© Opticstar Ltd 2013-2016
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Using your Telescope for the First Time to Locate an Object
Once the telescope has been Star-a
ligned you will be able issue GOTO commands using the telescope’s handset.
Take care not to move the telescope by hand or accidentally move the whole mount and telescope. If you do you will
need to re-establish Home Position and Star-align the telescope again.
A properly aligned telescope will compensate for the earth’s rotation and enable you to issue GOTO commands. A
GOTO command will slew the telescope to the selected object in the night sky and track it over long periods.
Press the oval Confirm key and select Navigation. In the menu list you can select any object catalogue but for now
select Solar System and press the oval Confirm key. Select a bright object in the night sky like the Moon, Jupiter,
Venus or Saturn if they are visible. These objects are visible at different dates and times depending on your location.
Assuming Jupiter was visible select Jupiter from the list with the aid of the Up/Down Arrow keys and press the oval
Confirm key to proceed. The telescope will now automatically slew to Jupiter and slow down as it reaches the planet,
the telescope will confirm with a beep once it has reached its destination and subsequently automatically track the
planet.
Use the Arrow keys on the handset to bring the planet into the centre of the field of view, then use the
telescope’s
focuser controls to bring the planet into focus. Use a high power eyepiece (i.e. 5mm-10mm) or higher to observe the
planet and refocus the telescope if necessary.
Note that if an object like a planet or star is well out of focus it may not be visible even if it is inside the field of view.
This is very evident with deep sky objects and especially when using telescopes of smaller apertures.
Choosing your First Targets
During the early stages it is advisable to concentrate on bright objects within our Solar system including the Moon and
planets. In deep-sky terms the Orion Nebula (M42), the Ring Nebula (M57) the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the
Hercules star cluster (M13) also qualify.
From a reasonably dark site you should also be able to easily observe many of the brighter deep-sky objects including
nebulae like the Orion Nebula (M42) the Ring Nebula (M57) the Lagoon Nebula (M8) the Omega Nebula (M17) and
the Dumbbell nebula (M27). Other possible targets include galaxies like the Andromeda (M31) the Triangulum (M33)
the Cigar (M82) and Bode’s Galaxy (M81). Star clusters of interest include the Hercules (M13) the Pleiades (M45) and
the Butterfly (M6). Double stars include Sirius, Capella, Polaris and Albireo among many others.
Target Sync
Whether you have Star-aligned the telescope on one, two or three stars you can further improve the GOTO accuracy
of the telescope by adding another star at any point after alignment and during a session.
1. Use a high power eyepiece (i.e. 5mm-10mm).
2. Issue a GOTO command to a familiar star. Do not use planets, the Moon or deep-sky objects.
3. Once the telescope slews to the selected star and stops use the handset Arrow keys to precisely centre the
object in the field of view. Using a cross-hair eyepiece will improve accuracy.
4. Now select >Telescope Align >Target Sync and press the oval Confirm key. The telescope will add the star to its
list of Alignment stars and use this information to increase GOTO accuracy for the rest of the session.
if you have only performed a One-star alignment adding a Sync star is highly recommended and may prove
necessary.
Backlash Correction
Backlash is inherent in the gears and may introduce a small pointing error, in the vast majority of cases the error is too
small to make a difference. However, you may still improve the GOTO precision of the telescope by training the
"backlash correction of the axis". This is done separately for each axis and is not always necessary.
In the
handset’s main menu press the oval Confirm key, select Telescope Align and then RA BKlash Corr. or DEC
BKlash Corr. depending on which of the two motors you would like to train. Follow the on-screen instructions to
complete the training for each motor. We recommend that you leave backlash correction training for later as it only
adds unnecessary complexity at this point.
Time, Date and Daylight Saving
Please note that the telescope will not remember the Time, Date and Daylight Saving values. These need to be
entered every time you switch on the telescope.
