Celestron C8-S manual

A A d d v v a a n n c c e e d d S S e e r r i i e e s s A A d d v v a a n n c c e e d d S S e e r r i i e e s s G G G T T T INSTRUCTION MANUAL C C 5 5 - - S S ● ● C C 8 8 - - S S ● ● C C 9 9 . . 2 2 5 5 - - S S[...]

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... ........................................................ 4 Warning ..........................................................................................................................................................[...]

3 Autoguide Ra tes ................................................................................................................ ............................... 26 Azimuth Limits................................................................................................................. ................................ 26 East/West Filtering[...]

4 Congra tulations on y our purc hase of the Celes tron A dvanc ed Series teles cope (A ST)! T he Adva nced Seri es of teles copes c ome in standard ( non-com puterize d) and c omputer ized G T mode ls. The A dvanced Serie s is m ade of the highes t quality m aterials to ensure sta bility and durabi lity . All this adds up to a teles cope that giv [...]

5 ASSE 1 Optical Tube 7 Tripod 2 Finderscope 8 Counterweight(s) 3 Finderscope Bracket 9 Counterweight Bar 4 Equatoria l Mo unt 1 0 Declination Setting Circle 5 Latitude Adju stment Scale 11 Dovetail Mo unting B ar 6 Tripod Center Leg Brace/Accessory Tray 1 2 Schmidt Corrector Lens Figure 2. 1 – Advan ced Seri es (Advanced C 8-S Sh own) 1 2 1 2 3 [...]

6 1 Optical Tube 9 Counterweight Bar 2 Finderscope 1 0 Declination Setting Circle 3 Finderscope Bracket 11 Dovetail Mo unting B ar 4 Equatoria l Mo unt 1 2 Schmidt Corrector Lens 5 Latitude Adju stment Scale 1 3 Hand Control 6 Tripod Center Leg Brace/Accessory Tray 1 4 R.A. Motor Drive / Control Panel 7 Tripod 1 5 Declination M otor Drive 8 Counter[...]

7 This se ctio n cove rs t he asse m bly in structi ons for your Ce les tro n Adva nced Serie s Te lesco pe ( AST). Your AST telescope s houl d be set up in door the f irst tim e so that it is easy to identify th e various parts and familiarize yourself with th e correct assembly procedu re before attempting it outdoor. #11071 / 11072 #11025 / 1102[...]

8 A A t t t t a a c c h h i i n n g g t t h h e e E E q q u u a a t t o o r r i i a a l l M M o o u u n n t t The equatorial mount allows you to tilt t he telescop e’s axis of rotation so that you can track the stars as they move across the sky. The CG-5 m ount is a German equ atorial mount that attaches t o the tripod head. On one side of the tr[...]

9 I I n n s s t t a a l l l l i i n n g g t t h h e e C C o o u u n n t t e e r r w w e e i i g g h h t t Depending on which AST telescope y ou have, you will receive either one or tw o counterweights. To install the counterweig ht(s): 1. O rient the mount so tha t the co unter wei ght b ar p oint s to ward t he ground . 2. Remove the coun terweigh[...]

10 shafts, on e on either side of the moun t. It makes no diff erence which shaft you us e since both work th e same. Use whi che ver o ne you find more con ve nient . I f, a fter a fe w ob servi ng se ssio ns, you find the R. A. slow m otion knob is more access ible from the other s ide, pull fi rmly to remove th e knob, then ins tall it on the op[...]

11 3. Hold the visual back with the set scre w in a convenient position and rotate the knurled slip ring cloc kwise until tight . Once this is done, y ou are ready to attach other accessories, such as eyepieces , diagonal prisms, etc. If you want to remove the visual back, rotate the slip ring counterclockwise until it is free of the rear cell. I I[...]

12 • Finders cope • Finder Bracket • Ru bber O- ring • Three Ny lon Tipped Thum bscrews (10- 24x1/2") • Two Phillips Head Screws (8-32x1/2" ) To install the finderscope: 1. Attach the bracket to the optical tube. T o do this, place the curved portion of the bracket with the slot over the tw o holes in the rear cell. The bracket [...]

13 Both the R.A. and DEC ax is have lock levers to clu tch down each axis of th e telescope. To loosen the clutches on the telescope, rotate the lock levers counterclockwise. B B a a l l a a n n c c i i n n g g T T h h e e M M o o u u n n t t i i n n R R . . A A . . To elimin ate undue st ress on the m ount, the telescope s hould be properl y bala [...]

