2 0
step c, above. Press ENTER when the number is entered.
e.Check the time delay as described in step b. If there is a delay, increase the compensation number. If there is a slight jump when reversing direction, then the number is too large.
When the compensation number is correct, the LX200 telescope will move almost instantly when reversing the direction in Declination. This compensation feature also works in conjunction with . popular CCD autoguiders, allowing for more accurate autoguiding.
This number is stored in permanent memory and should never need to be set again.
b. OBJECT LIBRARY Menu File
The OBJECT LIBRARY menu file is the other half of the TELESCOPE/OBJECT LIBRARY mode. With it you can become a tourist of the sky, or conduct research surveys of the 64,359 objects. The LX200 Object Library is accessible in the most results-getting, user friendly system ever designed for observers and astrophotographers.
The core library, essentially a "greatest hits of the sky," encompasses eight planets of our solar system from Mercury to Pluto, 351 stars (doubles, variables, pole stars), the entire Messier catalog of 110 objects, 7840 of the finest galaxies, diffuse and planetary nebulae, and globular and open star clusters
The position epoch of these objects is for real time, updated each time you turn on your LX200. Even the planet's positions have their orbits calculated! This not only qualifies the LX200 as the most accurate integrated object library available, it will never require updated software for precession of the stars or planetary orbital changes.
There are three primary ways to use the Object Library. You can directly access the library by using the M, STAR, or CNGC keys (see THE LX200 KEYPAD HAND CONTROLLER, page 14) and entering a specific catalog number, the START FIND option can be used to logically find objects in organized strips of the sky that can be custom tailored to only show the objects you wish to see with a selection of object types, size brightness, etc., or you can scan the sky and have the Object Library tell you what is in the field of view in the eyepiece by using the FIELD option. Below is a description of the four OBJECT LIBRARY menu files and file options:
To access the OBJECT LIBRARY menu file, move the arrow to the OBJECT LIBRARY display by pressing the PREV or NEXT key while in the TELESCOPE/OBJECT LIBRARY mode and press the ENTER key. Now you can access the four menu selections within the OBJECT LIBRARY by moving the arrow to the desired menu selection by using the PREV or NEXT keys and doing the following steps.
1.OBJECT INFO: Press the ENTER key to read the type, brightness, size, and quality. Press ENTER again to read the coordinates. Press ENTER once more to determine how far off the telescope is pointing from the entered object (this is displayed in LCD bars, each bar is ten degrees, or if it is on the object, no bars). This same information can also be accessed at any time by pressing the ENTER key for any object entered by the M, STAR, or CNGC keys. Press MODE to exit to the main menu file.
2.START FIND: The START FIND option resources the CNGC objects within the Object Library and begins a logical search starting wherever the telescope is positioned when activated. To cover the entire visible sky it will make 31 strip divisions about 12° wide, moving from West to East, from the North Pole to the South Pole, then South to North. Once it has found all of the CNGC objects it will repeat its sequence until new objects are visible.
Press the ENTER key and the hand control will display the first object in its finding sequence. This first object is selected by the LX200, based off of where the instrument is pointing in the sky when you entered START FIND. To point your LX200 to the object displayed, press the GO TO key and it will slew to the object.
While in the START FIND option, you can either choose the next object in line or skip it as you wish. In order to find the next object in sequence, press the NEXT key, and the display will show the new CNGC object. If you do not wish to view this object, press NEXT again. If you wish to return to a previously viewed object, press the PREV key until the desired catalog number is displayed and press the GO TO key. If you have set some limitations in the PARAMETERS
option, it will only find those objects within your chosen confines.
If you find that the object is not well centered in the eyepiece after executing a GO TO (due to poor leveling, improper time input, or errors in site location), center the object; then press and hold the ENTER key until the display reads
"Coordinates Matched." This feature in essence synchronizes the LX200 for an area of the sky, so that the next object (if the leveling, time input, or site location information is not corrected) will be better centered, provided it is not too far away from the object that you matched coordinates to.
To exit the START FIND menu selection (and cease its operation) to the main menu, press MODE.
3.FIELD: Press theENTER key to identify objects in the field of view of the telescope. The LX200 will display the object centered in the eyepiece field, and how many other NGC objects are in thefield at the same time (defined by the RADIUS parameter setting) as shown in Display 28:
If you are centered on the object already, such as if you are in the FIELD menu selection, or if you have already made a GO TO command in one of the other methods for finding an object, the above display will be blank.
To review any of the data of an object, continue to press ENTER until the desired field appears. You can use these commands at any time that you have an object entered in the keypad, while directly entering in specific objects by pressing the M, STAR, or CNGC keys, in the START FIND
