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OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES
A wide assortment of professional Meade accessories are available for the for ETX telescopes. Meade
accessories greatly extend many important applications to the telescope, from low-power, wide-field
terrestrial viewing to high-power lunar and planetary observing. The premium quality of these accessories
is well-suited to the quality of the instrument itself.
Meade telescopes and accessories, including optional accessories for ETX telescopes, are available at
more than 3,000 dealer locations in the U.S. and Canada and through Meade international distributors
worldwide. Once you have identified the accessories you wish to order, contact your local Meade authorized
dealer. To find a dealer near you call (949) 451-1450 or visit the Meade website at www.meade.com.
#497 Autostar
™
Computer Controller: One of the most important advances in telescope control in the
past 25 years, the Meade #497 Autostar Computer Controller (Fig. 21) turns your ETX model into an
automatic celestial object locating system. Just plug Autostar into the telescope’s HBX port in place of the
standard-equipment Electronic Controller, do a quick telescope alignment, and you are ready to observe
any object in the Autostar’s 14,000-object database.
Best of all, the Meade Autostar is easy to use. Even the most novice observer will locate dozens of
fascinating celestial objects the very first night out — from commonly observed objects, such as the rings of
Saturn, the satellites of Jupiter, and the Orion Nebula (M42), to more difficult objects, such as the Ring
Nebula (M57) in Lyra, the Spiral Galaxy (M33) in Triangulum, and the Sombrero Galaxy (M104) in Virgo; to
very obscure objects near the telescope’s threshold of visibility, such as spiral galaxy NGC 3310 in Ursa
Major.
Any of Autostar’s database objects can be called up and entered on the hand controller display in seconds.
The observer then simply presses the GO TO pushbutton and watches as the telescope automatically slews
to the object and places it in the field of view. Autostar brings into easy access objects that were previously
unreachable for all but the most dedicated of amateur astronomers.
AstroFinder Software/#505 Cable Connector Kit: With Meade AstroFinder software (Fig. 22) loaded
into your PC, Autostar-equipped ETX–90EC, ETX-105EC, and ETX-125EC telescopes may be remotely
controlled from the PC display. The #505 Cable Connector Set, permitting connection of ETX, Autostar,
and PC, is included with each AstroFinder package.
Eyepieces: For higher and lower magnifications, Meade Super Plössl (SP) and Super Wide Angle (SWA)
eyepieces (Fig. 23), as well as the Series 4000 8mm to 24mm Zoom eyepiece, yield high-resolution imaging
with all ETX telescope models. A useful selection includes the SP 9.7mm, SP 12.4mm, and SWA 18mm.
Under good seeing conditions, Meade Ultra Wide Angle 4.7mm and 6.7mm eyepieces present the widest
obtainable fields of view at high powers and are well suited for observing the Moon and planets. Alternative
optional eyepieces may be chosen from the Meade Series 3000 Plössl eyepieces. Powers obtained with
each eyepiece are shown in the following table.
#126 2x Barlow Lens: An amplifying lens, the multi-coated #126 2x Barlow (Fig. 24) doubles the power of
all eyepieces with which it is used. Insert the #126 into the telescope’s eyepiece holder first, followed by an
eyepiece. Example: By itself, the SP 26mm eyepiece yields a power of 73X with the ETX-125EC; when
used with the #126 2x Barlow Lens, this eyepiece yields 146X.
Fig. 23: Optional
Eyepieces yield higher
and lower magnifying
powers.
Fig. 22: AstroFinder
software.
ETX-90EC ETX-105EC ETX-125EC
Eyepiece
Power 2x Barlow Power 2x Barlow Power 2x Barlow
SP 6.4mm 195X 390X 230 459 297X 594X**
SP 9.7mm 129X 258X 152 303 196X 392X
SP 12.4mm 101X 202X 119 237 153X 306X
SP 15mm 83X 166X 98 196 127X 253X
SP 20mm 63X 126X 74 147 95X 190X
SP 26mm * 48X 96X 57 113 73X 146X
SP 32mm 39X 78X 46 92 59X 119X
SP 40mm 31X 62X 37 74 48X 96X
SWA 13.8mm 91X 182X 107 213 138X 275X
SWA 18mm 69X 138X 82 163 106X 211X
SWA 24.5mm 51X 102X 60 120 78X 155X
UWA 4.7mm 266X N/A 313 N/A 404X N/A
UWA 6.7mm 187X 374X ** 219 439** 284X 567X**
*
Included as standard-equipment with the ETX models.
**
Use these eyepieces only under extremely steady atmospheric conditions.
Fig. 21: #497
Autostar Computer
Controller.
Fig. 24: Use the
#126 2x Barlow Lens
to double the
magnification of the
eyepiece employed.