14 3. Loosen the DEC clutch lock lever and rotate the telescope until the tube is pa rallel to the ground . 4. Release the tube — G RA DUAL LY — to see which way it rotates around the declination axis. DO NOT LE T GO OF THE T ELESCO PE TUB E CO MP LETELY! 5. Slightly loosen the knobs t hat holds the telescop e to the mounting platfor m and slid[...]

15 azimuth housing. Wh ile standing behind the te lescope, th e knobs are on th e front of the mount. • Turni n g the ri ght ad just me nt kno b c loc kwise mo ves the mo unt to ward the r ight. • Turning the left adjustment knob clockwise moves the mount to the left. Both sc rews push off of the peg on th e tripod head, w hich means you may ha[...]

16 The Advanc ed Se rie s GT , comput eriz ed ve rs ion o f eac h tel esco pe ha s a ha nd co ntro ller desig ned to gi ve you i ns tant access to all the fun ctions that your telescope has to off er. With automatic slewing to ov er 40,000 objects, an d common sense menu descriptions, ev en a beginner can master its variety of features in just a fe[...]

17 4. Catalog Keys: The Advanced Series has keys on the hand control to allow direct acce ss to each of the catalogs in its database. The han d control contains th e following catalogs in its database: Messie r – Complete list of all Messier objects. NGC – Complete list o f all the deep-sky obj ects in the Revise d New General Catalog. Caldwell[...]

18 A A l l i i g g n n m m e e n n t t P P r r o o c c e e d d u u r r e e s s In order for the t elescope to accurately poi nt to objects in the sky, it mus t first be aligned to three known pos itions (stars) in the sky. With this information, the telescope can create a model of the sky, which it uses to lo cate any object wi th known coordin ate[...]

19 4. Select one of th e four alignm ent methods as described bel ow. Note: If incorrect inf ormation is entered into the hand control, the UNDO button acts like a back space bu tton allowing the user to re- enter the correct data. A A u u t t o o A A l l i i g g n n Auto Align allows the telescope to automatically choose three stars (two on one si[...]

20 the eyepiece, press ing ENTER when complete. NOTE: Although the te lescope al low s the user t o select the alignm ent stars, for best all-sky pointing acc uracy it is still nece ssary to select t wo align ment stars on on e side o f the Meridian and th e third st ar on the opposi te side of the M eridian. For this re ason, the hand co ntrol w i[...]

21 O O b b j j e e c c t t C C a a t t a a l l o o g g Selecting an Object Now that the telescope is prop erly align ed, you can choose an object from any of the catalogs in the telescope's extensive database. The h and control ha s a key (4) desig nated for each of the catalogs in its database. There are tw o ways to select objects f rom the [...]

22 Tour Mode The Advanced Series telescopes include a tour feature which automatically allo ws the user to choose from a list o f interesting obj ects based on the date and ti me in which you ar e observing. The automatic tour will display only t hose objects that are within your set filter limits (see Filter Limits in the Setup Procedures section [...]

23 1 = .5x 6 = 64x 2 = 1x (s idereal) 7 = .5º / sec 3 = 4x 8 = 2º / sec 4 = 8x 9 = 3º / sec 5 = 16x S S e e t t u u p p P P r r o o c c e e d d u u r r e e s s The Advanced G T contains many user def ined se tup functions designed to gi ve the user control ov er the tele scope's many adv anced features. All of th e setup and utility feature[...]

24 GoTo Object: To go to any of the user defin ed objects stored i n the database, scroll down to either GoTo Sky Obj or Goto Land Obj an d enter the n umber of the object y ou wish to select and press ENTE R. The telescope will automatically retrieve and display the coordinates before slew ing to th e object. Save Sk y Object: Your telescope sto r[...]

25 Precise GoTo The Advanced Series telescopes have a precise g oto function that can assist in finding extremely faint objects and centering objects closer to th e center of the field of view for as trophotography and CCD imaging. Precise Goto automatically searches out the closest brig ht star to the des ired object and asks the user to caref ull[...]

26 minimum altitude limit to read +20º . This will make sure that the hand control only displa ys objects that are high er in altitude than 20º . If you want to explore the entire object database, set the maximum altitude limit to 90º and the minimum limit to – 90º. This will displa y every object in th e database lists reg ardless of wheth e[...]

27 telescopes azimuth i n this p osition (by loo king at Get Alt-Az under the Utilities menu) you can determine the telescopes azimuth at its most extended position. Enter this azi muth reading for either the m aximum or minimum azimuth slew limit to ens ure that the telescope will not sle w beyond this point. Warning : In order for the telescope t[...]

28 Light Control – This feature allows y ou to turn off both the red key pad light and LC D display for day ti me use to conse rve p o wer and to he lp p res erve your night vis ion. Factory Se ttings – Return s the Advanced GT hand control to its original factory settings. P arameters such as backlash compensation val ues, initial date and tim[...]

