Celestron NEXSTAR 4 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[...]

ii INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 4 W AR NING ................................................................................................................................................... 4 ASSEMBLY ..........................[...]

iii M OTION OF THE S TARS ............................................................................................................................. 26 P OLAR A LI GNMENT ( WI TH OPT IONAL W EDGE ) ......................................................................................... 27 Photography with the N exStar 4 ........................[...]

4 Congra tulations on your purchase of the Ce lestron N exSta r! The Ne xStar us hers in a whole ne w ge neration of compute r autom ated tec hnolog y. Simple a nd frie ndly t o use, t he Nex Star is up and running after loc ating jus t two a lignm ent sta rs. It’s the per fec t combinatio n of po wer a nd portability . If y ou are ne w to astron[...]

5 2 1 3 3 Focuser Knob StarPoin ter Eyepiece Flip Mirror Attach the i ncluded acce ssories (eyepiece an d Star Point er fi nd ersc ope ) an d re move t he fr ont le ns cover. Re move plastic co ver ove r the battery an d turn- on th e St ar Poi nter by rot ati ng the dial o n the side. (For in str uct io ns on ali gni ng the Sta r Poi nter see the [...]

6 Inp ut the nece ssa ry date and tim e inform ation a s instructed by the hand c ontrol. Press ENTER after each entry . The Nex Star w ill also ask for ti me zone and l ocati on inf or matio n. Use the UP a nd Dow n scr oll bu ttons to se lect from t he vario us option s, pre ssing ENTER after each sele ction. (See Hand Control section for detaile[...]

7 1 Optical Tube 6 Focuser Knob 2 Liqui d Cry stal Dis play 7 Str aig ht Thr oug h Ph otog ra phi c A dapte r 3 Hand C ont rol 8 Flip M irror C ontrol 4 ON/OFF S witch 9 Eyepiece 5 Battery Compart ment 10 Star Pointer F indersco pe 1 2 3 5 10 6 7 8 9 4[...]

8 The NexStar 4 comes co mpletely p re-assembled and can be op eratio nal in a matter o f minut es. The NexStar i s conven ient ly packaged i n one r eusabl e shipping carto n th at contains al l of th e following accessori es: • 25mm SMA Eye piece – 1 ¼ " • Star Pointer Finde rsco pe • Compute rized Hand C ontrol w ith 4,000 Objec t [...]

9 The Hand Control The hand cont rol is located on the side of the fork arm and can b e removed and used remotel y or used while attached to th e fork . The hand co ntrol a ttache s to the fork arm by r esting on two posts, l ocate d on t he bott om of the hand contr ol cr adle, and a clip inside the f ork arm . To remove the hand con trol from the[...]

10 The Star Pointer Finder scope The Star P oin ter is th e quickest and easi est way to p oin t your t elescope exactl y at a d esired o bject in the sky. It' s like h avin g a laser poin ter that you can shine directl y onto the night sky. The St ar Pointer is a zero magnificat ion poi nting too l that uses a coa ted glas s window to superim[...]

11 5. Without m oving the m ain teles cope, tur n the Star Poi nter' s azimuth and alti tude alig nme nt controls until t he red dot is directly over the alignm ent star. If the LED dot is brig hter than t he alignm ent star, it may mak e it diffic ult to see the star. Tur n the variable brig htness control c ounterc lockw ise, until t he r ed[...]

12 The NexStar 4 h as a re movable han d contro ller buil t into the sid e of the fork arm desi gned t o give you i nstant access to all the func tions the NexStar has t o offe r. With automatic slewing to o ver 4,00 0 objects, and com m on sense me nu descr iptions, ev en a beginne r can m aster its v arie ty of featur es in just a f ew obse rving[...]

13 Caldwell – A com bination of the be st NG C and IC o bjects. Planets - All 8 planets i n our So lar Sy stem plus the Moon. Stars – A c ompiled list of the brig htest stars f rom the SAO c atalog. List – For qu ick access, all of the best and most po pular ob jects in the NexS tar dat abase have been broken down int o lists base d on t heir[...]

14 to use y our ha nd contr ol on a diffe rent Nex Star mode l, the Se lect M odel utility f eature a llows you to re-selec t the proper NexSta r model f rom the dis played list (s ee Sele ct Model la ter in this sec tion). 2. Use the Up and Down scroll keys to select AutoAlign if it is not alr eady display ed , and press ENTER. 3. The tel escope w[...]

15 procedure for t hat s tar. When the teles cope ha s been a ligned t o bot h stars the dis play w ill rea d Ali gnment Succe ssful Alignment Succe ssful Alignment Succe ssful Alignment Succe ssful , and you are now ready to f ind you r first object. If the wrong star was centered an d aligned to, the NexStar disp lay will read Align Failed Align [...]

