5
ing either SELECT (up or down arrow) button. The SELECT buttons
are always used for scrolling through the list of available choices. The
UP button advances through the list in a forward direction, the DOWN
button moves backwards.The operating modes are: (Note: these are
not in order of display.)
CATALOG
Display or choose an object in one of the catalogs.
ENC TEST
Test mode - verifies encoder rotation & correct
installation.
FIND
Tell Sky Wizard to display direction/distance to
the last object chosen in one of the catalogs.
IDENTIFY
Identify the object (or nearest object) that your
telescope is pointing at.
INSTALL
Run when you first install Sky Wizard on your
telescope.
RA DEC
Displays celestial coordinates.
SETUP
Run at the beginning of each observing session.
SYNC
Tell Sky Wizard that the current object has been
exactly centered - “tweaks” the current alignment.
TIMER
Use the built-in utility timer.
Power on initialization
When you first turn on Sky Wizard, you need to aim the telescope to
a particular position so the angle of one encoder to the telescope is
known. This step is critical to accuracy. Depending on the type of mount
you have, the display shows one of the following messages:
DEC=0,
LEVEL ME, or VERTICAL. Only with a perfect polar alignment (EP or
GP) does the Sky wizard go directly to SETUP.
Turn on Sky Wizard. It will briefly display the startup message
ORION
SKY WIZARD V 3.51. The numbers displayed are the software version
number. Sky Wizard will display one of the following depending on the
mount type choice you made when you ran INSTALL. (See Installation,
page 4, for more information).
SET DEC=0: (Equatorial mount) Set telescope declination to the 0°
index mark, on the mechanical setting circles. You must verify that
your mechanical setting circles are exact your first time out. Aim tele-
scope at celestial equator, 90° from the pole. (German Equatorial
mountings must have the encoder initialized with the declination axis
set at the east of the meridian zero declination, the optical tube on the
West side.)
SET LEVEL ME: (Altazimuth mount type AZ) Aim telescope tube
horizontally to your index mark (telescope aimed at the horizon if
scope base is level). The telescope tube must be exactly parallel with
the bottom of the rocker box. You must verify this is exact with a
bubble level your first time out.
SET VERTICAL: (Altazimuth mount type AV) Aim telescope tube
vertically to your index mark (telescope aimed directly overhead if
scope base is level). The telescope must be exactly perpendicular to
the bottom of the rocker box. You must verify this is exact with a
bubble level your first time out. After you have moved the telescope
to the correct initial position, press ENTER. Sky Wizard will then
switch to
SETUP mode. (If you make a mistake in initializing the
mount alignment, turn Sky Wizard off and on again to restart. There
is no other way to repeat mount initialization.)
The initialization steps above are critical to the pointing accuracy of
the Sky Wizard. For example, an error of 1° on the initialization will
result in errors of up to 2°. To assure accurate initialization, follow the
steps carefully in Startup Index Mark.
sEtuP star alignment
Before Sky Wizard can tell you where to point your telescope, it
needs to get its bearings on the sky. You must do this at the start of
each observing session.
SETUP mode automatically accesses a
short list of 30 named navigational stars. The brightest stars from
both the Northern and Southern hemispheres are included. These
familiar bright stars cover the sky so at least two are visible at any
time. You’ll need to point your telescope to two known stars, tell Sky
Wizard which ones they are, and you’re ready to go.
to perform the setup star alignment:
1. Pick a bright known star from the list and center it in the eyepiece.
2. Press MODE. If
SETUP is not displayed, use the arrow keys to
display
SETUP. Press ENTER.
3. Scroll through the star list to find the name of the star that is cen-
tered in the eyepiece, then press ENTER.
4. Choose another bright star for the second alignment star and
repeat steps 1-3.
5. For best results the two stars should be at least 60° apart. Avoid
stars near the pole.
Note: only one star sighting is required for perfectly polar-
aligned equatorial telescopes; however a second sighting is
recommended.
After Sky Wizard determines the transformation resulting from star align-
ment, it displays a measure of how well the alignment agrees with the
star data. This “warp factor” is 0.0 for perfect alignment, but an accept-
able range is ±0.6. The display will show the warp for about 2 seconds.
This represents the error in degrees and tenths. Example:
WARP=+0.4.
If the warp factor is greater than ±0.6, check to be sure you have correctly
identified the setup stars and repeat the setup operation. Make sure that
your Startup Index Mark is exact. Never assume, for example, that the
mechanical setting circles are exact for the
Dec.=0 index mark. Always
double check the accuracy of the index mark, especially on your first night
out. If the warps are larger than ±10, check the encoder polarity and
encoder ratios on your installation kit instructions. Always do the
ENC TEST
(Encoder Direction Test, see page 5) after installing Sky Wizard, before you
go out at night for the first time. (Note: if your telescope mount does not have
the two axes perfectly set at 90° apart, it may be impossible to reach an
acceptable warp factor. If this happens, correct the telescope mount.)
Enc tEst
Encoder test must be done after installing Sky Wizard on the tele-
scope, before going out at night for the first time. This allows
verification that the encoders are functional and move the correct
direction and amount. The unit of measure is whole degrees. For an
equatorial mount the display will show ER=000 on the right ascension
axis, and ED=000 on the declination axis. The RA decreases from 0
to -90 as you move West. The Dec. increases from 0 to +90 as you
move the telescope from the Equator to the North Pole.
For an altitude/azimuth telescope mounting, the display identifies
AZ=000 as the azimuth axis, and AL=000 as the altitude axis. Azimuth
should be 0° for logical north, and increase to 90° for logical east.
Altitude is 0° when horizontal and +90° when vertical. Motion of the
telescope will change the encoder angles. For more details, see
Encoder Direction Test (on page 5).
ra/DEc
Displays right ascension and declination, which provides a continuous
display of telescope position. Example:
RA=0742 D=+28.1. This example
shows a right ascension of 7 hours and 42 minutes, and a declination of
