User Manual

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Planets change positions in the sky as they orbit
around the Sun. To locate the planets on a given day
or month, consult a monthly astronomy magazine,
such as Sky and Telescope or Astronomy. You can
also consult LX65 for information about planets.
Scroll to the “Object: Solar System” menu and scroll
through the lists of planets. When a planet you are
interested in displays, press “ENTER”. Use the Scroll
keys to display information about the planet, such
as the planet’s coordinates, and the rise and set
times (Tip: enter a date in the Date menu and you
can determine if a planet) will be visible during the
night of the entered date by checking its rise and set
times). Listed below are the best planets for viewing
through the LX65 Series.
Mars is about half the diameter of Earth, and
appears through the telescope as a tiny reddish-
orange disk. It may be possible to see a hint of white
at one of the planet’s Polar ice caps. Approximately
every two years, when Mars is closest to Earth
in its orbit, additional detail and coloring on the
planet’s surface may
be visible.
Jupiter is the largest
planet in our solar system
and is 11 times the
diameter of Earth. The
planet appears as a disk
with dark lines stretching
across the surface. These
lines are cloud bands in
the atmosphere. Four of
Jupiter’s 16 moons (Io,
Europa, Ganymede, and
Callisto) can be seen as “star-like” points of light
when using even the lowest magnication. These
moons orbit Jupiter so that the number of moons
visible on any given night changes as they circle
around the giant planet.
Saturn is nine times the diameter of Earth and
appears as a small, round disk with rings extending
outfromeitherside.In1610,Galileo,therstperson
to observe Saturn through a telescope, did not
understand that what he was seeing were rings.
Instead, he believed that Saturn had “ears.” Saturn’s
rings are composed of billions of ice particles
ranging in size from a speck of dust to the size of
a house. The major division in Saturn’s rings, called
the Cassini Division, is occasionally visible through
the LX65 Series. Titan, the largest of Saturn’s 18
moons can also be seen as
a bright, star-like object near
the planet.
Deep-Sky Objects
Star charts can be used
to locate constellations,
individual stars and deep-sky
objects.
Examples of various deep-sky
objects are given below:
Stars are large gaseous objects that are self-illuminated
by nuclear fusion in their core. Because of their vast
distances from our solar system, all stars appear as
pinpoints of light, irrespective of the size of the telescope
used.
Nebulae are vast interstellar clouds of gas and dust
where stars are formed. Most impressive of these is
the Great Nebula in Orion (M42), a diffuse nebula that
appears as a faint wispy gray cloud. M42 is 1600 light
years from Earth.
Open Clusters are loose groupings of young stars,
all recently formed from the same diffuse nebula.
The Pleiades is an open cluster 410 light years away.
Through the LX65 Series, numerous stars are visible.
Constellations are large, imaginary patterns of stars
believed by ancient civilizations to be the celestial
equivalent of objects, animals, people, or gods. These
patterns are too large to be seen through a telescope. To
learn the constellations, start with an easy grouping of
stars, such as the Big Dipper in Ursa Major. Then, use a
star chart to explore across the sky.
Galaxies are large assemblies of stars, nebulae, and star
clusters that are bound by gravity. The most common
shape is spiral (such as our own Milky Way), but
galaxies can also be elliptical, or even irregular blobs.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the closest spiral-
type galaxy to our own. This galaxy appears fuzzy and
cigar-shaped. It is 2.2 million light years away in the
constellation Andromeda, located between the large “W”
of Cassiopeia and the great square of Pegasus.