Meade Instruments Infinity 70AZ - Manual (Page 11)

They will appear as small, fuzzy clouds.
Only very large telescope will reveal spiral or
elliptical details.
You will also be able to see some nebulas
with your scope. Nebula means cloud. Most
nebulas are clouds of gas. The two easiest
to see in the Northern Hemisphere are the
Orion nebula during the winter and the Triffid
nebula during the summer. These are large
clouds of gas in which new stars are being
born. Some nebulas are the remains of
stars exploding. These explosions are called
supernovas.
When you become an advanced observer
you can look for other types of objects such
as asteroids, planetary nebula and globular
clusters. And if you’re lucky, every so often a
bright comet appears in the sky, presenting
an unforgettable sight.
The more you learn about objects in the
sky, the more you will learn to appreciate the
sights you see in your telescope. Start
a notebook and write down the observations
you make each night. Note the time and
the date.
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 Ju-
piter 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. As you get better at drawing, try
more challenging sights, like a crater system
on the moon or even a nebula.
Go your library or check out the internet for
more information about astronomy. Learn
about the basics: light years, orbits, star
colors, how stars and planets are formed,
red shift, the big bang, what are the different
kinds of nebula, what are comets, asteroids
and meteors and what is a black hole. The
more you learn about astronomy, the more
fun, and the more rewarding your telescope
will become.
SOME OBSERVING TIPS
Eyepieces: Always begin your observa-
tions using the 26mm low-power eyepiece.
SURF THE WEB
• The Meade 4M Community:
http://www.meade4m.com
• Sky & Telescope:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com
• Astronomy:
http://www.astronomy.com
• Astronomy Picture of the Day:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.goc/apod
• Photographic Atlas of the Moon:
http://www.lpi.ursa.edu/research/lunar_orbiter
• Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures:
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html
The 26mm eyepiece delivers a bright,
wide field of view and is the best to
use for most viewing conditions. Use
the high-power 9mm eyepiece to view
details when observing the Moon and plan-
ets. If the image become fuzzy, switch back
down to a lower power. Changing eyepieces
changes the power or magnification of your
telescope.
You can also change magnification by using
a Barlow lens. The Barlow lens included with
your telescope doubles the power of your
telescope. Place the Barlow into the eye-
piece holder before you insert the eyepiece.
9
Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving.