you may wish to "tr ain" your telescope in order to keep objects that y ou are imaging dead center in the telescope's field of view during the photographic e xposure.
The RCX400 optical design consists of a h yperbolic secondar y and corrector lens/pri- mar y combination that perf orms as one hyperbolic element. The corrector plate advan- tage, aside from the ob vi.
46 Photograph y with a Digital Camera Although digital camer as still cannot match the quality of images provided b y tradi- tional 35mm cameras, the y provide some significant advantages to the casual astrophotographer: Y ou do not have to de velop the images (instant images), low er costs, computer and internet readiness.
• Magic Eye software-assisted f ocusing. • Automatic and manual e xposure control from .001 to 15 seconds (up to 450x longer than web cams). • Automatically tak es multiple e xposures.
48 OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES A wide assor tment of professional Meade accessories is a vailab le for the RCX400 tel- escope models. The premium quality of these accessories is well-suited to the quality of the instr ument itself. Consult the Meade General Catalog f or complete details on these and other accessories.
Series 4000 Nebular Filter s: A moder n boon to the city-dwelling deep-space obser v er , the interference neb ular filter eff ectiv ely cancels out the effects of most urban light pollution, while leaving the light of deep-space neb ular emissions vir tual- ly unattenuated.
50 #1220 Field De-r otater: The field de-rotater attaches to the rear cell of the telescope and plugs into an RS232 (Serial) por t. Digital data f ed from the telescope's micro- processor to the field de-rotater permit precise and continuous update of the de-rota- tion required to maintain pinpoint star images throughout the field.
MAINTENANCE RCX400 telescopes are precision optical instruments designed to yield a lifetime of rew arding applications. Given the care and respect due any precision instrument, your RCX400 will rarely , if e ver , require f actor y ser vicing. Maintenance guidelines include: a.
r ings; these are called diffraction rings. Focus until the diffraction rings fills about 10% of the ey epiece field-diameter. If the dar k central spot is offset in (i.e ., not concentric with) the diffr action rings, y our telescope’ s optical system is misaligned and requires collimation.
Inspecting the Optics A Note about the “Flashlight T est:" If a flashlight or other high-intensity light source is pointed down the main telescope tube , the view (depending upon the observer.
54 10" f/8 RCX400 Specifications Optical design ..............................................Adv anced Ritchey-Chrétien Clear aper ture ..............................................254mm (10") F ocal length ...............................
14" f/8 RCX400 Specifications Optical design ..............................................Advanced Ritchey-Chrétien Clear aper ture ..............................................356mm (14") F ocal length ...................................
56 Adv anced Autostar II System Specifications Processors ........................................................ 10 processors arranged in a Distributed Intelligent Network Architecture to f acilitate parallel task management (U .S. Patent 6,304,376) Flash Memor y .
Equatorial Alignment In equator ial (or "polar") Alignment, the telescope is or iented so that the horizontal and vertical axes of the telescope are lined up with the celestial coordinate system.
58 Using setting circles requires a de veloped technique . When using the circles f or the first time, try hopping from one br ight star (the calibration star) to another bright star of kno wn coordinates . Practice moving the telescope from one easy-to-find object to another .
Lining Up with the Celestial P ole Objects in the sky appear to re volv e around the celestial pole. (Actually , celestial objects are essentially “fix ed.
60 ting circle and slightly loosen the two bolts located under the knob . Now turn the circle unit until it reads 89.2°, the Declination of P olar is. Then tighten down the two bolts and replace the kn urled knob . Should you wish to use the man ual setting circles, the R.
A utostar II P olar Alignment A utostar II provides three diff erent (manual) methods for polar alignment: Easy , One- Star and T wo-Star . Easy P olar Alignment T wo alignment stars are chosen by A utostar II based on the date, time, and location. First, choose "P olar" from the "Setup: T elescope: Mount" men u.
62 APPENDIX B: LA TITUDE CHART Latitude Chart for Major Cities of the W orld T o aid in the polar alignment procedure (see page 57), latitudes of major cities around the world are listed below . T o determine the latitude of an observing site not listed on the char t, locate the city closest to your site.
63 APPENDIX C: CREA TE YOUR OWN GUIDED TOUR Creating your o wn Guided T our can be an e xtremely useful tool. Y ou can preprogram a scr ipt of objects you wish to view and study on an y given night. Y ou can also create a viewing script f or students or f or a friend.
64 TITLE TEXT USER NGC IC SA O MESSIER CALD WELL PLANET MOON SA TELLITE ASTEROID COMET LUNAR ECLIPSE METEOR SHOWER DEEP SKY CONSTELLA TION ST AR LANDMARK DEFINE PICK ONE/PICK END A UT O SLEW ON/OFF #END Description String: Description of an object. Must be surrounded by quotation marks.
PLANET "name" Enter PLANET and then the name of the desired planet in quotes. A utostar II provides the user with a descr iption of the selected planet from its database. F or e xample: PLANET "Pluto" MOON This command accesses inf ormation about the Moon from the Autostar II database.
66 PICK ONE A UTO SELECT MESSIER 13 A UTO SELECT MESSIER 15 A UTO SELECT MESSIER 92 A UTO SELECT MESSIER 4 A UTO SELECT MESSIER 68 A UTO SELECT NGC 1234 A UTO SELECT TEXT "None A vailab le" "I'm sorry . There are no br ight globular" "clusters visib le at this time .
T rain the telescope motors using Autostar II. Perf or m this procedure if you are e xper iencing any pointing accur acy prob lems . Fig. 55 depicts the complete Dr ive T raining procedure. Note: Use a terrestrial object, such as a telephone pole or lamp post, to train the drive.
68 APPENDIX E: THE MOON MENU The Moon option of the Object menu allows y ou to obser ve the moon in a wa y nev er possible bef ore. Y ou will be able locate many specific f eatures of the lunar surface , including hundreds of craters, mare , valleys , and mountains.
APPENDIX F: Smart Mount Intr oduction Smar t Mount improv es the pointing accuracy of y our RCX 400 telescope's "Go to" sys- tem. Despite careful eff or ts to calibrate and align telescopes, the y may f ail to precisely center objects.
70 P ermanently Mounted Scopes F or permanently mounted telescopes, it is not necessar y to hav e more than one model unless the weight and balance of auxiliary equipment introduces balance or fle xure changes that significantly aff ect pointing. The best practice is to train the Smar t Mount and then r un a couple of sessions with Update enabled.
In the ear ly 17th centur y Italian Scientist Galileo , using a telescope smaller than your RCX400 , turned it skyward instead of looking at the distant trees and mountains. What he sa w , and what he realized about what he saw , has f ore ver changed the w ay mankind thinks about the universe .
72 Planets Planets change positions in the sky as they orbit around the Sun. T o locate the plan- ets on a given da y or month, consult a monthly astronomy magazine, such as Sky and T elescope or Astronomy . Y ou can also consult A utostar II f or inf ormation about plan- ets .
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14-7600-00 3/05 B MEADE LIMITED W ARRANTY Every Meade telescope, spotting scope, and telescope accessory is warranted b y Meade Instruments Cor poration (“Meade”) to be free of defects in materials and workmanship f or a period of ONE YEAR from the date of original purchase in the U .
An important point after buying a device Meade RCX400TM (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 RCX400TM 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 RCX400TM - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, Meade RCX400TM you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get Meade RCX400TM will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of Meade RCX400TM, 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 RCX400TM.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with Meade RCX400TM. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device Meade RCX400TM 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
