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ASTRO DEVICES Nexus DSC, User Manual

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Nexus DSC User Manual 

Thank You! 

 
Thank you for purchasing Nexus DSC digital setting circles telescope computer. We hope you 
enjoy it!  
 
You have purchased one of the most advanced Digital Setting Circles computers. It will allow you 
to  located  celestial  objects  quickly  and  easily.  Nexus  DSC  has  a  huge  database  of  objects  – 
planets, galaxies, star clusters, globular clusters, nebulae and others. It also provides extensive 
descriptions  for  those  objects  –  magnitudes,  sizes,  common  names,  alternative  designators, 
surface  brightness,  separations  for  double  stars,  spectral  class,  galaxy  morphology.  It  is  all 
available at a press of a button! 
 
This user manual will get you started and help you make the most of your Nexus DSC. 
 
 

 

Summary of Contents for Nexus DSC

Page 1: ...Nexus DSC USER MANUAL 1 2 4 7 0 8 5 3 6 9 ESC OK OFF ON ...

Page 2: ...w levels as well as high DO NOT leave Nexus DSC where it is in direct sunlight or in an enclosed space such as a car that can become extremely hot very rapidly Do not drop or subject the Nexus DSC to impact Use only approved power adapter to charge your Nexus DSC Do not handle power plug and adapter with wet hands Electrical shock may result Immediately power off the product and unplug the DC adap...

Page 3: ...jects quickly and easily Nexus DSC has a huge database of objects planets galaxies star clusters globular clusters nebulae and others It also provides extensive descriptions for those objects magnitudes sizes common names alternative designators surface brightness separations for double stars spectral class galaxy morphology It is all available at a press of a button This user manual will get you ...

Page 4: ...Nexus DSC User Manual This page intentionally left blank ...

Page 5: ...10 Communications 10 Time and Date 11 WiFi 11 Display Keypad 12 Align 12 Altitude Reference 12 First Object Alignment 13 Second Object Alignment 13 Alignment Status 13 Mpoint Start 13 Mpoint Parameters 14 Mpoint Edit Points 15 Mpoint Analyse 16 Equatorial Timer 16 Find 17 From Catalogues 17 From Observation List 19 Object at RA Dec 20 From Planetarium 20 Identify 21 Tour 22 Test 22 Encoders 22 WiF...

Page 6: ...ts Equatorial Mounts Equatorial Platforms Supports a two star alignment Filter objects by magnitude constellation and object type Displayed angular resolution is 0 01 of a degree Internal FLASH memory contains a database of more than 73500 objects o Named stars o Bright stars Flamsteed Bayer Asterisms o Planets Sun Moon o Common named objects o Full catalogues Abell Galaxy Clusters Abell Planetari...

Page 7: ...onnect Nexus DSC to a computer To connect Nexus DSC to ServoCAT To connect Nexus DSC to SiTech controller Encoder port is used to connect encoders using an 8P8C RJ connector microSD socket is push in push out type Charge the battery The battery may not be fully charged at first It is advised to fully charge the battery Please use either the provided power adapter or one of the recommended power ad...

Page 8: ... acts as a backspace when editing a value in edit fields and keys are used to select an item from a list to adjust value in numeric fields with predefined steps like Time Zone or to change a character in an edit field they can also be used to go to the previous next menu level The key activates the selected menu item on screen button press accepts a selection from a list finish editing a text or n...

Page 9: ...e encoders Selecting Test from the main menu activates it Then select Encoders will show the current angles and encoder steps In order for Nexus DSC to function correctly it is required to adjust the encoder steps to make sure that the RA AZ current position in degrees is increasing when rotating the telescope clockwise around RA AZ axis the Dec Alt current position in degrees is increasing when m...

Page 10: ... to be aligned on two stars before it can locate celestial objects Your telescope does not need to be levelled for Nexus DSC to locate celestial objects accurately The two star alignment is performed in three steps Please go to the Align menu Then select Altitude Reference Adjust the altitude reference angle if required Now move the telescope into position depending on the mount type for 90 degree...

