38
Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the tele-
scope as it is moving.
Training the Drive
Train the telescope motors using Autostar. Perform this procedure if you are experiencing any pointing accuracy prob-
lems. Fig. 32 depicts the complete Drive Training procedure.
NOTE:
Use a terrestrial object, such as a telephone pole or lamp post, to train the drive. Complete this
exercise once every 3 to 6 months to maintain the highest level of telescope pointing accuracy.
This manual gives only the briefest introduction to astron-
omy. If you are interested in pursuing further studies, a
few topics are suggested below that are worth reading up
on. Try looking up some of these topics in the Autostar
glossary.
Also below is a small sampling of books, magazines, and
organizations that you might find helpful.
Topics
1. How is a star born? How does a solar system form?
2. How is the distance to a star measured? What is a
light year? What is red shift and blue shift?
3. How are the craters on our Moon formed? How old
is the Moon and Earth? How old is the Sun?
4.
What is a black hole? A neutron star?
5. What are stars made of? Why are stars different col-
ors? What is a white dwarf? A red giant? Have we ever
seen the surface of a star besides our own Sun?
6. What is a nova? A supernova?
7. What are comets? Minor planets? Meteors? Meteor
showers? Where do they come from?
8. What is a planetary nebula? A globular cluster?
9. What is the Big Bang? Is the universe expanding or
contracting, or does it always remain the same?
What is dark matter?
10. What is an extrasolar planet? What is an accretion
(or protoplanetary) disk?
11. What is the difference between an elliptical, a spiral,
and an irregular galaxy?
Books
1. The Guide to
Amateur Astronomy by Jack Newton
and Philip Teece
2. The Sky:
A User
’s Guide by David Levy
3.
Turn Left at Orion by Guy Consolmagno & Dan Davis
4. Astrophotography for the Amateur by Michael
Covington
Magazines
1.
Sky & Telescope
Box 9111, Belmont, MA 02178
2.
Astronomy
Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187
Organizations:
1. Astronomical League
Executive Secretary
5675 Real del Norte, Las Cruces, NM 88012
2. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific
390 Ashton Ave, San Francisco, CA 94112
3. The Meade 4M Community
www.meade4M.org.
And watch Jack Horkheimer,
Star Gazer,
on your local
PBS station.
APPENDIX D
Fig. 32: Training the Drive Procedure.
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