Glossary Menu; Utilities Menu - Meade DS-2000 Series AutoStar-LNT-SmartFinder Instruction Manual

WARNING!
Never use a
Meade DS-
2000 Telescope to
look at the Sun!
Looking at or near
the Sun will cause
instant and irre-
versible damage to
your eye. Eye dam-
age is often painless,
so there is no warn-
ing to the observer
that damage has
occurred until it is
too late. Do not point
the telescope or its
viewfinder at or near
the Sun. Do not look
through the tele-
scope or its viewfind-
er as it is moving.
Children should
always have adult
supervision while
observing.
Moonrise and Moonset calculates the time that the Moon rises or sets on the current date.
Find rise and set times for other dates by entering a new date into the "Setup: Date" menu. See
, page 26.
DATE
Moon Phases displays the date and time of the next Full, New, 1st Quarter, and 3rd Quarter
Moon.
Meteor Showers provides information on upcoming meteor showers, such as the Perseids, the
Leonids, etc. Also lists the dates of the showers and when they reach maximum.
NOTE: Meteor showers cover large areas of the sky and are usually best observed
with the naked eye.
Solar Eclipse lists upcoming Solar Eclipses, including the date and type (total, annular, or par-
tial) of eclipse, and the location and time of the first and last contacts of the Moon's shadow.
Use the Scroll Up and Down keys to display the available data. Remember, never use a tele-
scope to look at the Sun! See "WARNING!" to the left.
Lunar Eclipse lists upcoming Lunar Eclipses, including the date and type (total, partial,
penumbral) of eclipse. Use the Scroll Up and Down keys to display the available data.
Min. (Minimum) of Algol is the minimum brightness of the dramatic eclipsing binary star sys-
tem, Algol. It is relatively close at a distance of 100 light years. Every 2.8 days during a 10-hour
period, Algol undergoes a major change in apparent magnitude as one of the two stars pass-
es behind the other. The combined magnitude of the two stars thus dips from +2.1 to a mini-
mum of +3.4 halfway through the eclipse as the second star is hidden. Autostar calculates min-
imum magnitude time at mid-eclipse.
Autumn and Vernal Equinox calculates the time and date of the fall or spring equinox of the
current year.
Winter and Summer Solstice calculates the time and date of the winter or summer solstice of
the current year.

Glossary Menu

The Glossary menu provides an alphabetical listing of definitions and descriptions for common
astronomical terms and Autostar functions. Access directly through the Glossary menu or
through hypertext words embedded in Autostar. A hypertext word is any word in [brackets],
usually found when using the Autostar Help function or when reading a scrolling message such
as a description of a planet or star. Press ENTER whenever a hypertext word is on screen and
Autostar goes to the glossary entry for that word.
To access directly from the Glossary menu, use the Scroll keys to scroll through the alphabet.
Press ENTER on the desired letter. Scroll to the desired entry and then press ENTER to read
the description.

Utilities Menu

The Utilities menu provides access to several extra features within Autostar, including a count-
down timer and an alarm. The Utilities functions include:
Timer selects a countdown timer. This feature is useful for functions such as astrophotography
and tracking satellites. See
ENTER, then choose "Set" or "Start/Stop."
■
Set: Enter the time to be counted down, in hours, minutes, and seconds, then press ENTER.
■
Start/Stop: Activates the timer set previously. Use the Scroll keys to toggle between ON and
OFF. When ON is displayed, press ENTER to activate the timer. When the timer runs out,
four beeps sound and the timer is deactivated.
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 telescope as it is moving.
, page 37. To use the Timer, press
OBSERVING SATELLITES
24