Celestron NexStar GPS 93507 Instruction Manual
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Celestron NexStar GPS 93507 Instruction Manual

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Summary of Contents for Celestron NexStar GPS 93507

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    INTRODUCTION ...5 ...5 ARNING QUICK SETUP ...6 ASSEMBLY...9 ...9 SSEMBLING THE Setting Up The Tripod ...9 Adjusting the Tripod Height ...10 Attaching the NexStar to the Tripod ...10 Attaching the Hand Control ...11 Adjusting the Clutches...12 The Star Diagonal ...12 The Eyepiece ...12 The Finderscope...13 Finderscope Installation...13...
  • Page 3 Version ...26 Get Alt-Az ...26 Goto Alt-Az...26 TELESCOPE BASICS...28 Image Orientation ...28 Focusing...29 Calculating Magnification...29 Determining Field of View ...29 General Observing Hints...30 ASTRONOMY BASICS ...31 The Celestial Coordinate System...31 Motion of the Stars ...32 Polar Alignment (with optional Wedge) ...33 Wedge Align ...33...
  • Page 4 APPENDIX E – TIME ZONE MAP...64 SKY MAPS ...66 OBSERVATIONAL DATA SHEET ...72...

  • Page 5: Introduction

    Congratulations on your purchase of the Celestron NexStar GPS telescope! The NexStar GPS ushers in the next generation of computer automated telescopes. The NexStar GPS series, for the first time ever in a commercial telescope, uses GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to take the guesswork and effort out of aligning and finding celestial objects in the sky.

  • Page 6: Quick Setup

    Extension Bolt Clamp With the tripod set up outside, lift the telescope by the carrying handle on each fork arm and carefully lower it onto the tripod head. Make sure that the hole in the bottom of the drive base goes over the positioning pin in the center of the tripod head.
  • Page 7 Finderscope The NexStar will automatically pick an alignment star and slew the telescope close to that star. Once there, the display will ask you to use the arrow buttons to aim the finderscope at the star. If the star is not visible (perhaps behind a tree), press UNDO to select a new star.
  • Page 8 Figure 2 – The NexStar GPS Control Panel (see below) Focus Knob Star Diagonal Eyepiece Finderscope Finderscope Adjustment Screw CONTROL PANEL PC Interface Port Auxiliary Port 1 Optical Tube Schmidt Corrector Lens Hand Control Fork Arm Carrying Handle Tripod Auxiliary Port 2 12v Output Jack Auto Guider Port...

  • Page 9: Assembly

    Start by removing the telescope and tripod from their shipping cartons and set the telescopes round base on a sturdy flat surface. Always carry the telescope by holding it from the lower portion of the fork arm on the hand control side and from the handle on the opposite side.

  • Page 10: Adjusting The Tripod Height

    H H H H The tripod that comes with your NexStar telescope is adjustable. To adjust the height at which the tripod stands: Loosen the extension clamp on one of the tripod legs (see figure 3-1).

  • Page 11: Attaching The Hand Control

    In order to protect your NexStar telescope during shipping, the hand control unit has been packaged along with the other telescope accessories and will need to be attached to the fork arm of your telescope. The hand control cable has a phone jack style connector that will plug into the jack outlet located on the inside of the fork arm (see figure 3-3).

  • Page 12: Adjusting The Clutches

    The NexStar GPS has a dual axis clutch system. This allows you to move the telescope manually even when the telescope is not powered on. However, both clutches need to be tightened down for the telescope to be aligned for "goto" use. Any manual movement of the telescope will invalidate your telescope's alignment.

  • Page 13: The Finderscope

    50mm objective lens Find the two holes in the rear cell of the telescope on the top left, when looking from the back of the tube. Remove any tape covering the two holes. The tape is there to prevent dust and moisture from entering the optical tube before the finder is installed.

  • Page 14: Aligning The Finderscope

    Choose a conspicuous object that is in excess of one mile away. This will eliminate any possible parallax effect between the telescope and the finder. Point your telescope at the object you selected and center it in the main optics of the telescope. Lock the azimuth and altitude clamps to hold the telescope in place.

  • Page 15: Hand Control

    Direction Keys: Allows complete control of the NexStar in any direction. Use the direction keys to move the telescope to the initial alignment stars or for centering objects in the eyepiece. Catalog Keys: The NexStar has keys on the hand control to allow direct access to each of the catalogs in its database.

  • Page 16: Hand Control Operation

    "Altazimuth" or "Alt-Az" refers to a type of mounting that allows a telescope to move in both altitude (up and down) and azimuth (left and right) with respect to the ground. This is the simplest form of mounting in which the telescope is attached directly to a tripod without the use of an equatorial wedge.

