Meade 8" f/4 LX85 Astrograph Reflector Telescope

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Meade 8" f/4 LX85 Astrograph Reflector Telescope

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8" f/4 astrograph reflector optical tube really pulls in the faint light from distant celestial objects, perfect for both visual and photographic work
Precision-made (8") parabolic primary mirror reflector telescope with fast 800mm focal length (f/4) provides exceptionally bright and crisp images of both solar system and deep-sky objects
LX85 equatorial mount and tripod with GoTo slewing and tracking, and AudioStar controller for automated pointing to over 30,000 night sky objects
Requires 12v DC power source, or AC-DC power inverter
Includes robust 2" linear bearing Crayford focuser with 1.25" adapter, 8x50 finder scope, 26mm Super Pl�ssl eyepiece, 2" diameter steel leg tripod, and more!

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Item # 55891b

Mfg Model # 217012

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The Meade 8" f/4 LX85 astrograph reflector telescope is a compact wide field telescope, with an immense amount of light grasp, thanks to the large 8" BK7 (Borosilicate) mirror and >90% enhanced reflectivity coatings. The f/4 system is incredibly fast, meaning with a camera it will collect a lot of light in a short time, perfect for taking shorter exposures while still recording all sorts of detail in the nebulae and galaxies.

With an 800mm focal length, pairing this telescope with a DSLR or other astro camera will yield large and rich swaths of sky, perfect for framing any number of deep-sky objects. And with the 2" linear bearing Crayford focuser, try pairing it with a low power 2" eyepiece with a large apparent field of view. From a dark-sky location away from city lights, objects such as the Veil Nebula will reveal structures you may not have seen before. The focuser features a 10:1 reduction fine focus knob, brass compression rings (so you don't mar the barrel of your eyepieces or camera adapters) and a 2" to 1.25" step down adapter (also with a brass compression ring).

The LX85 mount is Designed and Manufactured in North America.

The LX85 mount features fully automated GoTo slewing to (and tracking of) over 30,000 objects in the night sky. This stable mount can impressively handle slight load imbalances with ease. With its built-in integer gearing motor drive, you'll be able to track through long exposures using Meade's Smart Drive feature for recording permanent periodic error correction (PPEC). Seamlessly image the best parts of the night sky without having to worry about performing a meridian flip. The LX85 mount also includes an integrated autoguider port to readily connect to your autoguider camera, making your astro-imaging experience easy and straightforward.

The Meade AudioStar features audio files and an internal speaker.

This computerized celestial object locating system plugs into the telescope's handbox port allowing a quick telescope alignment. Once aligned with the sky, the AudioStar is ready to take you to any object in the over 30,000 object database. In addition to GoTo and tracking capability, the AudioStar permits a wide array of fascinating and educational functions such as multiple Guided Tours, digital positional readouts, the ability to link with a PC using optionally available software and cord, and much more.

This complete telescope package includes a 26mm Super Pl�ssl eyepiece, 8x50 finderscope with crosshairs, 2" diameter eyepiece extension tube, hinged tube rings, Vixen-style dovetail rail, tripod accessory tray, 25' DC power cable, two 9-pound counterweights, and AutoStar Suite software available as a download. Weighs 59.1 lbs. fully assembled.

Warranty

Limited Warranty against defects in materials or workmanship for two years from date of purchase. This warranty is provided by Meade for the benefit of the original retail purchaser only. For complete warranty details contact Meade at 800-626-3233.

Warning

Please note this product was not designed or intended by the manufacturer for use by a child 12 years of age or younger.

Product Support

Visit our product support section for instruction manuals and more

Specs

Best for viewing

Fainter deep sky
Best for imaging

Deep sky
User level

User level

Beginner Level - Suited for a wide range of uses, these products are simple to operate and set up. Some initial assembly may be required depending on the type of product. Optical instruments with this rating will have very good optical and mechanical quality. Great for families, young people, and folks who don't want to mess with equipment and complexity. Beginning level telescopes will show you countless lunar craters, Saturn's rings and a myriad of star clusters and nebulae! Referring to the manual is recommended.

Intermediate Level - These products offer higher performance and more advanced features than Level 1: Beginner models. They typically take a bit longer to learn and need some set-up or adjustments. But anyone with the slightest technical bent will have no problem getting familiar with these models. Referring to the manual is recommended.

