Meade 4500 Instruction Manual

0 30 60 90 30 60 90 MEADE A D V A N C E D P R O D U C T S D I V I S I O N Meade Instruments Corporation World’s Leading Manufacturer of Astronomical Telescopes for the Serious Amateur 6001 Oak Canyon, Irvine, California 92618 I (949) 451-1450 FAX: (949) 451-1460 I www.meade.com ...

WARNING NEVER ATTEMPT TO OBSERVE THE SUN THROUGH YOUR MEADE TELESCOPE! OBSERVING THE SUN, EVEN FOR THE SHORTEST FRACTION OF A SECOND, WILL CAUSE INSTANT AND IRREVERSIBLE EYE DAMAGE. WHEN OBSERVING DURING THE DAYTIME, DO NOT POINT THE TELESCOPE EVEN CLOSE TO THE SUN. Meade Limited Warranty Every Meade telescope, spotting scope, and binocular is warranted by Meade Instruments Corp. (MIC) to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ONE YEAR from date of original retail purchase in the U.S.A. MIC will repair or replace the product, or part thereof, found upon inspection by MIC to be defective, provided the defective part o ...

TABLE OF CONTENTS A. Introducing the Meade Model 4500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 1. This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 2. Standard Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 B. Unpacking and Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 1. Balancing the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 2. Alignment of the Viewfinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 C. Understanding Celestial Movements and Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . ...

1. Tripod legs 2. Equatorial mount 3. R.A. flexible cable control 4. Dec. flexible cable control 5. Counterweight 6. Counterweight shaft 7. Counterweight lock 8. Safety washer/thumbscrew 9. Latitude lock 10. Polar axis 11. Latitude adjustment knob 12. Optical tube assembly 13. Optical tube saddle plate 14. Cradle rings 15. Cradle ring lock knobs 16. Viewfinder bracket mounting bolts 17. Focuser 18. Focuser thumbscrew 19. Eyepiece 20. Viewfinder bracket 21. Declination axis 22. R.A. lock 23. Dec. lock 24. 6 x 30 viewfinder 25. Telescope front dust cover 26. Viewfinder bracket thumbscrews 27. R.A. setting circle 28. Dec. setting circle 29. Lati ...

Fig. 1: Meade Model 4500: 4.5" Equatorial Reflecting Telescope 0 30 60 90 30 60 90 MEADE 2 4 3 40 41 42 43 1 38 39 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 20 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 ...

A. Introducing the Meade Model 4500 The Model 4500 is an easy-to-operate, high performance 4.5" (114mm) reflecting telescope, intended for astronomical observing. Equipped with a deluxe equatorial mount and aluminum tripod, the telescope’s motion is continuously adjustable for tracking celestial objects. Your telescope comes to you ready for adventure; it will be your companion in a universe of planets, galaxies, and stars. Please note that the Model 4500 is a Newtonian reflecting telescope optimized for astronomical observing performance, and is not intended for terrestrial observing. 1. This Manual These instructions detail the set-up, ...

• Release the latitude lock (9) of the equatorial mount, and tilt the polar axis (10) of the telescope to roughly a 45° angle by turning the latitude adjustment knob (11). With the polar axis thus tilted, firmly re-tighten the latitude lock. • Loosen the lock knobs (15) of the cradle rings (14) and open the cradle rings to position them over the optical tube assembly (12). Turn the lock knobs a few turns to keep the cradle rings closed, but to still allow the cradle rings to slide freely up-and-down the main tube. • Remove the viewfinder bracket mounting nuts from the viewfinder bracket mounting bolts (16) that protrude from the opti ...

Fig. 2: Celestial Sphere 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 12 11 10 9 8 7 5 6 4 3 2 13 Earth’s Rotation 0° Dec. South Celestial Pole Right Ascension Star Celestial Equator -90° Dec. +90° Dec. North Celestial Pole (Vicinity of Polaris) D ec lin ati on C. Understanding Celestial Movements and Coordinates Understanding where to locate celestial objects, and how those objects move across the sky is fundamental to enjoying the hobby of astronomy. Most amateur astronomers adopt the simple practice of “star-hopping” to locate celestial objects by using star charts or astronomical software which identify bright stars and star patterns (cons ...

