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Aligning a Celestron



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 1st 03, 02:21 AM
Al Gartner
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Posts: n/a
Default Aligning a Celestron

Hi!

I have an entry-level Celestron telescope with an electronic controller. I
believe that it is their '60' model. I took it out to take a gander at Mars
during this time, and while I was setting it up, I started to tinker about
with it's 'auto-alignment' funcitonality.

I can not get auto-align to work worth a darn. Essentially, I point it
north and level, and then I get asked a bunch of questions, date, time,
city, state, etc. So I do this, and it is supposed to point to a 'bright
star' - one visible by the naked eye. Not a chance. Even when I think I
get it aligned right, I'll try my luck by using the keypad to select Polaris
or the moon or some other star that is blindingly obvious. Well, when the
thing stops moving, it may be pointing at my intended target if it was on
some other planet, but on planet earth, it's pointing somewhere that is not
even close to where it should be.

It's obviously operator error. The question is what is the error? My idea
of North (I live in New England) is either use a compass and grab magnetic
north, or point the thing at the North star. Level - well I eyeball it and
make sure that the tripod is pretty close, but I'm not out there with a
bubble level or anything fancy like that.

As far as plugging in the 'location', I've tried both city and state, as
well as long and lat from a gps receiver. The scope itself is a long tube
type - I've tried the collaring the scope both at the midsection, as well as
at the hilt - directly in front of the viewing assembly.

I'd really like some insight - if anyone can help, it would be greatly
appreciated.


-a.




  #2  
Old September 1st 03, 04:07 AM
Llanzlan Klazmon The 15th
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Posts: n/a
Default

"Al Gartner" wrote in
link.net:

Hi!

I have an entry-level Celestron telescope with an electronic
controller. I believe that it is their '60' model. I took it out to
take a gander at Mars during this time, and while I was setting it up,
I started to tinker about with it's 'auto-alignment' funcitonality.

I can not get auto-align to work worth a darn. Essentially, I point
it north and level, and then I get asked a bunch of questions, date,
time, city, state, etc. So I do this, and it is supposed to point to
a 'bright star' - one visible by the naked eye. Not a chance. Even
when I think I get it aligned right, I'll try my luck by using the
keypad to select Polaris or the moon or some other star that is
blindingly obvious. Well, when the thing stops moving, it may be
pointing at my intended target if it was on some other planet, but on
planet earth, it's pointing somewhere that is not even close to where
it should be.

It's obviously operator error. The question is what is the error? My
idea of North (I live in New England) is either use a compass and grab
magnetic north, or point the thing at the North star. Level - well I
eyeball it and make sure that the tripod is pretty close, but I'm not
out there with a bubble level or anything fancy like that.

As far as plugging in the 'location', I've tried both city and state,
as well as long and lat from a gps receiver. The scope itself is a
long tube type - I've tried the collaring the scope both at the
midsection, as well as at the hilt - directly in front of the viewing
assembly.

I'd really like some insight - if anyone can help, it would be greatly
appreciated.


-a.






The time you are entering could be the problem. Is your state still on
Daylight savings time? The scope might be working off the local standard
time.

L.
  #3  
Old September 2nd 03, 12:05 AM
Al Gartner
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Posts: n/a
Default

Ends up that there is a 'bug' with the Celestron 60 series controllers that
were manufactured before 2001, I think. I found a fix at 'nexstarsite.com'.
Essentially, when you first setup the software, it asks you what kind of
scope you have. Well the settings for the 60 are way off base. This site
had some funky code that you entered in - once done, the auto-align worked
well.

Just took a little research that's all. I was distressed to see that this
was not mentioned anywhere on the official celestron site.


"Llanzlan Klazmon The 15th" wrote in message
7.6...
"Al Gartner" wrote in
link.net:

Hi!

I have an entry-level Celestron telescope with an electronic
controller. I believe that it is their '60' model. I took it out to
take a gander at Mars during this time, and while I was setting it up,
I started to tinker about with it's 'auto-alignment' funcitonality.

I can not get auto-align to work worth a darn. Essentially, I point
it north and level, and then I get asked a bunch of questions, date,
time, city, state, etc. So I do this, and it is supposed to point to
a 'bright star' - one visible by the naked eye. Not a chance. Even
when I think I get it aligned right, I'll try my luck by using the
keypad to select Polaris or the moon or some other star that is
blindingly obvious. Well, when the thing stops moving, it may be
pointing at my intended target if it was on some other planet, but on
planet earth, it's pointing somewhere that is not even close to where
it should be.

It's obviously operator error. The question is what is the error? My
idea of North (I live in New England) is either use a compass and grab
magnetic north, or point the thing at the North star. Level - well I
eyeball it and make sure that the tripod is pretty close, but I'm not
out there with a bubble level or anything fancy like that.

