Celestron NexStar 5, Instruction Manual

Page 1: ...I IN NS ST TR RU UC CT TI IO ON N M MA AN NU UA AL L ...

Page 2: ...ETUP PROCEDURES 17 Tracking Mode 17 Tracking Rate 18 Date Time 18 User Defined Objects 18 Get RA DEC 19 Get Alt Az 19 Goto R A Dec 19 Goto Alt Az 19 UTILITY FEATURES 19 Demo 19 RS 232 19 Light Control 19 Cord Wrap 19 Anti backlash 19 Hand Control Command Tree 20 TELESCOPE BASICS 21 IMAGE ORIENTATION 21 FOCUSING 22 CALCULATING MAGNIFICATION 22 DETERMINING FIELD OF VIEW 22 General Observing Hints 23...

Page 3: ...E FOCUS PHOTOGRAPHY 31 EYEPIECE PROJECTION 32 LONG EXPOSURE PRIME FOCUS PHOTOGRAPHY 33 TERRESTRIAL PHOTOGRAPHY 35 CCD IMAGING 35 TELESCOPE MAINTENANCE 36 CARE AND CLEANING OF THE OPTICS 36 COLLIMATION 36 OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES 38 APPENDIX A TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 41 APPENDIX B GLOSSARY OF TERMS 42 APPENDIX C LONGITUDES AND LATITUDES 45 APPENDIX D RS 232 CONNECTION 50 APPENDIX E MAPS OF TIME ZONES ...

Page 4: ...vailable on the market today Take time to read through this manual before embarking on your journey through the Universe It may take a few observing sessions to become familiar with your NexStar so you should keep this manual handy until youhavefull mastered your telescope s operation The NexStar hand control has built in instructions to guide you through all the alignment procedures needed to hav...

Page 5: ...On position On Off Switch AC Adapter 2 Remove the NexStar from its packaging and place the base on a sturdy level surface Remove the accessories from their individual boxes 1 Use the Up and Down scroll buttons to get to the AutoAlign menu Press ENTER Use the direction arrow keys to level the tube and rotate it towards North See Astronomy Basics for help on finding North Input the necessary date an...

Page 6: ...nd control When asked to Save Location press ENTER and assign the number 1 to the current location This number can be used for future alignments See page 13 for complete alignment procedures APPENDIX C LONGITUDE LATITUDE degrees min degrees min Torrance 118 19 8 33 48 Travis AFB 121 55 8 38 16 2 Tahoe 120 7 8 39 19 2 5 Press the TOUR button on the hand control Use the Up and Down scroll keys to se...

Page 7: ... 1 Optical Tube 5 Focuser Knob 2 Star Pointer Finderscope 6 Battery Compartment 3 Eyepiece 7 ON OFF Switch 4 Star Diagonal 8 Hand Control 9 Liquid Crystal Display 1 2 3 4 5 8 7 9 6 Figure 1 A The NexStar ...

Page 8: ... horizontal to the ground To do this the telescope needs to be powered up and the optical tube must be moved remotely with the hand control P Po ow we er ri in ng g t th he e N Ne ex xS St ta ar r The NexStar can be powered by the supplied 12v AC adapter or eight AA batteries not included Batteries should only be used when using the telescope out in the field where AC power is not available The ba...

Page 9: ... than if you were to look straight through To attach the star diagonal 1 Turn the thumbscrew on the visual back until its tip no longer extends into i e obstructs the inner diameter of the visual back 2 Slide the chrome portion of the star diagonal into the visual back 3 Tighten the thumbscrew on the visual back to hold the star diagonal in place If you wish to change the orientation of the star d...

Page 10: ... align the holes with the two holes in the telescope body 3 Use the two 8 32 x screws to tighten down the bracket to the rear cell 4 Once the bracket is mounted slide the mounting track at the bottom of the Star Pointer over the dovetail portion of the bracket It may be necessary to loosen the two screws on the side of the mounting track before sliding it over the dovetail The end of the Star Poin...

