Meade Autostar 494 Instruction Manual page 21

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tree, or hill), press ENTER and Autostar starts
to move the telescope along the expected
satellite track. When the track clears the
obstruction, press ENTER again to pause the
telescope, then continue with this procedure.
6. With about 20 seconds left on the countdown timer,
start watching through the telescope viewfinder (or
eyepiece if your telescope does not have an viewfind-
er) for the satellite to enter the field of view.
7. When the satellite enters the viewfinder field of view,
press ENTER. The telescope starts to track with the
satellite.
8. Use the Autostar Arrow keys to center the object in the
viewfinder, then look through the eyepiece to view the
object.
Satellite orbits change and new satellites (including the
Space Shuttle) are launched. Visit the Meade web site
(www.meade.com) approximately once a month to get
updated information and instructions on how to download
this data to Autostar. If orbital parameters are more than
one month old, the satellite pass may not happen at the
time predicted by Autostar. Requires optional #506
AstroFinder™ Software and Cable Connector Kit. See
"OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES," page 30.
NOTE: Satellite observing is an exciting chal-
lenge. Most satellites are in low orbit, travel-
ling at approximately 17,500 mph. When visi-
ble, they move quickly across the sky and are
only in the field of view for a few minutes,
requiring Autostar to slew the telescope rapid-
ly. Best viewing is near Sunrise or Sunset
when the sky is still dark. Viewing in the mid-
dle of the night can be problematic because
the satellite may pass overhead, but not be
visible as it is in the Earth's shadow.
User Objects allows the user to define and store in mem-
ory deep-sky objects of specific interest that are not cur-
rently in the Autostar database. See "Appendix A" for more
information.
Landmarks stores the location of terrestrial points of inter-
est in the permanent Autostar database.
IMPORTANT NOTE: To use the Landmark func-
tion, the telescope must be located and aligned
exactly as when the landmark was added to the
database.
Select: To select a Landmark already in the database
(see "Add" below), choose the "Select" option and
scroll through the list. Press ENTER to select a
Landmark, then press GO TO and the telescope slews
to the object.
Add: To add a Landmark, choose the "Add" option.
Enter a name for the Landmark. Locate and center the
Landmark in the eyepiece, then press ENTER.
Identify is an exciting feature for an observer who wants to
scan the night sky and start exploring. After the telescope
-21-

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