Meade RCX400 Telescopes

More Information  · Supplied Accessories  · Recommended Accessories Price $39,999.00 Supplied Eyepiece M5U24 Highest Useful Magnification 813x Visual Limiting Magnitude 15.5 Focal Length 3251mm Focal Ratio f/8 Resolution 0.29 arc seconds Aperture 16" Weight 567 lbs. Heaviest Single Component 140 lbs. Warranty 1 year

   LX400-ACF 16" & 20" MAX mount optics
   MAX mount on permanent pier
   AutoStar Suite Version 4 software
   MAX mount computer

This Telescope’s Optical System . . .

• Advanced Coma-Free catadioptric designed to emulate the optical performance of a Ritchey-Chrétien telescope: 16" aperture catadioptric (3251mm focal length f/8), weighing 140 lbs. The Pyrex primary and secondary mirrors and borosilicate float glass catadioptric corrector are all fully multicoated with UHTC (Ultra High Transmission Coatings) for maximum light transmission. Low expansion carbon fiber and Kevlar tube construction. Integral cooling fan on rear cell. Electric front cell focusing and electric collimation. Guaranteed diffraction-limited performance with a flatter field edge-to-edge than other commercially-available catadioptric optical systems. For more details, click on the “optics" icon above.

• Finderscope: 8 x 50mm straight-through achromatic design, with helical focusing, a fold-down rubber eyecup, and 10mm eye relief.

• Star diagonal: 2" mirror type with Pyrex UHTC multicoated aluminum optics and a 1.25" eyepiece adapter.

• Eyepiece: 2" 24mm Series 5000 Ultra Wide (135x). The eyepiece field of view is 0.61°, over 20% wider than the diameter of the full Moon, for truly expansive lunar and deep space views.

This Telescope’s Mount . . .

• MAX German equatorial mount: 250 pound payload capacity robotic mount weighing 427 pounds with its four 35 pound counterweights and 39 pound permanent pier. The mount can be operated over a 0° to 90° latitude range for use anywhere in the world. It uses 13.625" diameter right ascension and declination drive gears with 652 teeth on each, for twice the drive accuracy of the more common 360 tooth drive systems. Each gear is driven by a high torque Pittman DC servo motor turning a clutchless 1.1667" diameter fully-enclosed and permanently precision-adjusted spring-loaded worm. The mount is powered by an optional 110-120 volt 60 Hz AC household current adapter (#RCXAC). For more details, click on the “mount" icon above.

• Permanent pier: The scope is designed for installation on a permanent pier in a 12’ or larger (preferably larger) observatory dome. The standard pier is 22" tall and weighs 39 pounds. This pier height puts the eyepiece approximately 5’4" above ground level when the scope is pointed 45° above the northern horizon. Custom pier heights are available on special order if another eyepiece height would be preferable. Specify the pier height desired when ordering your scope.

• GPS/AutoStar II computer: A 16-channel Sony GPS (global positioning satellite) receiver is built into the mount. The GPS receiver, in conjunction with the AutoStar II computer control, automatically aligns the scope on the sky so that the AutoStar II computer can locate for you the 147,541 stars and objects in its memory.
      The AutoStar II computer quickly and automatically moves the scope to any desired object (with an accuracy typically in the two arc minute range) and flawlessly tracks the object while you observe at your leisure. In addition, the AutoStar II computer provides numerous visual, tracking, and photographic tools and functions to make your observing easier and more enjoyable.
      Unique “Smart Mount" technology can constantly improve the already high pointing accuracy of the telescope with every object that you center precisely and synchronize on during a night’s observing. For more details on these features, click on the “computer" icon above.

• AutoStar Suite Astronomer Software: This standard equipment CD-ROM software package is designed to integrate the telescope with your Windows-based PC or laptop computer for an enhanced range of performance features. The AutoStar Suite Software includes a planetarium program with a database of 19,000,000 stars and deep space objects for display on your computer screen. It includes all the standard planetarium program features for stand-alone use when nights are cloudy. In addition, it contains programs for controlling the telescope from your laptop or PC. For more details on the many capabilities and features of the AutoStar Suite Software, click on the “software" icon above.

What can you see through a 16" LX400-ACF Advanced Coma-Free telescope with UHTC optics?

    With the higher light transmission of UHTC multicoated optics and a resolving power of 0.29 arc seconds, the 16" Meade LX400-ACF is an advanced instrument capable of serious research and astrophotography for amateur and university alike. With four times the light gathering capacity of an 8" scope (over two and a half times that of a 10" scope), this scope’s fully multicoated 16" optics give the Universe a detail and extent at dark sky sites that no smaller scope can approach – no matter how good that smaller scope might be. Visual observing is an extraordinarily rewarding experience.
    The advantages of the scope’s large diffraction-limited aperture and high light transmission are immediately apparent, particularly to the experienced observer with an eye trained to see extremely fine detail. Color becomes visible to the eye in many nebulas. Orion is a glowing blue-green mass of filaments, often tinged with red and yellow for the keen-eyed observer from a dark sky site. Globular clusters can be resolved to their cores, with each cluster becoming a vivid ball of tiny starpoints instead of a hazy blur. Knottings and structure in the arms of the Whirlpool Galaxy become clear. Small details in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn and on the surface of Mars reveal themselves at high powers (given suitably good seeing and a filter to cut down the immense brightness of a scope with over 3300 times the light-gathering capacity your eye).
    The more obscure Messier and NGC objects (such as planetary nebula NGC 3242 in Hydra, spiral galaxy M100 in Coma Berenices, and open cluster NGC 6231 in Scorpius) show detail invisible in smaller scopes. Difficult objects like the Crab Nebula (M1) in Taurus, the face-on Spiral Galaxy (M33) in Triangulum, and the Owl Nebula (M97) in Ursa Major begin to show their essential structures under high-power visual observation. The stars in open clusters remain crisp and point-like to the edge of the field, thanks to the coma-free flat-field performance that you’d normally expect to find only in classical Ritchey-Chrétien optics. These same objects all yield magnificently detailed long-exposure CCD and 35mm images.
    This scope is designed to be used in a permanent observatory under truly dark and steady skies if you want to take full advantage of its large aperture and superb optical performance. It’s not a scope that’s happy in a light-polluted suburban observing environment.
    But, if you have dark skies and a permanent observatory dome, the UHTC-multicoated pier-mounted German equatorial mount 16" LX400-ACF may be the ultimate scope for you. It has the aperture that will keep you busy observing and imaging for the rest of your life, with state-of-the art fully-multicoated Advanced Coma-Free optics, and enough useful features to handle almost any observing or astrophotography chore you set for it.