  • Page 17: Gps Alignment

    The NexStar is then ready to start finding and tracking any of the objects in its 40,000+ 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 as described in the Assembly section of the manual.

  • Page 18: Auto-Align

    After choosing AutoAlign and moving the telescope into the north and index position, the NexStar will ask you to input first the date and time information then it will ask for your location.

  • Page 19: Two Star Alignment

    After the first alignment star has been entered the NexStar will automatically slew to a second alignment star and have you repeat this procedure for that star. When the telescope has been aligned to both stars the display will read...

  • Page 20: Eq North / Eq South Alignment

    Daytime alignments require the use of a proper solar filter for your telescope (see Optional Accessories section of the manual). Never look directly at the sun with the naked eye or with a telescope (unless you have the proper solar filter).

  • Page 21: Object Catalog

    Now that the telescope is properly aligned, you can choose an object from any of the catalogs in the NexStar's extensive database. The hand control has a key (4) designated for each of the catalogs in its database. There are two ways to select objects from the database: scrolling through the named object lists and entering object numbers.

  • Page 22: Tour Mode

    5 = 16x *Rate 1 and 2 are photographic guide rates and are meant to be used when the telescope is set up on a wedge in equatorial mode. These rates can be used while set up in altazimuth, however the actual speed rate may differ slightly.

  • Page 23: Setup Procedures

    The NexStar contains many user defined setup functions designed to give the user control over the telescope's many advanced features. All of the setup and utility features can be accessed by pressing the MENU key and scrolling through the...

  • Page 24: Get Ra/Dec

    For example, if you have certain photographic accessories attached to your telescope preventing it from pointing straight-up, you can set the maximum altitude limit to read 80º, thus preventing the telescope from pointing to any objects that are greater than 80º in altitude without warning.

  • Page 25: Filter Limits

    GPS On/Off Allows you to turn off the GPS module. When aligning the telescope using AutoAlign, the NexStar still receives information, such as current time, from the GPS. If you want to use the NexStar database to find the coordinates of a celestial object for a future date you would need to turn the GPS module off in order to manually enter a date and time other than the present.

  • Page 26: Compass

    Power off the telescope. Remember to never move your telescope manually while in Hibernate mode. Once the telescope is powered on again the display will read Wake Up. After pressing Enter you have the option of scrolling through the time/site information to confirm the current setting. Press ENTER to wake up the telescope.
  • Page 27 MENU ALIGNMENT TRACKING GPS ALIGNMENT MODE ALT-AZ EQ NORTH EQ SOUTH RATE AUTO ALIGN SIDEREAL SOLAR LUNAR VIEW TIME-SITE SCOPE SETUP SETUP TIME-SITE ANTI-BACKLASH SLEW LIMITS FILTER LIMITS DIRECTION BUTTONS GOTO APPROACH TWO-STAR ALIGNMENT AUTOGUIDE RATE CORDWRAP UTILITIES GPS ON/OFF COMPASS ALT SENSOR WEDGE ALIGN...

  • Page 28: Telescope Basics

    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 29: Focusing

    Let’s say, for example, you are using the 40mm Plossl eyepiece. To determine the magnification you simply divide the focal length of your telescope (the NexStar 11 for example has a focal length of 2800mm) by the focal length of the eyepiece, 40mm.

  • Page 30: General Observing Hints

    The apparent field of each eyepiece that Celestron manufactures is found in the Celestron Accessory Catalog (#93685). G G G G e e e e n n n n e e e e r r r r a a a a...

  • Page 31: Astronomy Basics

    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 32: Motion Of The Stars

    M M M M o o o o t t t t i i i i o o o o n n n n o o o o f f f f t t t t h h h h e e e e S S S S t t t t...

  • Page 33: Polar Alignment (With Optional Wedge)

    Follow these steps to Wedge Align the NexStar in the Northern Hemisphere: With the telescope set up on an optional equatorial wedge and roughly positioned towards Polaris, align the NexStar using either the EQ AutoAlign or Two-Star Alignment method.

  • Page 34: Declination Drift Method Of Polar Alignment

    This method of polar alignment allows you to get the most accurate alignment on the celestial pole and is required if you want to do long exposure deep-sky astrophotography through the telescope. The declination drift method requires that you monitor the drift of selected stars. The drift of each star tells you how far away the polar axis is pointing from the true celestial pole and in what direction.
  • Page 35 So, repeat the process again to improve the accuracy checking both axes for minimal drift. Once the drift has been eliminated, the telescope is very accurately aligned. You can now do prime focus deep-sky astrophotography for long periods.

