As you read this manual, the technical terms associated with telescopes will be made clear. Standard Equipment • Complete optical tube assembly with a 4.5" (114mm) diameter primary mirror, viewfinder mounting bolts with mounting nuts and rack-and-pinion focuser. Mirror focal length = 1000mm; f/8.8 • Equatorial mount with aluminum tripod and leg braces. • Accessories: MA 25mm (40x) eyepiece (1.25"O.D.), MA 12mm (83x) eyepiece (1.25"O.D.) 2x Barlow lens 5 x 24 viewfinder and bracket Counterweight

Tighten to a firm feel. See Fig. 4. 32” Screw tripod leg mount washer wingnut finger tighten the hex nut Fig. 4 1. Note the two thumbscrews (25) threaded onto two bolts on the optical tube. Remove the thumbscrews from the tube. 2. Line up the two holes on the red dot viewfinder bracket over the two bolts. Slide the bracket over the bolts. See Fig. 1, inset C. 3. Replace the thumbscrews onto the bolts and tighten to a firm feel. ATTACH THE DIAGONAL MIRROR AND EYEPIECE The diagonal mirror reflects

DO NOT POINT THE TELESCOPE OR ITS VIEWFINDER AT OR NEAR THE SUN. DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THE TELESCOPE OR ITS VIEWFINDER AS IT IS MOVING. CHILDREN SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE ADULT SUPERVISION WHILE OBSERVING. How This Manual is Organized This manual is divided into three major sections. Part One, "The Basics," presents several "Lessons" that will teach you how to assemble and use your telescope and Starfinder. If you follow all the Lessons in this section, you will become familiar with the basic operation o

When observing with the telescope during the daytime, do not point the telescope even close to the Sun. Fig. 1: The Meade Model 102ACHR/500 Refracting Telescope Captions for Fig. 1 Contents 1. Cradle Rings 2. Viewfinder 3. Focuser Lock Knob 4. Eyepiece 5. Diagonal Prism 6. Focus Knob 7. Declination (Dec) Slow Motion Control 8. Right Ascension (R.A.) Setting Circle 9. Dust Cover for Optional #812 Polar Alignment Finder 10. Latitude Scale 11. Fine Latitude Adjustment Knob 12. Tripod

Diopter Scale (on underside of right eyepiece) 2. SD Card Port 3. Eyepiece 4. Menu Button 5. Shutter Button 6. Left Button 7. Right Button 8. LCD Screen 9. Objective Lens 10. Camera Lens (not visible, see Fig. 2) 11. Barrel 12. USB Port 13. Battery Compartment Lid (see Fig. 2) 14. Focus knob (not visible, see Fig. 2) Page 2 1# 1) 1$ 1# 1) 1$ Fig. 2: Bottom View 1. Diopter Scale 10. Camera Lens (not visible) 13. Battery Compartment Lid (squeeze and pull back to remove) 14. Focus knob b WARNING! N

When unsteady air conditions prevail (as witnessed by rapid “twinkling” of the stars), extremely high-power eyepieces result in poor magnification, where the object detail observed is actually reduced by the excessive power. – 12 – MAINTENANCE Cleaning As with any quality instrument, lens or mirror surfaces should be cleaned as infrequently as possible. Front surface aluminized mirrors, in particular, should be cleaned only when absolutely necessary. In all cases avoid touching any mirror surfac

Do not point the telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope or SmartFinder ™ as it is moving. Children should always have adult supervision while observing. Meade114EQAR 3/28/07 9:52 AM Page 3 1 INTRODUCTION Your telescope is an excellent beginner’s instrument, and is designed to observe objects in the sky. It can be your personal window on the universe. The telescope is shipped with the following parts: • Optical tube • Aluminum tripod with an accessory tray • Two 1.25" eye

3, and thread the three screws up through the bottom of the tripod head and into the bottom of the field tripod adapter. Firmly tighten the three screws, so that the tripod head and the field tripod adapter are rigidly connected. The field tripod adapter may be left permanently attached to the field tripod. 3. Place the equatorial head onto the top of the field tripod adapter. Be sure the two azimuth knobs are unthreaded far enough to allow the equatorial head to slide past the azimuth stud. 4

WHEN OBSERVING DURING THE DAYTIME, DO NOT POINT THE TELESCOPE EVEN CLOSE TO THE SUN. DO NOT PLUG OR UNPLUG THE KEYPAD FROM THE POWER PANEL OF THE TELESCOPE WHILE THE POWER IS ON. ALL MEADE TELESCOPES ARE UNDER CONTINUOUS TECHNICAL REVIEW, AND SPECIFICATIONS MAY BE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SHIP OUR LATEST MODELS. Meade telescopes, spotting scopes, and accessories are warranted to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ONE YEAR from the date of or

Longer, non-standard set screws may protrude too far into the optical tube and cause serious damage to the telescope. (1) Bracket Slide (4) Collimation Screws (2) Objective Lens Cell (5) Eyepiece (3) Focus Locking Ring Fig. 6: 8x50mm Viewfinder b. Focusing the Viewfinder The 8x50mm viewfinder has been factory pre-focused to infinity. Should this focusing need adjustment for your eyes, loosen the knurled collar at the objective lens-end of the viewfinder (3, Fig. 6), enabling rotation of th