29 EQ NO RT H EQ SO UT H OFF MOD E SIDEREA L SOLAR LU NAR RA TE TRA CKIN G VIEW TI M E-SIT E SET UP T IM E- SI T E AN TI -B AC KLA S H FI LT ER LIM IT S DIRECTIO N B UTTO NS GOTO APPROAC H AUTOGU ID E RAT E AZIMUTH L IMITS EAST/WEST FI L TERIN G SCOPE SETU P CALIBRA TE GOT O HOME POSITIO N POL AR ALI G N LIG HT CONTROL FACTOR Y SETTI N G VER SI O N[...]

30 Up to this poi nt, this m anual cov ered the a ssem bly and bas ic opera tion of your telesc ope. Howev er, to under stand y our telesc ope more thoro ughly , you nee d to know a little about t he nig ht sky . This sec tion deals w ith observational astronom y in g enera l and i ncludes inform ation on the night s ky and polar a lignm ent. The C[...]

31 Motion of the Stars The daily motion of the Sun acr oss the sky is familia r to even the m o st casual obse rver. T his daily trek is not t he Su n mov ing as e arly as tronome rs thought, b ut the result of the Earth' s rotation. T he Earth' s rotatio n als o caus es the s tars to do the same, scri bing o ut a large circle as th e Ear[...]

32 Latitude Scales The easiest way to polar align a telescope is with a latitude scale. Unlike other methods that require you to find the celestial pole by identifying certain st ars near it, this method works off of a known constant to determine how high the polar axis should be point ed. The Advan ced Series mount can be adjusted f rom 25 to 60 d[...]

33 4. Center Polaris in the field of the telescope u sing the fine adjustment con trols on the mount. Remember, while Polar aligning , do NOT move the telescope in R.A. or DEC. Yo u do not want to move the telescope its elf, but the polar axis. The telescope is used simply to see where the polar ax is is pointing. Like the previous method, this get[...]

34 Declination Dr ift Method of P olar Alignme nt This method of polar alig nment allows you to get the most accurate alignment on the celestial pole and is required if you want to do l ong ex posure deep- sky ast rophotog raphy t hrough t he telescope. The declination drift method requ ires that you monitor the drift of s elected stars. The drift [...]

35 With y our tele scope s et up, y ou a re rea dy to use it for obs erving . T his se ction cove rs v isual obse rving hints f or both solar sy stem and deep sky objects as we ll as general obse rving c onditions w hich will a ffec t your ability to observe . Observing th e Moon Often, it is tem pting to look at t he Moon w hen it is full. A t thi[...]

36 For safe solar view ing, use a solar filter tha t reduces t he inte nsity of the Sun's lig ht, m aking it saf e to v iew. With a filter y ou can see sunspots a s they move across the sola r disk and faculae, w hich are bright patche s seen near the Sun's edge. Solar Observing Hint s • The best ti me to observe th e Sun is in th e ear[...]

37 determ ines the " seeing" quality . Under good se eing con ditions , fine de tail is visi ble on t he brighter planets like Jupiter and Mars , and s tars a re pi npoi nt im ages . Under p oor s eeing condit ions, imag es a re blurre d and s tars appear as blo bs. The c onditions des cribed here apply to both visua l and photog rap hic [...]

38 After looking at the night sky for a while you may want to try photographing it. Several forms of celestial photography are possible with your telescope, including short exposure prim e focus, eyepiece projection, long ex posure deep sky, terres trial and even CCD im aging. Each of thes e is discusse d in moderate detail with enough inf ormation[...]

39 • T-Ma x 400 • Any 100 to 400 I SO col or sli de f ilm • Fuji Supe r HG 400 • Ektar 25 or 100 2. Ce nter the M oon i n the f ield of your te lesco pe. 3. Focus the te lescope by tur ning th e foc us knob u ntil the im ag e is shar p. 4. Set the shutter speed to the a ppropriate se tting (see ta ble below ). 5. Trip th e shutter u sing a [...]

40 act as a sh utter. The card prevent s light fro m entering th e telescop e while th e shutt er is released. On ce the sh utter has been re leas ed and the vibr ation ha s diminis hed (a f ew sec onds), move the blac k card out of the way to ex pose the film. After th e expo sure is co mplete, p lace the card o ver th e fron t of the tel escop e [...]

41 There are severa l techniques f or this ty pe of photogra phy , and the one c hosen w ill determ ine the standard accessories needed. T he bes t method f o r long expos ure dee p sky as trophotog raphy is with a n off-ax is guider. T his dev ice allows you to phot ogr aph an d guide thr ough the telesc ope sim ultaneously . Celest ron offe rs a [...]

