Celestron NexStar HC manual

I I N N S S T T R R U U C C T T I I O O N N M M A A N N U U A A L L[...]

ii INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 4 W AR NING .................................................................................................................................................... 4 QUICK SETUP ......................[...]

iii P OLAR A LIGNMENT ( WITH OPTIONAL W EDGE ) ......................................................................................... 29 Photography with the N exStar 4 ................................................................................................. ......... 30 Finding the Nort h Celestial Pole .................................[...]

4 Congra tulations on y our purchase of the Celestr on Nex Star! The N exSta r ushers in a w hole new ge neration of com puter autom ated tec hnology . Simple and f riendly to use, the NexS tar is up and r unning af ter locating just tw o alignm ent stars. It’s the perfec t combination of power and portability . If you a re new to as tronomy , yo[...]

5 2 6 1 3 Attach the included accessories (eyepiece and Star Pointer finderscope) and rem ove the front lens cover. Turn-on the Star Pointer by rotating the dial on the side. (F or instructi ons on alig ning t he Star Pointer see the Assembly section of the ma nual). Rotate the tube so it is l evel w i th the ground. Lif t the battery com partment [...]

6 Input the necessary date and ti me inform at ion as instructed by the ha nd control. Press ENTER after each e ntry. The NexStar w ill also ask for tim e zon e and location inform ati on. Use the UP and Dow n scroll button s to select from the various o ptions, p ressing ENTER after each selection. (See Hand Control secti on for de tail ed ali g n[...]

7 1 Optical Tube 6 Focuser Knob 2 Liqui d Cry stal Dis play 7 Straig ht Through Photographic Adapter 3 Hand Control 8 Flip M irror Control 4 ON/OFF Switch 9 Eyepiece 5 Battery Compa rtm ent 10 Star Pointer Fi nderscope 1 2 3 5 10 6 7 8 9 4[...]

8 The Nex Star 4 com es com pletely pre-assembled and c an be operational in a m atter of minute s. The Nex Star is conveniently packaged in on e reusable sh ipp ing carto n th at con tains al l of the foll owing accessori es: • 25 mm SMA Ey epiece – 1 ¼ " • Star Pointer Finders cope and Mounting Bra cke t • Th e Sky® for Celes tron [...]

9 The Hand Control The ha nd control is loca ted on the side of the fork arm and c an be rem oved and use d rem otely or used while atta ched to the fork . The ha nd control atta ches to the fork arm by r esting on tw o posts, located on the bottom of the ha nd control cra dle, and a clip ins ide the f ork arm. T o remove the hand contr ol from the[...]

10 The Star Pointer Fi nderscope The St ar P oin ter i s the q uickest an d easiest way to po int you r telescop e exactly at a desired obj ect in t he sky. It's like havi ng a laser pointe r that y ou can shine directly onto the night sky . The Star Pointer is a z ero m agnification pointing tool that u ses a coat ed gla ss w indow to superim[...]

11 3. With both ey es open, look thr ough the g lass w indow at the alignm ent star. 4. If the Sta r Pointer is perfec tly a ligned, y ou will see the red L ED dot overlap the alignm ent star. If the Sta r Pointer is not aligned, ta ke notice of w h ere the re d dot is relative to the bright star . 5. Without m oving the ma in telesc ope, turn the [...]

12 The Nex S tar 4 HC telescope is a precision scientific instrume nt that will a llow y ou to enjoy view ing numerous obje cts in the night sky — planets, ne bulae, sta r cluste rs, ga laxie s and m ore. Equipped with hig h speed m otors and hand control, the Ne xStar HC allows you to remotely move y our tel escope to desired obj ects qu ickly a[...]

13 4. Star Ke y: Gives the user access to the utility functions of the hand co ntrol, such as changing the d irection o f the arrow keys and backlash compensat ion . 5. Hand Control Sl ew Rat e Indica tor Li ght s: Disp lays the speed at which the telescope will move when each direction button is pres sed. Rate Button Pressi ng the RATE key (3) all[...]