  • Page 36: Celestial Observing

    With your telescope set up, you are ready to use it for observing. This section covers visual observing hints for both solar system and deep sky objects as well as general observing conditions which will affect your ability to observe.

  • Page 37: Observing The Sun

    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 38: Seeing

    polluted areas by blocking unwanted light while transmitting light from certain deep sky objects. You can, on the other hand, observe planets and stars from light polluted areas or when the Moon is out. S S S S e e e e e e e e i i i i n n n n...

  • Page 39: Celestial Photography

    Short exposure prime focus photography is the best way to begin recording celestial objects. It is done with the camera attached to the telescope without an eyepiece or camera lens in place. To attach your camera you need the Celestron T- Adapter (#93633-A) and a T-Ring for your specific camera (i.e., Minolta, Nikon, Pentax, etc.).

  • Page 40: Eyepiece Projection

    Advance the film and you're ready for your next shot. Keep in mind that the card should be held a few inches in front of the telescope, and not touching it. It is easier if you use two people for this process; one to release the camera shutter and one to hold the card.

  • Page 41: Long Exposure Prime Focus Photography

    To accomplish this you need a guiding ocular with an illuminated reticle to monitor your guide star. For this purpose, Celestron offers the Micro Guide Eyepiece (#94171) Here is a brief summary of the technique.

  • Page 42: Periodic Error Correction (Pec)

    Once the telescope has been polar aligned using the EQ North Align (or EQ South for southern hemisphere) method, select PEC from the Utilities menu and press ENTER to begin recording your periodic error. Here’s how to use the PEC function.

  • Page 43: Terrestrial Photography

    Hint Once the worm gear is indexed, it will not need to be positioned again until the telescope is turned-off. So, to give yourself more time to prepare for guiding, it is best to restart PEC recording after the worm gear has found its index.

  • Page 44: Metering

    The NexStar GPS telescope is equipped with a removable secondary mirror that allows you to convert your f/10 telescope into an f/2 imaging system capable of exposure times 25 times shorter than those needed with a f/10 system! With the optional Fastar lens assembly you can easily convert your Fastar compatible telescope to f/2 prime focus use in a matter of seconds.
  • Page 45 The NexStar 8 has a focal length of 80 inches and a diameter of 8 inches, also making it an f/10 optical system. When the secondary is removed and the CCD camera is placed at the Fastar position, the system becomes f/2, this is a unique feature to some Celestron telescopes (see figures below). Figure 8-3 The key factors for good CCD imaging are;...

  • Page 46: Fastar F/2 Imaging

    The following is a brief description of the advantages of imaging at each f-number configuration and the proper equipment needed to use the telescope in any of its many settings As stated above, the exposure times are much shorter at f/2 than at f/6.3 or f/10. The field-of-view is wider, so it is easier to find and center objects.

  • Page 47: Auto Guiding

    Figure 8-5 M27 -- The Dumbbell Nebula 4 exposures of 30 seconds each! The NexStar GPS has a designated auto guiding port for use with a CCD autoguider. The diagram below may be useful when connecting the CCD camera cable to the NexStar and calibrating the autoguider. Note that the four outputs are active-low, with internal pull-ups and are capable of sinking 25 mA DC.

  • Page 48: 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 49 (see figure 9-2). 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 collimation screws.

  • Page 50: Optional Accessories

    Celestron offers SMA eyepieces in 1-1/4" sizes in the following focal lengths: 6mm, 10mm, 12mm, 17mm and 25mm.
  • Page 51 Planisphere (#93720) - A simple and inexpensive tool for all levels of observers, from naked eye viewers to users of highly sophisticated telescopes. The Celestron Planisphere makes it easy to locate stars for observing and is a great planet finder as well.
  • Page 52 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 53: Appendix A - Technical Specifications

    Light Gathering Power Near Focus w/ standard eyepiece or camera Field of View: Standard Eyepiece : 35mm Camera Linear Field of View (at 1000 yds) Optical Tube Length Weight of Telescope Weight of Tripod Electronic Specifications Input Voltage Maximum Minimum...

  • Page 54: 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 55 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 56 The rate is 15 arc seconds per second or 15 degrees per hour. Terminator The boundary line between the light and dark portion of the moon or a planet. Universe The totality of astronomical things, events, relations and energies capable of being described objectively.

