Optional Meade® Accessories; Choosing Eyepieces; Meade Series 4000 Super Plössl Eyepieces - Meade ETX-LS ACF Instruction Manual

OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES
Meade makes a complete line of accessories to enable
you to get the most fun and performance from your LS-
6 telescope. No matter what you want to accomplish,
we have the equipment to help you get there.

Choosing Eyepieces

A telescope's eyepiece magnifies the image formed by
the telescope's main optics. Each eyepiece has a focal
length, expressed in millimeters, or "mm." The smaller
the focal length, the higher the magnification. For
example, an eyepiece with a focal length of 9mm has
a higher magnification than an eyepiece with a focal
length of 26mm. Experienced users know that higher
powers are, in general, not as useful as lower powers.
Many of the objects in the night sky are relatively large
and faint and look best at low magnifications.
The power or magnification of a telescope is determined
by the focal length of the telescope and the focal length
of the eyepiece being used. To calculate magnification,
divide the telescope's focal length by the eyepiece's
focal length. For example, a 26mm eyepiece is
supplied with the LS-6. The focal length of the 6" LS-6
is 1524mm (see SPECIFICATIONS, page 40).
Telescope Focal Length 1524mm
Eyepiece Focal Length 26mm
1524 ÷ 26 = 58.6x
The magnification is therefore 58.6x.
Low power eyepieces offer a wider field of view, bright,
high-contrast images, and long eye relief. To find an
object with a telescope, always start with a lower power
eyepiece such as the Super Plössl 26mm or longer
focal length. When the object is located and centered
in the eyepiece, you may wish to switch to a higher
power eyepiece to enlarge the image as much as
practical for prevailing seeing conditions or, for many
objects, the view is best with a high quality low-power
wide-field eyepiece.
NOTE: Seeing conditions vary widely from night-to-
night and site-to-site. Turbulence in the air, even on
an apparently clear night, can distort images. If an
image appears fuzzy and ill-defined, reduce to a lower
power eyepiece.
Your telescope comes supplied with a Super Plössl
26mm eyepiece, which gives a wide 53 ARC Minute
(just a little less than 1 degree) field of view with 59x
magnification. This is a very good all purpose eyepiece
for your telescope, but you should consider buying
additional eyepieces in longer and shorter focal lengths
to fully realize the potential of the excellent 6" optical
system in your LS-6 telescope.
The Series 4000 Super Plössl Eyepieces are excellent
well corrected 4 element optics at popular prices. They
come in a wide range of focal lengths to give you the
right magnification for any type of celestial object you
are viewing. You can also use one of the Series 4000
Barlows to double or triple the magnification of a Super
Plössl eyepiece. These eyepieces have been the
standard for over 30 years.
Series 4000 Super Plössl Eyepieces
Focal Apparent
Length Type Field
56.0mm SP 2" 52º
40.0mm SP 44º
32.0mm SP 52º
26.0mm SP 52º
20.0mm SP 52º
15.0mm SP 52º
12.4mm SP 52º
9.7mm SP 52º
6.4mm SP 52º
Actual
Power Field
27x 1º 55'
38x 1º 9'
48x 1º 6'
59x 53'
76x 41'
102x 31'
123x 25'
157x 20'
238x 13'
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