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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 1
MEADE INSTRUCTION MANUAL
114mm | 4.5" Equatorial Reflecting Telescope
114EQ-AR
www.meade.com
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 2 WARNING! ® Never use a Meade 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 at or near the Sun. Do not look through ™ the telescope or SmartFinder as it is moving. Children should always have adult supervision while observing.
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 3 INTRODUCTION Your telescope is an excellent beginner’s Setting up your telescope involves these 1 instrument, and is designed to observe simple steps: objects in the sky. It can be your personal • Assemble your tripod window on the universe. • Attach the accessory tray • Attach the red dot viewfinder The telescope is shipped with the following • Attach the eyepiece parts: • Attach the counterweight • Optical tube • Prepare mount • Aluminum tripod with an ac
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Inset A Inset B Inset C Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 4 Figure 1: Meade 114EQ-AR Equatorial Reflecting Telescope FIGURE 1 Inset A: Accessory Tray 2 Inset B: Red Dot Viewfinder Assembly. Inset C: Tripod Leg 1. Tripod legs 26. Eyepiece holder slots (see Inset A) 2. Equatorial Mount 27. Right Ascension setting circle 3. Right ascension control cable 28. Declination setting circle (see Fig. 5) 4. Declination control cable 29. Latitude dial (see Fig. 5) 5. Counterweights 30. Azimuth adjustmen
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 5 Fig. 3 2. Attach the triangular accessory tray ASSEMBLE YOUR TRIPOD to the leg brace supports using the The tripod is the basic support for your supplied one-half inch bolts and 3 telescope. Its height may be adjusted so that screwdriver tool (See Fig. 3). N No ot te e: : N Nu um mb be er r i in n you can view comfortably. 3. Thread the supplied nut over the end of b br ra ac ck ke et ts s, , e e. .g g. ., , ( (3 3) ), , r re ef fe er r t to o F Fi i
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 6 1. Note the two thumbscrews Fig. 5 position about 2" from the bottom of (16, Fig. 4) thread onto two bolts the shaft. 4 on the optical tube. Remove the 4. Secure in place by tightening the thumbscrews from the tube. counterweight lock (7). 2. Line up the two holes on the red dot N No ot te e: : Make sure the safety washer and viewfinder bracket over the two bolts. screw (8) always remain in place on Slide the bracket over the bolts. the shaft. T Th hi is
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 7 Fig. 6 thumbscrew (7) and slide the SUN WARNING! counterweights (5) along the shaft until NEVER USE YOUR TELESCOPE 5 the telescope remains in any given TO LOOK AT THE SUN! position without tending to drift up or LOOKING AT OR NEAR THE SUN WILL down around the polar axis. Retighten CAUSE INSTANT AND IRREVERSIBLE the counterweight lock (31).The DAMAGE TO YOUR EYE. EYE DAMAGE IS telescope is now balanced. OFTEN PAINLESS, SO THERE IS NO WARNING TO THE OBSERVER
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 8 In mapping the surface of the Earth, lines can locate the Ring Nebula (also known as UNDERSTANDING CELESTIAL of longitude are drawn between the North "M57") by its Right Ascension (18hr) and MOVEMENTS AND COORDINATES 6 and South Poles and lines of latitude are its Declination (+33°). Understanding where to locate drawn in an East-West direction, parallel • • R RI IG GH HT T A AS SC CE EN NS SI IO ON N ( (R R. .A A. .) ): : This Celestial celestial o
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n o i t a n i l c e D Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 9 There are 24 primary lines of R.A., located equator are indicated with a plus (+) sign telescope's Declination flexible cable at 15-degree intervals along the celestial (e.g., the Dec. of the North celestial pole control is necessary. Virtually all of equator. Objects located further and is +90°). Any point on the celestial equator the required telescope tracking will be 7 further East of the zero R.A. grid line (0hr (such as thee c
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 10 Fig. 8 1. Release the Azimuth lock (30)of the a different geographical location (i.e. a Azimuth base, so that the entire different latitude). The only polar 8 telescope-with-mounting may be alignment procedure that you need to rotated in a horizontal direction. Rotate perform each time you use the telescope is Little Dipper Polaris the telescope until it points due North. to point the polar axis due North, as Use a compass or locate Polaris, the describe
