Series Telescopes Instruction Manual For Models: 91519 32054 32062 22020 12079 12026 12046 12067 12031
Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Advanced VX Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Introduction Congratulations on your purchase of the Celestron Advanced VX telescope mount. The Advanced VX German equatorial mount has been designed with the highest quality materials to ensure stability and durability. All this adds up to a telescope that gives you a lifetime of enjoyment with a minimal amount of maintenance. Furthermore, the Advanced VX mount is versatile — it will grow with you as your interest grows from astronomical observing to astroimaging.
Advanced VX Mount (Advanced VX with 8” Edge HD Optical Tube Shown) 1 B D 11 2 9 3 8 10 7 6 C 4 5 F E A 6 I 1 Optical Tube CONTROL PANEL 2 Advanced VX Equatorial Mount A Power Port 3 Latitude Adjustment Scale B DEC Motor Port 4 Tripod Center Leg Brace/Accessory Tray C Power Switch 5 Tripod D Auxiliary Ports 6 Counterweight E Hand Control Port 7 Counterweight Bar F Auto Guider Port 8 Hand Control 9 Control Panel 10 R.A.
Assembly This section covers the assembly instructions for your Celestron Advanced VX mount. Your mount should come with all of the following: • Equatorial head • Tripod • Accessory tray • Counterweight bar with locking nut • Azimuth adjustment screws (x2) Before securing the mount to the tripod: 1. L ocate the Azimuth Adjustment Knobs from the box containing the Advanced VX equatorial head. 2. T hread one knob into each of the holes located on either side of the mount. 3.
Your Advanced VX tripod comes with the alignment peg installed so the polar axis and counterweight bar extends between two tripod legs. If you wish, you can reposition the alignment peg so the counterweight bar extends directly over a tripod leg. This is a matter of personal preference and does not affect the stability of the mount.
2. R emove the counterweight safety screw on the bottom end of the counterweight bar by turning it counterclockwise. This screw prevents the counterweight from falling off the mount in the case the counterweight locking screw comes loose. 3. L oosen the locking screw on the side of the counterweight. 4. S lide the counterweight over the counterweight bar and move it about halfway up the bar. 5. T ighten the locking screw on the side of the counterweight to hold it in place.
Balancing the Mount in R.A. To eliminate undue stress on the mount, the telescope should be properly balanced around the polar axis. Proper balancing is crucial for accurate tracking. To balance the mount: 3. L oosen the DEC clutch lock lever and rotate the telescope until the tube is parallel to the ground. 4. R elease the tube — GRADUALLY — to see which way it rotates around the declination axis. DO NOT LET GO OF THE TELESCOPE TUBE COMPLETELY! 3.
It is best to always make final adjustments in altitude by moving the mount against gravity (i.e., using the rear latitude adjustment screw to raise the mount). To do this you should loosen both latitude adjustment screws and manually push the front of the mount down as far as it will go. Tighten the rear adjustment screw to raise the mount to the desired latitude. Attaching the Declination Cable The Advanced VX mount comes with a cable that connects the electronic control panel to the declination motor.
Computerized Hand Control The Advanced VX uses the NexStar+ hand control that is designed to give you instant access to all the functions your mount has to offer. With automatic slewing to over 40,000 objects and common sense menu descriptions, even a beginner can master its variety of features in just a few observing sessions.
1. L iquid Crystal Display (LCD) Window: Has a four-line, 18 character display screen that has red backlighting for comfortable viewing of telescope information and scrolling text. 2. A lign: Instructs the hand control to begin the process of aligning your telescope. 3. D irection Keys: Allows complete control of the Advanced VX mount in any direction. Use the direction keys to center objects in the eyepiece or manually slew telescope. 4.
• Press ENTER to accept the current parameters. • P ress BACK to enter current date, time and location information into the hand control. 3. The following information will be displayed: Select one of the alignment methods as described below. • Location – The hand control will display a list of cities to choose from. Choose the city from the database that is closest to your current observing site.
Note: East/West Filtering – In order to ensure the best possible full-sky pointing accuracy, your computerized mount automatically filters and chooses its initial alignment stars so that the first two alignment stars are located on one side of the Meridian and any calibration stars are on the opposite side of the Meridian, as indicated by the “W” or “E” displayed in the upper-right corner of the LCD.
• I f you have aligned your telescope using the Quick-Align method, you can use Re-Align to align on actual objects in the sky. This will improve the pointing accuracy of your telescope without having to re-enter additional information. • I f you have used the computer-assisted polar alignment method and have manually moved the mount, it may be necessary to re-align the mount for improved pointing accuracy. To replace an existing alignment star with a new alignment star: 1.
• To slew to the object displayed, press ENTER. • To see the next tour object, press the DOWN key. Identify Button Pressing the IDENTIFY button will search the mount’s database catalogs and display the name and angular distances to the nearest matching objects from the telescope’s current location. This feature can serve two purposes. First, it can be used to identify an unknown object in the field of view of your eyepiece.
