Meade ETX125 Instruction Manual - Page 23

Use the OBJECT menu to select an object from the database. When your telescope is aligned and you select an object from any of these lists, you just need to press the GO TO key to move the telescope so that it is pointed at the selected object. Over 30,000 objects are available for ETX-90PE and ETX-125PE models. The available objects include planets, constellations, individual stars, double stars, star clusters, galaxies, quasars, satellites, asteroids and comets. Also, try out the Guided Tour feature; the "Tonight's Best" Guided Tour will point your telescope at the best objects visible in the sky for every given night of the year. Want to learn more about Observing Satellites? See page 32. Want to learn more about Landmarks? See page 34. Object Menu Almost all observing with AutoStar is performed using the Object menu category. (The two exceptions are the Guided Tours and Landmark Survey.) See GO TO SATURN, page 18, for an example of observing using the Object menu. Also see USING THE GUIDED TOUR, page 18. Many AutoStar menu categories contain lists or databases. The AutoStar object database is a list of viewable objects, such as stars, planets, comets, nebulae and so forth. When one of these objects is selected from the object database and is above the horizon, AutoStar moves your telescope (if properly aligned) and points it at the selected object. Note: Most celestial objects are visible in the sky for only part of the night and also only visible part of the year. If an object is not visible on the night you are observing, AutoStar displays a message that the object is below the horizon. The Object Menu options include: Solar System is a database of the eight planets (Earth is not included) in order out from the Sun, followed by the Moon, asteroids and comets. Constellation is a database of all 88 Northern and Southern Hemisphere constellations. To use this menu: 1. When this menu option is chosen and "Andromeda" displays, use the Scroll keys to scroll through the constellation list. 2. Press ENTER to select a constellation and to display the coordinates of the constellation. Press one of the Scroll keys and information about the constellation will scroll across the display screen. 3. Press GO TO to display the list of stars in the constellation. Use the Scroll keys to scroll through the list of stars in the constellation, from the brightest to dimmest. 4. Press ENTER to select a star and use the Scroll keys to display information about the star. Press GO TO again to slew the telescope to that star. Note: Use MODE to abort any of these operations. Deep Sky is a database of objects outside our Solar System such as nebulas, star clusters, galaxies and quasars. Star is a database of stars listed in different categories such as named, double, variable or nearby. Satellite is a database of Earth-orbiting objects such as the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and geosynchronous orbit satellites. User Objects allows the user to define and store in memory deep-sky objects of specific interest that are not currently in the AutoStar database. See page 30 for more information. Landmarks stores the location of terrestrial points of interest in the permanent AutoStar database. Important Note: To use the Landmark function, the telescope must be located and aligned exactly as when the landmark was added to the database. ‫ ܖ‬Select: To select a Landmark already in the database (see ADD below), choose the "Select" option and scroll through the list. Press ENTER to select a Landmark, then press GO TO and the telescope slews to the object. ‫ ܖ‬Add: To add a Landmark, choose the "Add" option. Enter a name for the Landmark. Locate and center the Landmark in the eyepiece, then press ENTER. Identify is an exciting feature for an observer who wants to scan the night sky and start exploring. After the telescope has been properly aligned, use the AutoStar Arrow keys to move about in the sky. Then follow this procedure: 23