Meade ETX-125PE Manual do Utilizador descarregar pdf

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Amateur Astronomy from Chaos

Manor South!

May-June 2001

Volume 10, Issue 3

“A Newsletter for the Truly

Outbound!”

Inside this Issue:

Romancing the Mak

SCT-User Contest

SCT Collimation

My Back Pages

Skywatch

1207 Selma Street

Mobile, AL 36604

U.S.A.

Romancing

the Mak…

A Review of the Meade

ETX-125EC

Rod MolliseRod Mollise

I’ve been itchin’ to get my hands on

a Meade ETX 125. After all, the ETX

90 in both its original and

computerized (EC) versions has

become a modern classic in

amateur astronomy. It’s a 90mm

Maksutov Cassegrain telescope with

absolutely exquisite optics—easily

on a par with those of the famed

Questar 3.5—for a bargain price.

The “EC” version of this cute little

telescope adds the Autostar

computer controller that allows the

scope automatically “goto” any one

of thousands of objects (and

provides many other interesting

capabilities as well). Now that

Meade has pretty much worked the

bugs out of its Autostar software, the

ETX 90 EC has become a familiar

fixture at local star parties. But what

of big brother, the ETX 125?

Following the success of the 90,

Meade decided to offer a larger

aperture version of its big hit. The 5

inch ETX 125 was a much-

anticipated telescope. Could Meade

pack the functionality and optical

quality of the 90 into a big package

while keeping the scope at a bargain

price? And how would Meade keep

the scope popularly priced? Would

they merely upsize the plastic 90, or

would the 125 be in another league

quality wise? These burning

questions were, it seemed,

answered in the negative shortly

after the ETX 125 was released.

Sadly, the heralded 125 hit the

streets with a resounding thud.

What was wrong with this bird? The

most serious problem in early 125s

was severe mirror shift. Like other

telescopes that focus by moving the

primary mirror, a small amount of

image shift was to be expected in

the 125. Mirror shift of around 45 arc

seconds in MCTs and SCTs is

considered “normal.” But the initial

ETX 125s suffered focus shift that

was measured in minutes. This

meant that focusing a planet at high

power could move the object right

out of the field of view of the

eyepiece! To their credit, Meade

didn’t waste much time in getting the

problem solved, recalling scopes

and halting production temporarily.

Then there were the Autostar

problems. Connecting the computer

controller to the 125 resulted in

spotty goto performance and some

very annoying quirks. Sure, the

scope could be used “manually” with

the included “electronic controller.”

But what fun was that? If you

couldn’t draw on the services of the

Autostar, why not just buy a Russian

Maksutov, like an Intes? The 6 inch

Rod Rod Mollise’sMollise’s

Skywatch

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Resumo do Conteúdo

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Amateur Astronomy from ChaosManor South!May-June 2001Volume 10, Issue 3“A Newsletter for the TrulyOutboun

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2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Intes offers more aperture and allmetal construction. Again, Meadetackled the problem, issuingcontinu

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Skywatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Meade, greatly enhance gotoaccuracy. The procedure is a simpleone. You point the scope

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4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lining. Pat said he’d concluded thatthe scope fork was much less stablethan we’d hoped. This didn’t s

Página 5 - SCT Collimation

Skywatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5dollar mark to 700 bucks or so. Thething is…this scope is really neitherfish nor fowl.

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6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .another, you've got more adjustin' todo, pardner. Adjust your secondary(by very small amoun

Página 7 - My Back Pages

Skywatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7My Back PagesClub NotesMASThe MAS held a very successful Public StarGaze in association