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the telescope can create a model of the sky , which it uses to locate any
object with known coordinates. There are many ways to align the CPC
with the sky depending on what information the user is able to provide:
uses the internal GPS receiver to acquire all the necessary time/
site information needed for the CPC to create an accurate model of the
sky . Then the user can simply point the telescope to any three bright
celestial objects to accurately align the telescope with the sky .
will ask the user to choose and center the rst alignment
star , then the CPC will automatically select and slew to a second star
for alignment. requires the user to identify and
manually slew the telescope to the two alignment stars.
is the same as T wo-Star Align; however , it only requires you to align
to one known star . Although not as accurate as the other alignment
methods, One-Star Align is the quick est way to nd and track bright
planets and objects in Altazimuth mode. will display
a list of visible daytime objects (planets and the Moon) available to align
the telescope. Finally , alignments are designed
to assist you in aligning the CPC when polar aligned using an equatorial
wedge. Each alignment method is discussed in detail below .
“A ltazimuth” or “ Alt -Az” refers to a type of mounting that allows
a telescope to move in both altitude (up and down) and azimuth
(left and right) with respect to the ground. This is the simplest
form of mounting in which the telescope is attached directly to a
tripod without the use of an equatorial wedge.
SkyAlign
SkyAlign must be used with the telescope mounted in altazimuth. With
SkyAlign, the GPS receiver links with and acquires information from 3 of
the orbiting GPS satellites. With this information, the built-in GPS system
calculates the scope’ s location on Earth with an accuracy of a few meters
and calculates universal time down to the second. After quickly making
all these calculations and automatically entering the information for you,
the user simply needs to aim the telescope to any three bright celestial
objects in the sky . Since SkyAlign requires no knowledge of the night sky ,
it is not necessary to know the name of the stars that you are aiming at.
Y ou may even select a planet or the Moon. The CPC is then ready to start
nding and tracking any of the objects in its 40,000+ object database.
Before the telescope is ready to be aligned, it should be set up in an
outside location with all accessories ( eyepiece, diagonal and nderscope )
attached and lens cover removed as described in the Assembly section of
the manual. T o begin SkyAlign:
1. P ower on the CPC by ipping the switch located on the control panel
of the drive base to the “on” position. Once turned on, the hand
control display will say CPC Re ady. Press ENTER to choose SkyAlign
or use the UP/DOWN scroll k eys (10) to select a dierent method of
alignment. Pressing the ALIGN key will bypass the othe r alignment
options and the scrolling text and automatically begins Sky Align .
2. Once Sky Align has been selected, the hand control will display “Enter
if OK”, “Undo to Edit” and “GPS Linking” . The bottom line of the L CD
will display either the current time or the time when you last used the
telescope. The GPS will quickly link up and display the current date,
time and location. Additionally , you have the option of pressing UNDO
and manually updating the time/site information. Press ENTER to
accept the time/site information downloaded from the GPS.
3. The hand control will display a message reminding you to level the
tripod if you already haven’t done so. Press ENTER to continue.
4. Use the arrow buttons on the hand control to slew (move) the
telescope towards any bright celestial object in the sky . Center the
object in the crosshairs of the nderscope and press ENTER.
5. If the nderscope has been properly aligned with the telescope tube,
the alignment star should now be visible inside the eld of view of the
eyepiece. The CPC will ask that you center the bright alignment star
in the center of the e yepiece and press the ALIGN button. This will
accept the star as the rst alignment position. (There is no need to
adjust the slewing rate of the motors after e ach alignment step. The
CPC automatically selects the best slewing rate for aligning objects in
both the nderscope and the eye piece).
6. For the second alignment object, choose a bright star or planet as far
as possible from the rst alignment object. Once again use the arrow
button to center the object in the nderscope and press ENTER. Then
once centered in the eyepiece, press the ALIGN button.
7. Repeat the process for the third alignment star . When the telescope
has been aligned to the nal stars, the display will read Match
Con rm ed. Press UNDO to display the names of the three bright
objects you aligned to, or press ENTER to ac cept these three objects
for alignment. Y ou are now ready to nd your rst object.
A Few Words on GPS:
Tips for Using SkyAlign
Remember the following alignment guidelines to mak e using SkyAlign
as simple and accurate as possible.
• Be sure to level the tripod before you begin alignment. The time/
site information along with a level tripod will help the telescope
better predict the available bright stars and planets that are above
the horizon.
• Remember SkyAlign does not care where the optical tube is
pointed at the beginning of the alignment. So to mak e the
alignment process even faster , it is acceptable to move the
telescope to the rst alignment star manually by loosening both
clutches. However the following alignment stars still need to be
found and centered using the hand control.
• Remember to select alignment stars that are as far apart in the sky
as possible. For best results, mak e sure that the third alignment
star does not lie in a straight line betwee n the rst two stars. This
may result in a failed alignment.