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3. Center Alignment Stars: The AudioStar then slews to the first
star for alignment. It may not appear in the field of view in the
eyepiece. The alignment star should be easily recognized and
be the brightest star in the area of the sky where the telescope
is pointing. Use the Arrow keys to move the telescope until the
star is visible and centered in the eyepiece. Press ENTER.
Repeat procedure for the second alignment star.
NOTE: AudioStar locates alignment stars based on the
date, time, and location entered. The alignment stars
may change from night to night. All that is required
is for the observer to center the selected stars in the
eyepiece when prompted.
Fig 6: Locating Polaris
Note: The GO TO key also allows you to perform a “spiral search.”
A spiral search is useful when the telescope slews to an object, but
that object is not visible in the eyepiece after the telescope finishes
it search. (This sometimes occurs during an alignment procedure.)
Press GO TO when the slew is finished and the telescope starts
slewing in a spiral pattern at a very slow speed around the search
area. Look through the eyepiece and when the object does become
visible, press MODE to stop the spiral search. Then use the Arrow
keys to center the object.
Finding Objects in the Sky
With AudioStar aligned, it is possible to find any visible object in the
“Object” menu. Another option, is to take a Guided Tour.
Guided Tour picks the best objects available for viewing. To start a
guided tour, select the “Guided Tour” function from the main menu.
Use the SCROLL keys to view the list of tour objects and press
ENTER to select any object of interest. When selected, the object
name appears on the top line and information about the object
is on the bottom line. Object information includes: astronomical
coordinates, size, brightness, and more. All information can be seen
using the SCROLL keys. Some objects have a moving message
with a description of the object. If a moving message appears, use
MODE to exit the message when completed.
To direct AudioStar to point the telescope at a selected object, press
GO TO. The telescope moves at high speed toward the object. The
telescope slows as it approaches the object and eventually stops
and sounds a beep. The object should be visible in the eyepiece
of the telescope. To see more objects in the Guided Tour, press
MODE. Display a new object with the SCROLL keys and press
ENTER to select it. Use this method to view any of the Guided Tour
objects.
*Problem* If objects are not in the eyepiece after GO TO is pressed,
check the viewfinder to see if it is near the center. Under high
magnification, some objects may be slightly out of the field of view
and need some minor manual correction using the ARROW keys.
If the object was not close to center, there are several possibilities.
First, the telescope must sit on a stable surface or tripod. Second,
use only the ARROW keys or GO TO key to move the telescope or
alignment is lost.
Fig 7: Choose North
Alignment
