The Meade LX200 GPS telescope we purchased in January came with quite a few accessories. We had not expected so many items to be part of the deal when we were negotiating with the seller, but we were thrilled when he decided to throw them all in as part of the package after we had agreed on the price.
The first set of boxes we opened had items such as an eyepiece, a 2x tele-extender, and an erect image prism. The other boxes contained two CCD cameras, one for auto-guiding, one for deep sky imaging. Both of them were brand new as they were still sealed in their respective packaging.
The difference between these CCD imagers and a webcam is these does not have a lens in front of the imaging sensor. The telescope is the lens. The larger imager also has fins on the back of the unit for heat dissipation. This is so the noise affecting the CCD sensor is kept to a minimum during long exposures.
One "big" surprise accessory is the 14mm Ultra Wide Angle eyepiece. We had no idea this expensive lens would be in the mix! We have never used one before and are eager to see what we can see with this huge unit.
Meade Series 5000 eyepiece has a 82º field of view and appears to be extremely well crafted. Even the box was heavy duty and made with care.
We posed it next to one of our standard lens just to give you a size reference.
The last item we found was a dew remover/ dew shield (not in photo) combo. A dew remover is basically a heating strip. It wil keep things warm, preventing condensation from forming. This item also looked unused.
We had thought our initial deal for the Meade LX200 GPS scope was a great one. After adding up the value of the accessories, we realized this entire package was an AMAZING steal. We have bought and sold seven telescopes since we started the RainyDayScience section. I think we have finally found the two scopes which will keep us busy for a while. Of course, if a good Questar deal comes a knockin', we'll be a dealin' :-) [Permalink]- Telescope Accessories
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