It’s like a date with R2D2

IT wasn’t long ago that telescope manufacturers thought amateur astronomers were millionaires or majored in astrophysics. Telescopes were too expensive and complicated, and offering a product that was simple to use and easy on the pocketbook was an engineering challenge. Until now.

Meade’s new ETX Premier Edition proved heaven sent during a test gaze last week -- and just in time for amateurs to home in on Mars, which on Oct. 29 will pass closest to Earth. (The red planet is racing toward us at about 23,500 mph).

The ETX costs $700, $900 or $1,100, depending on aperture size, tripod included. Now, a grand might seem out of reach for some, but when compared with most scopes, the ETX is a bargain for what you’re getting -- not only a powerful scope but a tracking mechanism as well.

At first I was skeptical. Setting up the scope proved to be anything but stellar. The two tiny (but unnecessary) spring-retaining clasps on the tripod popped off and vanished. The eight double-A batteries were a pain to insert.

But it took only a few minutes to get the scope up and ready, thanks to a quick-start guide. Then the fun began.

With the flip of a switch, the telescope hummed with moving gears, and the controls on the hand-held computer lighted up bright red for easy reading. It wanted to know the ZIP code or city it was in. I entered a ZIP code.

With that, the telescope began “sluing” (that’s geek speak for searching). With smooth, even movements, a couple of clicks and a few whirs, the telescope calculated time, date, true north and its place in the universe, literally. It even corrected for my sloping driveway.

Once the alignment had been made, I reached for the hand-held keypad and tapped the “enter” button. Like the gun turret on a battleship, the scope swung into action, rotating 90 degrees first, then raising its big eye toward Mars, which right now is looking a little sunburnt. Then I was ready to explore more mysterious objects in the universe -- SAO 129825, for instance, or Caldwell 14, or the stars Vega and Albireo.

And this is just in my own yard, with the streetlight near my driveway. Now I’m ready to set up in the darker regions of the city -- the parking lot at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, perhaps even the Hollywood Bowl from the nosebleed seats.

Cue the Strauss. This is better than “2001.”