Nexstar 102 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 N N e e x x S S t t a a r r 6 6 0 0 . . N N e e x x S S t t a a r r 8 8 0 0 . . N N e e x x S S t t a a r r 1 1 0 0 2 2 . . N N e e x x S S t t a a r r 1 1 1 1 4 4 . . N N e e x x S S t t a a r r 1 1 3 3 0 0[...]

2 T T A A B B L L E E O O F F C C O O N N T T E E N N T T S S INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 Warning ............................................................................................................[...]

3 Focusing....................................................................................................................... ............................................. 26 Image Orientat ion .............................................................................................................. ....................................... 2[...]

4 Congratulations on your purchase of the Celestron NexStar te lescope! The NexStar ushers in a whole new generation of computer automated technology. Simple and friendly to us e, the NexStar is up and running af ter locating just three bright celestial objects. It’s the perfect combination of power and porta bility. If you are new to astronomy, [...]

5 = 1 Objective Lens 8 On/Off Switch 2 Fork Arm 9 Focuser Knob 3 Battery Compartment 10 Star Diagonal 4 Hand Control 11 Eyepiece 5 Tripod 12 Star Pointer Finderscope (not show n) 6 Tripod Leg Extension Clamp 13 Dovetailed Mounting Clamp 7 Accessory Tra y 14 Telescope Tube The NexStar SLT Refractor Telescope (NexStar 60 Shown) 12 1 2 11 10 7 3 4 9 1[...]

6 1 Eyepiece 7 Tripod Leg Extension Clamp 2 Secondary Mir ror 8 Accessory Tra y 3 Fork Arm 9 On/Off Switch 4 Battery Compartment 10 Collimation Adjustment Knobs 5 Tripod 11 Optical Tube 6 Hand Control 12 Star Pointer Fi nderscope NexStar SLT Reflecting Telescope (NexStar 114 Shown) 1 2 3 4 6 7 10 11 12 8 5 9[...]

7 The NexStar comes partially assembled and ca n be oper ational in a matter of minutes. Th e NexStar is conveniently packaged in on e reusable shipping car ton that contains the following accesso ries: • 25mm and 9mm Eyepieces – 1¼" • 1¼" Star Diagonal (NexStar 60, 80 & 102 only) • Star Pointer Finderscope and Mounting Br a[...]

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 H H a a n n d d C C o o n n t t r r o o l l H H o o l l d d e e r r The NexStar comes with a snap-on hand contro l hol der that convenien tl y attaches to any of the tripod legs. To attach the hand contro l hol der simply position the holder with the square plastic tab facing up and push against the[...]

9 If you wish to change the orientation of th e star diagonal, loosen the thumbscrew on the eyepiece adapter until the star diagon a l rotates freely. Rotate th e diagonal to the desired position and tighten the t humbscrew. T T h h e e E E y y e e p p i i e e c c e e The eyepiece, is the optical el ement that magnifi es the image fo cused by the t[...]

10 The Star Pointer comes equipped with a va riable brightnes s control, two axes al ignm ent control and mounting br ackets. Before th e Star Pointer is read y to be used, it m ust be attached to the telescope tub e and properly aligned : S S t t a a r r P P o o i i n n t t e e r r I I n n s s t t a a l l l l a a t t i i o o n n 1. Slide the Star [...]

11 A A t t t t a a c c h h i i n n g g 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 The NexStar SLT hand control has a phone jack type connector at the end of its cord. Plug the pho ne jack connector into the out let at the base of the t elescope’s fork arm . Push the connector into the o utlet until it clicks into place and place the [...]

12 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 The NexStar SLT's hand controller is designed to give you instan t acc ess to all the functions the NexStar has to offer. With automatic slewing to over 4,000 objects, and common sense menu descriptions, ev en a beginner can master its variety of features in just a few observing s essi[...]

13 5. Info : Displays coordinates and useful information about objects selected fro m the NexStar database. 6. Tour: Activates the tour mode, which se eks out all the best objects for a given month and auto matically slews the NexStar to those objects. 7. Enter: Pressing Enter allows you to select any of the NexStar f unctions, accept entered par a[...]

14 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 In order for the NexStar to accurately point to objects in the sk y, it must first be aligned to known positions (stars) in the sky. With this information, the tele scope can create a model of the sky, whic h it uses to locate an y object with known coordinates. There are ma[...]

