14 | ENGLISH
• Press ENTER to accept the current parameters.
• Press BACK to enter current date, time and location
information into the hand control.
3. The following information will be displayed:
• Location – The hand control will display a list of cities to
choose from. Choose the city from the database that is
closest to your current observing site. The city you choose
will be remembered in the hand control’s memory so that it
will be automatically displayed the next time an alignment
is done. Alternatively, if you know the exact longitude and
latitude of your observing site, it can be entered directly
into the hand control and remembered for future use as
well. To choose a location city:
• Use the Up and Down scroll keys to choose between
City Database and Custom Site. City Database will
allow you to select the closest city to your observing
site from a list of either international or U.S. location.
Custom Site allows you to enter the exact longitude and
latitude of your observing site. Select City Database and
press ENTER.
• The hand control will allow you to choose from either
U.S. or international locations. For a listing of U.S.
locations by state and then by city, press ENTER while
United States is displayed. For international locations,
use the Up or Down scroll key to select International and
press ENTER.
• Use the Up and Down Scroll buttons to choose your
current state (or country if an International location was
selected) from the alphabetical listing and press ENTER.
• Use the Up and Down Scroll buttons to choose the
closest city to your location from the displayed list
and press ENTER.
• Time – Enter the current local time for your area. You can
enter either the local time (i.e., 08:00), or you can enter
military time (i.e., 20:00).
• Select PM or AM. If military time was entered, the hand
control will bypass this step.
• Choose between Standard time or Daylight Savings
time. Use the Up and Down scroll buttons (11) to toggle
between options.
• Select the time zone that you are observing from. Again,
use the Up and Down buttons (11) to scroll through the
choices. Refer to Time Zone map in Appendix for more
information.
• Date – Enter the month, day and year of your observing
session.
Note: Updating Your Location – Since you may not
need to update your observing location as often as
the date and time, it is not displayed each time you
update the date and time. To update your city, press
BACK at any time when updating your date and time.
Continue to press BACK to change the state, country
or to add longitude/latitude coordinates.
Note: If incorrect information is entered into the hand control,
the BACK button acts like a back space button
allowing the user to re-enter the correct data.
Select one of the alignment methods as described below.
Two Star Align
Two-Star Align allows the user to select two stars on which
to align the telescope. To align your telescope using the
Two-Star Align method:
1. Select Two-Star Align from the alignment choices given.
Based on the date and time information entered, the hand
control will automatically select and display a bright star
that is above the horizon.
• Press ENTER to select this star as your first alignment
star.
• If for some reason the chosen star is not visible (perhaps
behind a tree or building), press BACK to have the
hand control automatically select the next brightest star.
• Or you can use the Up/Down keys to browse the entire
Named Star list and select any one of over two hundred
alignment stars.
2. Once the telescope is finished slewing to your first
alignment star, the display will ask you to use the arrow
buttons to align the selected star with the cross hairs
in the center of the finderscope. When centered in the
finder, press ENTER.
The display will then instruct you to center the star in the
field of view of the eyepiece. When the star is entered, press
ALIGN to accept this star as your first alignment star.
Important: When moving the telescope, remember
to always finish slewing using the UP and RIGHT
direction buttons on the hand control to eliminate any
mechanical backlash in the gears.
3. After the first alignment star has been entered, the hand
control will automatically select a second alignment star
and have you repeat this procedure for that star.
When the telescope has been aligned on both stars, the
display will ask you if you wish to add additional calibration
stars. Calibration stars are used to improve the pointing
accuracy of your telescope by compensating for subtle
opto-mechanical misalignments between the telescope
optics and the mount. Therefore, it is usually a good idea to
add at least one additional calibration star to improve the
mount’s all-sky pointing accuracy.
4. Press ENTER to select a calibration star. Select a star the
same way you did with the first two alignment stars and
press ENTER. You will notice that all the calibration stars
displayed are located on the opposite side of the side of
the sky (Meridian) as the original alignment stars. This is
essential for an accurate calibration of the mount.
Finally, you can choose to continue to add additional calibration
stars or Press BACK to complete the alignment.
