Exploring the Functionality and Personal Observations Concerning Meade's Autostar and Audiostar Control Systems

Exploring the Functionality and Personal Observations Concerning Meade's Autostar and Audiostar Control Systems

Brace your stellar journey as I walk you through the Meade Autostar system and its interchangeable utility across Meade's computerized telescope control units. Ranging from the novice to the experienced stargazer, these AutoStar and Audiostar GoTo systems have got you sorted for locating planets, deep-sky objects, and tracking them as they traverse the cosmos.

In recent times, Meade has integrated AutoStar and AudiStar technology into an assortment of handheld controls, typically bundled with specific Meade telescope packages. Here's a quick rundown of some popular handsets:

• The Autostar 494, standard with the Meade ETX 80 Backpack Observer.
• The Autostar 495, found with the Meade DS series.
• The enhanced Autostar 497, an upgrade for Meade's ETX telescope line in the late '90s. This tailored hand control could elevate an existing ETX-EC telescope system to a fully automated astronomical instrument. The 497 handset became standard with ETX AT telescopes, featuring a vast database of over 30,000 celestial objects.
• The Autostar II handset comes with the Meade LX200 series, offering an extraordinary database of over 140,000 celestial objects.
• Later, Meade introduced the Audiostar system, featuring an integrated speaker delivering audio tracks about the celestial bodies under observation. Audiostar handsets held databases of 30,000 cosmic entities.

The beauty of the Autostar and Audiostar systems lies in their consistency in operation. If you've handled one, mastering others requires negligible adjustments. Audiostar offers the unique quality of sound capabilities on the hand controller.

Speaking from personal experience, I've owned an assortment of Meade telescopes – the ETX 60, ETX 80 AT, ETX 80 Observer, and ETX 125 EC, all equipped with the Autostar 497 controller. Operating the Meade LX200 14" at the Custer Observatory felt remarkably similar to working with my ETX scopes.

Robotic telescope systems, such as Meade's, Celestron's, and others, have become known collectively as "GoTo" systems, a term still in use today to refer to motor-driven, computer-operated telescopes. With a basic alignment sequence, these systems learn their location on Earth and can discover any item within their database in the night sky.

Operational Overview

I will elucidate the capabilities of these systems using the Meade 497 handset as an example, but remember, all operate in much the same fashion.

The handset features a 2-line screen and three command keys: Enter, Mode, and GoTo. Following are four direction arrow keys for manual scope movement, a 10-keypad for target naming or number entry and adjusting slew speed, and up and down keys for menu navigation. A key to access the help system tops things off.

Connected to the telescope via a port, this compact computer issues commands to the drive motors, enabling movement. The structured software operation consists of functional groups accessed through menus, allowing for effortless command.

• Setup: Enter date, time, and geographical location. You can also specify your telescope model, daylight savings status, and other pertinent details.
• Alignment: Choose the alignment type you prefer; EASY alignment is a popular option.
• Object: Select from solar system objects, constellations, deep-sky objects, stars, satellites, or user-defined objects.
• Guided Tour: Not sure what to look out for? Autostar's Guided Tour mode will take you on a journey through showcase targets visible within your sky.
• Utilities: Set a timer, alarms, adjust brightness, and more. Also included is an eyepiece calculator for determining magnification with the focal length of your chosen eyepiece.

Alignment of the Controller

The quality of alignment you perform determines the precision with which the telescope locates your desired targets.

EASY alignment is straightforward:

1. Place the optical tube level and facing North (the home position) to provide the telescope with a reasonable starting point.
2. Power the telescope, and the handset will remind you to go to the home position.
3. Now select "Easy Alignment." The Autostar handset will select a bright star and move the telescope towards it.
4. Align the star within the eyepiece using the arrow keys and hit "Enter."
5. The Autostar handset picks a second bright star and swings the telescope to the location it believes that star should be. Align the second star within the eyepiece using the arrow keys and hit "Enter."
6. With both stars aligned, the telescope is aligned. From this point, enter your desired targets on the handset, and Autostar will guide the telescope to locate them.
7. Once found, make minor adjustments using the arrow keys to centrally position the target within the field of view. At this point, the Autostar or AudiStar system will track that target as it moves through the sky.

As a matter of personal experience, I just set my ETX scope on Jupiter, went inside for a drink, and when I returned, Jupiter was still within the eyepiece. Manual scopes wouldn't have been able to keep up – the target would have moved out of the field of view, necessitating a fresh search.

Navigating Light-polluted Skies

Even in light-polluted environments, the Autostar system can direct you to your targets by their catalog numbers, providing invaluable assistance.

Electronically Enhanced Astronomy

An emerging area of astronomy, EAA (Electronically Enhanced Astronomy), replaces the eyepiece with a video camera, sending signals to a computer for capturing data. Over time, this data accumulates light through a process called stacking, producing results similar to but not exactly like long-exposure astrophotography. Leveraging the Autostar system's ability to track celestial objects, you can employ this EAA approach to dive into the world of astroimaging.

1. Meade's computerized telescope control units, like the Autostar and Audiostar GoTo systems, are ideal for both beginners and experienced stargazers, helping locate planets, deep-sky objects, and tracking them in space.
2. Integrated into an assortment of handheld controls, the Autostar and Audiostar systems are typical components of specific Meade telescope packages, such as the Autostar 494 with the Meade ETX 80 Backpack Observer.
3. These systems, such as the Autostar 497, can elevate an existing ETX-EC telescope system to a fully automated astronomical instrument, offering a vast database of over 30,000 celestial objects.
4. With a basic alignment sequence, these motor-driven, computer-operated telescopes (often referred to as "GoTo" systems) can discover any item within their database in the night sky, nearly obviating the need for manual control.
5. The Autostar and Audiostar systems' consistent operation allows users to easily transition between different handsets, and Audiostar offers a unique quality of sound capabilities on the hand controller for a more immersive experience.
6. The Autostar system's Guided Tour mode can be particularly helpful for those unsure of what to explore in the sky, taking users on a journey through showcase targets visible within their sky-range, simplifying the process of exploring deep-sky objects even in light-polluted environments.

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