Scope Etx I have a never-used ETX-105 with autostar. How can I tell if it is in working order when I can't align it?
I bought the Meade ETX 105 (yes, there were a few made) with Autostar, about 8 years ago. Between my father's death (my astro pal,) my husband's disinterest and bright skies I haven't tried to use it until just a few months ago. I am having a heck of a time aligning it. It will skew to a star, but I can't see well enough to center it. I have gotten up to training the scope, aligning to the North as per Meade's instructions, entering all the correct info into the handset, but I get stuck with centering the scewed star and any other star that I have it try. As I said, the seeing is really bad here. I have heard that these can be a headache to align. Given my problem with alignment, but also given its nearly unused condition (stored in its hard case,) can I sell this in good conscience as being in working order?
Well, ..., first make sure that the Date, Time, and Location are updated in the scope before starting the alignment procedure. If you're not perfectly aligned with the north you will have to move the scope a bit (using the controller keypad) to get the second star centered in the field of view. This is a common issue with all GoTo scopes (that I've had experience with). Once you've got the second star centered and click OK. Now, your next GoTo still may not center directly on the object. For this you need to turn one other setting on "High Precision Mode" With high precision mode on, the scope will slew to an intermediary star (Meade slices the sky up into 256 bands and allocates guide stars within each band). Turn this mode on. Now, Issue a goto command, Center the intermediary guide star and press goto again. Your object should be in your field of view and, if your alignment is good, pretty close to center. Don't be frustrated if it takes a little work at mastering GoTo. It took me some time as well. Once you master it thought, you'll have a lot of fun using that scope.
PS Sorry to hear about your Dad's passing. Amateur Astronomy is a really fun pursuit and I hope you carry on your Dad's passion for it as well.
Chopper buzzes stargazer - Moon+Mercury conjunction 2009 April 26
Eyepieces for a Meade ETX 125 PE?
I've just been given this for Christmas but I've been told I'll need another eyepeice to view the planets but don't know what to get. I would have thought a £650 scope would come with everything you need but does anyone have suggestions?
That is actually a nice scope. Expensive, but essentially good quality. However at 1900 mmm focal length the supplied 26mm eyepiece will give only 73x -that's a nice mid power figure but on the low side for the planets. I would get a 14mm ED EP from Astronomica for £45: http://www.astronomica.co.uk/index.php/Eyepieces/ED-Eyepieces/14mm-Astronomica-ED-eyepiece.html which are very nice eyepieces for the money and will give 136x.
