Celestron Advanced VX 12026 Instruction Manual Download Page 14

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I

 s0RESS%.4%2TOACCEPTTHECURRENTPARAMETERS

 s0RESS"!#+TOENTERCURRENTDATETIMEANDLOCATION

information into the hand control. 

3.  The following information will be displayed:

s

 Location

n4HEHANDCONTROLWILLDISPLAYALISTOFCITIESTO

choose from. Choose the city from the database that is 
closest to your current observing site. The city you choose 
will be remembered in the hand control’s memory so that it 
will be automatically displayed the next time an alignment 
is done. Alternatively, if you know the exact longitude and 
latitude of your observing site, it can be entered directly 
into the hand control and remembered for future use as 
well. To choose a location city:

 s5SETHE5PAND$OWNSCROLLKEYSTOCHOOSEBETWEEN

City Database and Custom Site. City Database will 
allow you to select the closest city to your observing 
site from a list of either international or U.S. location. 
Custom Site allows you to enter the exact longitude and 
latitude of your observing site. Select City Database and 
press ENTER.

 s4HEHANDCONTROLWILLALLOWYOUTOCHOOSEFROMEITHER

U.S. or international locations. For a listing of U.S. 
locations by state and then by city, press ENTER while 
United States is displayed. For international locations, 
use the Up or Down scroll key to select International and 
press ENTER.

 s5SETHE5PAND$OWN3CROLLBUTTONSTOCHOOSEYOUR

current state (or country if an International location was 
selected) from the alphabetical listing and press ENTER.

 s5SETHE5PAND$OWN3CROLLBUTTONSTOCHOOSETHE

closest city to your location from the displayed list  
and press ENTER.

s

Time

n%NTERTHECURRENTLOCALTIMEFORYOURAREA9OUCAN

enter either the local time (i.e., 08:00), or you can enter 
military time (i.e., 20:00).

 s3ELECT0-OR!-)FMILITARYTIMEWASENTEREDTHEHAND

control will bypass this step.

 s#HOOSEBETWEEN3TANDARDTIMEOR$AYLIGHT3AVINGS

time. Use the Up and Down scroll buttons (10) to toggle 
between options.

 s3ELECTTHETIMEZONETHATYOUAREOBSERVINGFROM!GAIN

use the Up and Down buttons (10) to scroll through the 
choices. Refer to Time Zone map in Appendix for more 
information.

s

Date

n%NTERTHEMONTHDAYANDYEAROFYOUROBSERVING

session.

Note:

  

 Updating Your Location

n3INCEYOUMAYNOT

need to update your observing location as often as 
the date and time, it is not displayed each time you 
update the date and time. To update your city, press 

"!#+ATANYTIMEWHENUPDATINGYOURDATEANDTIME
#ONTINUETOPRESS"!#+TOCHANGETHESTATECOUNTRY
ORTOADDLONGITUDELATITUDECOORDINATES

Note:

   If incorrect information is entered into the hand control, 

THE"!#+BUTTONACTSLIKEABACKSPACEBUTTON

 

allowing the user to re-enter the correct data.

Select one of the alignment methods as described below.

Two Star Align

Two-Star Align allows the user to select two stars on which  
to align the telescope. To align your telescope using the  
Two-Star Align method:

1.   Select Two-Star Align from the alignment choices given. 

"ASEDONTHEDATEANDTIMEINFORMATIONENTEREDTHEHAND

control will automatically select and display a bright star 
that is above the horizon.

 s0RESS%.4%2TOSELECTTHISSTARASYOURlRSTALIGNMENT

star.

 s)FFORSOMEREASONTHECHOSENSTARISNOTVISIBLEPERHAPS

BEHINDATREEORBUILDING PRESS"!#+TOHAVETHE

hand control automatically select the next brightest star.

 s/RYOUCANUSETHE5P$OWNKEYSTOBROWSETHEENTIRE

Named Star list and select any one of over two hundred 
alignment stars.

2.   Once the telescope is finished slewing to your first  

alignment star, the display will ask you to use the arrow 
buttons to align the selected star with the cross hairs 
in the center of the finderscope. When centered in the 
finder, press ENTER.

The display will then instruct you to center the star in the 
field of view of the eyepiece. When the star is entered, press 

!,)'.TOACCEPTTHISSTARASYOURlRSTALIGNMENTSTAR

Important:  When moving the telescope, remember 
to always finish slewing using the UP and RIGHT 
direction buttons on the hand control to eliminate any 
mechanical backlash in the gears.

