(The University Lowbrow Astronomers are an amateur astronomy club based in Ann Arbor, Michigan). Links.Copyright Info Copyright © 2015, the University Lowbrow Astronomers. As usual, Your Mileage May Vary.Clear Skies!! The drive is particularlynoisy.Overall, I have found the ETX 60/70 to be a versatile and inexpensive’scope, and have logged many miles and objects with the ’70. While “going to” an object, it is always necessary to hitthe “enter” key after selecting the object before hitting the“goto” key.This is frustrating for us impatient goto-er’s. However, theright/leftarrow keys are still used to move through fields in the menu items. If you try to use the up/down arrow keys inthe middleof the controller for this, it will move the ’scope. Or az.The up/downarrow keys at the bottom of the controller are used to scroll through menuitems at this point. After the telescope is aligned, thefour arrow keys are used to move the telescope in alt. The scrolling two-line display can be unreadable in certaincircumstances such as cold temps. Being the lazy goat that I am, I went ahead and movedthe ’scopemanually to the object I was looking for, and it tracked beautifully forthe whole amount of time I spent on the object.There are, however, some “gotcha’s” that require a bitof patience. I finally realized that I did not change my location inthe Setup. Then, as I did my “goto’s”thingswere still off. I noticed that the Autostar hadmissedeach alignment star by several degrees. I made a quick setup one nightas the clouds were rolling in fast. An example, I took a quick trip to GrandHavenone weekend and took the ’scope with me. In all cases, I followed the graphical initializationprocedureshown in the appendix and was observing within minutes of turning the systemon. I figure that if I can use it, anyonecan! Out of the box, I found that the Autostar 494 system was pretty muchready to use. I give the Autostarhigh marks for user-friendliness.
The best part is that if you or the Autostar become tooconfused, it is very simple to power off and start over. I found it very easy to experiment, sodon’t be afraid. The best way to become familiar with the Autostarfunctionality is to play with it. No matter how deep we get intothe hierarchy,each successive press of the “Mode” key returns us to the nexthighestlevel in the structure. Each successive layer delvesdeeperinto the function selected at the “Select Item” level.At this point, the“Mode” key is our friend. These items includeObjects(all standard astronomical objects), Setup (all setup functions), Event(astronomical events such as sunrise, moonset, etc.), Utilities, Glossary,and a cool feature called Guided Tour. Atthe highest level is the “Select Item:” This allows theuser to selectbetween all of the different modes of operation. In a matter of minutes, I was ready to observethe skies.The Autostar consists of several hierarchical layers of information. The Initialization procedure is also setup in graphical form in an appendix in the manual. When the telescope is assembled and ready forobservation, flip the power switch to “on.” Follow theprocedure in themanual to set up the Autostar. I usedthe normal initializationprocedure to start with. There are a few “gotcha’s”that canmake life interesting.
#Meade autostar manual manual
I actually usedthe owner’s manual (and found it to be useful)! Autostar operation itselfis mostly straightforward and easy.
#Meade autostar manual series
The setup that I will be reviewing is the Autostar model494.Having used, and helped others use, the Meade Autostar 494 System withthe ETX 60/70 series telescope, I thought that it would be useful to reviewthe system for those who might be considering this system.Starting outwith the ETX 70 turned out to be a fairly simple process. Meade Autostar Review.Meade Autostar Bob GruszczynskiPrinted in Reflections: October, 2001.Meade makes several versionsof the Autostar System, depending upon the telescope system used in conjunctionwith it.