Celestron NexStar 6 SE Instruction Manual
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Celestron NexStar 6 SE Instruction Manual

Celestron telescope instruction manual nexstar 6se, nexstar 8se
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Summary of Contents for Celestron NexStar 6 SE

  • Page 1 INSTRUCTION MANUAL...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    INTRODUCTION ...4 ...4 ARNING ASSEMBLY ...6 ...6 SSEMBLING THE Powering the NexStar ...6 The Hand Control ...6 The Star Diagonal...7 The Eyepiece...7 The Star Pointer Finderscope...7 Removing the Optical Tube...8 Attaching the NexStar to the Tripod ...9 HAND CONTROL ...10 ...11 ONTROL PERATION...
  • Page 3 Get Axis Position ...22 Goto Axis Postion ...23 Hibernate ...23 Sun Menu ...23 Scrolling Menu...23 Calibrate Goto ...23 Set Mount Position...23 Wedge Align ...23 Hand Control Command Tree ...24 TELESCOPE BASICS...24 ...25 MAGE RIENTATION ...26 OCUSING ...26 ALCULATING AGNIFICATION ...26...

  • Page 4: Introduction

    Congratulations on your purchase of the Celestron NexStar! The NexStar ushers in a whole new generation of computer automated technology. Simple and friendly to use, the NexStar is up and running after locating just three bright objects. It’s the perfect combination of power and portability.
  • Page 5 Optical Tube Star Pointer Finderscope Eyepiece Star Diagonal Focuser Knob Battery Compartment NexStar 8 SE Shown Tripod Accessory Tray / Leg Brace Tilt Wedge Plate ON/OFF Switch Hand Control Liquid Crystal Display...

  • Page 6: Assembly

    Computerized Hand Control with over 40,000 Object Database Start by removing the telescope from its shipping carton and setting the round base on a flat table or surface. It is best to carry the telescope by holding it from the lower portion of the fork arm and from the bottom of the base. Remove all of the accessories from their individual boxes.

  • Page 7: The Star Diagonal

    The Star Pointer Finderscope The Star Pointer is the quickest and easiest way to point your telescope exactly at a desired object in the sky. It's like having a laser pointer that you can shine directly onto the night sky. The Star Pointer is a zero magnification pointing tool that uses a coated glass window to superimpose the image of a small red dot onto the night sky.

  • Page 8: Removing The Optical Tube

    The star pointer is powered by a long life 3-volt lithium battery (#CR2032) located underneath the front portion of the Star Pointer. Like all finderscopes, the Star Pointer must be properly aligned with the main telescope before it can be used. This is a simple process using the azimuth and altitude control knobs located on the side and bottom of the Star Pointer.

  • Page 9: Attaching The Nexstar To The Tripod

    Tighten the knob to hold the tripod leg in place. To mount the telescope on the tripod: Set the base of the telescope on the tripod mounting plate so that the hole in the center of the base goes over the positioning pin on top of the tilt plate.

  • Page 10: Hand Control

    Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Window: Has a dual-line, 16 character display screen that is backlit for comfortable viewing of telescope information and scrolling text. Align: Instructs the NexStar to use a selected star or object as an alignment position.

  • Page 11: Hand Control Operation

    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 sky;...

  • Page 12: Sky Align

    You may even select a planet or the moon. The NexStar is then ready to start finding and tracking any of the objects in its object database. Before the telescope is ready to be aligned, it should be set up in an outside location with all accessories (eyepiece, diagonal and finderscope) attached and lens cover removed.

  • Page 13: Auto Two-Star Align

    As with Sky Align, Auto Two-Star Align requires you to enter all the necessary time/site information as before. entered, NexStar will prompt you to select and point the telescope at one known star in the sky. The NexStar now has all the information it needs to automatically choose a second star that will assure the best possible alignment.

  • Page 14: Two Star Alignment

    ENTER. The display will then instruct you to center the st tar is centered, press ALIGN to accept this star as your second alignment star. When the telescope has been aligned to both stars the...

  • Page 15: Solar System Align

    Solar System Align is designed to provide excellent tracking and GoTo p erformance by using solar system objects (Sun, Moon and planets) to align the telescope with the sky. Solar System Align is a great way to align your telescope for daytime viewing as well as a quick way to align the telescope for night time observing.