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 11 who is one of the first astronomers to use until you can see the object. It will be easier is a crescent. No shadows are seen a telescope, discovered four of the moons to locate an object using the red dot during a full Moon, making it appear of Jupiter with a telescope about the same viewfinder rather than locating with the flat and uninteresting. 9 size as yours (and his didn’t even focus eyepiece. Line up the object using the Look for different features
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 12 Fig. 9 Use a neutral density filter (often called There are four planets that you can easily a “moon filter”) when observing the observe in your telescope: Venus, Mars, 10 Moon. Neutral density filters are Jupiter and Saturn. available from Meade as an optional Nine planets (maybe more!) travel in a fairly accessory and enhance contrast to improve circular pattern around our Sun. Any system your observation of lunar features. of planets orbiting one or mo
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 13 may not see many features on the surface of One of the most fascinating sights of Jupiter The first thing you will notice is that Saturn, its ring structure will steal your are its moons. The four largest moons are not all stars are the same colors. See breath away. You will probably be able to see 11 called the Galilean moons, after the if you can find blue, orange, yellow, a black opening in the rings, known as the astronomer Galileo, who observed them
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 14 When you become an advanced observer you Almost all the stars you can see in the colors, how stars and planets are formed, can look for other types of objects such as sky are part of our galaxy. A galaxy is a red shift, the big bang, what are the different 12 asteroids, planetary nebula and globular large grouping of stars, containing kinds of nebula, what are comets, asteroids clusters. And if you’re lucky, every so often a millions or even billions of st
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 15 scope’s field of view. To keep astronomical adapted” before observing. Use a red- Moon and planets. If the image become objects centered in the field, simply move filtered flashlight to protect your night fuzzy, switch back down to a lower power. the telescope on one or both of its axes— vision when reading star maps, or 13 Changing eyepieces changes the power or vertically and/or horizontally as needed—try inspecting the telescope. Do not use magnificatio
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 16 fuzzy one. Using too high a power eyepiece is and outside air. Also, it is a good idea to HAVE A GOOD TIME, one of the most common mistakes made by allow your telescope to reach the ASTRONOMY IS FUN! 14 new astronomers. ambient (surrounding) outside temperature before starting an Dress Warm: Even on summer nights, the SPECIFICATIONS observing session. air can feel cool or cold as the night wears Optical tube focal length . . 900mm on. It is important to
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 17 lower the focal ratio number, the faster the Let’s say that you have obtained a tube. In other words, this is the distance exposure. f/5 is faster than f/10. The faster 13mm eyepiece. You can tell that what light travels in the telescope before being the ratio, the faster exposure time is needed the focal length of your eyepiece is as it 15 brought to focus in you eyepiece. Your tube is when a camera is hooked up to the is always printed on the side of an
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 18 Fig. 11 dishwashing soap per pint of solution. interesting than a larger, Use soft, white facial tissues and dimmer, fuzzy one. Using too 16 make short, gentle strokes. Change high a power eyepiece is one tissues often. of the most common mistakes Monture made by new astronomers. So Miroir Diagonal Miroir Primaire CAUTION: Do not use scented Diagonale don’t think that higher magnification or lotioned tissues or damage is necessarily better—quite ofte
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 19 Fig. 13 Fig. 14 Fig. 15 (3, Fig. 14), the spider vanes (4, Fig. 14), and your eye (5, Fig. 14). 1 1 17 2 Properly aligned, all of these 3 3 2 reflections will appear concentric 2 (i.e., centered) as illustrated in Fig. 14. Any deviation from the concentric reflections 3 4 will require adjustments to the diagonal 2 5 assembly and/or the primary mirror cell Diagonal Mirror Misalignment Correct Collimation (Fig. 11). B. DIAGONAL HOLDER ADJUSTMENTS Fig. 16 P
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Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 20 must be unthreaded slightly to the the primary mirror cell (3, Fig. 13). These performed correctly, the central star disk point of where you can tilt the diagonal primary tilt screws are located behind the and rings will be concentric circles, with a 18 holder from side-to-side by grasping primary mirror, at the lower end of the main dark spot dead center within the out-of- the diagonal holder with your hand and tube. To adjust the primary mirror tilt focu
