Addendum For NexStar GPS Hand Control Section Of The Owner's Manual. The following is an addendum to the NexStar Hand Control section of the owner's manual that explains the current operation and added features of your NexStar GPS hand control. Please refer to these pages for specific information regarding telescope alignment and hand control functions. Celestron Technical Support Dept. 2835 Columbia St. Torrance, CA 90503 310-328-9560 www.celestron.
The NexStar has a removable hand controller built into the side of the fork arm designed to give you instant access to all the functions the NexStar has to offer. With automatic slewing to over 40,000 objects, and common sense menu descriptions, even a beginner can master its variety of features in just a few observing sessions. Below is a brief description of the individual components of the NexStar hand controller: 1. 2. 3.
Planets - All 8 planets in our Solar System plus the Moon. Stars – A compiled list of the brightest stars from the SAO catalog. List – For quick access, all of the best and most popular objects in the NexStar database have been broken down into lists based on their type and/or common name: Named Stars Named Objects Double Stars Variable Stars Asterisms CCD Objects IC Objects Abell Objects Common name listing of the brightest stars in the sky.
G GP PS SA Alliiggnnm meenntt GPS Align must be used with the telescope mounted in altazimuth. With GPS Align mode, the NexStar automatically levels the optical tube, its built-in electronic compass points the telescope in the direction of the northern horizon, while the GPS receiver links with and acquires information from 3 of the 24 orbiting GPS satellites.
6. Observing Tip After the first alignment star has been recorded, the NexStar will automatically slew to a second alignment star and have you repeat the alignment process for that star. When the telescope has been aligned to both stars, the display will read "Alignment Successful" and you are now ready to find your first object. For the best possible pointing accuracy, always center the alignment stars using the up arrow button and the right arrow button.
TTw woo S Sttaarr A Alliiggnnm meenntt With the two-star alignment method, the NexStar requires the user to know the positions of only two bright stars in order to accurately align the telescope with the sky and begin finding objects. Here is an overview of the two-star alignment procedure: 1. 2. 3. 4. Helpful Hint Once the NexStar is powered on, use the Up and Down scroll keys to select Two-Star Align, and press ENTER.
either positive or negative in declination. Following these two guidelines will result in a more accurate EQ Two-Star alignment. Helpful Hint If you would like the NexStar to assist you in polar aligning the mount, choose Wedge Align from the Utility Menu before aligning your scope. For more information on polar aligning on a wedge, see the section on Wedge Align later in the manual.
• Press the ENTER Key. This will automatically slew the telescope to the coordinates of the object. Caution: Never slew the telescope when someone is looking into the eyepiece. The telescope can move at fast slew speeds and may hit an observer in the eye. If you slew to an object that is below the horizon, NexStar will notify you by displaying a message reminding you that you have selected an object outside of your slew limits (see Slew Limits in the Utility Features section of the manual).
telescope. While holding that button down, press the opposite directional button. This will increase the slew rate to the maximum slew rate. When pressing the Up and Down arrow buttons in the slower slew rates (6 and lower) the motors will move the telescope in the opposite direction than the faster slew rates (7 thru 9). This is done so that an object will move in the appropriate direction when looking into the eyepiece (i.e.
Sidereal This rate compensates for the rotation of the Earth by moving the telescope at the same rate as the rotation of the Earth, but in the opposite direction. When the telescope is polar aligned, this can be accomplished by moving the telescope in right ascension only. When mounted in AltAz mode, the telescope must make corrections in both R.A. and declination. Lunar Used for tracking the moon when observing the lunar landscape. Solar Used for tracking the Sun when solar observing.
Get RA/DEC - Displays the right ascension and declination for the current position of the telescope. Goto R.A/ Dec - Allows you to input a specific R.A. and declination and slew to it. Helpful Hint To store a set of coordinates (R.A./Dec) permanently into the NexStar database, save it as a User Defined Object as described above.
To change the goto approach direction, simply choose Goto Approach from the Scope Setup menu, select either Altitude or Azimuth approach, choose positive or negative and press Enter. Autoguide Rate – Allows the user to set an autoguide rate as a percentage of sidereal rate. This is helpful when calibrating your telescope to a CCD autoguider for long exposure photography.
6. Based on this one-star alignment, the NexStar will slew to where it thinks Polaris should be. Use the tripod and wedge adjustments to place Polaris in the center of the eyepiece. Do not use the direction buttons to position Polaris. Once Polaris is centered in the eyepiece the polar axis will be pointed towards the North Celestial Pole.
NexStar Ready MENU TRACKING MODE ALT-AZ EQ NORTH EQ SOUTH OFF RATE SIDEREAL SOLAR LUNAR VIEW TIME-SITE SCOPE SETUP SETUP TIME-SITE ANTI-BACKLASH SLEW LIMITS FILTER LIMITS DIRECTION BUTTONS GOTO APPROACH AUTOGUIDE RATE CORDWRAP UTILITIES GPS ON/OFF COMPASS LEVEL WEDGE ALIGN PEC LIGHT CONTROL FACTORY SETTING VERSION GET ALT-AZ GOTO ALT-AZ HIBERNATE USER OBJECTS GOTO SKY OBJ SAVE SKY OBJ ENTER RA & DEC SAVE LAND OBJ GOTO LAND OBJ GET RA-DEC GOTO RA-DEC ALIGNMENT LIST GPS ALIGNMENT SEARCHING..