Celestron NexStar HC Telescope User Manual


 
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In order to accurately
center the alignment star in the eyepiece, it may be necessary to decrease the slew rate of the motors
for fine centering. This is done by pressing the RATE key (11) on the hand controller then selecting the number that
corresponds to the speed you desire. (9 = fastest , 1 = slowest).
T
T
h
h
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r
r
d
d
S
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r
A
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The NexStar has a third star alignment feature which allows you to replace either of the two original
alignment stars with a new star. This can be useful in several situations:
If you are observing over a period of a few hours, you may notice that your original two alignment stars have drifted
towards the west considerably. (Remember that the stars are moving at a rate of 15º every hour). Aligning on a new
star that is in the eastern part of the sky will improve your pointing accuracy, especially on objects in that part of the
sky.
When trying to locate a very faint or small object that may be difficult to find in the eyepiece, you can improve your
pointing accuracy by aligning to a third star that is nearest to the object you are trying to find.
To replace an existing alignment star with a new alignment star:
1. Locate and center the desired star in the eyepiece.
2. Select the centered star from the list of alignment stars in the hand control.
3. When the name of the centered star is displayed, press the ALIGN key on the hand control.
4. The display will then ask you which alignment star you want to replace.
5. Use the UP and Down scroll keys to select the alignment star to be replaced. It is usually best to replace the star
closest to the new star. This will space out your alignment stars across the sky.
6. Press ENTER to make the change.
O
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b
b
j
j
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c
c
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Selecting an Object
Now that the telescope is properly aligned, you can choose an object from any of the catalogs in the NexStar's extensive
database. The hand control has a key (4) designated for each of the catalogs in its database. There are two ways to select
objects from the database: scrolling through the named object lists and entering object numbers.
1. Pressing the LIST key on the hand control will access all objects in the database that have common names or types.
Each list is broken down into the following categories: Named Stars, Named Object, Double Stars, Variable Stars and
Asterisms. Selecting any one of these options will display an alpha-numeric listing of the objects under that list.
Pressing the Up and Down keys (10) allows you to scroll through the catalog to the desired object.
2. Pressing any of the catalog keys (M, CALD, NGC, or STAR) will display a blinking cursor below the name of the
catalog chosen. Use the numeric key pad to enter the number of any object within these standardized catalogs. For
example, to find the Orion Nebula, press the "M" key and enter "042".
To download a list of all the stars contained in the STAR Catalog with SAO number cross references, logon to our web site
at www.celestron.com
and
go to the NexStar page.
Slewing to an Object
Once the desired object is displayed in the hand control screen, you have two options:
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