Page 11: ...out moving the main telescope turn the Star Pointer s azimuth and altitude alignment controls until the red dot is directly over the alignment star If the LED dot is brighter than the alignment star itmay make it difficult to see the star Turn the variable brightness control counterclockwise until the red dot is the same brightness as the alignment star This will make it easier to get an accurate ...

Page 12: ...ystal Display LCD Window Has a dual line 16 character display screen that is backlit for comfortable viewing of telescope information and scrolling text 2 Align Instructs the NexStar to use a selected star or object as an alignment position 3 Direction Keys Allows complete control of the NexStar in any direction Use the directionkeys to move the telescope to the initial alignment stars or for cent...

Page 13: ...p pe er ra at ti io on n This section describes the basic hand control procedures needed to operate the NexStar These procedures are grouped into three categories Alignment Setup and Utilities The alignment section deals with the initial telescope alignment as well as finding objects in the sk the setup section discusses changing parameters such as tracking mode and tracking rate finally the last ...

Page 14: ... to be approximate however a close alignment will make the auto alignment more accurate 4 The hand control display will then ask for the following information Date Enter the month dayand year of your observing session The display will read Time Enter the current local time for your area You can enter either the local time i e or you can enter military time i e Select PM or AM If military time was ...

Page 15: ...he eyepiece you can improve your pointing accuracy by aligning to a third star that is nearest to the object you are trying to find To replace an existing alignment star with a new alignment star 1 Locate and center the desired star in the eyepiece 2 Press the ALIGN key on the hand control 3 The display will then ask you which alignment star you want to replace 4 Use the UP and Down scroll keys to...

Page 16: ... PLANET key on the hand control The on screen display will ask for the following information Date Enter the month dayand year of your observing session Time Enter the current local time for your area Select PM or AM Choose between Standard time orDaylight Savings time Select the time zone that you are observing from Once this information is entered use the Up and Down keys to select the Planet tha...

Page 17: ...utton down press the opposite directional button This will increase the slew rate to approximately 1 5º per second equal to rate 7 on the hand control This feature will not function if the telescope is currently set at a speed rate of 8 or 9 The slower slew rates 6 and lower move the motors in the opposite direction than the faster slew rates 8 and 9 This is done so that an object will move in the...

Page 18: ...ects can be daytime land objects or an interesting celestial object that you discover that is not included in the regular database There are several ways to save an object to memory depending on what type of object it is Save Sky Object The NexStar stores celestial objects to its databasebysaving its right ascension and declination in the sky This way the same object can be found each time the tel...

Page 19: ...safeguards against the telescope slewing more than 360º in azimuth and wrapping the power cord around the base of the telescope By default the cord wrap feature is active when the telescope is powered on Cord wrap should be turned off when powering the NexStar with batteries Anti backlash All mechanical gears have a certain amount of backlash or play between the gears This play is evident by how l...

Page 20: ... BATTERY CORD W RAP ANTI BACKLASH MENU MM DD YY ENTER LONG ENTER LAT SAVE LOCATION ENTER LONG LAT ENTER SAVED LOCATION USER DEFINED SELECT LOCATION POINT TUBE NORTH LEVEL AUTO ALIGN CENTER STAR 1 SELECT STAR 1 CENTER STAR 2 SELECT STAR 2 LEVEL TUBE TW O STAR ALIGNM ENT ALIGNMENT NAM ED STAR NAM ED OBJECT DOUBLE STAR VARIABLE STAR ASTERISM TOUR PLANETS LIST NexStar Ready NexStar Menu Tree The follo...

Page 21: ...ble The Schmidt Cassegrain system consists of a zero power corrector plate a spherical primary mirror and a secondary mirror Once light rays enter the opticalsystem they travel the length of the optical tube three times The optics of the NexStar have Starbright coatings enhanced multi layer coatings on the primary and secondary mirrors for increased reflectivity and a fully coated corrector for th...

Page 22: ...ation format the formula looks like this Focal Length of Telescope mm Magnification Focal Length of Eyepiece mm Let s say for example you are using the 25mm Plossl eyepiece To determine the magnification you simply divide the focal length of your telescope the NexStar has a focal length of 1250mm by the focal lengthof the eyepiece 25mm Dividing 1250 by 25 yields a magnification of 50 power Althoug...

