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B e t e l g e u s e a r c t u r u s
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Electronic Focus & Collimation
EXHIBIT 10
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Precise focus?
Easy collimation?
Push a button.
9 preset focus
positions.
Try LX400-ACF focusing once and you’ll never go back.
Focusing the LX400-ACF is radically different from
traditional telescopes. The first thing you need to know
is that the entire front cell (lens and secondary) moves to
focus the telescope, not the primary mirror. This single,
patent-pending innovation eliminates any trace of image
shift and refocusing that has dogged other optical designs
like Schmidt-Cassegrains (of all makes) for decades. To
focus, the front cell is moved digitally by three encoder-
controlled motors in increments as fine as 1/1000 of
a millimeter. Focusing is easy with a single key press
on the AutoStar
®
II controller. A digital readout of the
focus position lets you see positions and repeat them for
different eyepieces or camera set-ups. You can preset up
to nine focus positions and repeat them at will.
Our new focusing system has its fans. Astrophotographer
Jason Ware says, “Front focusing makes it very, very
nice. I’ll set up for the night, start imaging, and once
my focus looks good, there are many nights I don’t
re-focus for the rest of the night. I’ll move all over the
sky and not have to re-focus.” Sky & Telescope says,
“Everything is done with internal motors; there are
no add-on accessories. You operate everything from
the hand control without ever touching the telescope.
After spending a few minutes learning to operate the
focusing system, I fell in love with it… The scope(s) I
tested had almost no image shift as the focus direction
was reversed. And there was no focus or image shift as
the telescope was moved around the sky.”
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Always essential. Now it ’s easy too.
Dr. P. Clay Sherrod says, “Perfect collimation [alignment] of optics is absolutely
the key to great contrast and resolution with any compound telescope.” Now the
LX400-ACF makes collimation something you can do with the push of a button.
Sky & Telescope says, “While I rarely needed to collimate the LX400-ACF during
my months of testing, I found the system very easy-to-use. All the instructions for
adjusting collimation are displayed on the hand control, so you don’t have to refer
to the manual.” Indeed, collimation has never been easier. Sky & Telescope adds,
“you don’t ever have to worry about screwing up the collimation, since there’s a
default setting you can return to with the press of a button.”
a s t r o p h o t o g r a p h y : j a s o n w a r e / m 1 - c r a b n e b u l a / l x 4 0 0
“As an imager the Lx400-ACF
really shines. The electric
focuser is a dream to use.
– Astronomy Magazine
M1 Crab Nebula
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