Meade LX850 German Equatorial Mount with StarLock and Tripod

The new standard in astrophotograhic performance, the LX850 mount with StarLock dual imager full time autoguider. Includes AutoStar II GOTO system with over 144,000 object library and all the features an advanced visual observer or astrophotographer would ever want. Take your imaging to the next level.

The LX850 mount, constructed of machined stainless steel and aircraft grade aluminum is a rock solid platform for the most demanding applications, with a 40kg payload capacity and pointing accuracy as good as one arcminute. Features include precision roller bearings on each axis, a 1.75 stainless steel RA shaft, 5.8" main gears, fine manual adjustment controls on both axes, illuminated reticle output port, telescope to computer USB cable and AutoStar Suite software. Mount main body weight is 25kg. The fully height adjustable (74 to 114cm) tripod features massive 3" diameter stainless steel legs for rock steady performance and weighs 16kg.

The kit includes StarLock – the revolutionary new technology that makes target acquisition on your imaging sensor and accurate guiding during exposures completely automatic. With Meade's exclusive LightSwitch technology at its core, StarLock uses an 80mm f/5 optics and two camera sensor system to provide computer assisted polar alignment using the drift method. Once aligned, the StarLock is guiding the mount in real time, and even automatically programs periodic error correction, achieving a guiding accuracy of up to 1 arcsecond in good seeing and with the capability of guiding on stars as faint as 11th magnitude.

The LX850 features DC servomotors on each axis with a maximum slew speed of 3° per second, allowing slewing 180° to the opposite side of the sky in one minute flat. Fine slewing and photographic guiding speeds can be adjusted from 0.01x to 1x sidereal, with faster slewing at 2x, 8x, 16x, or 1/4, 1/2, 1 or 3° per second. The mount and all electronics are externally powered by the included Meade Universal Power Supply (12V). An external DC battery or power pack may also be used; Meade 607 Power Cord sold separately. The mount includes both mechanical locks and slow motion manual controls in both axes if for some reason you found yourself without power. Includes single 12kg stainless steel counterweight, additional weights sold separately.

Features:

• 40kg instrument capacity
• StarLock dual imager full time autoguider
• AutoStar II GOTO system
• Heavy-duty tripod
• Telescope to computer USB Cable and AutoStar Suite software
• Anti-vibration pads