Meade Infinity 80, 90 User Manual
www.meade.com
MEADE INSTRUCTION MANUAL
80mm | 3.1”
90mm | 3.5” Alt-azimuth Refracting Telescope
102mm | 4.0”
INFINITY SERIES
80, 90, 102mm 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
• Alt-azimuth mount with slow motion controls
• Stainless Steel tripod with accessory tray
• Three 1.25” eyepieces:
MA26mm, MA9mm, MA6.3mm
• 90 degree erect-image diagonal prism
• 2X Barlow
• Red-dot viewfinder with bracket
The Infinity series of telescopes come in several sizes (apertures) of optical tubes. The
heart of the optical tubes is the front lens. It
collects and focuses the incoming light from
distant objects.
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.
Each optical tube also has a focal length
which is the distance the light travels inside
the optical tube before it comes to focus.
The focal length information is also important
and 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 slow motion controls
• Attach the optical tube to the mount
• Attach the viewfinder
• Attach the diagonal prism 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. Horizontal lock knob
6. Dovetail mounting rail
7. Tripod legs
8. Accessory tray
9. Leg brace
10. Red dot viewfinder power switch
11. Azimuth slow motion control knob
12. Altitude slow motion control knob
13. 90 degree erect-image prism
14. Objective lens cell
15. Focuser drawtube and thumbscrews
16. Alt-azimuth mount
17. Adjustable sliding center leg extension
(see Inset B)
18. Tripod leg lock thumbscrew (see Inset B)
19. Dew shield/lens shade
20. Front lens cap (not shown)
21. Focusing knob
22. Viewfinder bracket (see Inset C)
23. Viewfinder bracket locking knob (see Fig. 5)
24. Optical tube attachment knob
25. Focuser lock knob
Inset A: Accessory Tray Assembly
Inset B: Tripod Leg
Inset C: Viewfinder Assembly
Figure 1: Meade Infinity 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 (18) to unlock the leg lock.
b. Slide the inner portion of the leg (17) 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.
ATTACH THE ACCESSORY TRAY
The accessory tray attaches at the center of
the tripod legs and is a convenient place to
hold eyepieces and other Meade accessories
while observing, such as the Barlow lens.
To attach, place the hole in the center of the
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.
accessory tray over the attachment point as
shown in Fig 2. Then rotate the tray until the
wings of the tray snap into place on the tripod
leg brace supports(9).
To remove the tray, rotate the tray so it
unlocks from the leg brace supports (9), then
remove.
ATTACH THE SLOW-MOTION CONTROLS
The slow motion control cables (11 & 12) allow
you to make fine adjustments to the pointing
position of the optical tube. When viewing
objects in the night sky, you will notice that
the object moves slowly in the eyepiece. This
is caused by the Earths rotation. Use the slow
motion controls to follow (or “track”) these
Fig. 2
objects as you observe. Note that each
axis has its own slow motion control
which is independently controlled.
3
To install, attach the flexible cables
(11 & 12) to the mount as shown in Fig 3.
The cables are secured in place with a firm
tightening of the thumbscrews located at the
attachment ends of each cable.
Fig. 3
Attachment point
Thumbscrew
Slow motion cable
ATTACH THE OPTICAL TUBE TO THE
MOUNT
4
The optical tube gathers distant light
which is focused in the eyepiece. It
attaches to the mount using the optical tube
attaching knob (24) and dovetail mounting rail
(6).
1. To attach the optical tube, first locate the
threaded hole on the bottom side of the
dovetail mounting rail(6) (Fig 4).
2. Using the optical tube attaching knob
(24), place the dovetail onto the top of the
mount, lining up the threaded
Fig. 4
Mounting holes
hole near the center of the dovetail rail.
3. Turn the optical tube attachment knob
(24) counter-clockwise until firm.
4. To remove the optical tube, first support
the optical tube in one hand. Next, turn
the attachment knob (24) clockwise until
the OTA detaches from the mount.
ATTACH THE VIEWFINDER
An eyepiece (1) has a narrow field of view.
The included viewfinder (2) has a wider field
of view and red dot to make it even easier
to locate the viewing object. The red dot
viewfinder also comes with an easy to install
dovetail bracket.
1. To install the red dot viewfinder, slide the
viewfinder bracket into the dovetail adapter
(Fig 5).
2. Next, secure the viewfinder in place with
the single locking knob.
ATTACH THE DIAGONAL PRISM AND
EYEPIECE
image orientation so the image is right side
up, and correct left-to-right.
1. To install, slide the diagonal prism (13)
into the focuser draw tube (15).
2. Tighten the draw tube thumbscrew to hold
the diagonal prism securely (15).
3. Next, slide the MA 26mm eyepiece (1)
into diagonal prism.
4. Tighten the diagonal prism thumbscrew to
hold the eyepiece securely.
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-to-find land
object such as the top of a tele-
Fig. 5
Locking
knob
Attachment knob (24)
Mounting screw
The erect-image diagonal prism reflects the
light from the optical tube to a more comfortable viewing position. It also corrects the
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.
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