3.   After the first alignment star has been entered, the hand 

control will automatically select a second alignment star 
and have you repeat this procedure for that star.

When the telescope has been aligned on both stars, the 
display will ask you if you wish to add additional calibration 
stars. Calibration stars are used to improve the pointing  
accuracy of your telescope by compensating for subtle  
opto-mechanical misalignments between the telescope  
optics and the mount. Therefore, it is usually a good idea to 
add at least one additional calibration star to improve the 
mount’s all-sky pointing accuracy.

4.   Press ENTER to select a calibration star. Select a star the 

same way you did with the first two alignment stars and 
press ENTER. You will notice that all the calibration stars 
displayed are located on the opposite side of the side of 
the sky (Meridian) as the original alignment stars. This is 
essential for an accurate calibration of the mount.

Finally, you can choose to continue to add additional calibration 

STARSOR0RESS"!#+TOCOMPLETETHEALIGNMENT

Summary of Contents for Advanced VX 12026

Page 1: ...Series Telescopes INSTRUCTION MANUAL For Models 91519 32054 32062 22020 12079 12026 12046 12067 12031 ...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...ewing to an Object 16 Advanced VX Main Menu Tree 23 Optical Tube Assemblies 25 Setting up the Refractor 25 Setting up the Newtonian Reflector 26 Setting up the Edge HD Schmidt Cassegrain Optical Tubes 27 Aligning the Finderscope 29 Polar Aligning the Mount 29 Appendix A Advanced VX Mount Technical Specifications 33 ...

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Page 5: ...ES The Advanced VX mount provides amateur astronomers with 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 handy until you have fully mastered your telescope s operation...

Page 6: ... ATITUDE DJUSTMENT 3CALE 4 4RIPOD ENTER EG RACE CCESSORY 4RAY 5 Tripod 6 Counterweight 7 OUNTERWEIGHT AR 8 Hand Control 9 Control Panel 10 R A Motor Housing 11 Dec Motor Housing 42 0 A Power Port DEC Motor Port C Power Switch D Auxiliary Ports E Hand Control Port F Auto Guider Port 1 11 10 7 6 4 5 2 9 3 8 D C E F A ...

Page 7: ...he lever found at the bottom of each leg by rotating it counterclockwise 3 Slide each leg out to the desired length and secure in place by rotating the levers clockwise Make sure the levers are tight so the legs do not accidentally slide inward when you add weight to the tripod Attaching the Azimuth Adjustment Knobs To ensure safe shipment of your Advanced VX mount the azimuth adjustment knobs hav...

Page 8: ...d stability to the mount To install the tray 1 Remove the nut and washer from the lower side of the tripod s central rod 2 Slide the accessory tray over the central rod so that each arm of the tray is pushing against the inside of the tripod legs 3 Thread the accessory tray knob onto the central rod and tighten Installing the Counterweight Bar To properly balance the telescope the mount comes with...

Page 9: ...snaps into place Attaching an Optical Tube to the Mount The telescope attaches to the mount via a dovetail slide bar which is mounted along the bottom of the telescope TUBE EFORE YOU ATTACH THE OPTICAL TUBE MAKE SURE THAT THE declination and right ascension clutch knobs are tight and the counterweight s are securely installed This will ensure that the mount does not move suddenly while attaching t...

Page 10: ... v 2 Tighten the R A lock lever to hold the telescope in place OOSEN THE CLUTCH LOCK LEVER AND ROTATE THE telescope until the tube is parallel to the ground 4 Release the tube GRADUALLY to see which way it rotates around the declination axis DO NOT LET GO OF THE TELESCOPE TUBE COMPLETELY 5 Slightly loosen the knobs that hold the telescope to the mounting platform and slide the telescope either for...

Page 11: ...ned slightly EEP IN MIND THAT ADJUSTING THE MOUNT IS DONE DURING THE polar alignment process only Once polar aligned the mount must NOT be moved Pointing the telescope is done by moving the mount in right ascension and declination as described earlier in this manual Attaching the Declination Cable The Advanced VX mount comes with a cable that connects the electronic control panel to the declinatio...