Advanced Level - These products provide the best performance but may require more skill to master and appreciate. Optical instruments with this rating have exceptionally fine optics and mechanics. Some are easy to use but might be on the large or heavy side. Some are intended for specialized uses. These products will appeal to the more technically inclined. Referring to the manual is highly recommended.

Intermediate
Optical design

Optical design

Reflector telescopes use a pair of large and small mirrors to direct incoming light to the eyepiece. Refractor telescopes refract, or "bend" incoming light to a focus by means of an objective lens. Cassegrain telescopes, such as Maksutov-Cassegrains, "fold" incoming light using two mirrors and a front "corrector" lens.

Reflector
Optical diameter

Optical diameter

For telescopes, the optical diameter (also known as aperture) is the size of a telescope's main light-collecting lens or primary mirror, measured in millimeters or inches. Telescopes with larger optical diameters collect more light, which leads to an increase in brightness and image resolution compared to smaller instruments.

For binoculars, the optical diameter (also known as objective lens diameter) is the size of each of the front-facing objective lenses of a binocular measured in millimeters. Binoculars with larger objective lenses collect more light, which increases image resolution and brightness. Binoculars with larger objective lenses are recommended for low light situations, and binoculars with at least 50mm or larger objective lenses are recommended for pleasing astronomical observations at night.

200mm
Focal length

Focal length

The distance from the center of a curved mirror or lens at which parallel light rays converge to a single point. The focal length is an inherent specification of a mirror or lens and is one of the factors in determining resultant magnification for a telescope (along with the focal length of the eyepiece being used).

800mm
Focal ratio

Focal ratio

The focal ratio of an optical system is the ratio of a telescope's focal length to its aperture. Short focal ratios (f/5, f/4.5) produce wide fields of view and small image scales, while long focal lengths produce narrower fields of views and larger image scales.

f/4.0
Coatings

Coatings

Binocular lenses and prisms are often coated with anti-reflective material to minimize light loss as light travels through the multiple optical surfaces of a typical binocular. Coatings help maximize the amount of light transmitted through each glass surface of a binocular, so as much light as possible reaches the observer's eyes to provide a bright and sharp image.
Good lenses are at least "fully coated," with a single layer of magnesium fluoride coating applied to each air-to-glass lens surface. Multiple layers of coatings are even more effective; the term "multi-coated" means one or more air-to-glass lens surface has multiple coatings. "Fully multi-coated" optics are even better, meaning all lens surfaces have multiple layers of anti-reflective coatings applied for maximum light transmission and optimal image quality.

Enhanced aluminum
Optics type

Optics type

Newtonian reflectors will have either a spherical shaped mirror, which is less expensive to produce, or a higher quality parabola, which does not result in spherical aberration. Cassegrain telescopes routinely use spheres in addition to other lenses in the optical path to correct for residual spherical aberration. Refractors use a series of lenses to provide a clear image. Designs range from a standard air-spaced doublet (two lenses in a row) to exotic designs such as oil-spaced triplets and 4-element multi group lenses.

Parabolic
Glass material

Glass material

Refractors use glass lenses to focus the light, and the glass material plays an important role in the quality of the resulting image. Standard achromatic refractors routinely use Crown and Flint for the two elements, but more expensive apochromatic refractors can use ED (extra low dispersion) glass for one or more of the lenses. Reflector mirrors are made from glass with different levels of thermal expansion. Standard mirrors are made from material such as Soda-Lime Plate glass and BK-7 glass. Glass with Pyrex or other low thermal expansion material will not change shape as dramatically during the cool-down period, resulting in more stable images during this period.

BK-7
Eyepieces

Super Plossl 26.0mm (1.25")
Magnification with included eyepieces

31x
Resolving power

Resolving power

The theoretical resolving power of a telescope can be calculated with the following formula: Resolving power (in arc seconds) = 4.56 divided by aperture of telescope (in inches). In metric units, this is: Resolving power (in arc seconds) = 116 divided by aperture of telescope (in millimeters). Note that the formula is independent of the telescope type or model, and is based only upon the aperture of the telescope. So the larger the telescope's aperture, the more it is capable of resolving. This is important to keep in mind when observing astronomical objects which require high resolution for best viewing, such as planets and double stars. However, it is usually atmospheric seeing conditions (not the telescope) which limits the actual resolving power on a given night; rarely is resolution less than one arc-second possible from even the best viewing locations on Earth.

