Meade Ultra Wedge for 10, 12 and 14 inch LX200 & RCX400

Meade Ultra Wedge
Meade Ultra Wedge eliminates field-rotation effects when using your 10, 12 and 14-inch LX200 and RCX400 telescope for astrophotography . In combination with the adapter plate (found here:Meade Adapter Plate) the Ultra Wedge is also suitable for the LX 90.

Great for astrophotography
Astrophotography is possible with the LX20 and RCX400 scopes in the standard altazimuth mode. With long-exposure photography, however, an effect called field rotation rears its head. Stars on the edge of the field will appear as small concentric arcs or streaks on the film instead of star points. This effect, which is not related to the accuracy of the telescope's computer or internal alignment, occurs on all altazimuth-mounted telescopes. It's simply a side effect of the altazimuth mount type itself.

Preventing field rotation
To avoid field rotation you can align your LX200 & RCX400 with the poles by means of the Meade ultra wedge. This wedge allows you to align the rotation axis of the telescope with the rotation axis of the earth. This eliminates the effect of field rotation and takes the stress away. An alternative to using a wedge is a field de-rotator. The de-rotator allows you to continue in altazimuth mode while correcting for field rotation for longer-exposure astrophotography and CCD imaging. A field de-rotator for LX200 models can be found here .