Meade Refractors

More Information  · Supplied Accessories  · Recommended Accessories  · Images of Some Features Price $269.95 List Price $299.00 Highest Useful Magnification 133x Visual Limiting Magnitude 12.0 Focal Length 400mm Focal Ratio f/5 Resolution 1.45 arc seconds Aperture 3.15" Weight 11 lbs. Heaviest Single Component 6.7 lbs. Warranty 1 year

• 80mm f/5 multicoated refractor optics
• battery-operated AutoStar computerized go-to altazimuth mount and lightweight tripod
• soft backpack carry case with shoulder straps and carry handle
• dew shield
• 9.7mm and 26mm Super Plössl eyepieces (41x and 15x)
• built-in Barlow to double your eyepiece powers at the flip of a lever

You don’t need to know star charts and celestial coordinates to find your way around the heavens like a pro with this special backpack edition of the Meade ETX-80AT computerized go-to refractor. Simply pack the scope out to your observing site (the supplied backpack even transports the scope’s tripod), and set it up on its special lightweight travel tripod. Level the scope and point it north (it takes only a minute or two, using the supplied bubble level and compass). Once you do, the Meade ETX-80AT backpack edition will locate the planets and deep space objects for you at the push of a button. It will then track them flawlessly as they move across the skies so you can observe them at your leisure.

All of the major planets except Pluto are easily observable through the Meade ETX-80AT. You can study Saturn and its ring system; the primary cloud belts of Jupiter and its four major satellites; the Moonlike phases of Mercury and Venus; prominent features on Mars; and the starlike images of the distant planets Uranus and Neptune. The Moon stands out in stark, almost three-dimensional detail – showing you craters by the hundreds, mountain ranges, scarps, and valleys. Within our Milky Way galaxy the ETX-80AT backpack edition displays hundreds of nebulas, star clusters, double and multiple stars, and variable stars – plus dozens of external galaxies. A supplied dew shield fits on the front of the scope. It slows the formation of image-degrading dew on the objective lens and improves the image contrast by blocking extraneous light (for example from a neighbor’s backyard security light).

For the introductory student of astronomy, or for the casual observer, the Meade ETX-80AT backpack edition opens up the skies at modest cost to an amazing breadth of celestial detail that is utterly invisible without the telescope – and it can be taken virtually anywhere in its soft backpack carrying case. The ETX-80AT backpack edition has over 77% greater light gathering capacity than the more common 60mm beginning scope. This gives significantly brighter and more highly resolved images than is possible with a smaller scope.

The Meade ETX-80AT backpack edition also makes an excellent land-view instrument for the birdwatcher, the naturalist, or for the home owner with a view. The terrestrial image quality and resolution of the scope typically far exceed what you see with terrestrial spotting scopes in its modest price range.

The ETX-80AT uses a dual arm fork mount for steadier viewing and less image vibration at high powers. There are built-in dual-axis battery-operated motor drives, with precision worm gear drive systems on each axis. These permit smooth pushbutton motions of the telescope using the supplied computer hand control. Built into one of the fork arms is the telescope’s control panel. This serves as the connection point for the AutoStar computer’s hand controller as well as for an RS-232 serial interface adapter (that’s included with the optional #A506 AstroFinder Software and Cable Connector Kit). Using the RS-232 interface, new or revised software can be downloaded through your PC to the telescope so that the AutoStar’s computer program never becomes obsolete. The positions of Earth satellites may be updated regularly to allow you to track them through the telescope. You can also download the positions of newly-discovered objects, such as comets, which can then be located and tracked by the AutoStar computer.

