Celestron C6-RGT 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 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 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... .............................[...]

2 Warning ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 ASSEMBLY ....................................................................................................................... .............................................. 7 Setting u[...]

3 Version ........................................................................................................................ ...................... 27 Get Alt-Az..................................................................................................................... .................... 27 Goto Alt-Az .............................[...]

4 Congra tulati ons on y our purc has e of the Celes tron A dvance d Series te lesc ope (AST )! The Advanced Se ries of teles copes come in standar d (non-c omputer ized) and com puteriz ed GT models. T he A dvanced Se ries is ma de of the highest qua lity m aterials to ensure sta bility a nd durability . A ll this adds up t o a tele scope tha t gi[...]

5 (C8-N Show n) 1 . Optica l Tube 7. 2" Steel Tripod 2. Tube Rings 8. Center Leg Brace / Ac cess ory Tray 3. Finderscope 9. Counterweights 4. Focuser / Eyep iece 1 0. Counterweight Bar 5. Equatorial Mount 11 . Dovetail S lid e Bar 6. Latitud e Adju stment Lev er 1 2. Objective Lens Shade 1 2 1 2 3 4 6 7 5 9 1 0 8 11 Fig 1 - 1 - The Advanced Se[...]

6 Fig 1 -2 - Th e Ad vanced S eries C6-RGT 1 . Optica l Tub e 8. Center Leg Brace / Ac cess ory Tray 2. Tube Rings 9. Counterweights 3. Finderscope 1 0. Counterweight Bar 4. Focuser / Eyep iece 11 . Dovetail S lid e Bar 5. Equatorial Mount 1 2. Objective Lens Shade 6. Latitude Adjustment Lever 1 3. Hand Control 7. 2" Steel Tripod 1 4. R.A. Mot[...]

7 This se ction c over s the as sem bly in structio ns for your Cele str on Adva nced Se ries T elesc ope ( AST). Your AST telescope should be set up indoor the first time so that it is easy to identify the various pa rts and familiarize yourself with the correct assem bly procedure before att empting i t outdoor. 21019 / 210 20 C6-R Diameter 150m [...]

8 1. Locate the azimuth adjustm ent screws on the equ atorial mount. 2. Retract the screws so they no longer extend into the azimuth housing on the mount. Do NOT rem ove the screws since they are needed later for polar alignm ent. 3. Hold the equ atorial moun t over the t ripod head so th at the azimu th housing is above th e metal peg. 4. Place th[...]

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 The Advanced C6-R co mes with two counterweights. To install the counterweight(s): 1. O rient t he mo unt so that t he co unter weig ht ba r po ints to ward t he ground . 2. Remove the coun terweight safety screw on the end of the counterwe igh[...]

10 place. As mentioned above, th ere are two R.A. shafts, one on either side of the mount. It makes no difference which shaft yo u use si nce bo th wor k the sa me. Use whiche ver o ne you fi nd more conve nie nt. If, aft er a fe w obser vin g sessions , you find the R.A. slow motion knob is more accessible from the other s ide, pull firmly to remo[...]

11 Installing the F indersc ope To install the findersc ope onto the telescope y ou must first moun t the finderscope throug h the finder brack et and then attach it to the telescope. Tow ard the rear of th e telescope tube, near the focusing ass embly, there is a small bracket with a s et screw in it. This is where the finderscope bracket w ill be[...]

12 Eyepieces are comm only referred to by focal leng th and barrel diameter. The focal len gth of each ey epiece is printed on the ey epiece barrel. The longer th e focal length (i.e., the larger th e number) the lower the eyepiece magnification (i.e., pow er) and th e shorter the focal leng th (i.e., the smaller the number) the h igher the magnifi[...]

13 Like the R.A. balance, these a re general balance instructio ns and will reduce undue st ress on the mount. Whe n taking astrophoto graphs, this bala nce process should be done fo r the specific area at which the telescope is pointing. A A d d j j u u s s t t i i n n g g t t h h e e M M o o u u n n t t In order for a motor driv e to track accura[...]

14 latitude screw, first use the rear screw to raise the mount head all the way up. Then rem ove the front latitude scre w completely. Now you s hould be able to m anually move the mount head all t he way to its lo west latitude. Now, using only the rear screw, raise the mount to your desired latitude. Adjusting the Moun t in Azimuth For r ough adj[...]

