Celestron Advanced Series C6-RGT Instruction Manual Download Page 5

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(C8-N Shown)

Optical Tube

2" Steel Tripod

Tube Rings

Center Leg Brace / Accessory Tray

Finderscope

Counterweights

Focuser / Eyepiece

0. Counterweight Bar

Equatorial Mount

. Dovetail Slide Bar

Latitude Adjustment Lever

2. Objective Lens Shade

Fig

- The Advanced Series C6-R

Summary of Contents for Advanced Series C6-RGT

Page 1: ...A Ad dv va an nc ce ed d S Se er ri ie es s A Ad dv va an nc ce ed d S Se er ri ie es s G G GT T T I IN NS ST TR RU UC CT TI IO ON N M MA AN NU UA AL L INTRODUCTION 4 C C6 6 R R C C6 6 R RG GT T ...

Page 2: ...eration 16 Alignment Procedures 17 Startup Procedure 17 Auto Align 18 Auto Three Star Align 18 Quick Align 19 Last Alignment 19 Re Alignment 19 Object Catalog 20 Selecting an Object 20 Slewing to an Object 20 Finding Planets 20 Tour Mode 21 Constellation Tour 21 Direction Buttons 21 Rate Button 21 Setup Procedures 22 Tracking Mode 22 Tracking Rate 22 Date Time 22 User Defined Objects 22 Get RA DEC...

Page 3: ...bserving Hints 37 Observing the Planets 37 Observing the Sun 37 Solar Observing Hints 38 Observing Deep Sky Objects 38 Seeing Conditions 38 Transparency 38 Sky Illumination 38 Seeing 38 Using the Lens Cap Aperture Stop 39 ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY 40 Piggyback 40 Short Exposure Prime Focus Photography 41 Terrestrial Photography 42 Metering 42 Reducing Vibration 42 Auto Guiding 43 TELESCOPE MAINTENANCE 44 C...

Page 4: ...rmance features The AST s deluxe features combine with Celestron s legendary optical systems to give amateur astronomers the most sophisticated and easy to use telescopes available on the market today Take time to read through this manual before embarking on your journey through the Universe It may take a few observing sessions to become familiar with your telescope so you should keep this manual ...

Page 5: ... 8 Center Leg Brace Accessory Tray 3 Finderscope 9 Counterweights 4 Focuser Eyepiece 10 Counterweight Bar 5 Equatorial Mount 11 Dovetail Slide Bar 6 Latitude Adjustment Lever 12 Objective Lens Shade 12 1 2 3 4 6 7 5 9 10 8 11 Fig 1 1 The Advanced Series C6 R ...

Page 6: ...4 Focuser Eyepiece 11 Dovetail Slide Bar 5 Equatorial Mount 12 Objective Lens Shade 6 Latitude Adjustment Lever 13 Hand Control 7 2 Steel Tripod 14 R A Motor Drive Control Panel CONTROL PANEL 15 Declination Motor Drive A Hand Control Port B DEC Motor Port D 12v Output Jack C Autoguide Port E ON OFF Switch 12 1 2 7 8 11 10 15 4 13 9 A B E C D 3 14 5 6 ...

Page 7: ... mount to the tripod To set up the tripod 1 Stand the tripod upright and pull the tripod legs apart until each leg is fully extended The tripod will now stand by itself Once the tripod is set up you can adjust the height at which it stands 2 Loosen the lever on the leg clamp so that the tripod leg can be adjusted 3 Slide the center portion of the tripod leg away from the tripod head until it is at...

Page 8: ... tripod legs 2 Thread the accessory tray knob on to the central rod and tighten I In ns st ta al ll li in ng g t th he e C Co ou un nt te er rw we ei ig gh ht t B Ba ar r To properly balance the telescope the mount comes with a counterweight bar and at least one counterweight depending on model To install the counterweight bar 1 Locate the opening in the equatorial mount on the DEC axis 2 Thread t...