  • Page 16: I P Accuracy

    Use the UP and DOWN scroll buttons to manually select any star you wish from the entire list of availa The telescope then asks you to center in the eyepiece the alignment object you selected. Use the direction arrow buttons to slew...

  • Page 17: Sync

    Your telescope’s pointing accuracy will now be improved in that area of the sky. OTE: Sync can improve your telescope’s pointing accuracy over a wide area or over smaller areas of the sky depending on the quality of the initial alignment, as well as where the telescope was pointing when the Sync was done.

  • Page 18: Slewing To An Object

    • Press the ENTER Key. This will automatically slew the telescope to the coordinates of the object. While the telescope is slewing to the object, the user can still access many of the hand control functions (such as displaying information about the object).

  • Page 19: Direction Buttons

    Tracking Rate - In addition to being able to move the telescope with the hand control buttons, the NexStar will continually track a celestial object as it moves across the night sky. The tracking rate can be changed depending on what type of object...

  • Page 20: View Time-Site

    The NexStar stores celestial objects to its database by saving its right ascension and declination in the sky. This way the same object can be found each time the telescope is aligned. Once a desired object is centered in the eyepiece, simply scroll to the "Save Sky Obj" command and press ENTER. The display will ask you to enter a number between 1-99 to identify the object.

  • Page 21: Precise G O T O

    Lyra, choosing Identify and then searching the Named Star catalog will no doubt return the star Vega as the star you are observing. However, by selecting Identify and searching by the Named Object or Messier catalogs, the hand control will let you know that the Ring Nebula (M57) is approximately 6°...

  • Page 22: Slew Limits

    – Cord wrap safeguards against the telescope slewing more than 360º in azimuth and wrapping accessory or power cables around the base of the telescope. This is useful any time that cables are plugged into the base of the telescope. By default, the cord wrap feature is turned off when the telescope is aligned in altazimuth and turn on when aligned on a wedge.

  • Page 23: Goto Axis Postion

    Set Mount Position from the Utilities menu. Since the telescope has been moved, the pointing accuracy will be diminished. But now you can slew to a new set of alignment stars and replace any of the original alignment stars with the new stars.

  • Page 24: Hand Control Command Tree

    MENU ALIGNMENT TRACKING MODE ALT-AZ EQ NORTH EQ SOUTH RATE SIDEREAL SOLAR LUNAR VIEW TIME-SITE SCOPE SETUP SETUP TIME-SITE ANTI-BACKLASH SLEW LIMITS FILTER LIMITS DIRECTION BUTTONS GOTO APPROACH AUTOGUIDE RATES CORDWRAP UTILITIES GPS ON/OFF LIGHT CONTROL FACTORY SETTING VERSION GET AXIS POSITION GOTO AXIS POSITION HIBERNATE SUN MENU...

  • Page 25: Image Orientation

    A telescope is an instrument that collects and focuses light. The nature of the optical design determines how the light is focused. Some telescopes, known as refractors, use lenses. Other telescopes, known as reflectors, use mirrors. The Schmidt-Cassegrain optical system (or Schmidt-Cass for short) uses a combination of mirrors and lenses and is referred to as a compound or catadioptric telescope.

  • Page 26: Focusing

    You can change the power of your telescope just by changing the eyepiece (ocular). To determine the magnification of your telescope, simply divide the focal length of the telescope by the focal length of the eyepiece used. In equation format, the formula looks like this: Magnification = Let’s say, for example, you are using the 25mm eyepiece.

  • Page 27: General Observing Hints

    Never look through window glass. Glass found in household windows is optically imperfect, and as a result, may vary in thickness from one part of a window to the next. This inconsistency can and will affect the ability to focus your telescope. In most cases you will not be able to achieve a truly sharp image, while in some cases, you may actually see a double image.

  • Page 28: The Celestial Coordinate System

    Up to this point, this manual covered the assembly and basic operation of your NexStar telescope. However, to understand your telescope more thoroughly , you need to know a little about the night sky. This section deals with observational astronomy in general and includes information on the night sky and polar alignment.

  • Page 29: Motion Of The Stars

    The daily motion of the Sun across the sky is familiar to even the most casual observer. This daily trek is not the Sun moving as early astronomers thought, but the result of the Earth's rotation. The Earth's rotation also causes the stars to do the same, scribing out a large circle as the Earth completes one rotation.