15 Time - Enter the current tim e for your area. You can enter either th e local time (i.e. 8:00 ), or you can enter m ilitary time (i.e. 20:0 0 ).  Select PM or AM. If military time was en tered, the hand control will bypass this step.  Choose between Standard time or Dayl ight Savings time. Use the Up and Down scroll buttons (10) to toggle [...]

16 A A u u t t o o T T w w o o - - S S t t a a r r A A l l i i g g n n As with Sky Align, Auto Two-Star Align re quires you to enter all the necessar y time/s ite informat ion as before. Once this information is entered, NexStar will prompt you to select a nd point the telescope at one known star in the sky. The NexStar now has all the information [...]

17 Once the second star alignm ent is completed pro perly, the display wil l read Align Successful , and you should hear the tracking motors turn-on and begin to track. O O n n e e - - S S t t a a r r A A l l i i g g n n One-Star Align requires you to input all the same information as you would for the Two-Star Align procedure. However, instead of [...]

18 N N e e x x S S t t a a r r R R e e - - A A l l i i g g n n m m e e n n t t The NexStar has a re-a lignment feature whi ch allows you to repla ce either of th e original alignmen t stars with a n ew star or celestial object. This can be useful in several situations: • If you are observing over a period of a few hours, you may notice that your [...]

19 S S l l e e w w i i n n g g t t o o a a n n O O b b j j e e c c t t Once the desired object is displayed on the ha nd control screen, you have two op tions: • Press the INFO Key . This will give you useful information about th e selected object such as magnitude, constel lation and fascinating facts about many of the objects. • Press the ENT[...]

20 D D i i r r e e c c t t i i o o n n B B u u t t t t o o n n s s The NexStar has four direction buttons in th e center of the ha nd control which controls the telescope motion in altitude (up and down) and azimuth (lef t and right). The telescope can be control led at ni ne diffe rent spe ed rates. 1 = 2x 6 = .5º / se c 2 = 4x 7 = 1º / sec 3 = [...]

21 Tracking Rate - In addition to b eing able to m ove the te l escope with the hand co ntrol buttons, the NexStar will continually track a celestial obje ct as it moves acr oss the night sk y. The tracking rate can be changed depending on what type of object is being observed: Sidereal This rate compensates for the ro tation of the earth by moving[...]

22 Identify Identify Mode will search any of the NexStar database cata logs or lists and display the name and offset distances to the nearest matching objects. This feature can serve two purposes. Fi rst, it can be used to identify an unknown object in the field of view of your ey epiece. Addi tionall y, Identify Mode can be used to find other cele[...]

23 Direction Buttons – The direc t ion a star move s in the eye pi ece vari es depending on the accessori es being used. This can create confusion when guidi ng on a star using an off-axis gu ider versus a straight through guid e scope. To comp ensate for this, the dire ction of the driv e control keys can be changed. To revers e the butto n logi[...]

24 telescope up from hibernate mode. To wake up the telescope a fter UNDO has been pressed, select Hibernate from the Utility menu and press ENTER. Do not use the direction buttons to move th e telescope while in hibernate mode. Sun Menu For safety purpo ses the Sun will not be displayed as a database object unless it is first enabled . The enable [...]

25 A LT- A Z EQ NO RTH EQ SOUT H OF F MOD E SID EREA L SOLA R LUN AR RATE TRACKIN G VIEW TI ME-SIT E SETU P TIM E-S IT E A NT I- BACKLAS H SLE W LI MI T S FILTER L IMIT S DIRE CTI O N B UTTO NS GOTO APPROAC H COR DW RAP SCOPE SETU P GPS O N/ OF F LIG HT CO NTROL FACTORY SETTIN G VERSI O N GET ALT-A Z GOTO ALT - A Z HI BERN AT E SUN MEN U SCROLL ING[...]

26 Reversed from left to right, as viewed with a Star Diagonal Inverted image, as viewed with the eyepiece dir ectly in teles cope A telescope is an instrument that collects and fo cuses light. Th e nature of th e optical design de termines how the light is foc used. Some telescopes, known as refractors, use lenses. Other telescopes, known as refle[...]

