Sky and Telescope - May 2018 - 37

ROD M OLLISE (4)

a pretty refractor. Although similar in
appearance to many current APOs, it
has the distinctive "Meade" blue lens
cap and trim. The build quality is very
good for the price; not quite the same
as units costing twice as much or more,
but solidly built. The multi-coated
objective coatings were visibly effective;
incident light falling on the lens seemed
to practically disappear.
The scope includes a 3-inch
Crayford-style focuser with a 10-to-1
ﬁne-focus knob that incorporates a
non-marring compression-style system
to secure your star-diagonal, camera,
or eyepiece. The focuser itself can be
rotated independently of the tube, a
big help for astrophotographers when
composing shots. Up front is a sliding
dew shield that can be retracted when
installing solar ﬁlters, or to save space
when storing or transporting the scope.
Accessories included with the 115
ED are few. A nice set of tube rings are
bolted to a robust Vixen-style dovetail
bracket. The rings are drilled on top to
accommodate an optional bracket for a
guide telescope or other accessories.
Finally, there's an attractive lightweight carrying case for the telescope.
While this aluminum-framed plastic
case holds the scope snugly in place
with die-cut foam and is sufﬁcient for
storing and transporting the scope, it's
not meant to take much abuse.

ture produce on some of my favorite
targets? As you'll see, this refractor novice now concedes that some of the stories about the telescopes' performance I
used to dismiss as myths are true.

First Light

p The telescope's 4½-inch triplet objective
showed reflections only under bright sunlight.

Meade provided several optional
accessories with the telescope, including
a 2-inch mirror star diagonal, though
no ﬁnderscope, which is an extra-cost
option. Luckily, the scope is ﬁtted with
the industry-standard ﬁnder base,
which permitted me to use the 50-mm
ﬁnderscope from my own refractor.
The 115 ED is an f/7 triplet refractor
with one ED element to improve color
correction. This is a sizeable aperture
telescope as APO refractors go, yet it
weighs in at a mere 12.2 pounds.
I was curious to see how well this
reasonably priced 115mm APO performed, and was expecting good things.
How much detail can this modest aper-

When you take the false color of simple
achromatic objective lenses out of the
refractor equation, you are left with an
instrument featuring superior sharpness and contrast thanks to the lack of
an obstructing secondary mirror, which
reduces contrast in the views through
reﬂectors and compound telescopes.
While the 115mm would not have
stressed out my lightweight Go To German equatorial mount (GEM), I chose
to place the Meade on my 50-poundpayload-capable GEM to give the scope
its best chance to shine. The triplet is
noticeably front-heavy, thanks to its
3-element objective lens. Fortunately,
the tube rings provide plenty of room to
ﬁnd balance even with heavy eyepieces,
binoviewers, or cameras attached.
First light in my backyard was spent
soaking in views of bright stars and the
ﬁrst quarter Moon. Nothing tests the
mettle of a refractor like our nearest
celestial neighbor. But ﬁrst I turned to
brilliant Vega, riding high in the West.
While it's not uncommon for an ED
refractor to display a little color fringing on a bright star that's slightly out

p Left: The beefy 3-inch focuser included with the 115 ED includes a blue anodized 10-to-1 fine-focus knob. Right: The unit's drawtube is marked in
centimeters to help quickly repeat focus with your favorite eyepieces and other accessories. The 2½- to 2-inch visual back can be independently rotated
by holding the large knurled ring and turning the "captain's wheel" with aluminum pegs.
s k y a n d t e l e s c o p e . c o m * M AY 2 0 1 8

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Sky and Telescope - May 2018

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