  • Page 30: Polar Alignment

    After performing either an EQ AutoAlign or Two-Star Alignment, Wedge Align will slew the telescope to where Polaris should be. By adjusting the tripod’s tilt plate to center Polaris in the eyepiece, the fork arm (polar axis) will then be pointing towards the actual North Celestial Pole.

  • Page 31: Photography With The Nexstar

    Pentax, Canon and others have made such camera bodies. The camera must have interchangeable lenses 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.

  • Page 32: Finding The North Celestial Pole

    For example, in the northern hemisphere all stars move around the north celestial pole. When the telescope's polar axis is pointed at the celestial pole, it is parallel to the Earth's rotational axis.

  • Page 33: Celestial Observing

    This can damage the telescope and/or any accessories attached to the telescope. For safe solar viewing, use a Celestron solar filter (see Optional Accessories section of manual) that reduces the intensity of the Sun's light, making it safe to view. With a filter you can see sunspots as they move across the solar disk and faculae, which are bright patches seen near the Sun's edge.

  • Page 34: Observing Deep Sky Objects

    The best time to observe the Sun is in the early morning or late afternoon when the air is cooler. To center the Sun without looking into the eyepiece, watch the shadow of the telescope tube until it forms a circular shadow.

  • Page 35: Telescope Maintenance

    This will prevent contaminants from entering the optical tube. Internal adjustments and cleaning should be done only by the Celestron repair department. If your telescope is in need of internal cleaning, please call the factory for a return authorization number and price quote.
  • Page 36 8-2). Center the de-focused star and notice in which direction the central shadow is skewed. Place your finger along the edge of the front cell of the telescope (be careful not to touch the corrector plate), pointing towards the Place your finger along the edge of the front cell of the telescope (be careful not to touch the corrector plate), pointing towards the collimation screws.
  • Page 37 Exotherm, Hand Warmer- (#93504) - Perfect for chilly evenings of star gazing, the Exotherm Hand Warmer is convenient, reusable and provides up to one hour of instant heat. Filters, Eyepiece - To enhance your visual observations of solar system objects, Celestron offers a wide range of colored eyepiece filter sets that thread into the 1-1/4" oculars. Available sets are: #94119-10 –...
  • Page 38 Sky Maps (#93722) - Celestron Sky Maps are the ideal teaching guide for learning the night sky. You wouldn’t set off on a road trip without a road map, and you don’t need to try to navigate the night sky without a map either. Even if you already know your way around the major constellations, these maps can help you locate all kinds of fascinating objects.

  • Page 39: Appendix A - Technical Specifications

    Light Gathering Power Near Focus standard eyepiece or camera Field of View: Standard Eyepiece Linear Field of View (at 1000 yds) Magnification: Standard Eyepiece Optical Tube Length Weight of Telescope Weight of Tripod Input Voltage Batteries Required Power Supply Requirements Motor: Type...

  • Page 40: Appendix B - Glossary Of Terms

    Sun against the stars". Equatorial mount A telescope mounting in which the instrument is set upon an axis which is parallel to the axis of the Earth; the angle of the axis must be equal to the observer's latitude.
  • Page 41 1 and those increasingly fainter from 2 down to magnitude 5. The faintest star that can be seen without a telescope is about magnitude 6. Each magnitude step corresponds to a ratio of 2.5 in brightness. Thus a star of magnitude 1 is 2.5 times brighter than a star of magnitude 2, and 100 times brighter than a magnitude 5 star.

  • Page 42: Appendix C - Rs 232 Connection

    RS-232 cable . For information about using NexRemote to control your telescope, refer to the help files located on the disk. In addition to NexRemote, the telescope can be controlled using other popular astronomy software programs.

  • Page 43: Appendix D - Maps Of Time Zones

    Appendix D – Maps of Time Zones...
  • Page 51 Parts or product for which replacement is made shall become the property of Celestron. The customer shall be responsible for all costs of transportation and insurance, both to and from the factory of Celestron, and shall be required to prepay such costs.
  • Page 52 Celestron 2835 Columbia Street Torrance, CA 90503 Tel. (310) 328-9560 Fax. (310) 212-5835 Web site at http//www.celestron.com Copyright 2006 Celestron All rights reserved. (Products or instructions may change without notice or obligation.) This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rule. Operation is subject to the...

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