14 3. Use the UP and Dow n arrow k ey s to speed up or slow down the initial speed of the altitude motors w hen the arrow buttons are press ed. 4. Press the STAR key on the hand c ontrol aga in to activ ate the direction buttons agai n. GuideStar Software The N exSta r HC has an RS-232 port on the back of the ha nd control, allow ing it to be contr[...]

15 The NexStar GT has a removable hand contro ller built into the side of the fork arm designed to give you instant access to all the func tions the NexStar has to of fer. With a utoma tic slew ing to over 4,000 obje cts, a nd com mon s ense m enu descr iptions, ev en a beg inner c an ma ster its var iety of fea tures in jus t a fe w observi ng ses[...]

16 Messier – Complete list of all Messier objects. NGC – Complete list of all the deep-sky obje cts in the Revised New Gene ral Catalog . Caldwell – A c ombination of the best NG C and IC objec ts. Planets - All 8 plane ts in our Solar Sy stem plus the Sun and moon. Stars – A compiled list of the brig htest stars from the SAO catalog . List[...]

17 with all accessori es (eyepiece and St ar Po inter) att ached an d lens co ver removed as describ ed in the Assembly section of the ma nual. 1. Once t he NexStar i s powered o n , P ress ENTER to begin alignm ent. 2. Use the Up and Dow n scroll key s to select AutoAlign if it is not already displayed , and pre ss ENT ER. 3. T he telescope will t[...]

18 In order to accurately center th e alig nment star in the eyep iece, it ma y be necessary to decrea se the slew rate of the motors for fine ce ntering. This is done by pre ssing the RATE key ( 11) o n th e hand controller the n selec ting the number that corre sponds to the s peed you de sire. ( 9 = fastest , 1 = slowe st). T T h h i i r r d d S[...]

19 1. Press the INFO Key . This w ill give y ou usef ul inform ation about the selec ted object s u ch as R.A . and declination, m agnitude and most im portantly , altitude abov e the horizon. (If a sta r alignm ent has not yet be en perform ed, the altitude w ill not be displayed). The speed at which inform ation scrolls across the hand control di[...]

20 The ha nd control has a "double button" f eatur e that a llows y ou to instantly speed up the m otors without having to choose a speed rate . To use this fea ture, si mply press the ar row button tha t corre sponds to the dire ction that y ou want to m ove the telesc ope. While holding that button dow n, press the oppos ite directiona [...]

21 Sidereal T his rate compensate s for the rota tion of the ea rth by moving the telesc ope at the sam e rate as the r otation of the earth, but in the opposite directio n. When t he t elescope i s pol ar aligned , thi s can be acco mplished by m oving the tele scope in Right A scens ion only . When m ounted in Alt- Az mode , the teles cope must m[...]

22 Goto Alt-Az - Allow s you to enter a specif ic altitude and azim uth position and slew to it. To store a se t of coordinate s (R.A./Dec ) perm anently into the NexStar data base, sav e it as a User Defined Obj ect as desc ribed a bove. U U t t i i l l i i t t y y F F e e a a t t u u r r e e s s Scrolling throu gh the MENU op tions will also prov[...]

23 ALT- AZ EQ NO RTH EQ SO UTH OF F TRACKI NG M ODE SID EREAL SO LAR LU N AR KIN G TRACKI NG RATE G ET ALT- AZ GE T R A - D E C G OTO A LT- AZ GO TO R A- D E C GOT O S K Y OB J E C T GOT O L A N D OB J E C T SAVE SKY O BJ ECT SAVE LAN D O BJECT USER OBJ ECTS PO W ER CO RD BATTERY CORD W RAP AZ M BACKLASH ALT BACKLASH Cu s t om Ne x St ar 6 0 Ne x S[...]

