The LX90-SC's Autostar computer hand control plugs into the telescope's fork arm to permit a wide array of telescope options. First and foremost is its automatic go-to capability. At the push of a button, the LX90-SC will move at a fast 6.5° per second to any of the 30,223 objects in the AutoStar computer's database and then track it flawlessly until you are ready to observe another object. You can choose from 13,235 deep-sky objects from the complete Messier, Caldwell, IC, and NGC catalogs (sorted by name and type). Also included are 16,888 stars sorted by name, SAO catalog number, and by whether they are double or variable stars.
The Autostar will also locate the centroids of all 88 constellations and 50 objects in the solar system (8 major planets from Mercury to Pluto; the Moon; 26 asteroids; and 15 periodic comets). You can use it to track 50 Earth satellites, including the International Space Station and the Hubble space telescope, plus any of 200 user-defined objects. You can also automatically move to any object that's not in the database simply by entering its right ascension and declination coordinates into the hand control, using the control's two line/sixteen character night-vision red screen and 20-button numeric keypad.
The Autostar moves the LX90-SC at any of nine user-selectable slewing and guiding speeds: 6.5°/sec, 3°/sec, and 1.5°/sec for slewing and centering; as well as 128x, 64x, 16x, 8x, and 2x the sidereal rate for centering and astrophotographic guiding. In addition, there are standard solar, lunar, and sidereal tracking rates with 2000 precision-selected incremental rates that permit observatory-level precision in tracking the Moon and planets. The Autostar includes a Smart Drive dual-axis drive corrector for long-exposure guided astrophotography.
The Autostar computer also includes hundreds of special event menus, guided tours, a glossary, utility functions, and telescope status options. It also allows fast alignment of the telescope in either an equatorial or altazimuth mode using any of three alignment methods, including Meade's proprietary Easy Align method.
The altazimuth drive of the LX90-SC is more than accurate enough for piggyback, lunar, and planetary 35mm photos and much CCD imaging. However, field rotation causes stars at the corners of an image to streak during exposures longer than five minutes if an equatorial wedge isn't used to align the scope on the celestial pole. So, if you plan on doing long exposure deep space photography, you'll need to add the optional #2590 LX90 equatorial wedge to your scope.
When used with an equatorial wedge, the AutoStar computer includes a Periodic Error Correction (PEC) function. This lets you train the drive system to eliminate the small periodic errors in right ascension that are present in all worm-drive telescopes. The result is more point-like star images in long exposure photos, with fewer guiding corrections needed to assure professional-quality images.
The AutoStar computer-controlled operation of the LX90-SC is simplicity itself. Once you mount the scope on its tripod and turn it on, aim the scope North and level the optical tube. Wait a minute or two to let the built-in 16-channel GPS receiver lock onto the network of orbiting GPS satellites and determine your observing location's latitude, longitude, date, and time. Using this information to tell it where and when on earth you are located, the LX90-SC will then orient itself to the sky and slew at 6.5 degrees per second to the first of two alignment stars. If that star is not precisely centered in the finderscope or main scope optics, a touch or two on the Autostar hand control's directional push buttons quickly centers it. Do the same with the second alignment star the scope moves to and you're ready to observe. That's it!
It takes only a few minutes to begin observing. For the rest of the evening, the AutoStar computer controls the scope's altitude and azimuth motors to keep you precisely centered on whatever you aim at, for as long as you want to observe, as well as find thousands of objects at your command.
The AutoStar Suite software can be regularly updated through the internet. You can download software upgrades, new guided tours, and the positions of transient celestial objects like comets, satellites, and new discoveries - and you can do it for free. This upgrade capability keeps your AutoStar up-to-date, and lets your LX90-SC grow with you for years to come.