0.58arc*sec
Lowest useful magnification

Lowest useful magnification

Lowest useful magnification is the power at which the exit pupil becomes 7mm in diameter. Powers below this can still be reached with the telescope to give wider fields of view, but the image no longer becomes brighter at a lower power. This is due to the fact that the exit pupil of the telescope (the beam of light exiting the eyepiece) is now larger than the average person's dark adapted pupil, and no more light can fit into the eye.

29x
Highest useful magnification

Highest useful magnification

The highest practical limit is different from the often used "highest theoretical magnification" specification. The "theoretical" limit generally is 50x the aperture of the scope in inches (2x the aperture in mm). So for example, an 80mm refractor is capable of 160x, and a 10" telescope is theoretically capable of 500x magnification. But after approximately 300x, theory breaks down and real world problems take over. The atmosphere above us is constantly in motion, and it will distort the image seen through the telescope. This effect may not be noticeable at lower powers, but at higher powers the atmosphere will dramatically blur the object, reducing the quality of the image. On a good night (a night where the air above is steady and the stars aren't twinkling), the practical upper limit of a large telescope is 300x, even thought the theoretical limit may be much higher. This doesn't mean the scope will never be able to reach those higher "theoretical" powers - there will be that rare night where the atmosphere is perfectly still and the scope can be pushed past it's practical limit, but those nights will be few and far between.

300x
Highest theoretical magnification

400x
Limiting stellar magnitude

Limiting stellar magnitude

The limiting stellar magnitude is a measure of the faintest star you can see through the telescope.

14.2
Optical quality

Optical quality

"Diffraction Limited" means that the limits of image detail are determined by the physical properties of light, and not by optical defects in the telescope.

Diffraction limited
Finder scope

8x50
Focuser

2" dual-speed linear bearing Crayford
Mount type

Equatorial
Astro-imaging capability

Astro-imaging capability

The astro-photographic capability of the telescope is based on the style, stability, and accuracy of the mount and tripod. Telescopes on either very lightweight mounts or non tracking mounts (such as Dobsonians) are capable of only very short exposures such as lunar photographs. If a motor drive is attached to an equatorial mount, even a small lightweight mount is capable of capturing some planetary detail. Larger EQ mounts that utilize very precise tracking and excellent stability are capable of longer exposure deep-sky photography.

Lunar, planetary & long exposure
Backfocus distance

83.2mm
Tube material

Steel
Length of optical tube

27.5 in.
Weight, optical tube

16.0 lbs.
Additional included accessories

26mm Super Plossl eyepiece, 2" diameter 35mm long eyepiece extension tube, 25' DC power cable
Other features

Dual speed linear bearing Crayford focuser, Smart Drive w/ Permanent Periodic Error Correction, AudioStar Controller with multiple guided tours
Warranty

Warranty

This warranty gives you specific legal rights. It is not intended to remove or restrict your other legal rights under applicable local consumer law; your state or national statutory consumer rights governing the sale of consumer goods remain fully applicable.

Two year

In The Box

8" f/4 optical tube
26mm Super Pl�ssl eyepiece
35mm long 2" diameter eyepiece extension tube
8x50 finder scope
LX85 EQ head
LX85 tripod assembly
Counterweight shaft
9-pound counterweight
Accessory tray
AudioStar hand controller
AudioStar cable
DC cable

Shipping Info

When an item is not in-stock we will ship it as soon as it becomes available. Typically in-stock items will ship first and backordered items will follow as soon as they are available.

A per-item shipping charge (in addition to the standard shipping and handling charge) applies to this product. This charge varies based on the shipping method.

Standard Delivery: $0.00
Standard Delivery to Canada: $216.00

SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS APPLY FOR THIS PRODUCT

This product is available to ship Standard delivery to the 48 continental United States. Delivery is not available to US territories/protectorates or APO/DPO/FPO addresses. Standard delivery is available to Canada. 3 Day, 2nd Day and Next Day delivery is not available.

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