Celestron CGE800 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 C C G G E E 8 8 0 0 0 0 ● ● C C G G E E 9 9 2 2 5 5 ● ● C C G G E E 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 ● ● C C G G E E 1 1 4 4 0 0 0 0[...]

INTROD UCTION ................................................................................................................... ............................................................... 4 W W a a r r n n i i n n g g ..............................................................................................................................[...]

3 Go to Al t-Az .................................................................................................................... ........................................................ 28 Hiberna te...................................................................................................................................................[...]

4 Congra tulations on y our purc hase of the Ce lestron CG E tele scope! The CG E ushers in the nex t genera tion of com puter automa ted telesc opes. T he Celestron CGE series contin ues in this proud tradition co mbining large aperture optics with the sophistication and ease of use of ou r computerized GoTo mount. If y ou are new to astronomy , y[...]

5 ASSE 1 Schmidt Corrector Lens 8 Control Panel ( see below) 2 Optical Tube 9 Hand Contro l Holder / Strap 3 Finderscope 1 0 Hand Contro l 4 Eyepiece 11 Tripod 5 Star Diagon al 1 2 Tripod Center Leg Brace 6 Declination Clutch Loc k 1 3 Counterweights 7 Latitude Adju stment Scale 1 4 Counterweight Bar 1 5 R.A. Clutch Lock CONTROL PANEL E 1 2v Output[...]

6 This section covers the asse mbly instructions for your Celestron CGE telescope. T he CGE telescope should be set up indoors the f irst time so that it is easy to identify the v arious parts and familiarize y ourself with the correct assembly procedure before att em pting it out doors. CGE 800 (# 11 0 58) CGE 925 (# 11 0 59) CGE 11 00 (# 11 06 1 [...]

7 A ttaching the Center Leg Brace For maximum rigidity, the Super HD Tripod has a cen ter leg brace that ins talls on to the threaded rod below the tripod head. This brace fits sn ugly against the tripod legs , increasing stability w hile reducing vibration and f lexure. To attach the cente r leg brace: 1. Unscrew the tension knob from t he threade[...]

8 5. Tighten the s crews to hold the column securely in place. A ttachi ng the Equatorial Mount After th e tripod is s et up, you are ready to attach the equ atorial moun t. The equatorial mount is the plat form to which the telescope attaches and allo ws you to move the telescope in right asce nsion and declination. T o attach the equatorial mount[...]

9 Dovetail Slide Bar Dovetail Lo cking Knobs Mounting Platform Figure 2-5 5. Tighten the lock ing screw on the side of the weight to hold the cou nterweight in place. 6. Replace the coun terweight safety thumbscrew an d washer. A ttaching the Optical Tube to the Mount The telescope attaches to the mount via a dovetail slide bar which is mounted alo[...]

10 Installing the Star Diagonal The star diagonal is a prism that diverts the lig ht at a right angle to the light path of the telesco pe. This allows you to ob serve in posi tions th at are phys ically more comf ortable th an if you look ed straig ht through . To attach th e star diagon al onto a CGE 800, 925 or 1100: 1. Turn the set screw on the [...]

11 focal length (i.e., the smaller the num ber) the higher the magnification. Generally, you will use low-to-moderate po w er when viewing. For more information on how to determine po w er, see the section on “Calculating Magnification.” Installing the Finderscope The CGE telescopes com e with a 6x30 or 9x 50 finders cope us ed to help you loca[...]

12 Moving the Telescope Manuall y In order to properly balance your telescope, you will need to move your telescope manually at various portions of the sky to observe di fferent objects. To m ake rough adjustm ents, loosen the R.A. an d DEC clutch kn obs slig htly and m ove the telescope i n the des ired direction. Both the R.A. and DEC ax is have [...]

13 Balancing The Mount in R. A . To elimin ate undue s tress on the m ount, the tel escope shou ld be properly balanced arou nd the polar ax is. Proper bal ancin g is crucial for accurate tracking . To balance the mount: 1. Verify that the te lescope securing knobs on th e telescope mou nting platf orm are tight . 2. Loosen the R.A. clutch knobs an[...]