Page 9: ...g and the holder which attaches to the leg clamp To attach the hand control holder 1 Place the leg clamp up against one of the tripod legs and press firmly until the clamp wraps around the leg 2 Slide the back of the hand control holder downward into the channel on the front of the legs clamp see Fig 2 6 until it snaps into place A At tt ta ac ch hi in ng g t th he e S Sl lo ow w M Mo ot ti io on ...

Page 10: ...ttom of the telescope tube Before you attach the optical tube make sure that the declination and right ascension clutch knobs are tight This will ensure that the mount does not move suddenly while attaching the telescope To mount the telescope tube In order for the GT computerized mount to function properly before installing the optical tube the mounting platform must be positioned so that the Dec...

Page 11: ...the mounting bracket on the telescope 7 The finderscope bracket will slide in from the back The finderscope should be oriented so that the objective lens is toward the front open end of the telescope 8 Tighten the set screw on the mounting bracket to hold the finderscope in place For information on aligning your finderscope see Telescope Basics section of this manual Installing the Eyepieces The e...

Page 12: ...g bracket screw is tight The counterweight bar will extend horizontally on the opposite side of the mount see figure 2 12 2 Release the telescope GRADUALLY to see which way the telescope rolls 3 Loosen the set screw on the counterweight 4 Move the counterweight to a point where it balances the telescope i e it remains stationary when the R A clamp is released 5 Tighten the set screw to hold the co...

Page 13: ...he Mount in Altitude To increase the latitude of the polar axis tighten the rear latitude adjustment screw and loosen the front screw if necessary To decrease the latitude of the polar axis tighten the front under the counterweight bar latitude adjustment screw and loosen the rear screw if necessary The latitude adjustment on the CG 5 mount has a range from approximately 30 going up to 60 It is be...

Page 14: ... D De ec cl li in na at ti io on n C Ca ab bl le e F Fo or r G GT T M Mo od de el ls s O On nl ly y The Advanced Series mount comes with a declination cable that connects from the R A motor drive electronic panel to the Dec motor drive To attach the motor cable Locate the Declination cable and plug one end of the cable into the port on the electronics panel labeled DEC Port and plug the other end ...

Page 15: ... the individual components of the computerized hand controller 1 Liquid Crystal Display LCD Window Has a dual line 16 character display screen that is backlit for comfortable viewing of telescope information and scrolling text 2 Align Instructs the telescope to use a selected star or object as an alignment position 3 Direction Keys Allows complete control of the telescope in any direction Use the ...

Page 16: ...fo Displays coordinates and useful information about objects selected from the Advanced GT database 6 Tour Activates the tour mode which seeks out all the best objects for the current date and time and automatically slews the telescope to those objects 7 Enter Pressing Enter allows you to select any of the Advanced GT functions and accept entered parameters 8 Undo Undo will take you out of the cur...

Page 17: ...tinue 3 The hand control will then display the last entered local time date time zone longitude and latitude Use the Up Down keys 10 to view the current parameters Press ENTER to accept the current parameters Press UNDO to enter current date and time information into the hand control The following information will be displayed Time Enter the current local time for your area You can enter either th...

Page 18: ...again center the star in the crosshairs of the finderscope and then center the star in the eyepiece pressing ENTER when complete When the telescope has been aligned on all three stars the display will read Alignment Successful and you are now ready to find your first object A Au ut to o T Th hr re ee e S St ta ar r A Al li ig gn n Auto Three Star Alignment works much the same way as Auto Align how...

Page 19: ...nt that was saved when the telescope was last powered down This is a useful feature should your telescope accidentally lose power or be powered down NOTE Just like with Quick Align you can use the Re alignment feature see below to improve your telescopes pointing accuracy after using the Last Alignment method To maintain a more accurate alignment over a series of observing sessions use the Hiberna...

Page 20: ...ardized catalogs For example to find the Orion Nebula press the M key and enter 042 Slewing to an Object Once the desired object is displayed on the hand control screen choose from the following options Press the INFO Key This will give you useful information about the selected object such as R A and declination magnitude size and text information for many of the most popular objects Press the ENT...