Page 23: ...ever look across or over objects that are producing heat waves This includes asphalt parking lots on hot summer days or building rooftops Hazy skies fog and mist can also make it difficult to focus when viewing terrestrially The amount of detail seen under these conditions is greatly reduced Also when photographing under these conditions the processed film may come out a little grainier than norma...

Page 24: ...nation or DEC for short Lines of declination are named for their angular distance above and below the celestial equator The lines are broken down into degrees minutes of arc and seconds of arc Declination readings south of the equator carry a minus sign in front of the coordinate and those north of the celestial equator are either blank i e no designation or preceded by a plus sign The celestial e...

Page 25: ... never rise and never set You will never see the stars complete one circle because the sunlight during the day washes out the starlight However part of this circular motion of stars in this region of the sky can be seen by setting up a camera on a tripod and opening the shutter for a couple hours The processed film will reveal semicircles that revolve around the pole This description of stellar mo...

Page 26: ...alignment is the process by which the telescope s axis of rotation called the polar axis is aligned made parallel with the Earth s axis of rotation Once aligned a telescope with a clock drive will track the stars as they move across the sky The result is that objects observed through the telescope appear stationary i e they will not drift out of the field of view If not using the clock drive all o...

Page 27: ...maginary line through them toward the Little Dipper They point to Polaris see Figure 6 5 The position of the Big Dipper changes during the year and throughout the course of the night see Figure 6 4 When the Big Dipper is low in the sky i e near the horizon it may be difficult to locate During these times look for Cassiopeia see Figure 6 5 Observers in the southern hemisphere are not as fortunate a...

Page 28: ... ar r O Ob bs se er rv vi in ng g H Hi in nt ts s To increase contrast and bring out detail on the lunar surface use filters A yellow filter works well at improving contrast while a neutral density or polarizing filter will reduce overall surface brightness and glare O Ob bs se er rv vi in ng g t th he e P Pl la an ne et ts s Other fascinating targets include the five naked eye planets You can see...

Page 29: ...w surface brightness they should be observed from a dark sky location Light pollution around large urban areas washes out most nebulae making them difficult if not impossible to observe Light Pollution Reduction filters help reduce the background sky brightness thus increasing contrast S Se ee ei in ng g C Co on nd di it ti io on ns s Viewing conditions affect what you can see through your telesco...

Page 30: ...ric disturbances vary from time to time and place to place The size of the air parcels compared to your aperture determines the seeing quality Under good seeing conditions fine detail is visible on the brighter planets like Jupiter and Mars and stars are pinpoint images Under poor seeing conditions images are blurred and stars appear as blobs The conditions described here apply to both visual and ...

Page 31: ...so you can attach it to the telescope and so you can use a variety of lenses for piggyback photography If you can t find a new camera you can purchase a used camera body that is not 100 percent functional The light meter for example does not have to be operational since you will be determining the exposure length manually You also need a cable release with a locking function to hold the shutter op...

Page 32: ...rge enough to see any detail Unfortunately the camera telescope combination alone does not provide enough magnification to produce a usable image size on film In order to get the image large enough you must attach your camera to the telescope with the eyepiece in place To do so you need two additional accessories a deluxe tele extender 93643 which attaches to the visual back and a T ring for your ...

Page 33: ...Mars 16 8 4 2 Jupiter 8 4 2 1 Saturn 16 8 4 2 The exposure times listed here should be used as a starting point Always make exposures that are longer and shorter than the recommended time Also take a few photos at each shutter speed This will ensurethat you get a good photo It is not uncommon to go through an entire roll of 36 exposures and haveonly one good shot NOTE Don t expect to record more d...

Page 34: ...ble guide star in the telescope field This can be the most time consuming process 10 Open the shutter using a cable release 11 Monitor your guide star for the duration of the exposure using the buttons on the hand controller to make the needed corrections 12 Close the camera s shutter When getting started use fast films to record as much detail in the shortest possible time Here are proven recomme...