  • Page 57: Appendix C - Longitudes And Latitudes

    LONGITUDE LATITUDE degrees degrees ALABAMA Anniston 34.8 Auburn 26.4 40.2 Birmingham 34.2 Centreville Dothan 19.2 Fort Rucker 43.2 16.8 Gadsden 58.2 Huntsville 46.2 Maxwell AFB 22.2 22.8 Mobile 40.8 Mobile Aeros 37.8 Montgomery Muscle Shoal 37.2 Selma 59.4 20.4 Troy 52.2 Tuscaloosa 37.2...
  • Page 58 LONGITUDE LATITUDE degrees degrees Melbourne 37.8 Miami 16.8 49.2 Naples Nasa Shuttle 40.8 37.2 Orlando 19.2 25.8 Panama City 40.8 Patrick AFB 13.8 Pensacola 19.2 Ruskin 58.2 Saint Peters 40.8 55.2 Sanford 46.8 Sarasota Tallahassee 22.2 22.8 Tampa Intl 31.8 58.2 Titusville 31.2...
  • Page 59 LONGITUDE LATITUDE degrees degrees Wurtsmith Ypsilanti 31.8 13.8 MINNESOTA Albert Lea 22.2 40.8 Alexandria 22.8 52.2 Bemidji Muni 55.8 Brainerd-Crw Detroit Laks 52.8 49.2 Duluth 10.8 49.8 49.2 Fairmont 25.2 Fergus Falls Grand Rapids 31.2 13.2 Hibbing 22.8 Intl Falls 22.8 34.2 Litchfield...
  • Page 60 LONGITUDE LATITUDE degrees degrees OKLAHOMA Altus AFB 16.2 40.2 Ardmore Bartlesville Clinton Enid 22.8 Fort Sill Gage 46.2 Hobart Lawton 25.2 34.2 Mcalester 46.8 52.8 Norman 28.2 13.8 Oklahoma Page 37.2 40.8 Ponca City 43.8 Stillwater Tinker AFB 22.8 25.2 Tulsa Vance AFB 55.2...
  • Page 61 LONGITUDE LATITUDE degrees degrees Walla Walla 16.8 Wenatchee Whidbey Is Yakima 31.8 WEST VIRGINIA Beckley Bluefield 13.2 Charleston Clarksburg 13.8 Elkins Huntington Lewisburg Martinsburg 58.8 Morgantown 55.2 Parkersburg 25.8 Wheeling Wh Sulphur CITY PROVINCE LONGITUDE Calgary Alberta Churchill Newfoundland Coppermine Northwest Terr.

  • Page 62: Appendix D - Rs-232 Connection

    Appendix D - RS-232 Connection You can control your NexStar telescope with a computer via the RS-232 port on the computerized hand control and using an optional RS-232 cable (#93920). Once connected, the NexStar can be controlled using popular astronomy software programs.
  • Page 63 Additional RS232 Commands Multiply the desired tracking rate (arcseconds/second) by 4. Example: if the desired trackrate is 150 arcseconds/second, then TRACKRATE = 600 Separate TRACKRATE into two bytes, such that (TRACKRATE = TrackRateHigh*256 + rackRateLow). Example: TrackRateHigh = 2 TrackRateLow = 88 To send a tracking rate, send the following 8 bytes: Positive Azm tracking: 80, 3, 16, 6, TrackRateHigh, TrackRateLow, 0, 0 Negative Azm tracking:80, 3, 16, 7, TrackRateHigh, TrackRateLow, 0, 0...

  • Page 64: Appendix E - Maps Of Time Zones

    APPENDIX E – MAPS OF TIME ZONES...

  • Page 72: Observational Data Sheet

    Observational Data Sheet Yearly Meteor Showers Shower Quadrantids Lyrids pi-Puppids eta-Aquarids June Bootids July Phoenicids Southern delta-Aquarids Perseids alpha-Aurigids Draconids Orionids Leonids alpha-Monocerotids Phoenicids Puppid-Velids Geminids Ursids * These meteor showers have the potential of becoming meteor storms with displays of thousands of meteors per hour. Solar Eclipses in North America plus Total Eclipses Around the World Date Eclipse Type...

  • Page 73: Celestron Two Year Warranty

    Celestron, is found to be defective in materials or workmanship. As a condition to the obligation of Celestron to repair or replace such product, the product must be returned to Celestron together with proof-of-purchase satisfactory to Celestron.
  • Page 74 Celestron 2835 Columbia Street Torrance, CA 90503 Tel. (310) 328-9560 Fax. (310) 212-5835 Web site at http//www.celestron.com Copyright 2003 Celestron All rights reserved. (Products or instructions may change without notice or obligation.) -INST v2.2 Item # 11052 $10.00 10-02...

This manual is also suitable for:

Nexstar 8Nexstar 8 gpsNexstar 11 gps

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