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 609 lbs. Heaviest Single Component 140 lbs. Warranty 1 year

   LX400-ACF 16" & 20" MAX mount optics
   MAX mount on tripod
   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 469 pounds with its four 35 pound counterweights and 81 pound tripod. 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.

• Heavy duty tripod: The scope is designed for equatorial installation in an observatory dome, using an 81 pound painted steel folding tripod that’s 26.6" tall. The tripod height puts the eyepiece approximately 5’8" above ground level when the scope is pointed about 45° above the northern horizon. The tripod also gives you the option to take the scope into the field.

• 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 computer control, automatically aligns the scope on the sky so that the AutoStar computer can locate for you the 147,541 stars and objects in its memory.
      The AutoStar 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 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 and photograph through a MAX Mount 16" LX400?

    With a resolving power of 0.29 arc seconds, this is an advanced instrument capable of serious research for amateur and university alike. It has four times the light gathering capacity of an 8" scope (more than two and a half times that of a 10" scope and almost twice that of a 12" scope), and a 15% increase in light transmission over standard optics, due to its UHTC multicoatings. With that much light-gathering, its 16" optical system shows you the Universe with 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 are immediately apparent, particularly to the experienced observer with an eye trained to see extremely fine detail.
    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 a level of resolution 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. Faint galaxies and planetary nebulas, barely visible blurs in smaller scopes, often reveal structure during visual observing that rivals that in long exposure observatory photos.
    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 rivals that of classical Ritchey-Chrétien optics. These same objects all yield magnificently detailed long-exposure CCD and 35mm images.
    This scope needs truly dark and steady skies 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. Because of its size and weight, it’s also not a scope you can take out to a dark sky site on the spur of the moment, particularly if you’re the Lone Observer. This scope needs either a permanent observatory building or a crew of at least three to travel.
    At over 600 lbs. for the scope, MAX mount, four counterweights, and tripod, the 16" LX400 is very substantial in both size and weight. Two husky assistants to help you transport and assemble the scope are mandatory to avoid possible injury. While this 16" scope is transportable, it is not truly portable. But, if you have dark skies and some friends to help you set up once you get to them, or if the thought of a permanent observatory doesn’t faze you, the 16" LX400 with UHTC optics may be the ultimate scope for you. It has all the aperture you need to keep you busy observing for the rest of your life, plus enough useful (and upgradeable) features to handle almost any observing or astrophotography chore you set for it.