Meade announces the new and unique $1299 6" ETX-LS scope with hands-free alignment and a built-in digital camera!

LightSwitch™ Technology for “no-hands/no eye” automatic sky alignment: The innovative LightSwitch™ Technology alignment system in the new $1299 6” Meade ETX-LS eliminates the frustration many astronomers feel when they try to align their traditional telescope on the sky by eye for an evening of observing and imaging. The patented LightSwitch™ Technology alignment system replaces the “human eye” for the only hands-free/eye-free alignment available in any consumer telescope. Turn on your ETX-LS and the scope’s electronic sensors calculate the current time, date, and location of the telescope. Then the ECLIPS™ CCD Camera automatically verifies the locations of two stars to build a ‘real time’ map of the night sky. The telescope is now aligned on the sky and ready to use – without any input from you.

Built-in digital camera doesn’t need an attached computer : The ETX-LS is equipped with an easy-to-use interface and a sensitive, wide-angle digital imager mounted under the optical tube for taking vibrant, low-power, low-noise 640 x 480 pixel images of objects in the night sky while you view them at higher powers through the scope.. An SD card slot in the ETX-LS lets you store the images on an SD card to view and process on your computer later or you can view them immediately by using the scope’s video output. The included ETX-LS Astronomer-Inside™ software guides you to the best objects in the night sky and delivers a celestial encyclopedia of over four hours of audio that you can hear through the scope’s built-in speaker and 30 minutes of movies and animations that can be viewed on an optional monitor to take the user on an interactive guided tour of hundreds of night sky objects.

Advanced Coma-Free optics for images rivaling those of a professional Ritchey-Chrétien telescope: The ETX-LS is built with Meade’s patented Advanced Coma-Free (ACF) catadioptric optics to deliver the same sharp, flat, coma-free field of view found in professional Ritchey-Chrétien telescopes, but without the R-C’s traditionally high price tag. The ACF technology found in the ETX-LS outperforms the Schmidt-Cassegrain optical system found in many traditional consumer telescopes. This is the first time that Advanced Coma-Free optical quality has been available in a 6” aperture telescope.

Meade’s ETX-LS telescope will make its official debut at “CES Unveiled: The Official Press Event of the Consumer Electronics Show” on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 in Las Vegas.

Here a link to more details on this $1299 scope, including detailed specifications. First deliveries are expected in mid-February. We will post all additional information as it comes available. We know you will be as excited as we are when you see the revolutionary ETX-LS with LightSwitch™ Technology.

You can get on a no-cost/no obligation waiting list for an ETX-LS by sending an e-mail with your name and e-mail address to questions@astronomics.com. Just put ETX-LS in the subject line and we’ll let you know as soon as the scopes start arriving from Meade.