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Instruction Manual
6" LS-6 ACF / 6" LS-6 SC and
8" LS-8 ACF / 8" LS-8 SC Telescopes
with AutoStar III Hand Controller
Firmware version 1.3 and higher
INDEX INDEX
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WARNING! ® ™ Never use a Meade LS 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 Red-Dot Finder as it is moving. Children should always have adult supervision while observing. INDEX
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CONTENTS Landmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Introduction Observing Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 The most sophisticated and easiest Terrestrial Observing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 to use telescope ever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Maintenance Getting Started Basic Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Assembling the Telescope and using LightSwitch Col
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INTRODUCTION ® The LS-6 and LS-8 LightSwitch Telescopes The most sophisticated and easiest to use telescopes ever Congratulations on receiving your new LS telescope. You’ll fi nd that this telescope system has all you need to explore the Universe we live in. Meade’s concept was to create a telescope that would be simple enough for anyone to use, yet capable enough for the experienced amateur to stretch their knowledge and skills. With the most advanced and complete list of features of any tele
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GETTING STARTED You may want to perform the LS assembly indoors in the light so that you become familiar with the parts and operation before moving the telescope outside into the dark for observing. This Getting Started Guide assumes you are too impatient to read the entire manual fi rst and want to use your new telescope as quickly as possible. Just follow the simple steps below and you will be up and running before you know it. It is best to set up the telescope in twilight or before sun
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Mounting the Telescope Center Hub Follow the battery polarity (orientation) as indicated by molded icons Thumb-Screw CAUTION: Use care to install batteries as indicated by the battery compartment. Follow battery manufacturer’s Take the LS Telescope from its packaging and precautions. Do not install batteries backwards or mix place the entire telescope onto the top of the tripod new and used batteries. Do not mix battery types. If head. Rotate the telescope head slowly until you feel th
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Attaching Accessories Your Telescope is now Fully Assembled Now remove the dust cover from the front of the telescope tube. Be careful not to touch the glass lens. Be sure the telescope master power switch is in the off position. Remove the AutoStar III handbox and the coiled interface cable from the packing materials. Plug one end into the HNDBX port of the control panel and plug the other end into the Handbox port on the Next remove the dust cap from the ECLIPS CCD AutoStar
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Focus Knob
After the telescope powers on, you will hear a brief introductory message. You can press the “MEDIA” key to bypass the introduction if you like. If you have attached a video cable from the Video Out connection on the telescope to the composite video input of a NTSC TV monitor, you will also see graphics accompanying the telescope introduction. Slew Speeds: Speed 9: Fast Arrow ' Keys ' At this point look through the eyepiece of the Speed 5: Medium telescope. You should see
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AUTOSTAR III HANDBOX – BASIC USAGE Now that you have successfully setup and used your LS telescope, it’s time for more information about all the capabilities of this amazing optical system. The fi rst step is to familiarize yourself with the AutoStar III handbox operation. The largest keys on the keypad are the motion control keys. Most of the time, these keys allow you to move, or slew, your telescope both up and down and right and left. Press them now and see how the telescope moves in respo
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The “ENTER” and “BACK” buttons on the top of Shortcuts! the display let you move up and down the menu tree. Now lets look at the numeric keypad. Each of the When you press “ENTER” you will select the current number keys does two things. If the telescope is active menu choice. Pressing “BACK” will move you requesting input, the number keys allow you to enter up the menu tree. To get us to the top of the menu digits into the telescope. When you are navigating the tree, press “BACK” until
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LS KEY FEATURES
2& Diagonal Eyepiece Holder Diagonal Prism Telescope Input/Output Panel 1.25” Eyepiece Holder