Page 11: ... will now switch to the selection of a second alignment object Please follow the procedure described above to change the selection of the second alignment object if necessary Press the button once the star is in the centre of the eyepiece Now Nexus DSC will show the alignment error Now you can press either the key or the key to go to the previous menu You can go back to align on first or second ob...

Page 12: ...d separated by at least 70 degrees in RA Locating an object Once the two star alignment is performed Nexus DSC can locate celestial object in the sky The following steps describe a basic method of location of celestial objects Go to the top menu and select Find Select From Catalogues Select a catalogue by using the and keys And just leave the Filter as Disable for now The display will show the las...

Page 13: ...y to add it to the sync objects list Once you press the key you will see that offsets became 0s Nexus DSC s menus Settings Nexus DSC has a number of parameters that can be adjusted All of the adjustable parameters are stored in non volatile memory and will be used every time you turn Nexus DSC on Please note that all settings can be reset back to their default values by turning Nexus DSC on while ...

Page 14: ...us DSC Altitude limits can be specified that are used for Limiting a range of objects search in Tour modes Limiting slewing the telescope when Nexus DSC is used with a motor controller ServoCAT SiTech SkyTracker Sounds are played during the alignment Pressing the Catalogues in Find button will allow you to select which catalogues to show in the Find mode Precision controls the number of digits dis...

Page 15: ...le GPSsync and then step outside to allow the GPS receiver to get a fix on the location and the time and date will be set automatically WiFi Nexus DSC s optional WiFi interface can be disabled set to Access Point mode when Nexus DSC acts as a WiFi access point thus allowing other devices to joins its network or it can be set to Infrastructure mode for connecting to an existing WiFi network To chan...

Page 16: ...djusted the brightness levels to the ones you desire move to OK button on the screen and press the key to save them Align Align menu contains all functions handling the telescope alignment Altitude reference alignment First object alignment Second object alignment Alignment status Mpoint start Mpoint parameters Mpoint analyse Equatorial platform timer All alignment functions are accessed by select...

Page 17: ...objects in non volatile memory which means that you don t need to change the selection next time you observe Alignment Status The alignment status shows whether the two star alignment was successful it will show the error if unsuccessful and how accurate the alignment was achieved in degrees Any value in range 0 0 to 0 5 is good for visual observing the smaller the value the better Mpoint Start Ev...

Page 18: ...remented and became 3 Now continue the calibration run until you collect enough calibration stars Calibration stars are automatically added to sync objects list and Nexus DSC will apply the correction to pointing immediately and the offsets will become equal zero It is always good to have the calibration stars spread across the whole sky for achieving the best results Adding calibration stars in F...

Page 19: ...pendicularity between pointing direction and altitude axis Mount Square EQ Non perpendicular error in equatorial mount if the RA and Declination axes are not perpendicular NPAE AltAz non perpendicular axis error PAxis NS AltAz Azimuth Axis Misalignment North South AN PAxis EW AltAz Azimuth Axis Misalignment East West AW Tube Flexure AltAz Tube Flexure TF Fork Flexure EQ For fork mounts the flexure...

Page 20: ...g when using the model calculated You can switch between them by using and keys If you the results are suitable then you can enable using the calculated model for telescope pointing If you wish to adjust the model then you can Add more calibration stars Add or delete which terms are used for the model If you did not align on a sufficient number of calibration stars then the following error message...

Page 21: ... catalogue are shown Constellation only objects from the specified constellation are shown Object Type only objects of the specified type are shown Magnitude the top of the list will be at the object of the specified magnitude Nexus DSC has a support for locating comets and asteroids It is necessary to load orbital elements for comets and asteroids you require from http www minorplanetcenter net G...

Page 22: ... quickly and easy you can start typing the object s number For example if you wish to go to NGC55 then after you pressed key the display will prompt to continue typing the object number Now press the key again and then press Nexus DSC will now show where to move the telescope to aim at NGC55 Some catalogues require a bit more complex input For example if you wish to locate WDS01362 5732 then you n...

