Meade Infinity 60MM, Infinity 70MM User Manual

www.meade.com

MEADE INSTRUCTION MANUAL

60mm | 2.4” Alt-azimuth Refracting Telescope
70mm | 2.8” Alt-azimuth Refracting Telescope

INFINITY SERIES

60 & 70mm Telescopes

WARNING!

Never use a Meade
at or near the Sun will cause instant and irreversible
damage to your eye. Eye damage is often painless, so
there is no warning to the observer that damage has
occurred until it is too late. Do not point the telescope at
or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope or
viewfinder as it is moving. Children should always have
adult supervision while observing.

®

telescope to look at the Sun! Looking

INTRODUCTION

Your telescope is an excellent beginner’s
instrument, and is designed to observe
objects in the sky and also on land. It can
be your personal window on the universe or
allows you to intimately study the behavior of
nesting birds on a distant hillside.

The telescope is shipped with the following
parts:

• Optical tube

• Aluminum tripod with accessory tray

• Two 1.25” eyepieces: MA25mm, MA9mm

• 90 degree erect image diagonal mirror

• 2X Barlow

• Red-dot viewfinder with bracket

• Yoke-style mount

The Infinity 60 optical tube has a focal length
of 800mm, and its objective lens has a diam­eter of 60mm.

The Infinity 70 optical tube has a focal length
of 700mm and diameter of 70mm.

The lens diameter is one of the most
important pieces of information about the
telescope. The size of the objective lens

determines how much detail you will be
able to see in your telescope. The focal
length information will help later on to
calculate magnification.

Setting up your telescope involves these
simple steps:

• Setting up your tripod

• Attach the accessory tray

• Attach the optical tube to the mount

• Attach the viewfinder

• Attach the diagonal mirror and eye­piece

• Align the viewfinder

Study the picture on the next page and
become acquainted with the parts of
your telescope. Then proceed to “Set­ting up your Tripod.”

1

FIGURE 1

2

1. Eyepiece

2. Viewfinder (see Inset C)

3. Viewfinder alignment screws (2) (see Inset C)

4. Optical tube assembly

5. Vertical lock knobs

6. Horizontal lock knob

7. Tripod legs

8. Leg brace supports

9. Leg brace

10. Red dot viewfinder power switch

11. Altitude rod lock knob

12. Accessory tray mounting bolt hole (see Inset A)

13. Diagonal mirror

14. Objective lens cell

15. Focuser drawtube and thumbscrews

16. Altitude rod slow motion fine adjustment control

17. Altitude rod

18. Alt-azimuth mount

19. Adjustable sliding center leg extension
(see Inset B)

20. Tripod leg lock thumbscrew (see Inset B)

21. Dew shield/lens shade

22. Front lens cap (not shown)

23. Focusing knob

24. Viewfinder bracket (see Inset C)

25. Viewfinder bracket mounting bolts and thumb­screws (not shown, see Fig. 4)

26. Accessory tray

Inset A: Accessory Tray Assembly
Inset B: Tripod Leg
Inset C: Viewfinder Assembly

Figure 1: Meade 60 & 70mm Alt-azimuth Refracting Telescope

Inset A

Inset B

Inset C

SETTING UP YOUR TRIPOD

The tripod is the basic support for your tele­scope and comes pre-assembled from the
factory; except for the accessory tray. The
tripod height may be adjusted so that you
can view comfortably.
Note: Number in brackets, e.g., (3), refer
to the item numbers in Fig. 1.

1. To setup the tripod, spread the legs out
evenly and place it on a solid surface.

2. Set the height of your tripod:

a. Rotate and loosen the leg lock thumb-

screw (20) to unlock the leg lock.

b. Slide the inner portion of the leg (19) in

or out to the desired length. Repeat for
the other two legs.

c. Rotate and tighten the leg lock thumb-

screw to re-lock the leg lock.

d. Repeat for the other two legs.

with the slotted holes on each leg brace.

2. Thread the provided wing-nuts from the
bottom side of each leg brace and into
the accessory tray bottom (see Fig. 2).
Tighten to a firm feel.

3. Repeat with the two other leg braces.

ATTACH THE OPTICAL TUBE TO THE
MOUNT

The optical tube gathers distant light which is
focused in the eyepiece.

1. Remove the two lock knobs (5) from the
optical tube mount.

2. Slide the altitude rod (17) into the altitude
lock knob hole(11).

3. Place the optical tube (4) between the
forks of the mount, oriented as shown in

Fig. 3.

4. Thread a lock knobs (5) through each of
the holes in the forks of the mount and

ATTACH THE ACCESSORY TRAY

The tray helps stabilize the tripod and is also
a convenient holder of eyepieces and other
Meade accessories, such as the Barlow lens.

1. Place the triangular accessory tray(26)
onto the leg braces(9). Line up the three
holes at each corner of the accessory tray

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.

tighten to a firm feel.

ATTACH THE VIEWFINDER

An eyepiece (1) has a narrow field of view.
A viewfinder (2) has a wider field of view,
which makes it easier to locate objects. The
viewfinder has a red dot to make it easier to

line up more precisely with a target.

1. Note the two thumbscrews (25)
threaded onto two bolts (see Fig.

3

4) on the optical tube. Remove the

thumbscrews from the tube.

2. Line up the two holes on the viewfind­er bracket over the two bolts. Slide the
bracket over the bolts. See Fig. 1, inset C.

3. Replace the thumbscrews onto the bolts
and tighten to a firm feel.

ATTACH THE DIAGONAL MIRROR AND
EYEPIECE

The diagonal mirror reflects the light from the
optical tube to a more comfortable viewing
position.

Fig. 2

1. Slide the diagonal mirror (13) into
the focuser drawtube (15).

4

2. Tighten the drawtube thumbscrew to
hold the diagonal mirror securely.

3. Slide the MA 26mm eyepiece (1) into diag­onal mirror.

4. Tighten the diagonal mirror thumbscrew to
hold the eyepiece securely.

to-find land object such as the top of a
telephone pole or a distant mountain or
tower. Look through the eyepiece in the
diagonal mirror and turn the focuser knob
(23) until the image is sharply focused.
Center the object precisely in the eye­piece’s field of view.

2. Turn on the red-dot viewfinder by rotating
the large knob under the viewfinder lens

ALIGN THE VIEWFINDER

Perform the first part of this procedure during
the daytime and the last step at night.

1. Point the telescope at an easy-

place tube between
forks

lock
knob

slide rod
through
hole

Fig. 3

lock
knob

clockwise(10). Turn the knob to adjust the
intensity of the red dot as desired.

3. Look through the viewfinder. Turn one or
both of the viewfinder’s alignment screws
(3) until the red-dot is precisely over the
same object as you centered in the eye­piece.

4. Check this alignment at night on a ce­lestial object, such as the Moon or
a bright star, and use the viewfinder’s
alignment screws to make any necessary
refinements.

5. When finished, turn off the viewfinder by
turning the large knob under the viewfind­er lens counter-clockwise until it clicks.

TO MOVE THE TELESCOPE

Your telescope is alt-azimuth mounted.

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.

Alt-azimuth is just a complicated way of
saying that your telescope moves up
and down and from side to side. Other tele­scopes may be mounted in different ways.

1. Slightly loosen both of the star-shaped
altitude control knobs (5) and altitude rod
lock knob(11). Loosening these knobs
allow you to move the telescope up and
down.

2. Slightly loosen the horizontal lock
knob (6). Loosening this lock allows
the telescope to be moved from side
to side.

3. Once an object is found, re-tighten the
control knobs. You can then use the slow

Fig. 4

viewfinder
mounting
bolts