Refractors

More Information  · Recommended Accessories Price $2,998.00 Highest Useful Magnification 230x Visual Limiting Magnitude 12.8 Focal Length 805mm Focal Ratio f/7 Resolution 1.01 arc seconds Aperture 4.5" Net Weight 84 lbs. Heaviest Single Component 35 lbs. Warranty 1 year

• 115mm f/7 Series 6000 triplet ED apochromatic refractor optics
• 2” dielectric star diagonal
• 8 x 50mm finderscope
• 3” dual-speed Crayford focuser
• heavy-duty LX80 go-to tri-mode altazimuth/equatorial Multi-Mount and tripod
• AudioStar computer hand control with audio output
• 26mm Series 4000 Super Plössl eyepiece (31x)
• exceptional mount flexibility and value when compared to similar scopes from other manufacturers

    This Meade LX80 telescope puts a quality 115mm ED triplet apochromatic refractor on a smooth and precise multi-mode go-to German equatorial mount (that can also be used in your choice of two different altazimuth configurations). The easily assembled battery-operated Meade Multi-Mount is easy to set up and use – either in your back yard or at a distant dark sky site – but it has the payload capacity to carry much larger optical tubes than this 17.5 pound 115mm refractor. That allows the mount to become the heart of an expanded multi-scope observing and imaging system as your interests grow. It’s a flexible combination that will take you on a tour to anywhere in the night sky you might choose to go. And the special Astronomer Inside software and speaker built into its AudioStar computer hand control will tell you and your family and friends many fascinating details about 500 of those objects as you observe them.

This Telescope’s Optical System . . .

• Apochromatic triplet refractor optical tube: 115mm (4.5") aperture, 805mm focal length, f/7 focal ratio three-lens air-spaced optical system. The optics use a center lens element of FK-61 fluoro crown ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass. This ED element produces superior sharpness and color correction by minimizing the chromatic aberration, the “false" color fringing seen around bright objects when light rays pass through standard crown-and-flint doublet objectives, particularly those with apertures in the 115mm class. The result is to reduce spurious color halos and fringing to vanishingly low levels.

• Fully multicoated optics: The 115mm Meade triplet objective lens has antireflection multicoatings on all air-to-glass surfaces for high light transmission, minimal light scatter, and excellent contrast.

• Finderscope: The Meade LX80115 comes with an 8 x 50mm straight-through finderscope (not shown in the image) that is mounted in a quick-release bracket. The finder is fully multicoated to insure maximum brightness and contrast.

• Dual-speed 3" Crayford focuser with 2" accessory holder: The precision-made no-backlash focuser has dual-speed focusing. There are two coarse focusing knobs. The right knob also has a smaller concentric knob with a 10:1 reduction gear microfine focusing ratio. This provides exceptionally precise image control during high magnification visual observing and critical DSLR or CCD imaging. The large focus knobs have ribbed gripping surfaces so they are easy to operate, even while wearing gloves or mittens in cold weather. A knob underneath the focuser lets you adjust the tension on the drawtube to accommodate varying eyepiece/photo accessory loads, as well as firmly lock in a photographic focus.

• Star diagonal: The supplied 2" Meade Series 5000 mirror star diagonal slips into the focuser drawtube’s 2" accessory holder. This 2" diagonal has 99% reflectivity dielectric mirror coatings for high reflectivity and long life. The star diagonal uses a non-marring soft brass compression ring to hold 2" eyepieces in place. The compression ring won’t scratch the barrel of your 2" eyepieces as an ordinary thumbscrew can. A supplied 1.25" accessory adapter slips into the 2" diagonal to let you use 1.25" eyepieces in the 2" diagonal. The 1.25" accessory adapter can also be inserted directly into the 2" accessory holder on the focuser drawtube to let you use a 1.25" image erecting diagonal, or 1.25" photographic accessories. Like the 2" eyepiece holder on the diagonal, the 1.25" adapter also uses a non-marring soft brass compression ring to hold 1.25" star diagonals and accessories in place.