Page 23: ... object of the selected object type Magnitude You can use this mode when you need to shown objects whose magnitude is brighter than a certain value You can set the maximum magnitude once Filter is set to Magnitude Pressing key increase decrease the magnitude limit Pressing key now will take you to the first object whose magnitude is equal or lower than the specified magnitude Pressing key will go ...

Page 24: ...find an object that is not included in any of the Nexus DSC s databases You need to specify the coordinate of an object in J2000 epoch This mode is activate by selecting Object at RA Dec Now you need to specify the coordinate You can change the sign for the declination by using and keys After the coordinate has been specified Nexus DSC will show where to move the telescope to point at the object N...

Page 25: ...ist of catalogues included in the search will be shown Catalogues with the check mark are used to perform the search Nexus DSC will generate a list of all objects of selected type in the vicinity of the current telescope coordinate The list can contain up to 128 entries and it is sorted based on a distance to the current telescope coordinate You can switch between objects from the list by using an...

Page 26: ...tries if they exist in several catalogues selected Setting the Magnitude field to 30 disables limiting magnitude and all objects will be added to the list irrespective of their magnitude Test Nexus DSC has a test mode that will help you to diagnose a possible problem Select Test from the main menu Encoders This mode allows you to test the connection with encoders and also to make sure that the enc...

Page 27: ...its internal flash memory As improvements are made to the firmware there may be a need to update the catalogues as well Please read the release notes to check if the catalogues are to be updated as well Please note that if the catalogues are to be updated that it has to be done only after the firmware update To update the catalogues on internal flash memory please follow these steps Download the f...

Page 28: ...ing About Nexus DSC Once selected the display will present Nexus DSC s serial number firmware version and firmware date Year month day Time Nexus DSC can show local time UTC and sidereal time This is activated by selecting Time which presents For the local time to be correct the time zone and daylight savings must be set correctly in Time and Date settings Battery Nexus DSC has a built in battery ...

Page 29: ...ve flashing use to move to it if not Press key now 5 Perform the same steps 2 4 for the second alignment object 6 The alignment error should be very small Once Nexus DSC is aligned you can go to the main menu go to Find From Catalogue select an object from a catalogue and perform a GOTO Firmware Update The firmware update is performed using a USB memory stick formatted as FAT32 Download Nexus DSC ...

Page 30: ...e following diagram The pin descriptions are in the following table Pin Description 1 Channel B of Azimuth or RA encoder 2 5 V 3 Channel A of Azimuth or RA encoder 4 Ground 5 Channel B of Altitude or Declination encoder 6 5V 7 Channel A of Altitude or Declination encoder 8 Ground WARNING Nexus DSC s encoders inputs do have input protection but care must be taken not to exceed the maximum input vol...

Page 31: ... depends on a number of factors type of the encoders used whether the WiFi is enabled or not display brightness level keypad backlight brightness to a lesser extent Assuming that telescope is equipped with US Digital S2 S6 10000 steps optical encoders and the display brightness level set to minimum level the battery will last around 16 hours with WiFi enabled and around 22 hours with WiFi disabled...

Page 32: ...void putting any pressure on the axle while the telescope is moving Alignment problems Problem Source of the problem Solution Alignment error is big Encoder s resolution is not set correctly Set the encoder s resolution to the correct number of steps corresponding to the number of steps of the encoders installed Telescope was pointed at the wrong star while performing the two star alignment proced...

Page 33: ...ort You can find the latest version of the manual and firmware in the support section of our website Please feel free to e mail us should you require further technical assistance Technical Support You can find software updates and user documentation on the Astro Devices website http www astrodevices com e mail mailto support astrodevices com subject Nexus DSC support ...

Page 34: ...mits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no g...

Page 35: ... WEEE Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment 2002 96 EC Radio Equipment Telecommunications Terminal Equipment R TTE 1999 5 EC RoHS Restriction of use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment 2002 95 EC Standards EMC EN 55022 EN 301 489 1 V1 8 1 2008 04 EN 301 489 17 V2 1 1 2009 05 RADIO EN 300 328 V1 7 1 2006 10 Immunity EN 55024 EN 61000 4 2 2001 EN 61000 4 3 2002 Sa...

Page 36: ...firmware version 2 X X Printed in Australia ...

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