15 The Advanc ed Ser ies GT , comp uteri zed ve rsio n of eac h tel esco pe ha s a hand contr olle r de signed to gi ve you i nstant 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 few ob[...]

16 4. Catalog Keys: The Advanced Series has keys on the hand control to allow direct access 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 o bjects. NGC – Complete list o f all the deep-sky obj ects in the Revised Ne w General Catalog. Caldwell[...]

17 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[...]

18 4. Select one of the f our alignment methods as described below. 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 side[...]

19 the eyepiece, press i ng ENTER when complete. NOTE: Although the telescope a llow s the user t o select the alignment stars, f o r best a ll-sky pointing accuracy it is still nece ssary to select t wo alignment st ars on one si de of the M eridian and t he third st ar on the opposi te side of the Meri dian. For this re ason, the hand co ntrol wi[...]

20 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 Selectin g an Object Now that the telescope is prop erl y align ed, you can ch oose a n object from any of the catalogs in the telescope's extensive database. The h and control ha s a key (4) desig na ted for each of th e catalogs in its database. There are tw o ways to select objects f ro[...]

21 Tour Mode The Advanced Series telescopes include a tour feature which automatically allo ws the user to choose from a list of interesting obj ects based on the date and ti me in which you are ob serving . The auto matic tour will display onl y those objects that are within your set filter limits (see Filter Limits in the Setup Procedures s ectio[...]

22 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 us er defined setup funct ions design ed to give the user control over the telescope's many adv anced features. All of th e setup and utility features [...]

23 that is not included in the regular database. There are sev eral ways to save an object to memory depen ding on what type of object it is: GoTo Object: To go to any of the user defined objects stored in t he database, scroll dow n to either GoTo Sky Obj or Goto Land Obj an d enter the number of the object y o u wish to select and press ENTE R. T[...]

24 Note: Some of the databases contain thousan ds o f objects, an d can therefore take several minutes to return the closest objects. 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 astrophotography and C[...]

25 example, if y ou are observing f rom a mountainous location where the horizon is partiall y obscured, y ou can set your minimum altitude limit to read +20º . This will make sure that the hand control only displays objects that are higher in altitude than 20º . If you want to explore the entire object database, set the maximum altitude limit to[...]

26 in R.A. (azimuth) until it reaches t he point that the cables a re extended to their maximu m. Then by displa ying the telescopes azimuth i n this po sition (by looking at Get A lt-Az under th e Utilities menu) you can determine the telescopes azimuth at its most extended position. Enter this azi muth reading for either th e maximum or minimum a[...]

27 should be. Use the equatorial head latitude and azi muth adjustments to place Po laris in the center of the eyepiece. Do not use the direction buttons to position Po laris. Once Polaris is centered in the eyepiece press ENT ER; the polar axis should then be po inted towards the North Celestial P ole. Light Control – This feature allo ws you to[...]

28 EQ NORT H EQ SO UT H OFF MOD E SIDEREA L SOLAR LU NAR RA T E TRA CKIN G VIEW TI M E-SIT E SET UP T IM E- SIT E AN TI- BACK LAS H FI LTER LIM IT S DIRECTIO N B UTTONS GOTO APPROAC H AUTOGU IDE RAT E AZIMUTH L IMIT S EAST/WEST FI L TERIN G SCOPE SETU P CALIBRA TE GOT O HOME POSITIO N POL AR ALIG N LIG HT CONTROL FACTOR Y SETTIN G VER SIO N GET ALT[...]

29 Actual i mage ori entati on as see n with the unaide d eye Inverted i mage, as view ed with the eyepiece directl y in telescop e Reversed from left to right, as view ed wi th a Star Diag onal A tele s cope is an i n strum ent that c o llects a nd focuses lig ht. The nature of the optical de sign determines how the lig ht is foc us ed. Some teles[...]

30 F F o o c c u u s s i i n n g g To focus y our telescope, simply turn the f o cus knob located directly belo w the f oc user. Turn i ng the knob clockwise allows you to focus on an obj ect that is f arther than the one you are currently observing . T urning the knob coun terclockwise from you allows you to f ocus on an object closer than th e on[...]

31 Althoug h the p o we r is variable, each instrument un der average skies h as a limit to the highest u seful magnificati on. The gen eral rule is th at 60 power can be used for every inch o f aperture. For example, t he C6-R is 6 in ches in diameter. Mul tiplying 6 by 60 give s a max i mum useful magnif i cation of 360 power. A lthough this is t[...]