As far as plugging in the 'location', I've tried both city and state,
as well as long and lat from a gps receiver. The scope itself is a
long tube type - I've tried the collaring the scope both at the
midsection, as well as at the hilt - directly in front of the viewing
assembly.

I'd really like some insight - if anyone can help, it would be greatly
appreciated.


-a.






The time you are entering could be the problem. Is your state still on
Daylight savings time? The scope might be working off the local standard
time.

L.



  #4  
Old September 3rd 03, 06:36 AM
Darrell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Dito on the batt pack! The design could have been better engineered. I've
hung mine on the view finder. Also, I didn't like the way the try fit, the
screw that holds it on, screws completely through the try. I've found that
if you don't tread it completely through, and the rotate the screw along
with the try it holds in place much better.

I still have trouble with aligning; time will heal my ignorance. Hopefully.


"pinkling" wrote in message
ink.net...
On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 01:21:57 GMT in
.net, "Al Gartner"
graced the world with this thought:

but I'm not out there with a
bubble level or anything fancy like that.


a bubble level isn't exactly "fancy," you can probably pick up a small
plastic one for two bucks at the local hardware. It will make a
difference. Also, check that power cord where it plugs into the mount,
if it's loose, and it can be so loose that the plug literally falls
out on it's own, use a small screwdriver to carefully bend that pin
inside the hole--just a little--to put some friction on the plug when
it's inserted, so it will stay in with good contact. Find a place to
hang the battery pack so it rotates with the scope, and never puts
pressure on the cord. Maybe none of this will help (although I think
levelling will), but it can't hurt. Those plugs drive me nuts, that
battery pack is really a **** poor design.
Good luck, don't get discouraged.



  #5  
Old September 4th 03, 10:44 PM
Darrell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Okay, it looks like that not only can I not spell, I should stay away from
putting things together, with or without instructions! Each time I wrote
"try," I meant to write "tray". The tray wasn't assemble correctly because
I tried to fit it on the tripod below instead of above the bracket that it
should be connected to. Somehow, I don't think this is going to imporve my
viewing, but I do feel better about it. I purchased a David H. Levy's
planisphere to help me locate and align my scope.


"pinkling" wrote in message
nk.net...
On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 00:36:07 -0500 in
, "Darrell"
graced the world with this thought:

Dito on the batt pack! The design could have been better engineered.

I've
hung mine on the view finder. Also, I didn't like the way the try fit,

the
screw that holds it on, screws completely through the try. I've found

that
if you don't tread it completely through, and the rotate the screw along
with the try it holds in place much better.

I still have trouble with aligning; time will heal my ignorance.

Hopefully.


I got some velcro patches at the store, stuck one part on the battery
pack (reinforced with a staple), and the other piece on the side of
the mount. Wrap the wire from the pack around the mount a couple times
to take up some of the slack, and plug it in.... it's out of the way,
not hanging on the scope, and rides right along with any adjustments I
make. A good solution for about a buck.

"pinkling" wrote in message
link.net...
On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 01:21:57 GMT in
.net, "Al Gartner"
graced the world with this thought:

but I'm not out there with a
bubble level or anything fancy like that.

a bubble level isn't exactly "fancy," you can probably pick up a small
plastic one for two bucks at the local hardware. It will make a
difference. Also, check that power cord where it plugs into the mount,
if it's loose, and it can be so loose that the plug literally falls
out on it's own, use a small screwdriver to carefully bend that pin
inside the hole--just a little--to put some friction on the plug when
it's inserted, so it will stay in with good contact. Find a place to
hang the battery pack so it rotates with the scope, and never puts
pressure on the cord. Maybe none of this will help (although I think
levelling will), but it can't hurt. Those plugs drive me nuts, that
battery pack is really a **** poor design.
Good luck, don't get discouraged.





  #6  
Old September 6th 03, 04:51 PM
Darrell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Thanks, I'm glad I'm not the only one. The only problem now is that the
tripod will not fold without removing the tray first.

"pinkling" wrote in message
ink.net...
On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 16:44:40 -0500 in
, "Darrell"
graced the world with this thought:

Okay, it looks like that not only can I not spell, I should stay away

from
putting things together, with or without instructions! Each time I wrote
"try," I meant to write "tray". The tray wasn't assemble correctly

because
I tried to fit it on the tripod below instead of above the bracket that

it
should be connected to. Somehow, I don't think this is going to imporve

my
viewing, but I do feel better about it. I purchased a David H. Levy's
planisphere to help me locate and align my scope.

lol... I figured out what you meant, because I did the same thing. I
screwed the thing on--all the way through (looking nothing like the
diagram in the manual), looked at it and thought "wtf? that can't be
right!" I finally figured it out. Duh.



 




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