Page 21: ...trol the telescope s motion in altitude up and down and azimuth left and right The telescope can be controlled at nine different speed rates Rate Button Pressing the RATE key 11 allows you to instantly change the speed rate of the motors from high speed slew rate to precise guiding rate or anywhere in between Each rate corresponds to a number on the hand controller key pad The number 9 is the fast...

Page 22: ...ect is being observed Sidereal This rate compensates for the rotation of the Earth by moving the telescope at the same rate as the rotation of the Earth but in the opposite direction When the telescope is polar aligned this can be accomplished by moving the telescope in right ascension only Lunar Used for tracking the moon when observing the lunar landscape Solar Used for tracking the Sun when sol...

Page 23: ... Save Land Obj command and press ENTER The display will ask you to enter a number between 1 200 to identify the object Press ENTER again to save this object to the database To replace the contents of any of the user defined objects simply save a new object using one of the existing identification numbers the telescope will replace the previous user defined object with the current one Get RA DEC Di...

Page 24: ... for the star to appear to move in the eyepiece There are two values for each axis positive and negative Positive is the amount of compensation applied when you press the button in order to get the gears moving quickly without a long pause Negative is the amount of compensation applied when you release the button winding the motors back in the other direction to resume tracking Normally both value...

Page 25: ...cope tube is on one side of the Meridian Once the tube passes over to the other side of the Meridian the Goto approach will need to be reversed To change the Goto approach direction simply choose Goto Approach from the Scope Setup menu select either Altitude or Azimuth approach choose positive or negative and press ENTER In order to minimize the affect of gear backlash on pointing accuracy the set...

Page 26: ...ced Series telescopes such as Calibrate Goto Polar Alignment Hibernate as well as many others Calibrate Goto Goto Calibration is a useful tool when attaching heavy visual or photographic accessories to the telescope Goto Calibration calculates the amount of distance and time it takes for the mount to complete its final slow goto when slewing to an object Changing the balance of the telescope can p...

Page 27: ... telescope Goto Alt Az Allows you to enter a specific altitude and azimuth position and slew to it Hibernate Hibernate allows the telescope to be completely powered down and still retain its alignment when turned back on This not only saves power but is ideal for those that have their telescopes permanently mounted or leave their telescope in one location for long periods of time To place your tel...

Page 28: ... ENTER RA DEC SAVE LAND OBJ GOTO LAND OBJ USER OBJECTS GET RA DEC GOTO RA DEC SELECT CATALOG IDENTIFY GOTO TYPE PRECISE GOTO MENU SET TO INDEX ENTER TIME DLS ST TIME ZONE ENTER DATE MM DD YY CENTER STAR 3 CENTER STAR 2 CENTER STAR 1 AUTO ALIGN CENTER STAR 1 SELECT STAR 1 CENTER STAR 2 SELECT STAR 2 CENTER STAR 3 SELECT STAR 3 AUTO THREE STAR ALIGN LAST ALIGNMENT QUICK ALIGN ENTER LONG LAT START UP...

Page 29: ... as an achromat was introduced Each element has a different index of refraction allowing two different wavelengths of light to be focused at the same point Most two element lenses usually made of crown and flint glasses are corrected for red and green light Blue light may still be focused at a slightly different point Image Orientation It should be noted that the image orientation will change depe...

Page 30: ...x effect between the telescope and finder 2 Release the R A and DEC clamps and point the telescope at your target 3 Center your target in the main optics of the telescope You may have to move the telescope slightly to center it 4 Adjust the screw on the finder bracket that is on the right when looking through the finder until the crosshairs are centered horizontally on the target seen through the ...

Page 31: ...tiply by 52 5 Continuing with our example multiply the angular field 83 by 52 5 This produces a linear field width of 43 6 feet at a distance of one thousand yards The apparent field of each eyepiece that Celestron manufactures is found in the Celestron Accessory Catalog 93685 General Observing Hints When working with any optical instrument there are a few things to remember to ensure you get the ...