32 Up to this poi nt, this m anual cov ered the assem bl y and ba sic operation of y our telescope. H o weve r, to understa nd your telesc ope more thoro ughly, you nee d to know a little about the night sky. This se ction deals w ith observ ational astronom y in g eneral and i ncludes information on the night sk y a nd polar alignm ent. The Celest[...]

33 Motion of the St ars The daily motion of the Sun a cross the sky is familiar to ev en the m ost casual obser ver. T his daily trek is not t h e Su n mov ing as early as tronome rs thought, but the result of the Earth's rotation. The Ear th's rota tion als o causes the stars to do the same, scri bing ou t a large circle as the Earth com[...]

34 Latitude Scales The ea siest way to polar alig n a telescope is with a latitude scale. Unlike othe r methods tha t require you t o find the celes tial pole by identif ying ce rtain stars near it, this m ethod work s off of a k nown constant t o determine how high the polar ax is should be pointed. T he Advanc ed Series mount c an be adjuste d fr[...]

35 Remember, w hile Polar aligning, do NOT move the telesc ope in R.A. or DEC. You do not want to move the telescope itself, but the polar ax is. The telescope is used simply to see w here the polar ax is is pointing. Lik e the pre vious m ethod, this gets you close to t he pole but not dir ectly on it. T he following metho ds help im prove your ac[...]

36 D D e e c c l l i i n n a a t t i i o o n n D D r r i i f f t t M M e e t t h h o o d d o o f f P P o o l l a a r r A A l l i i g g n n m m e e n n t t This m ethod of pola r alignment allow s you to get the m ost accurate alig n me nt on the cele stial pole a nd is required if you w ant to do long exposur e de ep-sky astrophotogra phy through t[...]

37 With y our telescope set up, y ou are re ady to use it for observi ng. T his section cov ers visual obs erving hints for both solar sy stem and deep sky objects as w ell as general observi ng conditions w hich will aff ect your a bility to obser ve. Observin g the Moon Often, it is tem pting to look at the Moon w hen it is full. At this time , t[...]

38 For safe solar view ing, use a solar filte r that reduces the inte nsity o f the Sun' s light, making it safe to view. W ith a filter y ou can see sunspots as the y m ove across the solar disk and faculae, whic h are bright pa tches seen ne ar the Sun's edge. Solar Obser ving Hints • The best ti me to observe th e Sun is in the early[...]

39 distu rbances vary from time-to- time and pl ace-to-place. The size of the air p arcels compared to your aperture determ ines the "seeing" quality. Under good se eing con d itions , fine detail is visi ble on the brighte r planets lik e Jupiter and Mars , and stars are pi npoint im ages. Under p oor seeing conditions, images are blur r[...]

40 Afte r looking at the night sky for a while y ou may want to try photographing it. Several form s of pho tography ar e possible w ith your tele scope, includi ng terres trial a nd celes tial photography . Both of these are discusse d in moderate detail with enough information to get you st arted. Top ics include the accesso ries required and som[...]

41 5. Locate the area of the sky that you want to ph otograph and move the telescope so that it poin ts in that direction. 6. Find a suitable guide star in the teles cope eyepiece field of view. This is relatively easy since you can search a wide area w ithout affecting the area covered by y our camera lens . If you do not hav e an illuminated cros[...]

42 Lunar Phase ISO 50 ISO 1 00 ISO 200 ISO 400 Crescent 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/15 Quarter 1/15 1/30 1/6 0 1/125 Full 1/30 1/60 1/1 25 1/250 The ex posure time s listed in ta ble 7-1 should be used as a starting point. A lways make exposures that are long er and shorter tha n the recomm ended time. Als o, take a few photos at each shu tter speed. This will e[...]

43 Auto Guiding The Advanced GT telescope has a des ignated auto gu idi ng port for use with a C C D autoguider. The diagram below may be useful when connecting the CCD camera cable to th e telescope and calibrating the autoguider. Note th at the four outputs are acti ve-low, with internal pu ll-ups and are capable of sinking 25 mA DC.[...]

44 While your te lescope requires litt le maintenance, the re are a fe w thing s to rem e mber that will e n sure your tele scope perform s a t 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 Occasional ly, dus t and/or moi sture may b uild up on th e objective len s of your tel esco[...]

