11
or 3 works best for centering the star in the telescope’s
eyepiece.
NOTE: The SynScan will beep once when the mount has
finished slewing to a target object. Do not try to move the
telescope using the directional keys before you hear the
beep. SynScan will only respond to the ESC key while
slewing.
Aligning the 2nd Star
1. Once the first alignment star has been centered in the
eyepiece, the SynScan will prompt you to “Choose 2
nd
Star.” If the fist alignment “star” was actually a planet,
you’ll be prompted to re-select a first alignment star.
2. Scroll through the list using the Scroll keys and refer to
the appropriate star chart in the back of this manual to
choose a second alignment star, then press ENTER.
The mount will now automatically slew to the selected
star, which should land in or near the field of view of the
EZ Finder. After the mount stops, the hand controller
will give a long beep and display “Use dir. keys to center
object.” After you’ve centered it in the finder scope
and then in the telescope’s eyepiece, press ENTER. If
both alignment stars were properly aligned, the LCD
will display “Align ment Successful.” Press ENTER
to complete the alignment process. If the message
“Alignment Failed” displays, it usually means the star
positions do not correspond with the location and date/
time information input during setup. Please check your
user initialization settings before starting again.
Cancellation During Alignment Process
1. While the mount is slewing during the alignment, you
may press the ESC key to stop the mount. The hand
controller screen will display “Mount stopped. Press any
key…”
2. Press any key and the SynScan hand controller will ask
you to select another align ment star.
3. Press the ESC key again, and the LCD screen will
display “Exit Alignment? 1) YES 2) NO.” Press key 1 to
exit the alignment process; press key 2 to go back to
choose an alignment star.
2-Star alignment
To perform the two-star alignment, follow the same steps
described for the Brightest Star alignment, except that the
hand controller will not prompt you to select a directional
region for a bright star. Instead, you’ll be presented with a list
of stars available in your current sky to choose from, for each
of the two alignment stars. Refer to the appropriate star chart
in
Appendix C to identify a star to select.
locating Objects
SynScan’s Object Database
The SynScan hand controller boasts a vast database of over
42,900 stars and other celestial objects. Once the telescope
has been GoTo aligned, you can easily access and view any
one of them. The database contains the following catalogs:
Deep-Sky Tour: Takes you on a preset tour across the night
sky, stopping at the brightest and most beautiful deep-sky
objects visible in your sky at the current time/date.
Named Star: A list of 100 popular, known stars
Solar System: The other 8 planets of our solar system
(includes Pluto) and Earth’s Moon
NGC: 7,840 of the brightest deep-sky objects from the Revised
New General Catalog
IC: 5,386 of standard stars and deep sky objects from the
Indexed Catalog
Messier: Complete list of 110 Messier objects
Caldwell: Complete list of 109 Caldwell objects
SAO: 29,523 stars brighter than magnitude 8, a small subset
of the 259,000-star SAO catalog
Double Stars: 55 well-known double stars
Variable Stars: 20 famous variable stars
User Objects: Up to 25 user-defined objects can be saved
Selecting an Object
There are several ways to select a celestial object to view.
Many involve pressing one of the Dual Purpose, or Shortcut,
keys on the hand controller
(Figure 12) .
Take a Guided Tour!
This is a great feature for backyard astronomers with minimal
observing experience! The hand controller’s built-in Deep Sky
Tour feature commands the mount to find the best deep-sky
objects in the currently visible sky and automatically slews the
telescope to each one, at your prompt.
TOUR – The TOUR shortcut key takes you to the Deep Sky
Tour submenu, where you can tour a preselected list of the
best and brightest deep-sky objects in your current sky. Use
the down scroll key to browse the objects. Choose an object
by pressing ENTER. The display will show the coordinates
of the chosen object. Pressing ENTER again will prompt the
telescope to slew to the object, then track it.
You can also access the tour function from the SETUP menu,
by scrolling to DEEP SKY TOUR and pressing ENTER.
Select using the Object Type Shortcut Keys
M, NGC, IC – These shortcut keys give you access to these
popular celestial object catalogs. Use the numeric keys to
select an object by entering its number. Pressing ENTER
will display its coordinates. Pertinent information such as
size, magnitude, and constellation are obtained by pressing
the scroll keys. Pressing ENTER again will prompt the tele-
scope to slew to the selected object, then track it.
PLANET – This shortcut key takes you to the Solar System
submenu in the database. Use the scroll keys to cycle
through the list of planets in our solar system (including
Pluto!) and the Moon. Press ENTER to view an object’s
coordinates, and ENTER once more to slew to the object
and track it.
USER – This key will take you to the database of User
Objects that you can define for yourself. You can enter a new
Summary of Contents for 10066 StarSeeker III 90mm Mak-Cass GoTo
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