Meade LX850-ACF Telescope

Standard Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes often suffer from coma, which causes stars at the edge of your view to look like little comets. The ACF design eliminates this distortion, ensuring your stars remain pinpoint-sharp from the center all the way to the edge of the frame, which is essential for high-quality astrophotography.

StarLock is an integrated automatic guider that handles the tedious work of keeping your target perfectly centered. It automatically locks onto a guide star and makes micro-adjustments to the mount, allowing for precise, hands-free tracking during long-exposure imaging without needing a separate autoguiding setup.

This system is designed for advanced users who are serious about astrophotography. While the AutoStar II GOTO system makes finding objects easy, the sheer size, weight, and complexity of the 12-inch mount and optical tube require a solid understanding of polar alignment and telescope maintenance.

Yes, while the telescope comes with a 2-inch diagonal, you can use a 1.25-inch adapter to accommodate your smaller eyepieces. However, for the best wide-field views, we recommend using 2-inch eyepieces to take full advantage of the telescope's optical design.

The heavy-duty mount is rated for a 90-pound instrument capacity. This gives you plenty of headroom to attach a heavy camera, filter wheels, and other imaging accessories without compromising the stability or tracking accuracy of the system.

Yes, it is a significant upgrade for imaging. Traditional focusers often cause the image to 'shift' or jump when you adjust the focus, which can ruin a long exposure. This electronic focuser allows you to achieve perfect focus without moving the primary mirror, keeping your target locked in place.