14 On/Off Switch 1 2v DC Powe r Power Cord Strain Re lief 5. Slightly loosen the knobs t hat holds the telescope to the mounting platform and slide the telesco pe either forward or backward until it remains stationar y when the DEC clutch is loose. Do NOT let go of the telescope tube while the knob on the mounting plat form is loose. 6. Tighten the[...]

15 6. Remove th e center leg brace from the tripod. 7. Collaps e the tri pod legs inward, towa rds each other. The telescope is now broken down into enough pieces to be easily transported. Note : Before transporting the optical tube it is recommended that the two mirror locking scre w located on the rear cell of th e tube be locked dow n. Before ti[...]

16 The CGE has a h and controller designed to g ive you instant access to all the functions the CGE has to off er. With au tomatic sl ewing to over 40,000 objects, an d comm on sens e menu descript ions, even a beg inner can master i ts variety of features in jus t a few obs erving sessi ons. Below is a bri ef descri ption of th e indivi dual compo[...]

17 4. Catalog Keys: The CGE has keys on the hand control to allo w direct access to each of the catalogs in its database. T he CGE contains the following catalogs in its datab ase: 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 – A combination o[...]

18 A lignment Procedures In order for the CGE to accurately point to obj ects in the sky, it must first be aligned to two known positions (stars) in the sky. With this information, the telesco pe can create a model of the sky, which it uses to locate any object with kn own coordinates. There are many ways to align the CGE with the sky depending on [...]

19 (10) to scroll t hrough the choices. Refer to Time Zone map in Appen d ix for more information. • Date - Ent er the month, day and y ear of your obs erving s e ssion. • Finally, you must enter the longitude and latitude of the location of your observing site. Use the table in Appendix C to locate the closest longitude and latit ude for your [...]

20 Quick-A lign Quick-A li gn uses a ll the date and tim e in formation e n tered a t startup t o align the telescope . How ever, instead of slew ing to two alig n ment stars f or centering a nd alignm ent, the CGE bypasses this step and sim ply models the sky based on the inform ation given. T his will allow y ou to roughly s le w to the coordinat[...]

21 Object Catalog Selecting an Object Now that the telescope is prop erl y align ed, you can choose an object from any of the catalogs in the CGE'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 two ways to select objects from the database: scrolling through the named ob j[...]

22 Tour M ode The CGE includes a tour feature whic h automatically allows the user to choose from a list of interesting objects based on th e date and time in which y ou are observing . T he automatic tou r will dis play only th ose objects that are wi thin your set filter limits (see Filte r Limits in th e Setup Procedures section of the manual). [...]

23 up in the field of view of the e yepiece). However, if any of the slower slew rates (rate 6 and below) are used to center an object in th e finderscope, y ou may need to press th e opposite directional bu tton to m ake the telescope move in the correct direction . 1 = .5x 6 = 64x 2 = 1x (s idereal) 7 = .5º / sec 3 = 4x 8 = 2º / sec 4 = 8x 9 = [...]

24 sidereal time. Local sidereal time (LST) is us eful for knowing the right ascension of celestial objects that are located on the me ridian at that time. View Time-Site will always display the last sa ved time and location entered while it is linking with the GPS. Once current infor mation has been received, it will update the displa yed informat[...]

25 Named Object or Messie r catalogs, the hand control will let you know that the Ring Nebula (M57) is approximately 6° fro m your current position. Searching the Double Star catalog will re veal that Epsilo n Lyrae is only 1° away from Vega. To use the Identify f eature: • Press the Menu bu tton and select the Identify option. • Use the Up/D[...]

26 button, go with the higher value for positi ve, but use a lower value for negative. CGE will remember these values and use them each time it is turned on until the y are changed. Filter L imits – When an alignment is co m plete, the CG E automatically knows which celestial objects are above the horizon . As a result, when scrolling through the[...]

27 • DEC Switch - This is the decl ination switch error value set when Utilities / Cal ibrate Mount / DEC Switch - Cone is carried o ut. • RA Switch - This is the R. A. switch error value set when Ut ilities / Calibrate Mount / R. A. Switch is carried out. Utility Features Scrolling through t he MENU (9) options will al so provide access to sev[...]