16 NexStar Re-Alignment The Nex Star has a re-alig nment feature whic h allows you to replac e either of the tw o original a lignme nt stars with a new star or celesti al obj ect. Th is can be useful in several si tuati ons: • If you ar e observ ing ove r a period of a few hours, you may notice that y our original tw o alignm ent star s have drif[...]

17 The s peed a t whic h inf orm ation scr olls acr oss t he ha nd contr ol display c an be c hanged w hile t he inf orm ation is being viewed: • Press the “1” key repeatedl y to speed up the scroll speed. • Press the “4 ” key repeated ly to sl ow down th e scroll speed . • Press the “7 ” key to fre eze and un freeze the in format[...]

18 • Press the RA TE key on the hand c ontrol. The L CD will dis play the curre nt speed ra te. • Press t he num ber o n the hand c on trol tha t corr esp onds to the de sired s peed. The hand con trol has a " double butto n" f eature tha t allow s you to instantly s peed up the m otors without ha ving to cho ose a speed r ate. To use[...]

19 If you want to explore t he entire obje ct database, set t he maximum altit ude limit to 90º a nd the mini mum limit to –90º . This will d isplay every o bject in the dat abase l ists reg ardless o f whether it i s visible i n the sky fro m your loca tion. User Defined Obj ects - The NexSta r can store up to 50 dif fere nt user defi ned obje[...]

20 U U t t i i l l i i t t y y F F e e a a t t u u r r e e s s Scrolling through the MENU options will also provide access to several advanced u tility functions such as anti-backlash compensation and slew limits. Setup Time-Sit e - Allows the user to custom ize the Nex Star display b y chang ing tim e and location para me ters (such as time z one [...]

21 ALT - AZ EQ NO RTH EQ SOUT H OF F MO D E SI DER EAL SOLAR LUNA R RA T E TRA CKI NG VI EW T I M E- SI TE SI DEREA L TI M E ALT M AX I N LI ST A L T M IN IN L IS T FI LTE R LI M I T S SET UP T I ME/ SI T E ANT I - BACKLASH SLEW L I M I T S DI RECT I ON B UT T O NS L I GHT C ONT ROL SELEC T M ODEL U T ILIT IE S RS- 232 GOT O SKY OB J SAVE SKY O BJ [...]

22 F i g5 - 2 a-A c t u a l i m a g e orienta tion as seen with the unaid ed ey e Fig 5-2b - Reverse d from left to right, as view ed thro ugh the eyepiece Figure 5- 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 M M a a k k s s u u t t o o v v - - C C a a s s s s e e g [...]

23 Figure 5- 3 T h ee m b l e mo nt h ee n do f the fo cus knob sh ow s t he correct rot ational dire ctio n for foc usi ng t he Nex St ar . F F o o c c u u s s i i n n g g The N exStar' s f ocusing m echanism controls the primary m irror which is mounte d on a ring that slide s back and forth on t he primary baffle tube. The focusi ng k nob, [...]

24 G G e e n n e e r r a a l l O O b b s s e e r r v v i i n n g g H H i i n n t t s s When work ing with any optical i n strument, there a re a few thing s to remem ber to ensure you get the best possible im age. • Nev er look through w indow glass. Gla ss found in hous ehold w indows is optica lly imperf ect, and as a res ult, may vary in thick[...]

25 Up to this point, this m anual cover ed the as sembly and basic opera tion of your N exSta r telesc ope. How ever, to understan d your teles cope m ore thoroughly , you need t o know a little a bout the night sky . T h is sec tion deals w ith observ ational a stro nomy in g eneral a nd inclu des inf ormation on the nig ht sky and pola r alig nme[...]

26 M M o o t t i i o o n n o o f f t t h h e e S S t t a a r r s s The daily m otion o f the Sun acro ss the sky is familiar to eve n the most casua l observer. This daily trek is not the Sun mov ing as ear ly astronom ers thought, but the re sult of the Earth's rotation. The Earth' s rotation als o causes the sta rs to do the same , scri[...]

27 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 ( ( w w i i t t h h o o p p t t i i o o n n a a l l W W e e d d g g e e ) ) Even though the N exSta r can precisely track a celestial object w hi le in the Alt-Az position, it is stil l n ecessary to align the polar ax is of the teles cope (the f ork arm) to the Earth's axis on rotatio[...]

28 Photography with the NexStar 4 Afte r looking at the night sky f or a while you m ay wa nt to try photographing it. In additio n to the spec ific a ccessor ies require d for cel estia l photograph y, there is the need for a camera - but not just any c amer a. The came ra does not have to have m any of the fea tures of fere d on today 's s t[...]

29 Since the Little Dippe r (technica lly calle d Ursa Minor) is not one of the brightest constella tions in the sky , it may be diff icult to locate fr om urban a reas. I f this is the case, use the t wo end sta rs in the bowl of the Big Dipper (the pointe r stars). Draw an imaginary line through them tow ard the Little Dipper. They point to Polar[...]

