19
5. Amessage displays that warns not to look at the Sun. At the end of this message,
press the key prompted by Autostar II to signify that the message has been read
and understood.
6. "Automatic Alignment" displays. Press ENTER. The system now performs the fol-
lowing routines (press any Autostar II key to abort Automatic Alignment; see
Important Note, at the bottom of page 18) :
Caution: As the telescope performs the following operations, it will swing
and rotate. Keep a safe distance from the telescope.
a. Finds the home position. Moves the telescope to find the "home" position.
When the home position is found, the system knows the limiting positions of
the telescope and can avoid tangling cables and over-rotating the telescope.
b. Detects “level”of the base of the telescope; finds tilt and tip. To detect
level, Autostar II must calculate "level" at three compass points. See FINDING
TRUE LEVEL in the LX200GPS INFO box on page 21.
Autostar II also determines the positioning (i.e., tilt and tip) of the optical tube.
c. Finds North. Locates magnetic North, then calculates true North. See
FINDING TRUE NORTH, page 21.
d. Attempts a "GPS Fix." The LX200's GPS receiver attempts to acquire and
sync up with signals from GPS satellites. "Getting GPS Fix" displays. See THE
GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM in the LX200GPS INFO box on page 21.
After performing these operations, Autostar II now knows:
■The telescope's limiting positions
■Where level is for the telescope
■The location of true North
■The observing site's location
■The date and time
e. Star Alignment. Autostar II then chooses two stars to align upon.
"Searching...." displays. When the telescope slews (moves) to the first star for
alignment, it may not appear in the field of view in the eyepiece. If it is not,
look through the viewfinder—in most cases, the star will be visible. Use the
Arrow keys to move the telescope (you can change speed at which the tele-
scope moves: see SLEW SPEEDS, page 17 for more information) until the star
is visible and centered in the eyepiece. The alignment star should be easily
recognized and be the brightest star in the area of the sky where the tele-
scope is pointing. Press ENTER. Repeat this procedure for the second star.
For more information about alignment stars, see WHICH ONE'S THE ALIGN-
MENT STAR? page 19.
Which One’s the Alignment Star?
If Autostar has chosen an alignment star with which you are unfamiliar, how can
you be sure if the star in your eyepiece is really the alignment star?
The rule of thumb is that an alignment star is usually the brightest star in that
area of the sky. If you perform a GO TO to an alignment star and you're not sure
if you have located the alignment star or it isn't in the eyepiece, look through your
viewfinder. When you view an alignment star in the viewfinder, it stands out dra-
matically from the rest of the stars in that portion of the sky. The viewfinder will
help you locate a star more quickly than the eyepiece, because it has a much
wider field of view than the eyepiece. Using Autostar, set the slew speed to 6 or
higher and use the Arrow keys to center the alignment star in the viewfinder. If
your viewfinder has been aligned with the telescope, the alignment star should
now be in the eyepiece. Set the slew speed to 4 or less and center the star in
the eyepiece. Also see the "Spiral Search" tip, page 20.
LX200GPS TIPS
Important Note:
The Daylight Saving
menu enables or disables
the Daylight Savings Time
setting: Remember to tur n
this setting off or on the
two days a year when
Daylight Saving changes.
See TIMING IS
EVERYTHING, page 28.
Important Note:
Once the telescope is
aligned, only use the Arrow
keys to move the tele-
scope.Once the telescope
has been aligned, do not
loosen the telescope locks
(12 and 17, Fig. 1), or
move the base manually,
or alignment will be lost.
Important Notes:
It is recommended that you
do not attempt a GPS fix
indoors.
It is also recommended
that you CALIBRATE SEN-
SORS the first time your
telescope takes a GPS fix.
See page 29 for more
information.