Page 32: ... declination are named for their angular distance above and below the celestial equator The lines are broken down into degrees minutes of arc and seconds of arc Declination readings south of the equator carry a minus sign in front of the coordinate and those north of the celestial equator are either blank i e no designation or preceded by a plus sign The celestial equivalent of longitude is called...

Page 33: ...never set You will never see the stars complete one circle because the sunlight during the day washes out the starlight However part of this circular motion of stars in this region of the sky can be seen by setting up a camera on a tripod and opening the shutter for a couple hours The processed film will reveal semicircles that revolve around the pole This description of stellar motions also appli...

Page 34: ...rk that you know faces north 2 Level the tripod There is a bubble level built into the mount for this purpose NOTE Leveling the tripod is only necessary if using this method of polar alignment Perfect polar alignment is still possible using other methods described later in this manual without leveling the tripod 3 Adjust the mount in altitude until the latitude indicator points to your latitude Mo...

Page 35: ...ions in the sky it may be difficult to locate from urban areas If this is the case use the two end stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper the pointer stars Draw an imaginary line through them toward the Little Dipper They point to Polaris see Figure 5 5 The position of the Big Dipper changes during the year and throughout the course of the night see Figure 5 4 When the Big Dipper is low in the sky i ...

Page 36: ...king due south insert the diagonal so the eyepiece points straight up Insert the cross hair eyepiece and align the cross hairs so that one is parallel to the declination axis and the other is parallel to the right ascension axis Move your telescope manually in R A and DEC to check parallelism First choose your star near where the celestial equator and the meridian meet The star should be approxima...

Page 37: ...scinating targets include the five naked eye planets You can see Venus go through its lunar like phases Mars can reveal a host of surface detail and one if not both of its polar caps You will be able to see the cloud belts of Jupiter and the great Red Spot if it is visible at the time you are observing In addition you will also be able to see the moons of Jupiter as they orbit the giant planet Sat...

Page 38: ...d the effect they have on observing will help you get the most out of your telescope Transparency Transparency is the clarity of the atmosphere which is affected by clouds moisture and other airborne particles Thick cumulus clouds are completely opaque while cirrus can be thin allowing the light from the brightest stars through Hazy skies absorb more light than clear skies making fainter objects h...

Page 39: ... these include reducing the aperture and using filters The objective lens cap covering the objective lens of the telescope has a built in 112mm aperture stop in the center By leaving the lens cap on the telescope with the aperture stop removed you will allow all the incoming light to pass closer to the center of the optical axis Since most planets are extremely bright objects visible to the unaide...

Page 40: ...es for piggyback photography If you can t find a new camera you can purchase a used camera body that is not 100 percent functional The light meter for example does not have to be operational since you will be determining the exposure length manually You also need a cable release with a locking function to hold the shutter open while you do other things Mechanical and air release models are availab...

Page 41: ... The T Ring replaces the 35mm SLR camera s normal lens Prime focus photography allows you to capture the entire solar disk if using the proper filter as well as the entire lunar disk To attach your camera to your telescope 1 Remove the eyepiece from the 1 1 4 eyepiece holder 2 Unthread the 1 1 4 eyepiece holder from the focuser assembly This will expose the male thread of the built in T adapter 3 ...

Page 42: ... your camera s field of view Metering The Advanced Series telescope has a fixed aperture and as a result fixed f ratios To properly expose your subjects photographically you need to set your shutter speed accordingly Most 35mm SLR cameras offer through the lens metering which lets you know if your picture is under or overexposed Adjustments for proper exposures are made by changing the shutter spe...

Page 43: ...to guiding port for use with a CCD autoguider The diagram below may be useful when connecting the CCD camera cable to the telescope and calibrating the autoguider Note that the four outputs are active low with internal pull ups and are capable of sinking 25 mA DC ...

Page 44: ...denses on the inside of the lens remove the accessories from the rear cell of the telescope Place the telescope in a dust free environment and point it down This will remove the moisture from the telescope tube To minimize the need to clean your telescope replace all lens covers once you have finished using it Since the rear cell is NOT sealed the cover should be placed over the opening when not i...