The Meade ETX-80AT backpack edition uses a 2-element, multicoated, air-spaced objective lens made of Grade-A BK7 crown and F2 flint optical glass. Field stops inside the optical tube prevent off-axis light from reaching the focal plane, enhancing the contrast for sharper and more detailed views. The tube includes an internal mirror to direct the image to an eyepiece holder at the top of the tube for astronomical observing. At the touch of lever, the mirror flips to send the light to a separate focus at the rear of the tube. This allows terrestrial observing with an optional #933 45-degreee erecting prism, as well as terrestrial and lunar photography with an optional #64ST T-adapter and T-ring. Another lever controls an internal Barlow lens, flipping it into the light path when desired to double the magnification of any eyepiece being used with the scope.

The light weight (less than 11 pounds, including lightweight tripod) and simple to use Meade ETX-80AT is easy to carry to any observing location, whether it be a distant mountaintop or your own back yard. Just place the telescope on any flat surface or on the supplied lightweight adjustable height altazimuth field tripod, do a quick, easy 60-second alignment of the telescope’s computer to the sky, and start observing. The scope comes with a soft backpack carrying case with a foam interior cut out to hold the scope, eyepieces, and hand control. The case has both a carrying handle for simple trips out to your backyard and shoulder straps for backpacking the scope to a distant dark sky observing site. The case has a zippered compartment for holding accessories. An elasticized cord crisscrossing the back of the case holds the collapsed lightweight altazimuth tripod securely. The tripod has three-section legs with flip levers to lock them open at any desired height. Spreader bars help stabilize the tripod. The spreader bars have 1.25" cutouts that will hold your eyepieces and keep them up and out of the evening dews and damps. A supplied bubble level and compass allow fast leveling of the scope and aligning on the North each time you go out to observe.

The Meade ETX-80AT backpack edition includes a computer clock chip that keeps track of the time and date, so there’s no need to supply that information each time you set up the scope. The scope’s computer will remember your last observing location, so there’s also no need to reenter that information if you’re observing from the same site. If you’re observing from a different location, simply enter the city and state you are observing from – or just your zip code! That’s all the information the AutoStar computer needs to start you observing. Six internal (user-supplied) AA batteries power the ETX-80AT for up to 20 hours in the field.

The #494 AutoStar computer controller permits the automatic location of 1471 celestial objects. The objects have been specifically chosen as suitable for observing with the ETX-80AT and provides an excellent introduction to the wide variety of astronomical objects visible through the telescope.

Just enter the object you wish to observe on the AutoStar display, press GO TO, and watch as the telescope moves at a rapid 4.5 degrees per second in both axes simultaneously to place the object in the field of view. There are dozens of other AutoStar functions that will add to your observing enjoyment and educational opportunities. For example, the AutoStar gives you automatic go-to capability to any astronomical object of known right ascension and declination, perhaps to the comet positions published monthly in Astronomy and Sky & Telescope magazines. The hand control gives you a continuous digital readout of the telescope position in r.a. and dec. It gives you precise sidereal-rate tracking. You can add user-defined objects of your own to its 1471 star and object database. You get pushbutton 9-speed dual-axis operation, from a slow 2x the sidereal rate for centering objects to as much as a fast 4.5 degrees per second (depending on the battery power available) to locate them. You get guided tours of “Tonight’s Best Objects," and over 20 other menu options.

You also get the AutoStar Software Suite Astronomer’s Edition – a CD-ROM planetarium program for your PC that can show you over 10,000 stars and deep space objects on your computer screen. It can print out star charts to use at the telescope and help you plan your observing sessions. Also included is an instructional DVD that shows you how to set up your scope and get the most out of observing with it.

Add together the telescope, the motor drives, the AutoStar go-to computer, the two supplied premium Super Plössl eyepieces, the built-in Barlow, the lightweight full length adjustable height altazimuth field tripod, the backpack carrying case, the dew shield, and the software – and you have a telescope that was simply unavailable to the amateur astronomer at any price only a few short years ago. The fact that the Meade ETX-80AT exists, that it works so simply and so well, and that it costs so very little for all that you get, is a marvel indeed. For the beginning astronomer, as a gift for an inquisitive youngster, as a second or travel scope for the advanced astronomer, the Meade ETX-80AT backpack edition is well worth serious consideration.