science

Meade Instruments

Meade Instruments is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Meade Instruments rather than just read about it. In short: Meade Instruments Corporation (also shortened to Meade) was an American multinational company headquartered in Watsonville, California, that manufactured, imported and distributed telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, CCD cameras, and telescope accessories for the consumer market. It was, at one point, the world's largest manufacturer of telescopes.

Key takeaways

Meade Instruments belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Meade Instruments to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Meade Instruments from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Meade Instruments Corporation (also shortened to Meade) was an American multinational company headquartered in Watsonville, California, that manufactured, imported and distributed telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, CCD cameras, and telescope accessories for the consumer market. It was, at one point, the world's largest manufacturer of telescopes. Besides selling under its "Meade" brand name, the company sold solar telescopes under the brand "Coronado". In July 2024, Sky and Telescope magazine reported that Optronic Technologies, the owner of Meade Instruments and Orion Telescopes, had closed their facilities in California and had laid off all of their employees. As of July 15, there had been no official announcement from the company, and S&T said they were trying to get more information from their sources. As of December, 2024, the Sky&Telescope website announced that the assets of Meade, Coronado and Orion Telescopes and Binoculars would be listed for auction and that these companies were ceasing operations.

Origins and history Founded in 1972 by John Diebel, Meade started as a mail order seller of small refracting telescopes and telescope accessories manufactured by the Japan-based Towa Optical Manufacturing Company. Meade started manufacturing its own line of products in 1976, introducing 6" and 8" reflecting telescopes models in 1977. In 1980, the company ventured into the Schmidt-Cassegrain market that up to that time had been dominated by Celestron Corporation. Meade has a long history of litigation with other companies over infringement of their patents, particularly with its once bitter rival Celestron. In August 2008, Meade modified their line of Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes with changes to the optical surfaces in design they call "Advanced Coma-Free optics" (ACF Optics). Past production sites include 16542 Millikan Avenue in Irvine, which was used in the 1990s. Meade production was consequently moved to a new build plant in 6001 Oak Canyon, located as well in Irvine. The Oak Canyon plant was in use for about a decade until 2009, after which production was moved to an expanded plant in Tijuana, Mexico. In October 2013, Meade Instruments merged with Ningbo Sunny Electronic, a Chinese manufacturer, and Joseph Lupica became CEO of Meade. In February 2015, Victor Aniceto succeeded Lupica as president. On November 26, 2019, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California a federal jury found that Ningbo and Meade suppressed competition and fixed prices for consumer telescopes in the United States in violation of federal antitrust laws (case# 16-06370). Optronic Technologies, Inc. was awarded $16.8 million in damages. On December 4, 2019, Meade Instruments Corp. filed bankruptcy in the United States District Court for the Central District of California as case number 19-14714.

Products

Products produced by Meade include:

Catadioptric cassegrains

ACF telescopes ACF (Advanced Coma-Free) is an altered version of the Meade's previous schmidt-cassegrain telescopes that replaces the traditional spherical schmidt-cassegrain secondary mirror with a hyperbolic secondary mirror. In the new design the full aperture corrector is slightly altered in shape and combined with a spherical primary mirror. Meade's literature describes their ACF as a variation on the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope, although it does not use the two hyperbolic mirror combination in that design (being more of an aplantic design).

Models LX90-ACF, 8" to 12" LX200-ACF, a series of LX200 with ACF Optics 8" to 16" LX400-ACF, 16 to 20" f/8, w/ robotic equatorial mount LX800

Maksutov telescopes

Meade produces a line of Maksutov telescopes under their ETX series (Everybody's Telescope). They were first produced in 90 mm (3-1/2") Maksutov Cassegrain telescope in 1996. They range in size from 90 mm to 125 mm.

Newtonian telescopes

Schmidt-Newtonian telescopes (6 to 10 inches). LightBridge Dobsonian telescopes (currently 8, 10, 12 and a 16-inch model) Meade Model 4504: 4.5-inch (110 mm) equatorial reflecting telescope

GoTo telescopes Many Meade telescope lines are classified by the self aiming computerized alt-azimuth and equatorial mounts they come on, a technology commonly called a "GoTo" mount.

Models LXD75, including Newtonian, Schmidt-Newtonian, Advanced Coma-Free, and achromatic refractor telescopes ETX-LS, 150mm (6 in) and 200mm (8 in) F/10 ACF telescope on a single-fork arm with integral GPS and 'Eclips' camera for self-alignment. DS-2000 Series, 80mm (3.1") refractor, 114mm (4.5") and 130mm (5.1") reflector on altazimuth Goto mounts LX80, LX90 ETX-70, ETX-80 LX85, including Newtonian, Schmidt-Newtonian, Advanced Coma-Free, and achromatic refractor telescopes

Solar telescopes In 2004, Meade acquired Coronado Filters from founder and designer David Lunt, who produce an extensive range of specialty telescopes that allow views of the sun in Hydrogen-Alpha, and formerly, at Calcium K line wavelengths. The Meade Coronado telescopes are called "Solarmax 40" or higher depending on the model.

Other products Achromatic refractors (5 and 6-inch) Meade also sells under the "Meade" name imported low to moderate cost reflectors and refractors intended for the beginner retail market.

Telescope accessories Accessories produced by Meade include the series 5000 eyepieces that are comparable in construction to those of Chester, New York-based Tele Vue Optical's "Nagler" (82-degree field of view), "Panoptic" (68-degree field of view), and "Radian" (60-degree field of view) eyepieces. Meade sells Deep Sky and Lunar digital imagers for telescopes. They also market the mySKY & mySKY Plus, multi-media GPS devices guiding users to the sky, similar to the competing Celestron SkyScout.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Meade Instruments

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Meade Instruments claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Meade Instruments before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Meade Instruments ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Meade Instruments

In research: Meade Instruments appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Meade Instruments in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Meade Instruments is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1972 establishments in California, 1997 initial public offerings, 2013 mergers and acquisitions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Meade Instruments outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Meade Instruments in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Meade Instruments means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Meade Instruments out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meade Instruments in simple terms?

Why does Meade Instruments matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Meade Instruments?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Meade Instruments.