4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 1 www.meade.com Telestar RB-60.qxd TELESTAR INSTRUCTION MANUAL 60mm | 2.
Telestar RB-60.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 3 INTRODUCTION Your telescope is an excellent beginner’s instrument, and is designed to observe objects in the sky and also on land. It can be your personal window on the universe or allows you to intimately study the behavior of nesting birds on a distant hillside. The telescope is shipped with the following parts: • Optical tube • Aluminum tripod with an accessory tray • Two 1.25" eyepieces: MA25mm (28X), MH9mm (78X) • 2x 1.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM FIGURE 1 2 1. Eyepiece 2. Red dot viewfinder (see Inset A) 3. Red dot viewfinder alignment screws (see Inset A) 4. Optical tube assembly 5. Vertical locking lever 6. Horizontal lock knob 7. Tripod legs 8. Leg brace supports (See Inset C) 9. Leg brace (See Inset C) 10. Mount base attachment knobs 11. Optical tube lock knobs 12. Horizontal slow motion control (See Inset B) 13. Diagonal mirror 14. Objective lens cell 15. Focuser drawtube 16.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 5 ASSEMBLE YOUR TRIPOD The tripod is the basic support for your telescope. Adjust the height of the tripod so that you can view comfortably. 1. Unlock the leg lock (20). 2. Slide the leg in or out to the desired length. 3. Tighten the leg lock to secure the leg in place. 4. Repeat for the other two legs. 5. Next, spread the legs out evenly apart. Inset B 3 ATTACH THE MOUNT TO THE TRIPOD Fig. 2 1.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 6 ATTACH THE DIAGONAL MIRROR AND EYEPIECE 4 1. 2. 3. 4. The diagonal mirror reflects the light from the optical tube to a more comfortable viewing position for the eyepiece. Slide the diagonal mirror into the focuser drawtube. Tighten the drawtube thumbscrew to hold the diagonal mirror securely. Slide the 25mm eyepiece into diagonal mirror. Tighten the diagonal mirror thumbscrew to hold the eyepiece securely.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 7 You will enjoy your telescope even more as you learn more about it. But don’t be scared off by difficult terms or complicated procedures. Don’t panic! Just relax and enjoy your scope. You will begin to grow and learn more about astronomy the more you observe. Go to the library and read some books about the stars and planets. Read about astronomers of old. Many of them had telescope no bigger than the one you are using right now.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 6 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 8 To move the telescope up and down, unlock the altitude lock. Then rotate the altitude control wheel to move the telescope up or down. Observe the Moon: When you feel comfortable with the viewfinder, the eyepieces, the locks and the adjustment controls, you will be ready to try out the telescope at night. The Moon is the best object to observe the first time you go out at night. Pick a night when the Moon is a crescent.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 9 When Mars is close to the Earth, you can see some details on Mars, and sometimes even Mars’ polar caps. But quite often, Mars is further away and just appears as a red dot with some dark lines crisscrossing it. Fig. 5 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto comprise the outer planets. These planets, except for Pluto, are made mostly of gases and are sometimes called gas giants. If they had grown much bigger, they may have become stars.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 8 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 10 turns out, only with the sunlight shining through them, can the rings be seen. Uranus and Neptune also have faint rings. Optional color filters help bring out detail and contrast of the planets. Meade offers a line of inexpensive color filters. What’s Next? Beyond the Solar System: Once you have observed our own system of planets, it’s time to really travel far from home and look at stars and other objects.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 11 Use a compass to make a circle, or trace around the lid of a jar. Draw what you see in your eyepiece inside the circle. The best exercise for drawing is to observe the moons of Jupiter every night or so. Try to make Jupiter and the moons approximately the same size as they look in your eyepiece. You will see that the moons are in a different position every night.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 10 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 12 using the telescopes coarse and fine adjustment controls. At higher powers, astronomical objects will seem to move through the field of view of the eyepiece more rapidly. Place the object to be viewed at the edge of the field and, without touching the telescope, watch it drift through the field to the other side before repositioning the telescope so that the object to be viewed is again placed at the edge of the field, ready to be further observed.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 13 Surf the Web and visit your local library: The internet contains a huge amount of astronomical information, both for children and adults. Check out astronomy books from your library. Look for star charts—these are available on a monthly basis in Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines. always described by how large their objective lens is. Your telescope is 60mm or 2.4 inches. Other telescopes are 90mm, 8 inches, 16 inches, or even 3 feet in diameter.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 14 Look at the specifications. You will see that the focal length of your 12 scope is 700mm. Let’s say that you have obtained a 13mm eyepiece. You can tell that what the focal length of your eyepiece is as it is always printed on the side of an eyepiece. Divide: 700 ÷ 13, which equals 53.8. Round this off to the nearest whole number and your new eyepiece magnifies objects 54 times.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 15 telescope tube, resulting in a more comfortable observing position in most cases. Additional Eyepieces (1.25" barrel diameter): For higher or lower magnifications with the telescopes that accommodate 1.25" eyepieces, Meade Series 4000 Super Plössl eyepieces, available in a wide variety of sizes, provide a high level of image resolution and color correction at an economical price. Contact your Meade Dealer or see the Meade catalog for more information.
Telestar RB-60.qxd 4/11/06 2:04 PM Page 16 MEADE CONSUMER SOLUTIONS If you have a question concerning your telescope, call Meade Instruments Consumer Solutions Department at (800) 626-3233. Consumer Solutions Departmant hours are 8:00AM to 5:00PM, Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.
Telestar RB-60.
Telestar RB-60.
Telestar RB-60.
2:04 PM Page 20 www.meade.com 4/11/06 1-800 626-3233 Telestar RB-60.
