Meade Scope 80mm User Manual - Page 9

eyepiece to locate objects. The 18mm eyepiece has a larger field of view with less magnification which makes it ideal for use when finding targets to observe. Once the target is located, you can switch to the 6mm eyepiece to zoom in. If heat waves interfere with your viewing, try focusing at low magnification to see a steadier, higher-quality image. Observe in early morning hours, before the earth has built up too much internal heat. the optical tube so it lines up with your object. Celestial Observation Observe the Moon: When you feel comfortable with the viewfinder, the eyepieces, the locks and the adjustment controls, you will be ready to try out the telescope at night. The Moon is the best object to observe the first time you go out at night. Pick a night when the Moon is a crescent. No shadows are seen during a full Moon, making it appear flat and uninteresting. Observe during the daytime. Try out your telescope during the daytime at first. It is easier to learn how it operates and how to observe when it is light. Pick out an easy object to observe first to help you become familiar with the telescope. A distant mountain, a large tree, a lighthouse or skyscraper make excellent targets. Point Look for different features on the Moon. The most obvious features are craters. In fact you can see craters within craters. Some craters have bright lines about them. These are called rays and are the result of material thrown out of the crater when it was struck by a colliding object. The dark areas on the Moon are called Maria and are composed of lava from the period when the Moon still had volcanic activity. You can also see mountain Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving. ranges and fault lines on the Moon. 7 Observe the Solar System: After observing the Moon, you are ready to step up to the next level of observation, the planets. There are four planets that you can easily observe in your telescope: Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Eight planets (maybe more!) travel in a fairly circular pattern around our Sun. Any system of planets orbiting one or more stars is called a solar system. Our Sun, by the way, is a single, yellow dwarf star. It is average as far as stars go and is a middle aged star. Beyond the planets are clouds of comets, icy planetoids and other debris left over from the birth of our sun. Recently astronomers have found large objects in this area and they may increase the number of planets in our solar system.