Page 45: ...make a difference with only about 1 2 to 3 4 turn being the maximum required Do NOT remove or back out the holder screws more than one 1 to two 2 turns With Polaris or another bright star centered in the field of view focus with your highest power eyepiece i e one with the shortest focal length This includes eyepieces in the 4mm to 6mm range The star should be well centered in the field of view of...

Page 46: ...n the following focal lengths 4mm 6mm 9mm 12 5mm 15mm 20mm 25mm 32mm and 40mm X Cel This 6 element design allows each X Cel Eyepiece to have 20mm of eye relief 55 field of view and more than 25mm of lens aperture even with the 2 3mm In order to maintain razor sharp color corrected images across its 55 field of view extra low dispersion glass is used for the most highly curved optical elements The ...

Page 47: ... and the variable brightness illuminator is completely cordless The micro guide eyepiece produces 96 power with the C6 R Moon Filter 94119 A Celestron s Moon Filter is an economical eyepiece filter for reducing the brightness of the moon and improving contrast so greater detail can be observed on the lunar surface The clear aperture is 21mm and the transmission is about 18 Motor Drive Single Axis ...

Page 48: ...t sky without a map either Even if you already know your way around the major constellations these maps can help you locate all kinds of fascinating objects T Ring The T Ring couples your 35mm SLR camera body to the T Adapter radial guider or tele extender This accessory is mandatory if you want to do photography through the telescope Each camera make i e Minolta Nikon Pentax etc has its own uniqu...

Page 49: ...d GT Additional Specifications Hand Control Double line 16 character Liquid Crystal Display 19 fiber optic backlit LED buttons Motor Type DC Servo motors with encoders both axes Max Slew Speed 3º second Software Precision 24bit 0 08 arc sec calculation Hand Control Ports RS 232 communication port on hand control Motor Ports Aux Port Autoguide Ports Tracking Rates Sidereal Solar and Lunar Tracking ...

Page 50: ...easured from due north between the astronomical meridian the vertical line passing through the center of the sky and the north and south points on the horizon and the vertical line containing the celestial body whose position is to be measured B Binary Stars Binary Double stars are pairs of stars that because of their mutual gravitational attraction orbit around a common Center of Mass If a group ...

Page 51: ... bright at the end of its life cycle O Open Cluster One of the groupings of stars that are concentrated along the plane of the Milky Way Most have an asymmetrical appearance and are loosely assembled They contain from a dozen to many hundreds of stars P Parallax Parallax is the difference in the apparent position of an object against a background when viewed by an observer from two different locat...

Page 52: ...xing Moon The period of the moon s cycle between new and full when its illuminated portion is increasing Z Zenith The point on the Celestial Sphere directly above the observer Zodiac The zodiac is the portion of the Celestial Sphere that lies within 8 degrees on either side of the Ecliptic The apparent paths of the Sun the Moon and the planets with the exception of some portions of the path of Plu...

Page 53: ... 6 Mather AFB 121 1 8 38 34 2 Mcclellan 121 2 4 38 40 2 Merced 120 31 2 37 16 8 Miramar NAS 117 9 32 52 2 Modesto 120 57 37 37 8 Moffet 122 3 37 25 2 Mojave 118 9 35 3 Montague 122 31 8 41 43 8 Monterey 121 51 36 34 8 Mount Shasta 122 19 2 41 19 2 Mount Wilson 118 4 2 34 13 8 Napa 122 16 8 38 13 2 Needles 114 37 2 34 46 2 North Is 117 1 2 32 42 Norton AFB 117 13 8 34 6 Oakland 122 13 2 37 43 8 Ont...

Page 54: ...mwa 92 27 41 6 Sioux City 96 22 8 42 24 Spencer 95 9 43 10 2 Waterloo Mun 92 2 4 42 33 KANSAS Chanute 95 28 8 37 40 2 Col J Jabar 97 13 2 37 45 Concordia 97 39 39 33 Dodge City 99 58 2 37 46 2 Elkhart 101 52 8 37 0 Emporia 96 1 2 38 19 8 Ft Leavnwrth 94 55 2 39 22 2 Ft Riley 96 46 2 39 3 Garden City 100 43 2 37 55 8 Goodland 101 4 2 39 22 2 Hays 99 16 2 38 51 Hill City 99 49 8 39 22 8 Hutchinson 9...