45 Figure 8- 2 A co llimated te lesco pe should appear as a symmetrica l ring pattern simila r to the diffraction disk se en her e. sit outside f or 15 to 30 minutes bef ore attem pting collim ation. You should also w ait for a night with good s eeing c onditions a nd avoid lo oking over a nything that produce s heat wa ves (i.e., roof tops, car ho[...]

46 You will find that add itional accessories enhance your viewing pleasure and expand the usefuln ess of your telescope. For ease of reference, all the accessor ies are list ed in alph abetical order. Adapter A C (#1877 3) - Allow DC (battery powered) telescope s to be c onverted f or use with 120 volt AC powe r. Auxiliary P ort Accessor y (#93965[...]

47 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 , Deep Yellow , Violet, Pale Blue (#s 8, 47, 82A , 96ND-13) Flash light , Night Vis ion - (#93588) - Cele stron’s pr em iu m model f or astronom y, using tw o red LED ' s to p reserve ni ght vision better than red filter[...]

48 RS-23 2 Cable ( #93920) – A llows your Adv anced Se ries telescope to be control led using a lapto p compute r or PC. Once connect ed, the telesc ope can be c ontrolled us ing po pular astronom y softw are programs . Sk y Map s (#93722) - Celes tron Sky Maps are the ideal tea ching guide for le arning the night sky. You would n’t set off on [...]

49 Appendix A – Technical Specifications Advanced Series 2 1 0 1 9 / 2 1 020 Specificati ons: Optical Design 150mm (6.0") refract or Focal Length 1200mm F/8 Finderscope 9x50 Mount CG-5 Equatorial Eyepie ce 20mm – 1.25" (60x) Accessor y tra y Yes Tripod 2" St ainless S teel Technical Specs High est Us eful Ma gnif ication 360 x Lo[...]

50 Appendix B - Glossar y of Term s A - Absolute magnitude The appa rent mag n itude that a star w ould have if it were observ ed from a s tandard dis tance of 10 parsecs , or 32.6 light-yea rs. The absolute magnitude of the Sun is 4. 8. at a distanc e of 10 parsecs, it would jus t be v isible on Ea rth on a clear moonles s night away from surf ace[...]

51 J - Jovian P lan ets Any of the fou r gas giant p lanets that are at a greater dist ance form the su n than th e terrestrial planet s. K - Kuiper Be lt A region be yond the or bit of Neptune extending to about 1000 A U which is a source of m any short period c omets. L - Light-Year (L Y) A light-year is the dist ance light travers es in a vacuu [...]

52 telescop e at this rat e. The rate is 15 arc seco nds per second or 15 degrees per h our. T - Ter minat or The bo undar y line betw een the light a nd dark portion of the moon or a planet. U - Univers e The totality of as tronomical things , events , relations a nd energ ies capable of being describe d object ively. V - Variab le Star A star who[...]

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 LA TITU DE degrees mi n degrees min AL ABA MA 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 LA TITU DE degrees mi n 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 Tallahasse[...]

55 LONGITUDE LA TITU DE degrees mi n 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 9[...]

56 LONGITUDE LA TITU DE degrees mi n 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 Ponc[...]

57 LONGITUDE LATI TUD E degrees mi n 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.[...]

58 Appendix D - RS-232 C onnection You can control your telescope with a co mputer via th e RS-232 port on the comput erized hand control and usi ng an optional R S-232 cab le (#939 20). Once c onnected, the te lescope ca n be controlle d using po pular as tronom y softwa re progra ms. Communication Protocol: The Advanced GT communi cates at 9 600 [...]

59 Additional RS23 2 Commands 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) b y 4. Ex a mple: if the des ired trackrate is 150 arcseconds/s econd, then TRACKRAT[...]

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

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68 CELESTRON TWO YEAR WAR RANTY A. Celestr on warrants th is tele scope to be f ree from de fects in mate rials and workmans hip for tw o year s. Celes tron will repa ir or repl ace such prod uct or part t hereo f which, upo n inspect ion by Celes tron, is found to be defe ctive in mate rials or wor kmans hip . As a con diti on to th e obli gation [...]

Celestro n 2835 Colu mbi a Street Torrance, CA 90503 U.S.A. Tel. (310) 3 28-9560 Fax. (310) 2 12-5835 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 # 2101 9-INST Printed in China $10.00 09-03[...]