How to overcome the difficulty of finding and imaging a faint object with the Meade LX-90 telescope.
Finding a faint object in a camera connected to the telescope is not always as simple as it seems. The field of view of an f/10 telescope is very narrow. The LX-90 may not align exactly to the selected object and the camera only sees a small part of what might be seen with a wide angle, low power eyepiece.
First, it is essential that the finder-scope is aligned with the telescope and the drives have been retrained. It is also desirable to calibrate the sensors at least once since the last time the handbox was reset or switched between equatorial and alt-az.
That said, this is the procedure for difficult objects:
A. Eyepiece: Sync Star
Setup > Telescope > High Precision.
Select the target object name and press 'Enter'.
Telescope slews to sync star.
Centre the sync star in the eyepiece at high power.
Focus the sync star in the eyepiece.
Confim accurate adjustment of the alignment of finder-scopes.
Confirm Sync star is still centred in eyepiece.
Press 'Enter'.
B. Eyepiece: Target Object
Telescope slews to target object.
Confirm target object is visible in the eyepiece.
If not visible, locate using finder-scope or spiral search.
Note orientation of target object from initial slew.
Centre the target object in the eyepiece.
Zero the setting circles to record location of target object.
Confirm again that target object is centred in finder-scopes.
C. Camera: Sync Star
Remove eyepiece and fit camera.
Re-select the target object name and press 'Enter'.
Telescope slews to high-precision sync star.
Centre the sync star in the camera using live view.
Rough focus by twisting focus knob two turns anti-clockwise.
Add Bahtinov mask.
Accurately focus the sync star in the camera.
Remove Bahtinov mask.
Press 'Enter'.
D. Camera: Target Object
Telescope slews to target object.
Adjust camera to high ISO & take a test shot.
Confirm that target object is visible in the test image.
If target object not visible, locate with setting circles (or finder).
Adjust camera framing to suit.
Reduce ISO and start imaging.