Meade Instruments 6" LS-6 ACF - Manual (Page 29)

e. “Automatic Alignment: Selecting Star” and
“Slewing” display. When it is close to the
alignment star “Center Brightest Star: Press
“ENTER”” displays. When the telescope slews
to the first star, it may not appear in the field
of view in the eyepiece. Use the Red Dot
Finder (Pg. 12, Fig. 2, 16) to locate the star.
The alignment star will be easy to recognize
— it will be the brightest star in the area of
the sky where the telescope is pointing. Use
the Arrow keys to center the alignment star in
the eyepiece. When the alignment star
is centered, press “ENTER”. Repeat the
procedure for the second alignment.
f. The telescope now slews to the second
alignment star. LS-6 displays “Center
Brightest Star”.
g. “Press “ENTER”” displays. Use the Arrow
keys to center the alignment star in the
eyepiece. When the second alignment star is
centered, press “ENTER”.
h. “Alignment successful” displays. If “Alignment
Unsuccessful” displays, perform the
procedure again.
NOTE: If you have an obstruction, such as a tree or
a building blocking your view of the alignment star, or
if you have any doubts at all about the star that has
been chosen, no problem. Just press the SCROLL
DOWN key and LS-6 will find another star to
align upon.
NOTE: The selected alignment stars may vary
by date and time. All that is required is for the
observer to center the selected stars in the
eyepiece when prompted.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The “Telescope: Mount” option
of the Setup menu is set to “Alt/Az” as the default
alignment by the factory. The example presented
in this section assumes that you are performing
an alignment procedure for the first time with your
telescope and therefore, the “Telescope: Mount”
option does not need to be selected.
Two Star Alt Az Alignment
1. Select Alt. Az. 2 Star alignment from the Align
menu to begin two star alignment.
2. “Automatic Alignment” displays. The system now
performs the following routines (press any ETX-
LS key to abort Automatic Alignment).
Caution: As the telescope performs the
following operations, it will swing and rotate. Keep
a safe distance from the telescope. The telescope
now finds the level and tilt position of the
telescope, and also detects where true North is.
It may not actually level or tilt the telescope or
point to North — it is just detecting these positions.
This may take a minute or two.
a. Attempts a “GPS Fix”. The GPS receiver
attempts to acquire and sync up with
signals from GPS satellite system.
“Getting GPS Fix” displays Note: Press
Mode key to abort the GPS fix. You
will then be prompted to enter the time, date
and location.
b. Detects “level” of the base of the telescope;
finds tilt and tip. To detect level, LS-6
must calculate “level” at three compass
points.
LS-6 also determines the
positioning (i.e., tilt and tip) of the optical
tube.
c. Finds North. Locates magnetic North, then
calculates true North.
NOTE: After performing these operations, LS-6 .....
now knows:
• The telescope’s limiting positions
• Where level is for the telescope
• The location of true North
• The observing site’s location
• The date and time
d. Once the level, tilt and North are detected,
the telescope will “GO TO” 2 alignment
stars. The telescope will go to these stars in
order to orient itself to the sky. Once it has
done this, it will be able to point to any one of
nearly 100,00 objects in its database.
ADVANCED LS-6 FEATURES
ADV
ANCED LS-
FEA
TURES
2