Page 35: ... release A cable release keeps your hands clear of the camera and lens thus eliminating the possibility of introducing vibration Mechanical shutter releases can be used though air type releases are best Blurry pictures can also result from shutter speeds that are too slow To prevent this use films that produce shutter speeds greater than 1 250 of a second when hand holding the lens If the lens is ...

Page 36: ... and point it down This will remove the moisture from the telescope tube To minimize the need to clean your telescope replace all lens covers once you have finished using it Since the rear cell is NOT sealed the cover should be placed over the opening when not in use This will prevent contaminants from entering the optical tube Internal adjustments and cleaning should be done onlyby the Celestron ...

Page 37: ...rews then you will need to adjust the screw opposite where your finger is located 4 Use the hand control buttons to move the de focused star image to the edge of the field of view in the same direction that the central obstruction of the star image is skewed 5 While looking through theeyepiece use an Allen wrench to turn the collimation screw you located in step 2 and 3 Usuall a tenth of a turn is...

Page 38: ...ith wheels for easy transportation Weight 17 lbs 31 5 x 21 75 x 11 5 CD ROM 93700 Celestron and Software Bisque have joined together to present this comprehensive CD ROM calle The Sky Level 1 from Celestron It features a 10 000 object database 75 color images horizontal projection custom sky chart printing zoom capability and more A fun useful and educational product PC format Erect Image Diagonal...

Page 39: ... when viewed from urban areas LPR Filters selectively reduce the transmission of certain wavelengths of light specifically those producedbyartificial lights This includes mercury and high and low pressure sodium vapor lights In addition they also block unwanted natural light sky glow caused by neutral oxygen emission in our atmosphere Celestron offers a model for 1 1 4 eyepieces 94126A and a model...

Page 40: ...t Filter is used on the Celestron NexStar telescope as a dust seal The filter threads onto the rear cell of your telescope All other accessories both visual and photographic with the exception of Barlow lenses thread onto the skylight filter The light loss caused by this filter is minimal T Adapter 93633 A T Adapter with additional T Ring allows you to attach your SLR camera to the rear cell of yo...

Page 41: ...e Camera 50x 25x Optical Tube Length 11 inches Weight of Telescope 17 6 Lbs E E El lle e ec c ct t tr r ro o on n ni iic c c S S Sp p pe e ec c ci iif f fi iic c ca a at t ti iio o on n ns s s Input Voltage Maximum Minimum 12 V DC Nominal 18 V DC Max 8 V DC Min Batteries Required 8 AA Alkaline Power Supply Requirements 12 VDC 750 mA Tip positive M M Me e ec c ch h ha a an n ni iic c ca a al ll S S...

Page 42: ...nd excites atoms and molecules in a planet s upper atmosphere Azimuth The angular distance of an object eastwards along the horizon measured from due north between the astronomical meridian the vertical line passing through the center of thesky and the north and south points on the horizon and the vertical line containing the celestial body whose position is to be measured B Binary Stars Binary Do...

Page 43: ...refers toany celestial object that has a cloudy appearance North Celestial Pole The point in the Northern hemisphere around which all the stars appear to rotate This is causedb the fact that the Earth is rotating on an axis that passes through the North and South celestial poles The star Polaris lies less than a degree from this point and is therefore referred to as the Pole Star Nova Although Lat...

Page 44: ...hings events relations and energies capable of being described objectively V Variable Star A star whose brightness varies over time due to either inherent properties of the star or something eclipsing or obscuring the brightness of the star W Waning Moon The period of the moon s cycle between full and new when its illuminated portion is decreasing Waxing Moon The period of the moon s cycle between...

Page 45: ...6 Mather AFB 121 1 8 38 34 2 Mcclellan 121 2 4 38 40 2 Merced 120 31 2 37 16 8 Miramar NAS 117 9 32 52 2 Modesto 120 57 37 37 8 Moffet 122 3 37 25 2 Mojave 118 9 35 3 Montague 122 31 8 41 43 8 Monterey 121 51 36 34 8 Mount Shasta 122 19 2 41 19 2 Mount Wilson 118 4 2 34 13 8 Napa 122 16 8 38 13 2 Needles 114 37 2 34 46 2 North Is 117 1 2 32 42 Norton AFB 117 13 8 34 6 Oakland 122 13 2 37 43 8 Onta...