42 There is no ex posure de term ination tab le to hel p you g et sta rted. T he best way to de term ine exposur e leng th is look at previous ly publishe d photos to see w hat film /expos ure com b inations w ere used. Or ta ke u nguide d sam ple photos of various parts of the sky while the driv e is running. A lways take exposure s of v arious le[...]

43 Telescope Model Standard Cassegrain f/10 With Reducer/Corr ector f/6.3 C5-S 49" (1250mm ) 31" (788mm) C8-S 80" (2032mm ) 50.4" (1280mm) Focal Length & Speed C9.25-S 93" (2350mm ) 58" (1481mm) C5-S 13 x 10 (arc min) 20.5 x 15. 7 (arc mi n) C8-S 8 x 6.1 (arc min) 12.6 x 9.7 (arc min) ST 237 F.O.V.* C9.25-S 6.9 x 5[...]

44 F F i i g g u u r r e e 8 8 - - 1 1 The thre e col limati on screw s are loc at ed on the front of the seco ndary mirror housin g . While your te lescope re quires little mainte nance, the re are a few things to rem ember that w ill ensure your tele scope perf orms a t its best. Care and Clean ing of the Op tics Occasional ly, du st and/or moist[...]

45 Figure 8- 3 A co llimate d te lesco pe shoul d appe ar symmet ri cal wi th th e central obs truct ion cen tered in th e sta r's diffr actio n patte rn. To accomplish this, you need to tighten the second ary collim ation screw(s) that move the star across the field toward the directio n of the ske wed light . These scr ews are l ocated i n t[...]

46 You will find that additional accessories en hance you r viewing ple asure and exp and the usefu lness of your telescop e. For ease of reference, all the acc essories are list ed in alp habet ical orde r. Adapter A C (# 1877 3) - Allow DC (battery powe red) telescopes to be conv erted f or use with 1 20 v olt AC pow er. Auxiliary P ort Ac cessor[...]

47 Serie s 2 – #9 4119- 20 Deep Y ellow, Red, Li ght G reen, ND25% T (#s 12, 25, 56, 9 6ND-25) Serie s 3 – #9 4119- 30 Lig ht Red, Blue , Gre en, ND50% T (#s 23A , 38A, 5 8, 96ND -50) Serie s 4 – #9 4119- 40 Yellow , Dee p Yellow , Violet, Pale Blue (#s 8, 15, 47, 82A) Flash light , Night Visi on - (#93 588) - C elest ron’s pre mium model f[...]

48 Radial G uider (#9 4 1 76) - The Celestron Radi al Guider ® i s specifical ly designed for u se in prim e foc us, dee p sky astrophot ogra phy and tak es the pl ace of the T-Adap ter. This devic e allows you to phot ogra ph and gui de sim ultaneously thr ough the o ptical tu be assem bly of your telesc ope. This ty pe of g uiding pro duces the [...]

49 Appendix A – Technical Specifications Advanced Series 11 07 1 / 11 072 11 025/ 11 026 11 045/ 11 046 C5-S C8-S C9.25-S Specificati ons: Optical Design 127m m( 5") S chmi dt- Casse grai n 203mm (8" ) Sc hmid t-Ca sse grain 235mm (9. 25" ) Sc hmi dt-Cas seg rain Focal Length 1250m m F/10 2032m m F/10 2350m m F/10 Finderscope 6x30 [...]

50 Appendix B - Glossar y of Terms A - Absolute mag nitude T he appar ent m agnitude that a sta r would hav e if it were observ ed from a st andard dist ance of 10 parsecs , or 32.6 light-y ears. The a bsolute m a gnitude of the Sun is 4. 8. at a distance of 10 parsec s, it would jus t be v isible on Ea rth on a clea r moonles s night a way from s [...]

51 J - Jovian P lan ets Any of the four gas gi ant p lanets that are at a greater di stance for m the sun th an the terrestrial planet s. K - Kuiper Be lt A region beyond t he or bit of Neptune e xtendi ng to a b out 100 0 AU w hich is a source of m any s hort period c ome ts. L - Light-Year (L Y) A light- year is the d istance l ight traverses i n[...]

52 telescop e at this rate. The rate is 15 arc seconds p er second or 15 degrees per hou r. T - Ter mina to r The bo undar y line betw een the lig ht and da rk por tion of the m oon or a pla net. U - Univers e The tota lity of astronomical thing s, ev ents, rela tions and e nergie s capa ble of be ing desc ribed object ively. V - Variab le Star A s[...]