24 Fig 6-2a - Ac tual im age orientati on as seen w ith the unaided eye Fig 6-2b - Reversed from left to right, as view ed through the eyepiece Figure 6-1 A A c c u u t t a a w w a a y y v v i i e e w w o o f f t t h h e e l l i i g g h h t t p p a a t t h h o o f f t t h h e e M M a a k k s s u u t t o o v v - - C C a a s s s s e e g g r r a a i i[...]

25 Figure 6-3 The em blem on the end of the focus k nob shows the correct rotational direction for focusing the NexStar . F F o o c c u u s s i i n n g g The N exStar 's f o cusing m echanism controls the prim ary mirror w hich is mounted on a ri ng that slides bac k and forth on the pr ima ry baf fle tube. The foc using k nob, whic h mov es t[...]

26 G G e e n n e e r r a a l l O O b b s s e e r r v v i i n n g g H H i i n n t t s s When working with any opti cal inst rument, th ere are a few things to remem ber to en sure you get t he best possib le image. • Nev er look through w indow gla ss. Glas s found in hous ehold w indows is optically imperf ect, and as a res ult, ma y v ary in thi[...]

27 Up to this point, this m anual covere d the assem bly and basic operation of your Nex Star telesc ope. Howeve r, to understand y our telescope m ore thoroughly , y ou need to know a little about the night s ky . This section deal s w ith observ ational as tronomy in g eneral and include s informa tion on the night sk y and polar a lignm ent. T T[...]

28 M M o o t t i i o o n n o o f f t t h h e e S S t t a a r r s s The daily motion of the Sun across the sk y is f amiliar to ev en the m ost casual obse rver. T h is daily trek is not the Sun mov ing as early astronome rs thought, but the result of the Earth's rotation. T he Earth's rotation a lso causes the s tars to do th e same, scri[...]

29 P P o o l l a a r r A A l l i i g g n n m m e e n n t t ( ( w w i i t t h h o o p p t t i i o o n n a a l l W W e e d d g g e e ) ) Even though the NexStar can precise ly track a ce lestial objec t while in the Alt-A z position, it is still n ecessary to align the polar ax is of the telescope (the fork arm ) to the Earth's a xis on rotation[...]

30 3. Once com p lete the Nex Star will a utomatica lly slew to the f irst alignment star. If the star that is chosen is in the north, it m ay be below the horizon. If so, abort the s lew by pressi ng any of the arrow direction buttons before the telescope tu be comes into cont act with the base. P ress the UNDO bu tton to select an alignment star [...]

31 Finding the Nor th Celesti al Pol e In each h emisphere, th ere is a po int in the sky ar ound which all the other stars appe ar to rotate . Thes e points are called the cel estial pole s and a re nam ed for the he mis phere in w hich they reside. For exa mple, in the nor thern he misphere all stars m ove around the north c elestia l pole. Whe n[...]

32 With y our telescope s et up, y ou are ready to use it for obse rving. This s ection cov ers visual obser ving hints for both solar sy stem a nd deep sky objec ts as w ell as g eneral obser ving conditions w hich will aff ect your ability to observe. O O b b s s e e r r v v i i n n g g t t h h e e M M o o o o n n Ofte n, it is tempting to look a[...]

33 O O b b s s e e r r v v i i n n g g t t h h e e S S u u n n Althoug h over looked by many amate ur astr onome rs, sola r observ ation is both rew arding a nd fun. Howeve r, b ecause the Sun is so brigh t, sp ecial precau tion s must be taken when ob serving o ur star so as not to damage your eyes or your telescope. Never project an image of the [...]

34 Seeing Seeing conditions refe rs to the sta b ility of the atmosphe re and direc tly a ffects the am ount of fine de tail see n in extende d objects . The a ir in our at mosphe re acts as a lens which be nds and distorts incom ing light ray s. The am ount of bending depends on air density. Vary ing tempera ture lay ers have diff erent densities [...]

35 While your NexSta r telescope requires little mainte nance, there are a f ew things to rem ember that w ill ensure your telesc ope perf orms at its be st. C C a a r r e e a a n n d d C C l l e e a a n n i i n n g g o o f f t t h h e e O O p p t t i i c c s s Occasional ly, du st an d/o r moistu re may buil d up on the co rrector p late o f your [...]

