Meade has a new telescope out, the ETX-90 EC. It's a cute little 90mm scope on a battery operated motorized mount which sells for $595.00. It can also be used with Meade's new Autostar #497 computerized controller, which lists at $149.95. See http://www.meade.com/ for details. This computerized controller is supposed to find and track satellites as well as conventional astronomical objects like the moon, planets, stars, etc. Here's the page from the Autostar operator's manual, which can be found on the above site: "SATELLITE is a database of Earth-orbiting objects such as the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, Iridium and Global Positioning System satellites, and geosynchronous orbit satellites. To use this option, choose an object from the Select menu, then press ENTER. Autostar scans its database to find if that satellite is expected to pass overhead within the next 6 hours. If this is the case, use the scroll keys to access a list of information about the pass, including acquisition time, location, etc. At the end of the list is an alarm. Press ENTER and Autostar automatically sets the alarm to sound several minutes before the scheduled appearance. Return to regular observations until the alarm goes off. At that time follow this procedure: 1. Return to the Satellite menu and select the satellite. 2. When the desired satellite is on the top line of the display, press GO TO. Autostar slews the telescope to where the satellite should appear. The motor drive stops and a countdown starts. NOTE: If the scheduled appearance point of the satellite is obstructed (i.e., a building, tree, or hill), press ENTER and Autostar starts to move the telescope along the expected satellite track. When the track clears the obstruction, press ENTER again to pause the telescope, then continue with this procedure. 3. With about 20 seconds left on the countdown timer, start watching through the telescope viewfinder for the satellite to enter the field of view. 4. When the satellite enters the viewfinder field of view, press ENTER. The telescope starts to track with the satellite. 5. Use the Autostar arrow keys to center the object in the viewfinder, then look through the eyepiece to view the object. "Satellite orbits change and new satellites (including the Space Shuttle) are launched. Visit the Meade web site (www.meade.com) approximately once a month to get updated information and instructions on how to download these data to Autostar. If using orbital parameters that are more than one month old, the satellite pass may not happen at the time predicted by Autostar. To download new satellite data into Autostar memory requires the optional #505 Connector Cable Set (see OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES). "NOTE: Satellite observing is an exciting challenge. Most satellites are in low orbit, travelling at approximately 17,500 mph. When visible, they move quickly across the sky and are only in the field of view for a few minutes, requiring Autostar to slew the telescope rapidly. Best viewing is near sunrise or sunset when the sky is still dark. Viewing in the middle of the night can be problematic since the satellite may pass overhead, but not be visible since it is in the Earth's shadow. I've just purchased the combination, but it doesn't come with a cable to connect the computer to the PC, nor has Meade published instructions on downloading orbital elements. It comes with a few orbital elements already in place, so I'm going to try it on some GPS birds as soon as we have a suitable night. I don't know how old these elements are, but I figure the GPS orbits are stable enough so that even 3 month old elements should work. Has anybody yet successfully tracked a satellite with the ETX-90 EC / Autostar combo? Any info on downloading new elements? Dave Mullenix