28 1. With the tele scope set up a nd roughly positioned to wards Polaris, ali gn the mount usin g the AutoT wo- Star A l ignment m ethod. 2. Select Polar Align fro m the U tilities menu and press En ter. Based on your current alignment, the CGE will slew to where it thinks Polaris should b e. Use the equatorial head latitude and azimuth adjust m e[...]

29 Turn On/Off GPS - If using your CGE telescope with the option al CN-16 GPS accessory (see Opt ional Accesso ries section o f the manual), you will need to turn the GPS o n the f irst time you use the accessor y. Additionally, just like with the real ti me clock you will need to turn the GPS module off in order to enter dates and location oth er [...]

30 CGE Menu Tree: The following figure is a m e nu tree showing the sub-menus associated with the prim ary command functio ns EQ NORT H EQ SOU T H OF F MOD E SIDE RE AL SOLAR LUNA R RA T E TRA CKIN G V IEW TI M E -SIT E SET UP T IME -SI T E ANT I- BACKLAS H FILTER LIMIT S DIRE CTIO N BUTTO NS GOTO APPROAC H A UTOG UIDE RA T E MOUNT SE TTINGS SCO PE[...]

31 Figure 4- 1 A A c c u u t t a a w w a a y y v v i i e e w w o o f f t t h h e e l l i i g g h h t t p p a a t t h h o o f f t t h h e e S S c c h h m m i i d d t t - - C C a a s s s s e e g g r r a a i i n n o o p p t t i i c c a a l l d d e e s s i i g g n n Actual i mage ori entati on as see n with the unaide d eye Inverted i mage, as view ed [...]

32 Figure 4-3 The emblem on the end of the focus knob show s the correct rot ational dire ction for focusing the CGE . Focusing The CG E's focusing m echanism contro ls the prim ary m irror whic h is mounted on a ring that slides ba ck and for th on the prima ry baff le tube. The f o cusing k nob, which m oves the primary mirror, is o n the re[...]

33 To conv ert degr ees to fe et at 1,000 y ards, whic h is more usef ul for terrestrial observing , simply multiply by 52.5. Continuing with our e xample , multiply the angular field .66 ° by 52.5. Thi s produce s a linear fiel d width of 34.7 feet at a d istance of one tho usand yards. The app arent field o f each e yepiece that Cel estron manuf[...]

34 Up to this point, this m anual cov ered the ass e m bly and ba sic op eration of y our CGE telescope . Howe ver, to understa nd your t elescope m ore thoroughly , you nee d to know a little about the night sk y. This section deals with obse rvational astronom y in g eneral and i ncludes information on the night sk y a n d polar alig nment. The C[...]

35 Motion of th e Stars The daily motion of the Sun across the sky is fam iliar to even the m ost casual observer. This da ily trek is not the Sun mov ing as early astronom ers thought, but the re sult of the Earth's rotati on. The Eart h's rotati on als o cause s the sta rs to do the same, scrib ing ou t a large circl e as the Earth co m[...]

36 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 identi fying certain stars near it, this method w o rks off of a kno wn constant to determine how high t he polar axis should be poin ted. The Celest ron CGE1100 m ount can be adjusted f ro m 13[...]

37 2. Loosen the DEC clutch knob and move the telescope so that the tube is parallel to the polar axis. When this is done, the declination setting circle will read +90°. If the declination setting circle is not aligned, move the telescope so that the tube is pa rallel to the polar axis. 3. Adjust the mount in altit ude and/or azimuth until Polaris[...]

38 Declination Drift M ethod of Polar Alignment This method of polar alig nment allows you to get the most accurate alignment on the celestial pole and is required if you want t o do long exposure deep-sky astrophotography through th e telescope. The declination drift method requ i res that you monitor the drif t of selected stars. The drift of eac[...]

39 With y our telescope set up, y ou are re ady to use it for observ ing. This se ction covers v isual obse rving hints for b oth solar sy stem and deep sky objects as w ell as general observ ing conditions w hich will aff ect your ability to obse rve. Observing the Moon Often, it is tem pting to look at the Moon w hen it is full. At this tim e, th[...]

