Orion XTG instruction manual SW 235SE, Two-Star Alignment

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	NW	315° –	NE
	270° –	45°	0° –
	360°		90°
W	225° –		45° –	E
	315°		135°
	180° –		90° –
	270°		180°

135° –

SW 235°SE

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Figure 24. Pie chart of the eight directional regions referenced in the Brightest Star Alignment procedure.

you choose will only affect your alignment star selection; you will still be able to choose stars to view across the entire sky once the alignment is complete.

3.After you have selected the region of the sky contain- ing the brightest star, the hand controller will generate a list of the brightest stars (magnitude 1.5 or brighter and between 10 and 75 degrees above the horizon only) in that region. (If there are no suitable stars in the direc- tion you have chosen, the text “No Star Found in the Region” will display. If this occurs, press ENTER or ESC and select another region of sky.) Now, use the Scroll keys to scroll through the list of bright stars. There will only be a few stars, at most, on the list, and sometimes only one star will be on the list. The hand controller will display the name and magnitude of the bright star on the first line, and the approximate position of the star (based on the time and date entered during the initial setup) on the second line. The first coordinate on the second line is an E-W coordinate, and the second coordinate on the second line indicates degrees above the horizon. These coordinates provide a simple way to identify the bright star you have chosen. When you are confident the hand controller is displaying the name of the bright star you wish to align on, press ENTER.

4.The mount will not slew to the selected bright star auto- matically. Instead, the hand controller will direct you to slew the mount to the coordinates displayed on the LCD. It might be easier to refer to the appropriate seasonal star chart, find the selected star on it, and slew the tele- scope to its location in the sky. Slew the scope using the directional keys and center the star in the view of the EZ Finder II reflex sight. Press ENTER. The hand controller will now instruct you to center the star in the telescope

eyepiece. Once again, use the directional keys to do this. You may change the slewing speed by pressing the RATE button, and then choose a number between 0 (slowest) and 9 (fastest). You may find that Rate 4 is best for cen- tering the object in the EZ Finder, while Rate 3 or less is best for centering in the eyepiece view. When the star is centered in the eyepiece, press ENTER.

5.The hand controller will now generate a list of bright stars to choose as your second alignment star. Scroll through the list using the Scroll keys and refer to the appropriate star chart in the back of this manual to choose a second alignment star. Ideally, you want this star to be about 60 degrees (i.e., about six fist-widths held at arm’s length) away from the first alignment star in azimuth, and pref- erably at roughly the same altitude. The more distance between the two alignment stars, the better accuracy the alignment will produce. Once you’ve selected the sec- ond alignment star, press ENTER. The mount will now automatically slew to the selected star, which should land in or near the field of view of the EZ Finder II. When it stops slewing you’ll hear a beep, then the hand controller will instruct you to use the directional buttons to center the star in the eyepiece. After you’ve done that, press

ENTER.

The message “Alignment Successful” should display on the LCD. You may now use the hand controller to locate objects to view. At this time it is recommended that you switch to the low-power DeepView 2" eyepiece for acquiring targets using the GoTo system.

If the message “Alignment Failed” displays, it usually means the star positions do not correspond with the location and date/time information input during setup. Please check your user input settings before starting again.

NOTE:To ensure the accuracy of the star alignment, make sure to end the movement of the telescope with the UP or RIGHT directional button when centering the object in the eyepiece view.

NOTE: The hand controller will beep when the telescope has finished slewing to an object. Do not try to adjust the telescope position further before you hear the beep. The hand controller will only respond to the ESC key while slewing.

Two-Star Alignment

The standard two-star alignment is suggested if you have a star chart handy or are able to identify two bright stars visible in the night sky. To perform the two-star alignment, you follow the same steps described for the Brightest Star alignment, except that the hand controller will not prompt you to select a directional region for a bright star. Instead, you’ll be presented with a list of stars available in your current sky to choose from, for each of the two alignment stars.

Use the supplied 12.5mm Illuminated Plössl to ensure accu- rate centering of your alignment objects. Refer to the appro- priate star chart in the back of this manual for help in locating a specific star.

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