NoFlyZone
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Popped into a pawn shop and popped out with this monster telescope. I'm pretty excited as it seems the Meade was well cared for and comes with a lot of accessories. It'll take some time just to understand what I'm sitting on and how to actually view the heavenly bodies.
As a kid, maybe 12 years old I was really into astronomy along with a buddy of mine. At one point we had 3 telescopes and would spend late hours with our gear and of course 'Sky and Telescope" magazines, mapping out the stars. I got pretty proficient knowing what was where and through those few years of astronomy, life left that passion but the pilot light was still lit...
A few years back I bought a Sky Watcher 200LP. Fine for the moon and planets but I didn't have the patience for locating the really spectacular stuff from a 'manual tracking reflector'.
So fast forward to the present, I'm now the owner of a 10" LX200, 1996 vintage. And, at 66 YO I have a boy, 12 years old, smart as can be, also excited about this purchase. He's a bit of a computer geek (what kid isn't) but he's really good and I think he'll gather immense knowledge from this hobby.
Looking for guidance as, well, there are so many accessories, I barely know where to start!
I guess, point it at a star...
Living at 6200ft and outside of a small city with no streetlights but nighttime temps into the teens, that's a challenge
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My goodness that is amazing!
My first post outside my introduction and this photo is well, amazing!
Got to show my 12 year old.
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Well, the music store in our wonderful city moved to a new location. And next store is this pawn shop. And inside this pawn shop was a telescope. And now the pawn shop does not have this telescope, rather, I have it.
It's a 10" Meade LX200 Maksutov-Cassegrain of I believe 1996 vintage. So I got a lot of learning to do. I'm 66 YO with a 12 year old son. I live in dark sky, 6200ft above sea level. I had a crazy passion for astronomy when I was around my sons age and could point out nearly every well know constellation and planet way back then. Now I'm starting over with a smart boy who hopefully can learn and share in this rekindled hobby.
I bought a Sky-Watcher 200cp a few years back but beyond the moon and planets I was unsatisfied trying to locate celestial bodies and I always dreamed of a scope like this. It may not have the latest (what AFL?) optics but the price seemed good.
Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom. Hopefully in time, I can share some too!
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Newbie but 'oldbie' just bought a ~1996 Meade 10" LX200
in Getting Started General Help and Advice
Posted
Thanks for the collimating tip. That might be where I should start?
Accessories - where to start.
Some of these no doubt were (are) part of the Meade package.
Now I need to understand how to implement the use of the "goodies". It seems like a lot of accessories and feels like I got a really good deal on the Meade.
I found a phone number one one of the manuals, so I called it. I connected with the original owner! He had given it to a family member and from there, found its way to a Pawn Shop here in Cedar City. The owner lives not too far away, 180 miles, so I invited him to revisit this former hobby of his which he found difficult to enjoy as he had no family or friends to share/help with this formidable telescope.
Here's what I got:
A Sky Atlas 2000.0 2nd edition serial bound
What looks like a 12volt cigarette lighter socket with battery clip leeds
A Tasco 3 X Barlow Lens
A Tasco 1.5 X Erecting Eyepiece
A Meade Super Plossl 26mm Multicoated eyepiece
A Meade 918A Diagonal Prism
A Tele Vue Zoom 8mm-24mm
Meade 8 X 50 S-T Viewfinder #544 (blue)
Tele Vue Plots f=55.0mm
2" Mirror Star Diagonal for SC
A Parks T-Adapter for C8
A Motofocus for LX
A K10mm looks like eyepiece
A SR 4mm also appears to be an eyepiece
UltraBlock Filter, SCT
Pioneer Camera Adapter
Celestron anti vibration pods
Another interesting set of anti vibration feet perhaps they go onto the platform?
A large roll around platform that can be anchored
Very nice Tripod of course
A nicely machined adapter 2" to 1 1/4"
A really nice carrying bag for the Scope