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Tracking Rate In addition to being able to move the telescope with the hand control buttons, your telescope will
continually track a celestial object as it moves across the night sky. The tracking rate can be
changed depending on what type of object is being observed:
Sidereal
This rate compensates for the rotation of the Earth by moving the
telescope at the same rate as the rotation of the Earth, but in the
opposite direction. When the telescope is polar aligned, this can
be accomplished by moving the telescope in right ascension only.
Lunar
Used for tracking the moon when observing the lunar landscape.
Solar
Used for tracking the Sun when solar observing with the proper
filter.
View Time-Site - Displays the current time and longitude/latitude downloaded from the optional CN-16 GPS receiver. It
will also display other relevant time-site information like time zone, daylight saving and local sidereal time. Local sidereal
time (LST) is useful for knowing the right ascension of celestial objects that are located on the Meridian at that time.
View
Time-Site
will always display the last saved time and location entered while it is linking with the GPS. Once current
information has been received, it will update the displayed information. If GPS is switched off or not present, the hand
control will only display the last saved time and location.
User Defined Objects - Your telescope can store up to 400 different user defined objects in its memory. The objects can be
daytime land objects or an interesting celestial object that you discover that is not included in the
regular database. There are several ways to save an object to memory depending on what type of
object it is:
GoTo Object: To go to any of the user defined objects stored in the database, scroll down to either GoTo Sky
Obj
or Goto Land Obj and enter the number of the object you wish to select and press
ENTER. The telescope will automatically retrieve and display the coordinates before slewing to
the object.
Save Sky Object: Your telescope stores celestial objects to its database by saving its right ascension and declination
in the sky. This way the same object can be found each time the telescope is aligned. Once a
desired object is centered in the eyepiece, simply scroll to the "
Save Sky Obj" command and
press ENTER. The display will ask you to enter a number between 1-200 to identify the object.
Press ENTER again to save this object to the database.
Save Database (Db)
Object:
This feature allows you to create your own custom tour of database objects by allowing you to
record the current position of the telescope and save the name of the object by selecting it from
any one of the database catalogs. These objects then can be accessed by selecting
GoTo Sky
Object.
Enter R.A. - Dec: You can also store a specific set of coordinates for an object just by entering the R.A. and
declination for that object. Scroll to the "
Enter RA-DEC " command and press ENTER. The
display will then ask you to enter first the R.A. and then the declination of the desired object.
Save Land Object: The telescope can also be used as a spotting scope on terrestrial objects. Fixed land objects can be
stored by saving their altitude and azimuth relative to the location of the telescope at the time of
observing. Since these objects are relative to the location of the telescope, they are only valid for
that exact location. To save land objects, once again center the desired object in the eyepiece.
Scroll down to the "
Save Land Obj" command and press ENTER. The display will ask you to
enter a number between 1-200 to identify the object. Press ENTER again to save this object to the
database.
