Nexstar 102 Instruction Manual

...

O FF CC O O NN TT EE NN TT SS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 Warning .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 ASSEMBLY ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Assembling the NexStar ..................................................... ...

Calculating Magnification......................................................................................................................................... 26 Determining Field of View ....................................................................................................................... ...

computer automated technology. Simple and friendly to use, the NexStar is up and running after locating just three bright celestial objects. It’s the perfect combination of power and portability. If you are new to astronomy, you may wish to start off by using the NexStar's built-in Sky Tour feature, which commands the NexStar to find the most interesting objects in the sky and automatically slews to each one. Or if you are more experienced , you will appreciate the comprehensive database of over 4,000 objects, including customi ...

6 Tripod Leg Extension Clamp 13 Dovetailed Mounting Clamp 7 Accessory Tray 14 Telescope Tube The NexStar SLT Refractor Telescope (NexStar 60 Shown) 12 1 2 11 10 7 3 4 9 14 5 6 8 13 ...

2 Secondary Mirror 8 Accessory Tray 3 Fork Arm 9 On/Off Switch 4 Battery Compartment 10 Collimation Adjustment Knobs 5 Tripod 11 Optical Tube 6 Hand Control 12 Star Pointer Finderscope NexStar SLT Reflecting Telescope (NexStar 114 Shown) 1 2 3 4 6 7 10 11 12 8 5 9 ...

reusable shipping carton that contains the following accessories: • 25mm and 9mm Eyepieces – 1¼" • 1¼" Star Diagonal (NexStar 60, 80 & 102 only) • Star Pointer Finderscope and Mounting Bracket • Deluxe Accessory Tray • The Sky™ Level 1 Astronomy Software • NSOL Telescope Control Software • NexStar Hand Control w/ Object Database AAsssseem mbblliinngg tthhee NNeexxSSttaarr Your NexStar comes in three major sections: the optical tube, the fork arm and the tripod. These sections can be attached in secon ...

The NexStar comes with a snap-on hand control holder that conveniently attaches to any of the tripod legs. To attach the hand control holder simply position the holder with the square plastic tab facing up and push against the tripod leg until it snaps in to place. AAttttaacchhiinngg tthhee FFoorrkk AArrm m ttoo tthhee TTrriippoodd With the tripod properly assembled, the telescope tube and fork arm can easily be attached using the quick release coupling screw located underneath the tripod mounting platform: 1. Place the fork arm base inside the tripod mounting platform. 2. Thre ...

freely. Rotate the diagonal to the desired position and tighten the thumbscrew. TThhee EEyyeeppiieeccee The eyepiece, is the optical element that magnifies the image focused by the telescope. The eyepiece fits either directly into the focuser (114mm and 130mm models) or into the star diagonal (60, 80, or 102mm models). To install the eyepiece: For 60, 80, and 102mm models: 1. Loosen the thumbscrew on the star diagonal so it does not obstruct the inner diameter of the eyepiece end of the diagonal. Remove the pro ...

Star Pointer is ready to be used, it must be attached to the telescope tube and properly aligned: SSttaarr PPooiinntteerr IInnssttaallllaattiioonn 1. Slide the Star Pointer onto the dovetail mounting platform on top of the focuser assembly so that the sight tube is facing towards the front of the tube. 2. Tighten the mounting screw to secure the Star Pointer in place. Star Pointer Operation The star pointer is powered by a long life 3-volt lithium battery (#CR2032) located underneath the front portion of the Star Pointer ...

The NexStar SLT hand control has a phone jack type connector at the end of its cord. Plug the phone jack connector into the outlet at the base of the telescope’s fork arm. Push the connector into the outlet until it clicks into place and place the hand control into its holder as described previously in the Assembly section of the manual PPoow weerriinngg tthhee NNeexxSSttaarr The NexStar SLT can be powered by 8 user supplied AA size alkaline batteries or an optional 12v AC adapter. To install batteries into the NexStar: 1. Squeeze the tabs on both sides of the battery compartment cover whil ...

The NexStar SLT's hand controller is designed to give you instant access to all the functions the NexStar has to offer. With automatic slewing to over 4,000 objects, and common sense menu descriptions, even a beginner can master its variety of features in just a few observing sessions. Below is a brief description of the individual components of the NexStar SLT hand controller: 1. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Window: Has a dual-line, 16 character display screen that is backlit for comfortable viewing of telescope information and scrolling text. 2. Align: Instructs the NexStar to use a selected star or object as ...

6. Tour: Activates the tour mode, which seeks out all the best objects for a given month and automatically slews the NexStar to those objects. 7. Enter: Pressing Enter allows you to select any of the NexStar functions, accept entered parameters and slew the telescope to displayed objects. 8. Undo: Undo will take you out of the current menu and display the previous level of the menu path. Press Undo repeatedly to get back to a main menu or use it to erase data entered by mistake. 9. Menu: Displays the many setup and utilities functions such as tr ...

sky. With this information, the telescope can create a model of the sky, which it uses to locate any object with known coordinates. There are many ways to align the NexStar with the sky depending on what information the user is able to provide: SkyAlign uses your current date, time and city to create an accurate model of the sky. Then the user can simply point the telescope to any three bright celestial objects to accurately align the telescope with the sky. Auto Two-Star Align wil ...

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 (10) to toggle between options. � Select the time zone that you are observing from. 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 appendix of this manual. Date - Enter the month, day and year of your observing session. The display wil ...

information is entered, NexStar will prompt you to select and point the telescope at one known star in the sky. The NexStar now has all the information it needs to automatically choose a second star that will assure the best possible alignment. Once selected the telescope will automatically slew to that second alignment star to complete the alignment. With the NexStar set up outside with all accessories attached and the tripod leveled, follow the steps below to align the telescope: ...

the tracking motors turn-on and begin to track. O Onnee--SSttaarr AAlliiggnn One-Star Align requires you to input all the same information as you would for the Two-Star Align procedure. However, instead of slewing to two alignment stars for centering and alignment, the NexStar uses only one star to model the sky based on the information given. This will allow you to roughly slew to the coordinates of bright objects like the moon and planets and gives the NexStar the information needed to track objects in altazimuth in any part of the ...

celestial object. This can be useful in several situations: • If you are observing over a period of a few hours, you may notice that your original two alignment stars have drifted towards the west considerably. (Remember that the stars are moving at a rate of 15º every hour). Aligning on a new star that is in the eastern part of the sky will improve your pointing accuracy, especially on objects in that part of the sky. • If you have aligned your telescope using the One-star align ...

Obbjjeecctt Once the desired object is displayed on the hand control screen, you have two options: • Press the INFO Key. This will give you useful information about the selected object such as magnitude, constellation and fascinating facts about many of the objects. • Press the ENTER Key. This will automatically slew the telescope to the coordinates of the object. While the telescope is slewing to the object, the user can still access many of the hand control functions (such as displaying information about the object). If you slew to an object that is below the horizon, NexStar will notify you by displaying a me ...

and down) and azimuth (left and right). The telescope can be controlled at nine different speed rates. 1 = 2x 6 = .5º / sec 2 = 4x 7 = 1º / sec 3 = 8x 8 = 2º / sec 4 = 16x 9 = 4º / sec 5 = 32x RRaattee BBuuttttoonn Pressing the RATE key (11) allows you to instantly change the speed rate of the motors from high speed slew rate to precise guiding rate or anywhere in between. Each rate corresponds to a number on the hand controller key pad. The number 9 is the fastest r ...