ON/OFF LightSwitch Eyepiece Holder Thumb Screw ECLIPS CCD Module Eyepiece Red Dot Finder Alignment Screws Single Fork Arm Mount Handbox Storage Cradle Figure 1: LS Telescope 11 INDEX LS KEY FEATURES
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Diagonal Thumbscrew Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) Focus Knob Integrated Sensor Module Dust Cover Battery Compartment Red Dot Finder Mini SD Card Slot USB-A for Future Expansion USB-B connector to PC 2 2! ! Video Output 2@ 2@ Audio Output 2 2# # Electronic Focuser Jack 2 2$ $ Handbox (HNDBX) Port 2% 2% 12v Power Input 2^ 2^ Figure 2: LS Right Side 2! 2@ 2# 2$ 2% 2^ Figure 3: LS Front 12 Figure 4: LS Connectors INDEX LS KEY FEATURES
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Diagonal Holder: Holds the eyepiece in place. ECLIPS CCD Module: The integrated camera is part of the system that allows the telescope Diagonal Prism: provides a more comfortable to align itself, and provides you with a wide fi eld right angle viewing position. Slide the diagonal imager when a video monitor is attached to prism directly into the eyepiece holder (Fig. 1, 3). your telescope. 1.25" Eyepiece Holder Red Dot Finder: Provides an easy way to sight Eyepiece Holder Thu
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b. Images from the ECLIPS camera. d. Astronomer Inside videos and images of the moon, planets, and deep sky objects e. The Video Output can be toggled on/off with the 9/DISP key. Audio Output: This connection will allow 2# you to pass the telescope’s stereo sound to external speakers, headphones or and external television monitor. Electronic Focuser Jack: Plug in the optional 2$ Meade Zero Image Shift Micro-Focuser (P/N 07080) for precision focusing control. Handbox (HNDBX) Port: Plug
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Using the Red-Dot Finder Adjusting the Red-Dot Finder On/Off & Brightness Adjustment Because your telescope has so much magnifi cation, The Red-Dot Finder has been aligned at the factory, its fi eld of view is very small. This can make it hard to but you may need to touch-up the alignment from time know exactly where your telescope is pointing by simply to time. To do this, look through the eyepiece of your looking at it. To help you point the telescope quickly scope and using the hand contr
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OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES Meade makes a complete line of accessories to enable (just a little less than 1 degree) fi eld of view with 59x you to get the most fun and performance from your LS magnifi cation. This is a very good all purpose eyepiece telescope. No matter what you want to accomplish, we for your telescope, but you should consider buying have the equipment to help you get there. additional eyepieces in longer and shorter focal lengths to fully realize the potential of the excellent 6" o
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The Series 5000 Premium Eyepieces represent the highest level of eyepiece technology. Featuring advanced lens designs with 5, 6 and 7 elements, super fully multi-coated lenses and some of the widest fi elds of view available, they provide the user with the highest-contrast, pinpoint-sharp images and spectacular wide fi eld views of the heavens. They are made to the same high quality standards as the primary optics in your LS 6" telescope and allow you to get all the performance that the A
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Power Supplies While the LS telescope will operate with 8 “C” cell batteries, you should consider several other power options that might work better for your situation and save you money. The Meade 3.5 inch LCD monitor integrates fully with the LS telescope. Includes all connectors, dedicated battery pack (up to 20 hours of usage) and integral mounting bracket. Universal AC Adapter (07584): This adapter supplies a constant regulated 12 volt DC at up to 5 Amps from either a standard 115
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AUTOSTAR III HANDBOX “ENTER” Key “BACK” Key MODE Key “GO TO” Key Arrow Keys Number / Shortcut Keys Scroll Keys “MEDIA” Key Coil Cord Port Coil Cord Figure 5: The AutoStar III Handbox Tour the Cosmos with Just the Push of a Button The AutoStar III hand controller operates the The AutoStar Computer handbox provides control of LS telescope with just a few pushes of AutoStar’s virtually every telescope function. AutoStar III has buttons. Some of the
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• Altitude (vertical) and Azimuth (horizontal) “ENTER” Key: Selects the option on the second coordinates . line of the display. When you are looking at • Local Time and Local Sidereal Time (LST) descriptive object text, “ENTER” will synchronize • Timer and Alarm Status the telescope’s coordinates with the object. • Date This is most useful when synching on bright • Site coordinates stars to achieve better pointing in the vicinity • Battery status of the star. See NAVIGATING THE