Page 46: ...tumwa 92 27 41 6 Sioux City 96 22 8 42 24 Spencer 95 9 43 10 2 Waterloo Mun 92 2 4 42 33 KANSAS Chanute 95 28 8 37 40 2 Col J Jabar 97 13 2 37 45 Concordia 97 39 39 33 Dodge City 99 58 2 37 46 2 Elkhart 101 52 8 37 0 Emporia 96 1 2 38 19 8 Ft Leavnwrth 94 55 2 39 22 2 Ft Riley 96 46 2 39 3 Garden City 100 43 2 37 55 8 Goodland 101 4 2 39 22 2 Hays 99 16 2 38 51 Hill City 99 49 8 39 22 8 Hutchinson...

Page 47: ...ercury 116 1 2 36 37 2 Nellis AFB 115 1 8 36 13 8 Owyhee 116 10 2 42 34 8 Reno 119 46 8 39 30 Tonopah 117 4 8 38 4 2 Wildhorse 116 15 41 19 8 Winnemucca 117 4 8 40 54 Yucca Flat 116 4 8 37 34 8 NEW HAMPSHIRE Berlin 71 10 8 44 34 8 Concord 71 3 43 12 Jaffrey 72 0 42 48 Keene 72 16 2 42 54 Laconia 71 25 8 43 34 2 Lebanon 72 1 8 43 37 8 Manchester 71 25 8 42 55 8 Mt Washingtn 71 1 8 44 16 2 Nashua 71...

Page 48: ...ng 101 27 32 18 Brownsville 97 25 8 25 54 Brownwood 98 57 6 31 47 4 Carswell AFB 97 25 8 32 46 8 Chase NAS 97 40 2 28 22 2 Childress 100 16 8 34 25 8 College Stn 96 22 2 30 34 8 Corpus Chrst 97 3 27 46 2 Cotulla 99 13 2 28 27 Dalhart 102 33 36 1 2 Dallas FW 97 1 8 32 54 Del Rio 100 55 2 29 22 2 Dyess AFB 99 51 32 25 8 El Paso 106 2 4 31 48 Ellington Af 95 10 2 29 37 2 Fort Worth 97 21 32 49 2 Ft H...

Page 49: ... 13 25 e 52 30 n Birmingha England 1 55 w 52 25 n Bombay India 72 48 e 19 0 n Bordeau France 0 31 w 44 50 n Bremen Germany 8 49 e 53 5 n Brisbane Australia 153 8 e 27 29 s Bristol England 2 35 w 51 28 n Brussels Belgium 4 22 e 50 52 n Bucharest Romania 26 7 e 44 25 n Budapest Hungary 19 5 e 47 30 n Buenos Aires Argentina 58 22 w 34 35 s Cairo Egypt 31 21 e 30 2 n Canton China 113 15 e 23 7 n Cape ...

Page 50: ...NITIALIZATION is necessary PC sends one byte 63 Ascii to check that NexStar is ready NexStar responds with one byte 35 when NexStar is ready to respond After NexStar sends a 35 the buttons to the hand control do not respond until the command from the PC has been received then the direction rate and undo buttons are active Goto RA Dec positions INITIALIZATION PC sends 82 Ascii R PC sends the RA hig...

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Page 59: ...rized repair Further product malfunction or deterioration due to normal wear is not covered by this warranty CI DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WHETHER OF MERCHANTABILITY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH HEREIN THE SOLE OBLIGATION OF CI UNDER THIS LIMITED WARRANTY SHALL BE TO REPAIR OR REPLACE THE COVERED PRODUCT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS SET FORTH HEREI...

Page 60: ... Street Torrance CA 90503 Tel 310 328 9560 Fax 310 212 5835 Web site at http www celestron com Copyright 1999 Celestron International All rights reserved Products or instructions may change without notice or obligation Item 11031 INST 0899 ...