Page 12: ...he functions your mount has to offer With automatic slewing to over 40 000 objects and common sense menu descriptions even a beginner can MASTER ITS VARIETY OF FEATURES IN JUST A FEW OBSERVING SESSIONS ELOW IS A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS OF The NexStar hand controller 1 8 9 3 4 11 10 11 12 13 2 4 5 6 15 14 7 ...

Page 13: ...ting firmware via PC Hand Control Operation This section describes the basic hand control procedures needed to operate all Celestron computerized telescopes These procedures are grouped into three categories Alignment Setup and Utilities The alignment section reviews the initial telescope alignment as well as finding objects in the sky The setup section discusses changing parameters such as tracking...

Page 14: ...TO PRESS TO CHANGE THE STATE COUNTRY OR TO ADD LONGITUDE LATITUDE COORDINATES Note If incorrect information is entered into the hand control THE BUTTON ACTS LIKE A BACK SPACE BUTTON allowing the user to re enter the correct data Select one of the alignment methods as described below Two Star Align Two Star Align allows the user to select two stars on which to align the telescope To align your tele...

Page 15: ...ope pointing accuracy you can use the Re Align feature as described below Quick Align Quick Align uses all the date and time information entered at startup to align the telescope However instead of slewing to the alignment stars for centering and alignment the telescope bypasses this step and simply models the sky based on the information given This will allow you to roughly slew to the coordinate...

Page 16: ...y will allow you to scroll through the catalog rapidly Slewing to an Object Once the desired object is displayed on the hand control screen you have two options s Press the OBJECT INFO Key This will give you useful information about the selected object such as magnitude constellation and extended information about the most popular objects s 5SE THE UP DOWN arrow buttons to scroll through the displ...

Page 17: ...eature simply press the arrow button that corresponds to the direction that you want to move the telescope While holding that button down press the opposite directional button This will increase the speed to the maximum slew rate When using the UP and DOWN buttons on the hand control the slower slew rates 6 and lower move the motors in the opposite direction than the faster slew rates 7 9 This is ...

Page 18: ...racking Normally both values should be the same You will need to experiment with different values from 0 99 a value between 20 and 50 is usually best for most visual observing whereas a higher value may be necessary for photographic guiding To set the anti backlash value scroll down to the anti backlash option and press ENTER While viewing an object in the eyepiece observe the responsiveness of ea...

Page 19: ... TO respond when it is slewing to objects that are accessible from both sides of the Meridian The Meridian feature allows the telescope tube to remain on a desired side of the mount when slewing and continue to track according to the R A SLEW LIMITS THE USER HAS SET 3EE 2 IMITS BELOW 4HE Meridian feature allows for four choices s Favor Current n LLOWS THE MOUNT TO FAVOR WHATEVER SIDE of the mount ...

Page 20: ...variation inherent in every German equatorial mount Each calibration is completely automatic and in most cases only needs to be performed once It is highly recommended that you take a few minutes to go through the mount calibration procedures s R A Switch n 4HIS PROCEDURE RECORDS THE OFFSET ERROR when the right ascension index mark is aligned at start up Calibrating the R A Index will improve the ...

Page 21: ...will need to turn the GPS off in order to manually enter a time other than the present Turn On Off RTC n LLOWS YOU TO TURN OFF THE TELESCOPE S internal real time clock When aligning the telescope still receives time information from the RTC If you want to use the hand control database to find the coordinates of a celestial object for a future or past dates you will need to turn the RTC off in order...

Page 22: ...ting Identify and searching by the Named Object or Messier catalogs the hand control will let you know that the Ring Nebula M57 is approximately 6 from your current position Searching the OUBLE 3TAR CATALOG WILL REVEAL THAT PSILON YRAE IS ONLY away from Vega To use the Identify feature s 0RESS THE ENU BUTTON AND SELECT THE DENTIFY OPTION s 5SE THE 5P OWN SCROLL KEYS TO SELECT THE CATALOG that you ...

Page 23: ...aved Site Light Control Keypad Level Display Level Scrolling Menu See Diagram Next Page Scope Setup Save Db Objects Set Contrast GoTo Sky Objects User Objects GoTo Land Object Toggle Bold Font See Diagram Next Page Utilities Enter RA Dec Set Language Save Sky Objects Save Land Object Get RA Dec GoTo RA Dec Identify Precise Goto ...