• Eyepiece: 1.25" 26mm Super Plössl (31x). The eyepiece field of view is a full 1.6° across (well over three lunar diameters). Its 3.7mm exit pupil provides bright rich field images for observing nebulas, scanning the rich star clouds in Sagittarius, and much more of the deep space wonders outside our solar system.

This Telescope’s Mount . . .

• Heavy duty Meade LX80 tri-mode go-to Multi-Mount. The Meade LX80 Multi-Mount can be used both in a German equatorial configuration for viewing and long exposure astrophotography and in a single optical tube altazimuth mode for fast set-up viewing and lunar/planetary photography. The mount’s payload capacity in either mode is 40 pounds. The mount can also be used in a dual optical tube altazimuth configuration (adding a second optical tube on the opposite side of the mount from the 115mm refractor). In this configuration, the mount’s payload is 70 pounds. This lets you use the mount as the heart of an observing system that can handle a wide variety of other optical tubes as your observing and imaging interests grow.
     The Meade LX80 mount includes dual-axis slewing/tracking motors with positioning encoders for go-to computer control. The scope is powered by 8 user-supplied AA batteries. An optional AC adapter and optional car battery cord are also available to power the mount. For more details on the Meade LX80 Multi-Mount, here’s a link to a more complete description.

• AudioStar computer hand control: The supplied AudioStar computer control system provides fully computerized go-to object location and tracking in both altazimuth and German equatorial modes. The AudioStar has a database of over 30,000 celestial objects it can find and track for you. The AudioStar computer hand control has Meade’s exclusive Astronomer Inside software and a built-in speaker that will talk to you, giving you four hours of professionally-produced audio descriptions of 500 of the celestial objects the AudioStar can find for you. Astronomer Inside puts the knowledge and experience of a professional astronomer in the palm of your hand. There are more details about the AudioStar system and the LX80 mount at this link.

• Adjustable height tripod:
     The Meade LX80 Multi-Mount includes an adjustable height tripod with 2" diameter stainless steel legs that adjust over a height range of 30.5" to 47". In addition, each leg has an adjustment for 0.2" fine-tuning of the leg height to aid in leveling the mount.

• Dovetail optical tube mounting system: The Meade LX80 mount comes with two Vixen-style dovetails for attaching optical tubes. One is on the mount head for German equatorial and single optical tube altazimuth use. The second head can be attached to the end of the counterweight shaft for mounting a second optical tube in a two optical tube altazimuth configuration and is removable when not needed. A Vixen-style dovetail bar on the underside of the 115mm apo refractor allows the tube to be quickly and precisely installed and balanced on the mount, whether in an altazimuth or German equatorial configuration. Setup and takedown times are exceptionally fast. Two large hand-tighten knobs hold each optical tube in place.

What can you see through an 115mm Meade Series 6000 apo refractor on an LX80 go-to Multi-Mount?

    Its color-free apochromatic optics are sharp and well suited for serious deep space observing of binary stars, star clusters, and the brighter nebulas and galaxies by the hundreds, as well as showing you the excellent high contrast planetary and lunar images for which apo refractors are famous. The go-to Multi-Mount makes finding over 30,000 of those objects easy and automatic, so you spend more of your time looking at celestial wonders, and less time looking for them.

    With the 1.6° field of its standard equipment low power 26mm Super Plössl eyepiece, this LX80 apo refractor is capable of scanning wide scenic vistas by day (with the mount is in its altazimuth mode) and revealing multitudes of large, faint deep space objects by night. Optional shorter focal length eyepieces will provide high powers to let you examine details in the storm belts of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the mountains of the Moon, and much more. And the resolution of those details will be crisp and detailed, often visibly superior to larger telescopes more easily affected by atmospheric conditions.

    If you’re one of those busy people whose schedule doesn’t leave you much time to enjoy astronomy, this easy-to-use fully-computerized 115mm Series 6000 apo refractor and LX80 Multi-Mount with its unique Astronomer Inside software and talking AudioStar computer hand control will make the most of your limited observing opportunities.

    What can you see through this 115mm Meade Series 6000 apo refractor on an LX80 go-to Multi-Mount? Enough high resolution wonders to last a lifetime!