Meade Instruments RCX400TM User Manual
Page 13
Fig. 2: The Autostar II Handbox.
Tour the Cosmos with Just the Push of a Button
Control of the
RCX400
telescope models is through the operation of the standard
Autostar II system. Nearly all functions of the telescope are accomplished with just a
few pushes of Autostar II’s buttons.
Because the Autostar II system uses flash (rewritable) memory, your system will be
able to grow when new features and enhancements become available. Download the
latest satellite data, star and object catalogs, tours, serial commands list, and software
revisions, directly from the Meade website (
www.meade.com). (Requires the option-
al
RCX400
Interface Cable. See
OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES
, pages 48 - 50.)
Some of the major features of the Autostar II system are:
ܖ
Automatically move the telescope to any of the more than 180,000 objects stored
in the object library, including:
Library
# of Objects
New General Catalog (NGC):
7,840
Index Catalog (IC):
5,386
Messier Catalog (M):
110
Caldwell Catalog:
109
Named Objects:
227
Herschel Catalog:
400
Abell Catalog of Galaxy Clusters:
2,712
Arp Catalog of Irregular Galaxies:
645
Uppsala Galaxy Catalog:
12,940
Morphological Catalog of Galaxies:
12,939
General Catalog of Variable Stars:
28,484
SAO:
17,191
Hipparcos Star Catalog:
17,325
....plus the Lunar 100, the Washington Star Catalog, the Gliese Catalog, and more!
ܖ
Focus your telescope’s eyepiece.
ܖ
Take a guided tour of the best celestial objects to view on any given night of the year.
ܖ
Control your
RCX400
with your PC using an RS232 or USB interface.
ܖ
Align your telescope automatically using GPS (Global Positioning System).
ܖ
Access a glossary of astronomical terms.
ܖ
Mount the telescope in the “Alt/Az” mode (i.e, altitude—azimuth, or
vertical—horizontal mode) for fully automatic tracking of celestial objects.
ܖ
Collimate your telescope using only AutoStar II’s Arrow keys.
AUTOSTAR II FEATURES
ᕡ
ᕢ
ᕤ
ᕧ
ᕩ
µ
ᕨ
ᕣ
ᕥ
ᕦ
¸
Want to learn more about
downloading the latest
updates of Autostar II
software from the
Meade website? Go to
www.meade.com/sup-
port/auto.html for com-
plete instructions. Also
see page 43.
13