30 With y our telesc ope set up, you a re ready to use it for observ ing. This section cov ers vis ual obse rving hints for both solar sy ste m a nd deep sky objects as w ell as genera l observing conditions which w ill affec t your a bility to obse rve. 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 l ook [...]

31 O O b b s s e e r r v v i i n n g g t t h h e e S S u u n n Althoug h overlook ed by ma ny amateur as tronom ers, solar o bserv ation is both re warding and fun. How ever, b ecause the Sun i s so bright, sp ecial precaut ions must be taken when observin g our star so as not to d amage your e yes or your telescope. Never proj ect an image of t he[...]

32 Seeing Seeing c onditio ns refe rs to the stability of the a tmosphe re and directly affects the am ount of fine de tail see n in extended objects . The air in our atm osphere ac ts as a lens which bends and d istorts i ncom ing light rays . The amount of bendi ng depends on air density. V ary ing temperat ure layers have diff erent densities an[...]

33 While your Nex Star telesc ope requires little m aintenance, there are a few things to rem e mber that will ensure y our telescope perf orms at its be st. 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, du st and/or moisture may bu ild up o n the correcto r plate of your t el[...]

34 You will find that ad dition al accessories enh ance your vie wing pleasure and exp and th e usefulness of your telesco pe. For ease of referen ce, all th e accessor ies are list ed in alph abeti cal order. Adapter, A C (#18770) – Allow s DC (battery ) powered te lescopes to be c onverted for use w ith 120 volt AC pow er. The adapter attaches [...]

35 ava ilable in the f ollowing f ocal lengths : 2.5mm , 4 mm, 5m m, 6mm , 9 mm, 10m m, 12mm a nd 15mm . Celestron also of fers the LV Zoom eyepiece (#3777) w ith a focal length of 8 mm to 24m m. It offers an apparent fiel d of 40º at 24mm and 60º at 8mm . E ye relief r anges from 15mm t o 19mm . Eyepiece Filt ers - To enhance y our visual observ[...]

36 Trip od, NexStar ( #93497) - A stable tripod is a must f or serious as tronomic al observ ing and photogr aphy . This steel f ield tripod (#934 97) f olds dow n to a com pact 8"x28" . It is equipped w ith a built on wedge tilt plate for quic k equato rial use an d astrop hotograph y. It has a metal center b race and accessor y tray for[...]

37 Appendix A - Technica l Specifica tions 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 Design Maksut ov-Ca ssegrain Catadi optri c Aperture 4 inch es (102mm) Fo cal Le ngth 52 inc hes (1 325mm) F/r atio of the O ptic al Sy stem 13 Primary M irror: Diameter Coati n gs 102mm [...]

38 A A p p p p e e n n d d i i x x B B - - G G l l o o s s s s a a r r y y o o f f T T e e r r m m s s A - Absolute m agnitude The appa rent m agnitude tha t a star w ould have if it wer e observ ed from a standa rd distance of 10 parse cs, or 32.6 lig ht-ye ars. The absolute m agnitude of the Sun is 4.8. at a distance of 10 parsecs, it would just [...]

39 F- Focal len gth The distance b etween a lens (or mirror) and th e point at which the image of an object at infini ty is broug ht to focus . The f ocal leng th divided by the aperture of the m irror or lens is term ed the focal ratio. J - Jovian P lanets Any of the fou r gas giant p lanet s that are at a greater d istance for m the sun th an the[...]

40 Resolut ion The minimu m detectable an gle an optical syste m can detect. Becau se of diffractio n, th ere is a limit to the minim u m angle , resolution. The large r the aperture, the be tter the re solution. Right Ascensio n: (RA) The angular d istan ce of a celestial object measured in hours, min utes, and seco nds alon g the Celestial Equa t[...]

41 A A p p p p e e n n d d i i x x C C – – M M a a p p s s o o f f T T i i m m e e Z Z o o n n e e s s[...]

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CELESTRON ONE YEAR WARRANTY A. Celestr on Inte rnational (CI ) warr ants this tele scope to be fr ee from de fects in mater ials and w orkma nship for one ye ar. CI will repair or re place such pro duc t or par t the reo f which, upo n inspectio n by CI , is found to be defe ctive in mate rials or wor kmans hip. As a condit ion to the obl igation o[...]

Celestr on I nter nat iona l 2835 Colum bia Street Torrance, CA 90503 Tel. (310) 328- 9560 Fax. (310) 212-5835 Web site at http//www.celestron.com Copyri ght 2001 Celes tron Intern ation al All rights reserved. (P roduc ts or inst ruc tio ns ma y c hange without notice or o bligation.) This device complies with Part 15 o f the FCC Rule. Operation i[...]