Meade Tripod LX600-ACF 14 inch User Manual - Page 33

rate. 8° degrees per second is the fastest setting. • Park Position: After aligning your telescope, select this menu and power down the telescope. The alignment settings-North, time, alignment stars-are stored in Autostar II's memory and are remembered after you power off the telescope. When you power on the telescope, "Automatic Alignment" displays after the start up routine. Press MODE (do not press ENTER). The telescope remembers its alignment and you can continue viewing or performing other operations without aligning the telescope again. Park Position provides two options. Use Current Position uses the last position set by the user. Default Position places scope in the home position. • Calibrate Home: For permanently mounted telescopes only. After aligning your telescope, select this menu and the alignment settings- North, time, alignment stars-are stored in Autostar II's memory and are remembered after you power off the telescope. You can enable Autostar II to retrieve and automatically align your telescope using these settings the next time you power up by choosing the Align on Home menu. This menu helps improve auto alignment. • Anti-Backlash: This option allows you to change the backlash along either the RA and the DEC axes by entering a number from 0% to 199%. This sets the backlash in the way the Arrow keys move the telescope along an axis. If you enter a value near 199%, telescope responds more quickly as you hold down an Arrow key. If you enter a value near 0%, it takes longer for the tube to respond as you hold down an Arrow key. Experiment with this option: Try changing the values until the motion of the telescope (while holding down an Arrow key) feels comfortable to you. • Train Drive: All telescopes have a certain amount of "backlash" (looseness in the interplay of gears). This menu allows you to compensate for the backlash in the RA and DEC motors- which helps locate objects with more precision. • Calibrate Sensors: This menu allows you to improve your telescope's pointing accuracy to alignment stars. It calibrates to correct slight mechanical misalignment due to transport, vibration, or aging. It is recommended that calibration be performed once on a new telescope after the user initially assembles it. When this menu is selected, the telescope slews to Polaris. AutoStar II then prompts you to center Polaris and to press ENTER. AutoStar II uses the position of Polaris to fine tune the position of North and also detects level for the base of the telescope. • Tracking Rate: Changes the speed at which the telescope tracks targets in the sky. a. Sidereal: The default setting for Autostar II; sidereal rate is the standard rate at which stars move from East to West across the sky due to the rotation of the Earth. b. Lunar: Choose this option to properly track the Moon over long observing sessions. c. Solar: Choose this option when observing the Sun. WARNING: NEVER USE A MEADE LX600 TELESCOPE TO LOOK AT THE SUN unless it is equipped with a properly installed, safe solar filter! Looking at or near the sun without appropriate filters will cause instant and irreversible eye damage. Damage to the StarLock optical/sensor systems and viewfinder optics will occur if pointed at the Sun. d. Custom: Allows entry of user-defined tracking rates. Note: Custom Tracking Rate allows you to enter values from -999.999 to 999.999. The lower the number, the slower the rate; the higher the number the faster the rate. If you enter -999, the telescope will move so slow as to appear to be stopped. If you enter 999, the telescope will be moving at approximately twice the tracking rate. • Guiding Rate: Allows you to change the base slew speed, 1x. Enter a percentage of the speed (less than 100%) and press ENTER. This function may be useful in guiding the telescope during CCD and long-exposure photography. See SLEW SPEEDS, page 20, for more information. • DEC Guiding: Allows a user using an autoguider to disengage autoguider inputs. Allows you to 33 AutoStar II Operation