Page 24: ...enu Home Position Get Axis Position Set Mount Position Goto Axis Position Turn on off GPS Factory Setting Hibernate Turn on off RTC Custom Site Dec Rate Dec Positive Disabled Dec Button Cone Value RA Axis Enable City Database Normal Dec Negative Favor Current RA Approach RA East Limit Set Rate RA Positive East Favor West Dec Approach RA West Limit Dec Axis Enable RA Negative West RA Button Favor E...

Page 25: ...er 6 150 mm 6 150 mm 8 200 mm 8 203 mm OCAL ENGTH MM F MM F MM F MM F Eyepiece 20 mm 60x 1 25 20 mm 38x 1 25 20 mm 50x 1 25 40 mm 51x 1 25 Finderscope 9x50 6x30 9x50 9x50 Star Diagonal 90 1 25 90 1 25 Mount Advanced VX Advanced VX Advanced VX Advanced VX Tripod 2 Stainless Steel 2 Stainless Steel 2 Stainless Steel 2 Stainless Steel Counterweights 2x 12 lbs 1x 12 lbs 2x 12 lbs 1x 12 lbs 4UBE ENGTH ...

Page 26: ...rews located around THE FOCUSER BARREL AND REMOVE THE v ADAPTER NCE removed a 2 eyepiece or accessory can be inserted directly into the focuser barrel and secured with the two thumb screws Your telescope comes with a 1 25 star diagonal This diagonal can be inserted into the end of the 1 25 adapter allowing you to use 1 25 eyepieces at a more comfortable angle when viewing near the zenith Setting U...

Page 27: ... place If you wish to change the orientation of the star diagonal loosen the set screw on the visual back until the star diagonal rotates freely Rotate the diagonal to the desired position and tighten the set screw Installing the Eyepiece The eyepiece or ocular is an optical element that magnifies the image focused by the telescope The eyepiece fits into either the visual back directly or the star d...

Page 28: ...nderscope The finderscope must first be mounted in the included quick release bracket then attached to the rear cell of the telescope To install the finderscope OCATE THE lNDERSCOPE MOUNTING BRACKET ATTACHED TO THE BOTTOM PORTION OF THE lNDER BRACKET OOSEN THE TWO thumb screws to slide the mounting bracket from the finderscope bracket 2 Find the two holes in the rear cell of the telescope on the top l...

Page 29: ... latitude is now 89 and the celestial pole is no longer directly overhead It has moved one degree closer toward the northern horizon This means the pole is now 89 above the northern horizon If you move one degree further south the same thing happens again You would have to travel 70 miles north or south to change your latitude by one degree As you can see from this example the distance from the no...

Page 30: ... the telescope to a bright star on the opposite side of the Meridian from your two alignment stars 0RESS THE LIGN BUTTON AND USE THE 5P OWN BUTTONS ON the hand controller to select Calib Stars from the list and press Enter 3 Align the star in the finderscope and then in the eyepiece as you did with the alignment stars Display Align n THE USER CAN NOW DISPLAY THE POLAR alignment error in the RA and ...

Page 31: ...attaches to the radial guider and keeps your guide star centered while you are imaging with your main camera Here is a brief summary of the technique 1 Polar align the telescope For more information on polar aligning see the Polar Alignment section earlier in the manual 2 Remove all visual accessories 3 Thread the Radial Guider onto your telescope 4 Thread the T Ring onto the Radial Guider 5 Mount...

Page 32: ... off To give yourself more time to prepare for guiding it may be necessary to restart PEC recording after the worm gear has found its index 6 After 10 minutes PEC will automatically stop recording 7 Point the telescope at the object you want to image and center the guide star on the illuminated cross hairs You are ready to play back the periodic error correction 8 Once the drive s periodic error h...

Page 33: ...LIGN 1UICK LIGN 3TAR LIGN AST LIGNMENT Solar System Align Motor Type OW COG SERVO MOTORS WITH ENCODERS ON BOTH AXES Power Requirements 12V DC 3 5A tip positive ATITUDE 2ANGE 7 degrees to 77 degrees PEC Yes Permanently Programmable GPS Optional SkySync GPS Accessory ACKLASH OMPENSATION Yes Internal Real Time Clock Yes Available Ports 2x AUX ports Autoguider port RS 232 port on hand control Setting ...

Page 34: ...OF 2 2 4 052 3 Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages or limitation on how long an implied warranty lasts so the above limitations and exclusions may not apply to you This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state Celestron reserves the right to modify or discontinue without prior n...

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