36 You will find that add itional accessories en hance your viewing pleasure an d expand th e usefulness of your telescope. Fo r ease of reference, all th e accessories are list ed in al phab etical o rder. Adapter, AC (# 18770) – Allow s DC (battery ) powere d telesc opes to be c onverted for us e w ith 120 volt AC powe r. The adapter attac h es[...]

37 Eyepiece Filt ers - To enhanc e y our visual obse rva tions of s olar sy stem objects, Cele stron of fers a w ide range of colored filters that thread into the 1-1/4" oculars. A vailable individually a re: #12 dee p ye llow, #21 ora nge, #25 red, #58 g reen, #80A lig ht blue, #96 neutral de nsity - 25%T, #96 neutral dens ity - 13% T, and po[...]

38 Tripod, NexStar - A stable tr ipod is a m ust for serious as tronomic al observ ing and photography. T his steel f ield tripod (#93497) f olds dow n to a com pact 8"x 28". It is equipped with a built on we dge tilt plat e f or quick equatoria l use and astrophotog raphy. It ha s a m etal center br ace and accessory tray for added sta b[...]

39 Appendix A - Technica l Specifica tions O O O p p p t t t i i i c c c a a a l l l S S S p p p e e e c c c i i i f f f i i i c c c a a a t t t i i i o o o n n n Design Mak sut ov-Ca ssegrai n Cat adi opt ric Ape rture 4 inches ( 102mm) Fo cal Le ngth 52 inches ( 1325mm) F/r atio of the Optical Syste m 13 Primar y Mir ror: Diameter Coatings 102mm [...]

40 A A p p p p e e n n d d i i x x B B - - G G l l o o s s s s a a r r y y o o f f T T e e r r m m s s A - Absolute ma gnitude The appare nt ma gnitude that a star would hav e if it we re obse rved f rom a sta ndard distance of 10 parse cs, or 32.6 lig ht-ye ars. The abs olute m agnitude of the Sun is 4.8. at a dista nce of 10 parsecs, it would jus[...]

41 F - Focal len gth The distan ce between a len s (or mirror) and the po int at which th e image of an object at infin ity is brought to f ocus. T he foc al leng th divided by the aperture of the mirror or lens is te rme d the focal ratio. J - Jovian P lan ets Any of the four gas giant plan ets that are at a greater dist ance form the sun than the[...]

42 Resolut ion The minimum detectab le angl e an op tical system can detect . Because o f diffraction, there is a l imit to the m inimum angle, resolution. The la rger the a p erture, the be tter the resolution. Right A scension: (RA ) The a ngular dis tance of a celestia l object m easured in hours , minute s, and seconds a long the Celestial Equa[...]

43 A A p p p p e e n n d d i i x x C C – – M M a a p p s s o o f f T T i i m m e e Z Z o o n n e e s s[...]

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CELESTRON ONE YEAR WARRANTY A. Celestron Internat ional (CI) warrants th is telescop e to be free from defects in materia ls and workman shi p for one year. CI will repair or repl ace such pr oduct or part thereo f which, upon inspe ction by CI , is found to be defe ctive in m ater ials or wo rkmanship. As a co ndition to the o bligatio n of CI to [...]

Celestron International 2835 Colum bia Street Torrance, CA 90503 Tel. (310) 328-9560 Fax. (310) 212- 5835 W e b s i te a t h t t p / / www. c e l e st r o n. c o m Copy right 2000 Cel estron Intern ational All ri ghts reserved. (Products or inst ructions m ay chan ge with out notice or obligation.) This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rule.[...]

11-00 This document contains useful inform ation about your NexStar 4 telescope that may not have been included in your instruction manual at the tim e of printing. Listed below is inform ation regarding the utility features described under the hand control section of the manual. Please refer to this addendum when using your NexStar 4 hand control.[...]