Page 55: ...Mercury 116 1 2 36 37 2 Nellis AFB 115 1 8 36 13 8 Owyhee 116 10 2 42 34 8 Reno 119 46 8 39 30 Tonopah 117 4 8 38 4 2 Wildhorse 116 15 41 19 8 Winnemucca 117 4 8 40 54 Yucca Flat 116 4 8 37 34 8 NEW HAMPSHIRE Berlin 71 10 8 44 34 8 Concord 71 3 43 12 Jaffrey 72 0 42 48 Keene 72 16 2 42 54 Laconia 71 25 8 43 34 2 Lebanon 72 1 8 43 37 8 Manchester 71 25 8 42 55 8 Mt Washingtn 71 1 8 44 16 2 Nashua 7...

Page 56: ...g 101 27 32 18 Brownsville 97 25 8 25 54 Brownwood 98 57 6 31 47 4 Carswell AFB 97 25 8 32 46 8 Chase NAS 97 40 2 28 22 2 Childress 100 16 8 34 25 8 College Stn 96 22 2 30 34 8 Corpus Chrst 97 3 27 46 2 Cotulla 99 13 2 28 27 Dalhart 102 33 36 1 2 Dallas FW 97 1 8 32 54 Del Rio 100 55 2 29 22 2 Dyess AFB 99 51 32 25 8 El Paso 106 2 4 31 48 Ellington Af 95 10 2 29 37 2 Fort Worth 97 21 32 49 2 Ft Ho...

Page 57: ...13 25 e 52 30 n Birmingham England 1 55 w 52 25 n Bombay India 72 48 e 19 0 n Bordeaux France 0 31 w 44 50 n Bremen Germany 8 49 e 53 5 n Brisbane Australia 153 8 e 27 29 s Bristol England 2 35 w 51 28 n Brussels Belgium 4 22 e 50 52 n Bucharest Romania 26 7 e 44 25 n Budapest Hungary 19 5 e 47 30 n Buenos Aires Argentina 58 22 w 34 35 s Cairo Egypt 31 21 e 30 2 n Canton China 113 15 e 23 7 n Cape...

Page 58: ...nd conflicts with slew limits there will be no action Get Azm Alt Z 12AB 4000 10 characters returned 12AB Azm comma 4000 Alt Get RA Dec E 34AB 12CE Scope must be aligned Cancel Goto M Is Goto in Progress L 0 or 1 0 No 1 Yes 0 is ASCII character zero Is Alignment Complete J 0 or 1 0 No 1 Yes Commands below available on version 1 6 or later HC version V 22 Two bytes representing V2 2 Stop Start Trac...

Page 59: ...Goto Command Through RS232 To The Hand Control note Only valid for motorcontrol version 4 1 or greater 1 Convert the angle position to a 24bit number Example if the desired position is 220 then POSITION_24BIT 220 360 224 10 252 743 2 Separate POSITION_24BIT into three bytes such that POSITION_24BIT PosHigh 65536 PosMed 256 PosLow Exampe PosHigh 156 PosMed 113 PosLow 199 3 Send the following 8 byte...

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Page 68: ...ing or unauthorized repair Further product malfunction or deterioration due to normal wear is not covered by this warranty CELESTRON DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WHETHER OF MERCHANTABILITY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH HEREIN THE SOLE OBLIGATION OF CELESTRON UNDER THIS LIMITED WARRANTY SHALL BE TO REPAIR OR REPLACE THE COVERED PRODUCT IN ACCORDANCE WI...

Page 69: ...e CA 90503 U S A Tel 310 328 9560 Fax 310 212 5835 Web site at http www celestron com Copyright 2003 Celestron All rights reserved Products or instructions may change without notice or obligation Item 21019 INST Printed in China 10 00 09 03 ...

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Celestron Advanced Series C6-RGT, Instruction Manual

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