0°0'0" Declination. The Declination of the star Polaris, located very near the North Celestial Pole, is +89.2°. The celestial equivalent to Earth longitude is called “Right Ascension,” or “R.A.” and is measured in hours, minutes and seconds from an arbitrarily defined “zero” line of R.A. passing through the constellation Pegasus. Right Ascension coordinates range from 0hr0min0sec up to (but not including) 24hr0min0sec. Thus there are 24 primary lines of R.A., located at 15 degree intervals along the celestial equator. Objects locat ...

• To center an object in the main telescope, loosen the telescope’s R.A. lock (22) and Dec. lock (23). The telescope can now turn freely on its axes. Use the aligned viewfinder to first sight-in on the object you wish to observe; with the object centered on the viewfinder’s crosshairs, re-tighten the R.A. and Dec. locks. • If you have purchased an assortment of eyepieces (see Section G on Calculating Power and Section J on Optional Accessories for higher and lower powers with the telescope), always start an observation with a low power eyepiece (e.g. the MA25mm eyepiece); get the object well-centered in the field of view and sharply ...

• The Moon: A veritable treasury of craters, mountain ranges and fault lines. The best contrast for viewing the Moon is during its crescent phase. The contrast during the full Moon phase is low due to the angle of illumination. • Deep-Space: Nebulae, galaxies, multiple star systems, star clusters–hundreds of such objects are visible through the Model 4500. F. Using Setting Circles Setting circles of the polar aligned equatorial mount can facilitate the location of faint celestial objects not easily found by direct visual observation. To use the setting circles, follow this procedure: • Use a star chart or star atlas, and look up t ...

H. Maintenance 1. Cleaning As with any quality instrument, lens or mirror surfaces should be cleaned as infrequently as possible. Front surface aluminized mirrors, in particular, should be cleaned only when absolutely necessary. In all cases avoid touching any mirror surface. A little dust on the surface of a mirror or lens causes negligible loss of performance and should not be considered reason to clean the surface. When lens or mirror cleaning does become necessary, use a camel’s hair brush or compressed air gently to remove dust. If the telescope’s dust cover is replaced after each observing session, cleaning of the optics will r ...

falls directly through the center of the focuser drawtube (17, Fig. 1). These mirror tilt adjustments are made with the diagonal assembly (Fig. 5) and the primary mirror cell (Fig. 6), and will be discussed later. To inspect the view of the mirror collimation, look down the focuser drawtube with the eyepiece removed. The edge of the focuser drawtube (1, Fig. 7), will frame the reflections of the primary mirror with the 3 mirror clips (2, Fig. 7), the diagonal mirror (3, Fig. 7) , the spider vanes (4, Fig. 7), and your eye (5, Fig. 7). Properly aligned, all of these reflections will appear concentric (i.e. centered) as illustrated in Figure 7 ...

b. Spider vane adjustments If the diagonal mirror (1, Fig. 8) is left or right of center within the drawtube (2, Fig. 8), loosen the spider vane adjustment/lock knobs (1, Fig. 5) located on the outside surface of the main tube and slide the entire diagonal assembly up or down the tube along the slotted holes, until the diagonal mirror is centered in the drawtube. If the diagonal mirror (1, Fig. 8) is above or below of center within the drawtube, thread in one of the spider vane adjustment/ lock knobs while unthreading the other. Only make adjustments to 2 knobs at a time until the diagonal mirror is in the drawtube. When the spider vane is c ...

spot dead center within the out-of-focus star disk (this is the shadow of the secondary mirror), as shown in Fig.11C. (An improperly aligned telescope will reveal elongated circles (Fig. 11A), with an off-center dark shadow.) • If the out-of-focus star disk appears elongated (Fig. 11A), you will need to adjust the primary mirror Phillips-head tilt screws of the primary mirror cell (3, Fig. 6). • To adjust the primary mirror tilt screws (3, Fig. 6), first unscrew several turns the 3 hex-head primary mirror cell locking screws (2, Fig. 6), to allow free turning movement of the tilt knobs. • Using the flexible cable controls (3) and (4), ...

Meade Instruments Corporation World’s Leading Manufacturer of Astronomical Telescopes for the Serious Amateur 6001 Oak Canyon, Irvine, California 92618 I (949) 451-1450 FAX: (949) 451-1460 I www.meade.com ...