Good Afternoon!
I was referred here by /r/telescopes on reddit (Sorry if they're hated), figured this would be a great place to learn about how to use it.
What I do know:
This telescope was donated by an older retired gentleman who seems to have had it stored for years and years. The school club obviously did a small TLC job to make it presentable, but I did a more thorough cleaning (without taking it apart) to get all the cobwebs off.
From my short several hour research spree, I have figured to the best of my knowledge that this is an older Meade telescope, probably dating before the 1980s. Looked up a 1978 catalog and it was very reminiscent of the one I have. The stand has a plug in, to which I was told may just rotate once every 23hr 56min or so, not entirely familiar with why but can sorta understand why.
The refractor is on backwards I know. That was my bad. I had to take it off to transport it home, wanted it safe. I was playing with it like a monocle like a child just looking at things far away haha, but I put it back on, and apparently put it back on backwards.
The inside of the telescope seems intact, the eyepiece says 40mm on it, and there's little knobs that allow it to move up and down, presumably to focus.
As you can tell, I'm a complete beginner with telescopes. I wanted one when I was much younger but my parents couldn't afford it, so hopefully I can get this one to work out and see some things with my own eyes and not just pictures. I'm hoping to get a model so I can possibly look up a manual, or even ask you guys for some guidance on where to begin with using this.
I have not cleaned inside because I don't want to mess anything up. I am not sure if it has a special regiment in cleaning it.
Sorry if I break any rules, I didn't see a rule post in the pinned section. I may just not be seeing it, had sort of a long day