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View Time-Site Menu

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downloaded from the optional SkySync GPS receiver.  
It will also display other relevant time-site information like 

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SIDEREALTIME,34 ISUSEFULFORKNOWINGTHERIGHTASCENSION

of celestial objects that are located on the Meridian at that 
time. View Time-Site will always display the last saved time 
and location entered while it is linking with the GPS. Once 
current information has been received, it will update the 
displayed information. If GPS is switched off or not present, the 
hand control will only display the last saved time and location.

The Hand Control Menu 

The “Hand Control” menu allows you to customize certain 
features of the hand control. To access this menu, 
press the 

MENU

 button (#7 on the keypad) and use the 

scroll buttons to select “Hand Control” and press ENTER. 
Use the scroll buttons to select from the following options:

s

 Lights Control:

  Independently adjust the brightness of 

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s

Scrolling Menu:

  Adjust how fast words move across the 

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s

Toggle Bold Font:

  Change the format of the font  

DISPLAYEDONTHE,#$FROMNORMALTOBOLDFACE

s

Set Contrast:

  Use the scroll keys to adjust the contrast 

OFTHE,#$

s

Set Language:

  Change the displayed language on the 

,#$

Note:

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time you use your new hand control.  You may also 
initiate it at any time by holding down the Option 
button (the Celestron logo) for 10 seconds while 
powering up the telescope.  

Scope Setup Menu

Setup Time-Site

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telescope’s display by changing time and location  
parameters (such as time zone and daylight savings).

Anti-backlash

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amount of backlash or play between the gears. This play 
is evident by how long it takes for a star to move in the 
eyepiece when the hand control arrow buttons are pressed 
(especially when changing directions). The Advanced VX 
anti-backlash feature allows the user to compensate for 
backlash by inputting a value which quickly rewinds the  
motors just enough to eliminate the play between gears.  
The amount of compensation needed depends on the  
slewing rate selected; the slower the slewing rate the longer 
it will take for the star to appear to move in the eyepiece.  
There are two values for each axis, positive and negative:

s0OSITIVEISTHEAMOUNTOFCOMPENSATIONAPPLIEDWHENYOU

press the button in order to get the gears moving quickly 
without a long pause.

s.EGATIVEISTHEAMOUNTOFCOMPENSATIONAPPLIEDWHENYOU

release the button, winding the motors back in the other 
direction to resume tracking.

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 each of the four  
arrow buttons. Note which directions you see a pause in the  
star movement after the button has been pressed. Working  
one axis at a time, adjust the backlash settings high enough 
to cause immediate movement without resulting in a 
pronounced jump when pressing or releasing the button. 
Now, enter the same values for both positive and negative 
directions. If you notice a jump when releasing the button but 
setting the values lower results in a pause when pressing 
the button, use the higher value for positive, but use the 
lower value for negative. The telescope will remember these 
values and use them each time it is turned on until they are 
changed.

Filter Limits

n7HENANALIGNMENTISCOMPLETETHETELESCOPE

automatically knows which celestial objects are above the 
horizon. As a result, when scrolling through the database 
lists (or selecting the Tour function), the hand control will 
display only those objects that are known to be above the 
horizon when you are observing. You can customize the 
object database by selecting altitude limits that are appropriate 
for your location and situation. For example, if you are  
observing from a mountainous location where the horizon  
is partially obscured, you can set your minimum altitude limit 
to read +20°. This will make sure that the hand control only 
displays objects that are higher in altitude than 20°.

Tip:

   If you want to explore the entire object database, set 

the maximum altitude limit to 90° and the minimum limit 

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lists regardless of whether it is visible in the sky from 
your location.

Direction Buttons

n4HEDIRECTIONASTARAPPEARSTOMOVE

in the eyepiece changes depending on which side of the 
Meridian the telescope tube is on. This can create confusion 
especially when guiding on a star when doing astroimaging. 
To compensate for this, the direction of the drive control keys 
can be changed. To reverse the button logic of the hand 
control, press the MENU button and select Direction  

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keys (10) to select either the azimuth (right ascension) or  
altitude (declination) button direction and press ENTER. 
Select either positive or negative for both axes and press 
ENTER to save. Setting the azimuth button direction to  
positive will move the telescope in the same direction that 
the telescope tracks (i.e., towards the west). Setting the 
altitude buttons to positive will move the telescope counter-
clockwise along the 

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 axis.

Summary of Contents for Advanced VX 12026

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

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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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