Meade 8" f/10 LX85 ACF Telescope with Mount and Tripod

The Meade 8" f/10 LX85 ACF telescope with mount and tripod combines portable but powerful optics with an equatorial GoTo mount that both observers and astro-imagers will appreciate.

The patented Advanced Coma Free (ACF) optics produce impressively flat fields of view with none of the coma distortion inherent in some other designs, even out to the edges of larger format cameras or extreme wide angle eyepieces. With its big 8" aperture and long focal length of 2032mm, the 8" f/10 LX85 ACF telescope penetrates deep into space to resolve stunning views of distant star clusters, planetary nebulae, and elusive galaxies — objects that are virtually out of reach of the wide-angle telescopes so common today.

The optics feature an oversized low-expansion borosilicate primary mirror and glass corrector plate. The corrector plate produces no diffraction spikes because there are no secondary spider vanes, as are standard on other optical designs such as Newtonian reflectors and Ritchey-Chretiens. The Ultra-High Transmission Coatings (UHTC) yield maximum image brightness and contrast at the eyepiece or camera sensor, serving up beautifully bright images of deep-sky objects, with excellent contrast of surface features found on the Moon and planets.

The optical path and components of the ACF telescope design

Proudly Designed and Manufactured in North America

The ACF primary, secondary, and corrector plate glass blanks are manufactured in the USA exclusively for Meade. Meade ACF telescopes and mounts are all manufactured and assembled in North America, with meticulous oversight of quality control throughout the production process.

A Rock-Solid Platform for Your Telescope

Enthusiasts will appreciate the stability, pointing precision, and engineering craftsmanship embodied in the LX85 Computerized GoTo Telescope Mount. This fine-quality German equatorial mount, which features fully automated GoTo slewing to thousands of objects via its innovative AudioStar controller, sets the standard for mid-sized telescope mounts. It features a Vixen-style dovetail cradle for mounting telescopes and camera gear weighing up to 33 lb. Supporting the mount is a beefy tripod with 2"-diameter stainless steel legs and a wide stance for stability. The mount readily accommodates the optional Meade LX85 Illuminated Polar Scope, ensuring spot-on polar alignment in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Accurate polar alignment is essential for precise tracking, especially at high powers, and for astrophotographic guiding.

Versatility for Visual Use or Astrophotography

The equatorial design of the LX85 lends itself to both visual use and deep-sky astrophotography. For the latter, the equatorial mount allows the precise polar alignment that is necessary to prevent "field rotation," which degrades long exposures taken with telescopes on Alt/Az mounts. Of course, if your primary interest is visual, you might consider the LX90 series of fork-mounted Alt/Az telescopes, as there is no need for critical polar alignment when observing. But for long exposure photography, the LX85's equatorial configuration and capability for pinpoint polar alignment will set you up better for success.

And with the addition of the optional Meade ACF 0.68x Focal Reducer, the ACF is even better optimized for deep space imaging. This thread-on accessory converts an f/10 ACF into a faster f/6.8 system and transforms an f/8 ACF into a speedy f/5.5 imaging beast! The reducer shortens the long exposure times needed to record faint deep-sky objects by half and expands the field of view by nearly 50%, allowing capture of larger objects in a single frame. Your Meade ACF will become a powerful astrograph capable of capturing jaw-dropping astrophotographs with your DSLR or astronomical CCD or CMOS camera!

And though it may be obvious, it's still worth noting: Every Meade ACF telescope features dual-experience functionality, meaning that you can attach a camera and capture stunning astrophotographs, or you can pop in an eyepiece to visually study a celestial object — like Galileo, Herschel, Messier, and other astronomers both professional and amateur have done for centuries. The rewards of astrophotographic endeavors with an ACF lie in the dramatic colors and structure of objects revealed with impressive resolution by the tremendous light gathering capability and sharpness of the ACF optics. The visual experience is equally breathtaking: the real-time sight of an astronomical object through the eyepiece engenders a powerful, almost spiritual connection with the heavens. The view is ethereal and immersive, 3D-like, and made all the richer by the knowledge that you're looking back in time — millions of years in the case of some distant galaxies, to when they emitted the photons that are now just reaching your retinas. With a Meade ACF as your gateway to the night sky, you can experience the sheer amazement of exploring its diverse treasures in both ways — astrophotographically with your camera, or visually with your eyes wide open.

Advanced Tracking and Guiding Performance

The 8" f/10 LX85 ACF telescope's low-cog servo motors ensure smooth tracking and guiding capability. Their integer drive gearing lets you track through long exposures using Meade's Smart Drive feature, which records permanent periodic error correction (PPEC) to improve tracking accuracy over time. Backlash compensation trains out the intrinsic play between gears to further dial in GoTo and tracking precision. Fine slewing and photographic guiding speeds can be adjusted from .01x to 1x sidereal, with faster slewing up to 4 degrees per second.

Take Aim with AudioStar and Its "Astronomer Inside" Tech

With the included AudioStar controller you will enjoy quick access to over 30,000 celestial objects, which you can view with pushbutton ease. The object library includes the planets, double stars, and thousands of nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters from the Messier, NGC, and IC catalogs. Up to 100 custom user-defined objects can also be added, with filters to create custom object lists.

AudioStar's Astronomer Inside technology features a built-in speaker that plays over four hours of educational content about the celestial objects you are viewing — more than 500 of them! Additional helpful functions are right at your fingertips, including directional slewing keys, Guided Tours of the best objects based on date and location, digital positional readouts, several different star alignment procedures, the ability to link with a PC running optional astronomy software, battery monitor, and updating via the internet through its serial port. AudioStar's intuitive menu-driven user interface and two-line red LCD screen make observing the heavens efficient and easy, for new users and experienced stargazers alike. The top of the AudioStar even has a built-in red LED utility light!

The Meade AudioStar features audio files and an internal speaker.

This computerized celestial object locating system plugs into the mount's handbox port. After an easy star alignment, AudioStar is ready to take you to any object in the over 30,000-object database. Enjoy its intuitive object menus and two-line illuminated LCD screen, plus hours of audio descriptions of what you're viewing. What a fun and informative way to explore the heavens!.

The 8" f/10 LX85 ACF Telescope's optical tube measures only 18" long, and weighs just 11.5 lbs. An internal single-speed focuser lets you dial in the perfect focus. The telescope comes with a Meade 26mm (78x) Super Plössl eyepiece, 1.25" mirror star diagonal, 8x50 crosshair viewfinder, tripod accessory tray, 25' DC power cable, one 9-lb counterweight, and AutoStar Suite software available as a download. Requires a 12V power source or 110V AC to 12V DC power converter (sold separately). Weighs 46 lb fully assembled. And like all Meade products the LX85 8" f/10 LX85 ACF Telescope is backed by Meade's Two Year Limited Warranty.

Powerful, nicely portable, and versatile enough for visual or astrophotographic pursuits — those qualities make the Meade LX85 8" f/10 LX85 ACF Telescope with Mount and Tripod an instrument you can growth with as you go deep exploring what the night sky has to offer.