40 Observing the Sun Althoug h overlooke d by ma n y am ateur astronom ers, sola r obse rvation is b oth rewa rding and fun. Howe ver, bec ause the Su n is so b right, sp ecial precau tions must b e taken when o bserving o ur star so as n ot to damage your eyes or your telescope. Never proj ect an image o f the Sun through t he telesco pe. Because [...]

41 Seeing Seeing conditio ns refers to the s tability of the atmosphe re and dire ctly affects the a m ount of f ine detail seen in ex tended objects . The a ir in our atm osphere acts as a lens which bends a n d distorts incom ing light ra ys . The am ount of bendi ng depends on air density . Varying tem perature lay ers have different densitie s [...]

42 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 imaging. Each of th ese is discuss ed in moderate detail with enough inf or mation[...]

43 • T-Ma x 400 • Any 100 to 400 ISO c olor slide f ilm • Fuji Su per HG 400 • Ektar 25 or 100 2. Center the Moo n in t he field of your CGE tele scope. 3. Focus t h e tele scope by turning the focus knob until the imag e is shar p. 4. Set the shutte r speed to the appropriate setting (see table be low). 5. Trip t he shutt er using a cable [...]

44 act as a sh utter. The card prevents li ght from enterin g the telesco pe while th e shutt er is released. On ce the shu tter has been re leased and the vi bration ha s diminished (a few se conds), move the bla ck card out of the w a y to expos e the film. After th e exposu re is co mplete, place t he card over th e fron t of the teles cope an d[...]

45 There are seve ral techniques f or this type of photog raphy, and the one chosen will dete r mine the s t andard accessories needed. T he best method f or long ex posure deep sky astrophotogr aphy is with a n off-axis guide r. This de vice allows you to phot ograph an d guide through the telescope s imulta neously . Celes tron off ers a very spe[...]

46 Using Periodic Error Correction Once the telescope has been properly polar aligned, select PE C fro m the Utilitie s menu and pres s ENTER to b egin re cor ding your p erio dic er ror . Here ’s ho w to use t he P EC fu nction. 1. Find a brig ht star relatively cl ose to the object y ou want to phot ograph. 2. Insert a high power eyepiece wi th[...]

47 • Konica 3200 (c olor print) • Fujichr ome 1600D ( color slide) • 3M 10 00 (color sl ide) • Scotchc hrom e 400 • T-Ma x 3200 (black and white pri nt) • T-Ma x 400 (black and w hite prin t) As you per fect your tech niqu e, try speciali zed fil ms, that is fil ms that are d esigned o r specially t reated for cel estial photo graphy. H[...]

48 compatible CGE telescope's versatilit y allows it to be used in many different f-number configurations for CCD imaging . It can be used at f /2 ( with opt ional Fastar L e ns Assem bly), f/6.3 (w ith the optional Reducer/Corrector), f/10, and f/20 (with the optional 2x Barlow) making it the m ost versatile ima ging system available today. T[...]

49 Fasta r L en s Assem b l The key f actors for good CCD imaging are; exposure time, field- of-view, image size, and pix el resolution. As the F/# goes down (or gets faster), the exposure times needed decreases, the field- of-view-increases, but the image scale of the object gets s maller. What is the diff ere nce between f/2 an d f/10? F/2 has 1/[...]

50 with a 30 s econd exposure and can be im proved upon dramati call y if several 30- 60 second exposures are added togeth er . F/6.3 with Reducer/Corrector When imaging s ome objects like planetary nebula (for ex a mple M57, the Ring Nebula) and small galaxies (M104, the Som brero Galaxy), larger im age scale is needed to resolve f iner detail. Th[...]

51 Auto Guiding The CGE telescope has a desi gnated auto guiding port for use with a CCD autoguider. The diagra m below may be usefu l when connecting the CCD camera cable to th e CGE and calibrating the autoguider. Note th at the four outpu t s are active-low, with internal pull-u ps a nd are capable of s inking 25 mA DC.[...]

