Weasner's Meade Autostar Information

ETX 80 ALIGNMENT ISSUES - "CONTROL PANEL ON WEST SIDE"

Last updated: 9 October 2012

Sent:	Monday, October 8, 2012 10:54:17
From:	Ryan Villegas (ryan.villegas@gmail.com)
Just a quick question regarding the Alignment on an ETX 80.

Last night, I spent several hours trying to understand my alignment
problems with a new scope from the factory. I'm reading through some of
yours (and others) guides and getting some good pointers and things I
will try tonight.

One of the big things I keep seeing is pointing your scope North (not
magnetic) and ensuring the control panel is on the west side. By control
panel, I assume the reference is to where the Autostar plugs in on the
base of the scope, also where the Aux and power switch are. The problem
with my understanding is that no matter how it sits, the panel is always
on the right (east) side. All of the online pictures of the ETX 80 show
the same. Am I missing something or is the scope improperly assembled?

Thanks for all your work and effort that you've put into your ETX site.
It's a gold mine of knowledge for newbies like myself.

Regards,
Ryan Villegas

Mike here: The current ETX-80 model has the control panel (where the AutoStar connects) on the fork arm. Most previous models of the ETX-60/70/80 also had the control panel on the fork arm. The older ETX-90/105/125 models had the control on the base. With the panel on the base, it was important to have the panel on the west side when the telescope was pointed to True North. With the current ETX-80 and ETX-90 models, just point True North.

Go back to the Autostar Information page.

Go to the ETX Home Page.