The Meade 12" LX200GPS with UHTC (£3999) is a big beast of a scope. It is a Schmidt Cassegrain telescope, which basically means it has a conveniently short tube, about 20" for the 12" (the 12" is the diameter of the tube) model. At the bottom end of the tube is a concave primary mirror with a hole, about 2" in its centre, this mirror recieves light through the top end and reflects it back to a secondary flat mirror which is held in place in the middle of a clear corrector plate at the top end of the scope tube. From this secondary mirror the light is reflected back towards the hole in the main mirror. It passes through this hole to the eyepiece.
It is a GOTO telescope with an inbuilt computer system and hand held contol pad which allows the user to push a few keys telling the scope what you want to see, eg jupiter, saturn, a galaxy etc and the scope will automatically go to that object. Even better is the computer driven tracking it offers. As we all know the stars and planets drift across the night sky as the Earth turns on its axis. The computer drive effectively cancels this out by moving the telescope tube to keep the object being observed in the field of view of the eyepiece. If you have ever looked through a scope with high magnification you will appreciate how quick objects whizz out of view. Not only is the object magnified, but also the rate of its apparent movement!
It is an impressive sight when set up. Setting up can be done by one if you are strong enough to carry the 75lbs or so tube assembly. (The tripod weighs about 50lbs). I would strongly recommend a locater plate to enlarge the area for putting the tube assembly on, plus this has the bonus of having holes drilled round its edges to place eyepieces in conveniently close to the scope, a real bonus in the dark! The GPS (Global postioning satellite) works perfectly, hit a few keys on the keypad and stand back as the scope whizzes about for a minute or two, most impressive. The purpose of this is to tell the telescope where it is, ie what lattitude and longtitude and the time. Once it knows where it is and what time it is the scope is then in a position to know where objects are in the sky so it can use its GOTO facility. GOTO accuracy is faultless if you have set the scope up well, ie level and centred the allignment stars well.
I would recommed a home built observatory, roll off roof shed type, for maximum use of this scope. If set up in such a building, which only needs to be 7ft x 7ft or so, it is only a matter of a few minutes to get it up and running. If you have carry it out and set it up every time then it is all too easy to give an observing session a miss due to its large size. A web search will find many good amateur sites which show how to build an observatory from a typical garden shed!
The scope only comes with one eyepiece, a 26mm Meade super plossl. It is a good quality eyepiece but more are needed to get the most from the scope. A range of eyepieces from about 6mm to 32mm is usefull. However, normal eyepieces give you quite a narrow field of view when you look through them, but it is still a good view. To get that WOW factor and increase the field of view requires wide angle eypieces, Meade do some as do the Naglar company. They are expensive though, £200-£550 each!!. However, if you can only afford one I would go for a 16mm Naglar, about £315. This offers a good comprimise between magnification and field of view. The more magnification the less the field of view. The shorter the focal length of an eyepiece the more the magnification, i.e. a 6mm is higher magnification than a 32mm.
This is not really a telescope for the beginner, more due to its cost as its ease of use would allow a beginner to use it. Astronomy is not for everyone, especially on a cold winters night, but when looking at something like saturn through this scope it makes it all worth while!
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Meade brings to market an optical design favored by research facilities worldwide, the ... more
Ritchey-Chrétien, and does so at a price many enthusiasts can afford. Most professional applications are this style telescope or a gargantuan apochromatic refractor. Meade's 8.0" LX200R with UHTC coatings provides a deep space aperture in a size that can be transported within a typical vehicle by a single person, and gives all this in a complete package within reach of many an observer.
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