52 While your CG E telescope requires little ma intenance, there are a few thing s to remem b er that will ensure y our telescope perf orms a t its best. Care and Cleaning of the Optics Occasional ly, dust an d/or moisture may buil d up on the correct or plate of your telesco pe. Special care sho uld be taken when cleanin g any instrument so as not[...]

53 Figure 8- 3 A co llimated te lescope shoul d appe ar symmet ric al wit h the central obstru ction cen tered in th e star' s diffr action pa ttern. To accomplish this, you need to tighten the second ary collim at ion screw(s) that move the star across th e field toward the direction of the skew ed light. Thes e screws ar e locat ed in the se[...]

54 You will find that additional accessories en hance your viewing ple asure and expand the u sefulness of your telescop e. For ease of refe rence, all t h e accesso ries are list ed in alp habetical order. Adapter A C (#1877 3) - Allow DC (battery powered) telescope s to be converted f or use with 120 volt AC powe r. Barlow Lens - A B arlow lens i[...]

55 Fastar Lens Assembly – (#94 1 80 – 8", #94 1 79 – 11 ", #94 1 8 1 - 1 4 ) - For the ultim ate in deep-sky imaging, a Fastar L ens Assembly c an be co mbined with any of Celestron's Fasta r compatible telesc ope to achieve am azing f/2 wide - fie ld imag es. Cele stron of fer s the lens assembly comple te with le ns assembly [...]

56 Radial G uider (#9 4 1 76) - The Celestron Radi al Guider ® is sp ecificall y designed for use in prim e focus , deep sky astropho tography and tak es the pl ace of the T- Adapter. This device allow s you to photog raph and guide sim ultaneously thr ough the optic al tube assembly of your telesc ope. This ty pe of guiding prod uces the be st re[...]

Technical Specific a tions 57 CGE 11058 11059 11062 11063 CGE 800 CGE 925 CGE 1100 CGE 1400 Specifications: Optical Design 8" Schmidt-Cass egrain 9.25" Sc hmidt-Cassegrain 11" Schmidt-Cass egrain 14" Schmidt-Cass egrain Focal Length 2032mm F/10 2350mm F/10 2800mm F/10 3910mm F/11 Finderscope 6x30 6x30 9x50 9x 5 0 Mount Computeri[...]

Technical Specific a tions 58 CGE 11058 11059 11062 11063 CGE 800 CGE 925 CGE 1100 CGE 1400 CGE Mount Specifications Motor Drive DC Servo motors with encoders , both axes DC Servo motors with encoders , both axes DC Servo motors with encoders , both axes DC Servo motors with encoders , both axes Computer Ha nd Control Double line, 16 characte r Liq[...]

59 A A P P P P E E N N D D I I X X A A 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 L ATI TUDE degrees min 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 [...]

60 LONGITUDE LA TI TUDE degrees min degr ees 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[...]

61 LONGITUDE LA TI TUDE degrees min degr ees 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[...]

62 LONGITUDE LA TI TUDE degrees min degr ees 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[...]

63 LONGITUDE LA TI TUDE degrees min degr ees 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.[...]

64 Appendix B - RS-232 C onnecti on You can c ontrol your CGE te lescope with a c o m puter via the RS-232 port on the com puterize d hand control a nd using an optio nal RS- 2 32 ca b le (# 93920). Once c onnec ted, the CGE c an be contr olled usi ng popular as tronomy software progra ms. Communicati on Protocol: CGE-i co mmunicates at 9 600 bits/[...]

65 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 trackin g rate (arcsecon ds/second) by 4. Ex a mple: if the des ired trackrate is 150 arcseconds/s econd, then TRACKRAT[...]

66 APPENDIX C – M APS OF TIME ZONES[...]

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CELESTRON TWO YEAR WAR RANTY A. Celestr on warrants th is tele scope to be f ree from de fects in ma terial s and w orkmanshi p for two year s. C ele stron w ill repa ir o r repl ace such prod uct or part t hereo f which, upon inspe ction by Cele stron, is fo und to be def ectiv e in mate rials o r workmans hip . As a con diti on to th e obli gatio[...]

Celestro n 2835 Colu mbi a Street Torrance, CA 90503 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 # 1106 3-INST $10.00 03-03[...]