11
Time - Enter the current time for your area. You can enter
either the local time (i.e. 8:00), or you can enter military
time (i.e. 20:00).
•SelectPMorAM.Ifmilitarytimewasentered, thehand
control will bypass this step.
•Ch oose be tween S tandar d time o r Dayligh t Saving s
time. Use the Up and Down scroll buttons (10) to toggle
between options.
•Selectthetimezonethatyouareobservingfrom.Again,
use the Up and Down buttons (10) to scroll through the
choices. For time zone information, refer to the Time Zone
map in the appendices of this manual.
Date - Enter the month, day and year of your observing
session. The display will read: mm/dd/yy.
•Ifthewrong informationhasbeen inputintothehand
control, the UNDO button will act as a backspace allowing
the user to re-enter information.
•ThenexttimethatyourStarSeekeris aligned,thehand
control will automatically display the last location (either a
city or longitude/latitude) that was entered. Press ENTER
to accept these parameters if they still apply. Pressing the
UNDO button will allow you to go back and select a new
city location or longitude/latitude.
sky align
Sky Align is the easiest way to get your StarSeeker aligned
and ready to observe. Even if you do not know a single star
in the sky, the StarSeeker will have you aligned in minutes by
asking for basic information like the date, time and location.
Then you simply need to aim the telescope to any three bright
celestial objects in the sky. Since Sky Align requires no knowl-
edge of the night sky it is not necessar y to know the name of
the objects at which you are aiming. You may even select a
planet or the moon. The StarSeeker is then ready to start find-
ing and tracking any of the objects in its 4,000+ object data-
base. Before the telescope is ready to be aligned, it should be
set up in an outside location with all accessories (eyepiece,
diagonal and finderscope) attached and lens cover removed
as described in the Assembly section of the manual. To begin
Sky Align:
1. You are now ready to begin the alignment. Choose your
first target and use the arrow buttons on the hand control
to slew (move) the telescope towards the selected object
in the sky. Align the object with the red dot of the finder-
scope and press ENTER.
2. If the finderscope has been properly aligned with the tele-
scope tube, the alignment star should now be visible inside
the field of view of the eyepiece. The hand control will ask
that you center the bright alignment star in the center of
the eyepiece and press the ALIGN button. This will accept
the star as the first alignment position. (There is no need
to adjust the slewing rate of the motors after each align-
ment step. The StarSeeker automatically selects the best
slewing rate for aligning objects in both the finderscope
and the eyepiece).
3. For the second alignment object, choose a bright star or
planet as far as possible from the first alignment object.
Once again use the arrow buttons (3) to center the object
in the finderscope and press ENTER. Then once centered
in the eyepiece press the ALIGN button.
4. R epeat th e process for the thir d alignme nt star. Wh en
the telescope has been aligned to the final stars, the dis-
play will read Match Confirmed. Press UNDO to display the
names of the three bright objects you aligned to, or press
ENTER to accept these three objects for alignment. You
are now ready to find your first object.
Note: If the message, “Alignment Failed” appears on the dis-
play it means the computer was unable to identify the three
objects chosen and you will need to restart the alignment pro-
cedure again. Common causes are inaccurate time/site infor-
mation input into the hand controller. Confirm that you have
all correct information before proceeding. It could also be that
the objects chosen we’re not accurately centered in the eye-
piece before pressing the “Align” key. It can be helpful to use
an Illuminated Reticle eyepiece (see oriontelescopes.com for
more details) or switching to a higher power eyepiece after
centering the object in a low power eyepiece. This will help you
achieve greater accuracy.
tips for using sky align
Remember the following alignment guidelines to make using
Sky Align as simple and accurate as possible.
•Besuretolevelthetr ipodbeforeyoubeginalignment.
Accurate 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.
•Remembertoselectalignmentstarsthatareasfarapart
in the sky as possible. For best results make sure that the
third alignment star does not lie in a straight line between
the first two stars. This may result in a failed alignment.
•Don’t worry about confusing planets for stars when
selecting alignment objects. SkyAlign works with the four
brightest planets (Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars) as well
as the Moon. In addition to the planets, the hand control
has over 80 bright alignment stars to choose from (down
to 2.5 magnitude).
•RarelySkyAlignwillnotbeabletodeterminewhatthree
alignment objects were centered. This sometime happens
when a bright planet or the Moon passes near one of the
brighter stars. In situations like these it is best to try to
avoid aligning to either object if possible.
•Besuretocentertheobjectswiththe samefinalmove-
ments as the direction of the GoTo Approach. For exam-
ple, if the scope normally finishes a GoTo with the front of
the scope moving right and up, you should center all three
alignment objects in the eyepiece using the right and up
arrow buttons (the up/down arrows reverse at slew rates
of 6 or lower). Approaching the star from this direction
when looking through the eyepiece will eliminate much
of the backlash between the gears and assure the most
accurate alignment possible.