User's Manual

AutoStar #497 HANDBOX
Maintenance
46
LX600 ACF telescopes are precision optical instruments designed
to yield a lifetime of rewarding applications. Given the care and
respect due any precision instrument, your LX600 ACF will rarely,
if ever, require factory servicing. Maintenance guidelines include
a. Avoid cleaning the telescope’s optics: A little dust
on the front surface of the telescope’s correcting
lens causes virtually no degradation of image
quality and should not be considered reason to
clean the lens.
b. When absolutely necessary, dust on the front
lens should be removed with gentle strokes of a
camel hair brush or blown off with an ear syringe
(available at any pharmacy). DO NOT use a
commercial photographic lens cleaner.
c. Organic materials (e.g., fi ngerprints) on the
front lens may be removed with a solution of 3
parts distilled water to 1 part isopropyl alcohol.
You may also add 1 drop of biodegradable
dishwashing soap per pint of solution. Use soft,
white facial tissues and make short, gentle
strokes. Change tissues often.
Caution: Do not use scented or lotioned
tissues or damage could result to the optics.
d. Do not, for any reason, remove the correcting
plate from its machined housing for cleaning
or other purposes. You will almost certainly not
be able to replace the corrector in its proper
rotational orientation and serious degradation
of optical performance will result. Meade
Instruments assumes no liability for damage
incurred to the telescope in this way.
e. If the LX600 ACF is used outdoors on
a humid night, water condensation on the
telescope surfaces will probably result. While
such condensation does not normally cause any
damage to the telescope, it is recommended that
the entire telescope be wiped down with a dry
cloth before the telescope is packed away. Do
not, however, wipe any of the optical surfaces.
Rather, simply allow the telescope to sit for some
time in the warm indoor air, so that the wet
optical surfaces can dry unattended.
f. If your LX600 ACF is not to be used for an
extended period, perhaps for one month or more,
it is advisable to remove the batteries from the
telescope. Batteries left in the telescope for
prolonged periods may leak, causing damage to
the telescope’s electronic circuitry.
g. Do not leave your LX600 ACF inside a sealed
car on a warm summer day; excessive ambient
temperatures can damage the telescope’s
internal lubrication and electronic circuitry.
Collimation
The optical collimation (alignment) of any astronomical telescope
used for serious purposes is important, but in the case of the
Advanced Coma-Free telescope design of the LX600 ACF models,
such collimation is absolutely essential for good performance.
Take special care to read and understand this section well so
that your LX600 ACF will give you the best optical performance.
As part of fi nal optical testing, every Meade Advanced Coma-
Free telescope is precisely collimated at the Meade factory
before shipment. However, vibrations in shipping can cause the
optical system to become misaligned. Re-aligning the optics is,
however, a straightforward process.
To check the collimation of your LX600 ACF, center a bright star
that is overhead, or use a “hot spot” of refl ected Sunlight from
a chrome car bumper, with the supplied eyepiece. Allow the
telescope to adjust to the temperature of your observation site
before proceeding; temperature differences between the optics
and the outside air can cause distortion in the images.
With the star or hot spot centered, de-focus the image. You will
notice that the out of focus star image looks like a ring of light
surrounding a dark central spot; the dark central spot is in fact
the shadow of the secondary mirror. Turn the focus knob until the
ring of light fi lls about 10% of the eyepiece fi eld-diameter. If the
dark central spot is offset in (i.e., not concentric with) the ring of
light, your telescope’s optical system is misaligned and requires
collimation.
Follow these steps for collimation of the optical system:
MAINTENANCE
Fig. 15. Collimation screws