Meade NGC Telescope User Manual


 
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Next, move the tube upward or downward until the second displacement number
also reaches zero. As you near zero, use the vertical slow motion control (F, Fig.
3) to move the optical tube. If you performed the alignment procedure correctly,
Saturn will appear in your eyepiece.You may need to center the image.
7. If you wish to display information about Saturn, press MODE and then keep
pressing UP/DOWN to scroll through various lines of information. The last line of
information displays as a scrolling message. As the message scrolls, you can
press UP or DOWN to increase or decrease the scrolling speed.
Using the Guided Tour (NGC Models Only)
The control panel provides a Guided Tour menu that displays the best objects (and
their displacement numbers) to view on any given night of the year. This example
demonstrates how to use the "Tonight’s Best™" Guided Tour. Other Guided Tours are
also provided.
1. After observing Saturn, press MODE twice so that "Select Item: Object" displays
again.
2. Press UP/DOWN until "Select Item: Guided Tour" displays.
3. Press ENTER. "Guided Tour: Tonight’s Best" displays. Press ENTER.
NOTE: If you wish to try out other Guided Tours, press UP/DOWN to scroll
through other tour choices. When the tour you wish to select displays,
press ENTER.
4. "Tonight’s Best: Searching..." displays. After calculating, "Tonight’s Best: Jupiter"
displays.
NOTE: Different objects may be displayed on a tour list on any given night.
Use the method described in the last section, GO TO SATURN, to find Jupiter or
any other object displayed on the Guided Tour list.After selecting an item from the
list by pressing ENTER, press UP/DOWN to display information about the object.
5. Press MODE to return to the Tour list. Press UP/DOWN to scroll through the list.
Press ENTER when you find the next object you wish to observe.
6. Use MODE to leave the Guided Tour menu.
Which One’s the Alignment Star?
If the control panel has chosen an alignment star with which you are unfamiliar,
how can you be sure if the star in your eyepiece is really the alignment star?
The rule of thumb is that an alignment star is usually the brightest star in that
area of the sky. If you're not sure if you have located the alignment star or it isn't
in the eyepiece, look through your viewfinder. When you view an alignment star
in the viewfinder, it stands out dramatically from the rest of the stars in that por-
tion of the sky. The viewfinder will help you locate a star more quickly than the
eyepiece, because it has a much wider field of view than the eyepiece.
If you have an obstruction, such as a tree or a building blocking your view of the
alignment star, or if you have any doubts at all about the star that has been cho-
sen, no problem. Just press UP/DOWN and the control panel will find another
star to align upon.
TIPS for Beginners
IMPORTANT NOTE:
As you observe
Saturn, you will notice
that the image moves
in the eyepiece. This is
because the Earth is
rotating. You can use
the horizontal and ver-
tical slow motion con-
trols (20, Fig. 2 and F,
Fig. 3) to re-center the
image in the eyepiece.
The image will move
much faster if you are
using a higher-pow-
ered eyepiece such as
a 4 mm or the 12mm
eyepiece.