53 A A P P P P E E N N D D I I X X C C L L O O N N G G I I T T U U D D E E S S A A N N D D L L A A T T I I T T U U D D E E S S LONGITUDE LATI TUD E degrees min degrees min AL AB AM A Anniston 85 51 33 34.8 Auburn 85 26.4 32 40.2 Birmingham 86 45 33 34.2 Centrevil le 87 15 32 54 Dothan 85 27 31 19.2 Fort Rucker 85 43.2 31 16.8 Gadsden 86 5.4 33 58.2[...]

54 LONGITUDE LATI TUD E degrees min degrees min Melbourne 80 37.8 28 6 Miami 80 16.8 25 49.2 Naples 81 4.8 26 7.8 Nasa Shuttle 80 40.8 28 37.2 Orlando 81 19.2 28 25.8 Panam a City 85 40.8 30 12 Patrick AFB 80 3.6 28 13.8 Pensacola 87 19.2 30 21 Ruskin 82 3.6 27 58.2 Saint Peters 82 40.8 27 55.2 Sanford 81 15 28 46.8 Sarasota 82 33 27 24 Tallahassee[...]

55 LONGITUDE LATI TUD E degrees min degrees min Wurtsmith 83 2.4 44 27 Ypsilanti 83 31.8 42 13.8 MINNESOTA Albert Lea 93 22.2 43 40.8 Alexandria 95 22.8 45 52.2 Bemidji M uni 94 55.8 47 30 Brainerd-C rw 94 7.8 46 24 Detroit Laks 95 52.8 46 49.2 Duluth 92 10.8 46 49.8 Ely 91 49.2 47 54 Fairmont 94 25.2 43 39 Fergus Falls 96 4.2 46 18 Grand Rapids 93[...]

56 LONGITUDE LATI TUD E degrees min degrees min OKLAHOMA Altus AFB 99 16.2 34 40.2 Ardm ore 97 1.2 34 18 Bartlesville 96 0 36 45 Clinton 99 1.2 35 21 Enid 97 4.8 36 22.8 Fort Sill 98 2.4 34 39 Gage 99 46.2 36 18 Hobart 99 3 35 0 Lawton 98 25.2 34 34.2 Mcalester 95 46.8 34 52.8 Norm an 97 28.2 35 13.8 Oklahoma 97 3.6 35 24 Page 94 37.2 34 40.8 Ponca[...]

57 LONGITUDE LATI TUD E degrees min degrees min Walla Walla 118 16.8 46 6 Wenatchee 120 1.2 47 24 Whidbey Is 122 39 48 21 Yakima 120 31.8 46 34.2 WEST VIRGINIA Beckley 81 7.2 37 46.8 Bluefield 81 13.2 37 18 Charleston 81 3.6 38 22.2 Clarksburg 80 13.8 39 16.8 Elkins 79 51 38 52.8 Huntington 82 33 38 22.2 Lewisburg 80 2.4 37 52.2 Martinsburg 77 58.8[...]

58 Appendix D - RS -232 Connecti on You can control you r telescop e with a comput er via the RS -232 port on the comput erized hand control and using an optional R S-232 cable ( #93920 ). Onc e conne cted, the teles cope c an be contr olled using popular a str onomy so ftwa re progra ms . Communicati on Protocol: The Advanced GT commun icates at 9[...]

59 Additional RS23 2 Comma nds S S e e n n d d A A n n y y T T r r a a c c k k R R a a t t e e T T h h r r o o u u g g h h R R S S 2 2 3 3 2 2 T T o o T T h h e e H H a a n n d d C C o o n n t t r r o o l l 1. Multiply the desi red tracking rate (arcseconds/ second) by 4. Ex ample: if the desired track rate is 150 arcseconds/s econd, then TRACKRA T[...]

60 A PPENDIX E – MAPS OF T IME ZONES[...]

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CELESTRON TWO YEAR WAR RANTY A. Celes tron w arr ants this te le sco pe to be free from defe cts in ma terial s and w orkmans hip f or tw o years. Ce lestr on w ill re pa ir o r repl ace s uch prod uct o r part t her eof w hich, upo n inspectio n by Celes tron, is found to be de fe ctive in m ater ials or w orkmans hip . As a con diti on to t he ob[...]

Celestro n 2835 Colu mbi a Street Torrance, CA 90503 U.S.A . Tel. (310) 3 28-956 0 Fax. (310) 2 12-583 5 Web site at http//www.celestron.co m Copyri ght 2003 C elest ron All rights reserved. (Products or in structions may chang e without notice or obligation.) Item # 1102 5-INS T $10.00 08-03[...]