Glossary | Telescopes | General | Series | LX90

Telescopes in the LX90 series are perfect for a serious introduction to amateur astronomy, or for the transition from a simpler telescope system. Meade’s compact Schmidt-Cassegrain optics are built into a stable aluminium fork mount. They have the same high-quality ACF optics with UHTC coating as those found in larger Meade telescopes.

The motorised LX90 mount has a generously-sized gearbox with a 125-millimetre diameter worm gear. Together with the stepper motors, this guarantees smooth and precise tracking of the selected celestial objects. These celestial objects can be easily found using the GoTo computer control. The AudioStar handheld control helps this process with over 30,000 objects, including the most important catalogues (Messier, NGC etc.) and of course the planets of our solar system. Thanks to the integrated GPS, the computer control always knows where the telescope is located, and also knows the date and time.

The uncomplicated and very easy to transport LX90 telescopes are not only popular with beginners, but also guarantee many years of amateur astronomy fun.

The AudioStar handheld control provides a database of 30,000 astronomical objects. Once aligned to the night sky, AudioStar can position the telescope to point to any of these objects and centre them in the eyepiece - of course only if the object is above the horizon. The GoTo functionality is supplemented by additional features, such as guided tours, position display and connection to a PC.

A special feature of the AudioStar controller is its built-in speaker. The built-in Astronomer Inside technology provides over four hours of audio commentary. The built-in astronomer will relate interesting information about astronomical objects located in the field of view!

At the beginning of each observing session, the computer control must be matched with the actual night sky. This is called alignment. Alignment is particularly simple with this telescope: after entering the location and the orientation to the north, the telescope slews to two bright stars in succession. These simply have to be centred in the eyepiece and the alignment is done, and the telescope is ready for use.

UHTC is a special multi-layer coating on the front correction plate and provides up to 15% more light transmission.

The result: brighter star clusters, finer details in nebular objects and more surface detail on planets!

Meade's ACF optical design eliminates the typical aberrations of all mirror optics. Thanks to ACF, the stars are also point-shaped right out to the edge of the image field, displaying no elongated comet-like distortions. This is achieved by employing a hyperbolic secondary mirror, delivering very good images also away from the optical axis.

The image field is flatter than that of classic Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes.

ACF optical systems show their strengths, especially in astrophotographic applications.