27 Although the power is variable, each instrumen t under average skie s has a limit to the highest usef ul magnification. The gener al rule is that 60 power can be used for ever y inch of aperture. For example, the NexS tar 80 is 3.2” (80mm) in diam eter. Multiplying 3.2 by 60 gives a maximum useful magnifi cation of 1 92 power. Although this is[...]

28 With your telescope set up, you are r eady to use it for obser ving . This section covers visual observing hin ts for both solar system and deep sky objects as well as general obser ving conditions which will affect your abili t y 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 Often, it is tempting to look at the Moo[...]

29 For safe solar viewing, use a Celestron solar filter (see Optional Ac cessories section of manual) that reduces the intensity of the Sun's ligh t, making it saf e to view. With a f ilter you can se e sunspots as they move across the solar disk and faculae, which are bright patc hes seen near the Sun's edge. S S o o l l a a r r O O b b [...]

30 Figure 5-1 Seeing conditions directly affect image quality. Th ese drawing represent a poin t source (i.e., star) under bad seeing conditions (left) to excellent conditions (r ight). Most often, seeing conditions produ c e images that lie some where b etween these t wo extremes.[...]

31 While your NexStar te lescope requires little m aintenance, there ar e a few things to rem ember that will ensure your telescope performs at its best. 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 Occasionally, dust and/or moisture may build up on the lens of your telescop e. Special care[...]

32 You will find that additional accessories enhance your viewi ng pleasure and exp and the usefulness of your telescope. For ease of referen ce, all the acc essories are listed in alphabe tical order. Adapter, Car Battery (#18769) - Celestron offers the Car Batter y Adapter that allows you to run the NexStar drive off an external power s ource. Th[...]

33 Filter, Solar - The AstroSolar ® filter is a safe and durable filter th at covers the front op ening of the telescope. View sunspots and other solar features using this double-sided metal coated filter fo r uniform density and good color balan ce across the entire field. The Sun o ffers constant change s and will keep your observing interesting[...]

34 APPENDIX A - TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 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 NexStar 60mm NexStar 80mm NexStar 102mm NexStar 114mm NexStar 130mm Design Refractor Refractor Re fractor Reflector Reflector Aperture 60mm 80mm 102mm 114mm 130m m Focal Length 700mm 900 mm[...]

35 GLOSSARY OF TERMS A - Absolute magnitude The apparent magnit ude that a star would have if it were observed from a stand ard distance of 10 parsecs, or 32.6 light-years. The absolute magnitude of the Sun is 4.8. at a distan ce of 10 parsecs, it would just be visible on Earth on a clear moonless night away fro m surface light. Airy disk The appar[...]

36 G GoTo Term used to ref er to a computeri zed telescope or to the act of sl ewi ng (moving) a computerized telescope J - Jovian Planets Any of the four gas giant planets that are at a greater distance form the sun than the t errestrial planets. K - Kuiper Belt A region beyond the orbit of Neptune extend ing to about 1000 AU which is a source of [...]

37 telescope at this rate. The rate is 15 ar c seconds per second or 15 degrees per hour. T - Terminator The boundary line be tween the light and dark por ti on of the moon or a planet. U - Universe The totality of astronomi cal things, events, relatio ns and en ergies capable of being described objectively. V - Variable Star A star whose brightnes[...]

38 Appendix C - RS-232 Connection Using the included NSOL software you can control your NexStar telescope with a computer via the RS-232 port located on the co mputerized hand control and using the RS-232 cable (#93920). For information about using NSOL to control your tele scope, refer to th e instruction sheet that came with the CD and the help f[...]

39 APPENDIX D – MAPS OF TIME ZONES[...]

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4 CELESTRON TWO YEAR WARRANTY A. Celestron warrants this telescope to be free from defects in materials and work ma nship for two years. Celestron will repa ir or replace such product or part thereof which, upon inspe ction by Celestron, is found t o be defective in materials or workmanship . As a condition to the obligation of Celest ron to repair[...]

Celestron 2835 Columbia Street Torrance, CA 90503 Tel. (310) 328-9560 Fax. (310) 212 -5835 Web site at http//www.celestron.com Copyright 2005 Cele stron All rights reserved. (Products or instructions may change without notice o r obligation.) This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rule. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 1)[...]