View Time-Site Menu This menu displays the current time and longitude/latitude downloaded from the optional SkySync GPS receiver. It will also display other relevant time-site information like time zone, daylight saving and local sidereal time. Local sidereal time (LST) is useful for knowing the right ascension of celestial objects that are located on the Meridian at that time. View Time-Site will always display the last saved time and location entered while it is linking with the GPS.
GoTo Approach – Lets the user define the direction that the telescope will approach when slewing to an object. This allows the user the ability to minimize the effects of backlash when slewing from object to object. Just like with Direction Buttons, setting GoTo Approach to positive will make the telescope approach an object from the same direction as tracking (west) for azimuth and counterclockwise in declination.
tracking in the same direction past the Meridian without the need to “flip” the telescope around to the opposite side of the mount (see Meridian feature above). Using the first example above, the user could slew the telescope in R.A. (azimuth) until it reaches the point that the cables are extended to their maximum. Then by displaying the telescope’s azimuth in this position (by looking at Get Axis Position under the Utilities menu) you can determine the telescope’s azimuth at its most extended position.
Hibernate – Hibernate allows the telescope to be completely powered down and still retain its alignment when turned back on. This not only saves power, but is ideal for those that have their telescope permanently mounted or leave their telescope in one location for long periods of time. To place your telescope in Hibernate mode: 1. Select Hibernate from the Utility Menu. 2. M ove the telescope to a desire position and press ENTER. 3. P ower off the telescope.
telescope, they are only valid for that exact location. To save land objects, once again center the desired object in the eyepiece. Scroll down to the “Save Land Obj” command and press ENTER. The display will ask you to enter a number between 1 and 200 to identify the object. Press ENTER again to save this object to the database.
Advanced VX Main Menu Tree Menu Tracking Mode EQ North EQ South Off Rate Sidereal Solar Lunar View Time-Site Saved Site Hand Control Light Control Keypad Level Display Level Scrolling Menu Toggle Bold Font Set Contrast Set Language Scope Setup See Diagram - Next Page Utilities See Diagram - Next Page User Objects GoTo Sky Objects Save Sky Objects Save Db Objects Enter RA & Dec GoTo Land Object Save Land Object Get RA-Dec GoTo RA Dec Identify Precise Goto I 23
Advanced VX Main Menu Tree Scope Setup Setup Time-Site Custom Site Utilities City Database Anti-Backlash Home Position RA Positive GoTo Approach Autoguide Rates OTA Orientation RA Negative Factory Setting Dec Positive Version Dec Negative Get Axis Position Goto Axis Position RA Button Hibernate Dec Button Sun Menu RA Approach Set Mount Position Dec Approach Turn on/off GPS RA Rate Turn on/off RTC Dec Rate PEC Normal East West Meridian Disabled Favor Current Favor West Favor Eas
Optical Tube Assemblies Depending on the telescope kit you purchased, you may have received one of the following optical tubes. This section of the manual will walk you through the setup of the basic types. Kit # 22020 32054 32062 12031 Optical Design Refractor Newtonian Newtonian Edge HD Diameter 6” (150 mm) 6” (150 mm) 8” (200 mm) 8” (203 mm) Focal Length 1200 mm f/8 750 mm f/5 1000 mm f/5 2032 mm f/10 Eyepiece 20 mm (60x) - 1.25” 20 mm (38x) - 1.25” 20 mm (50x) - 1.
3. T ighten the adjustment screws until they make contact with the finderscope body. 4. L ocate the mounting bracket near the rear (open) end of the telescope. 5. L oosen the set screw on the mounting bracket on the telescope. 6. S lide the finder bracket (attached to the finderscope) into the mounting bracket on the telescope. Your refracting telescope can use eyepieces with both a 1.25” and 2” barrel diameters. To use a 2” barrel eyepiece, the 1.25” eyepiece adapter must first be removed.
1. L oosen the set screw on the eyepiece holder so that it does not obstruct the inner diameter of the eyepiece holder. Eyepiece 2. S lide the chrome portion of the eyepiece into the eyepiece holder. Star Diagonal 3. T ighten the set screw to hold the eyepiece in place. Chrome Portion Eyepiece Visual Back Eyepiece Holder If you wish to change the orientation of the star diagonal, loosen the set screw on the visual back until the star diagonal rotates freely.
4. I nsert the screws through the bracket and into the rear cell. Finderscope Nylon Adjustment Screw Finder Bracket Rear Cell 2. P artially thread-in the three nylon thumbscrews that hold the finder in place inside the bracket. Tighten the screws until the nylon heads are flush with the inner diameter of the bracket ring. Do NOT thread them in completely, or they will interfere with the placement of the finder.
Aligning the Finderscope The finderscope is adjusted using two adjustment screws, located on the top and on the right (when looking though the finder) of the finder bracket and a spring-loaded pivot screw (located on the left side of the bracket). This allows you to turn the top adjustment screw to move the finderscope up and down, and turn the right adjustment screw to move the finderscope right to left.
Once completed, press the Align button and use the Up/ Down buttons on the hand controller to select Polar Align from the list. Align Mount – After performing a two star alignment with one calibration star and slewing your telescope to any bright star in the telescope’s database, select the “Align Mount” option. The telescope will then slew away from and then back to the same star. 1. T he hand control will ask you to re-center the star in the finderscope and press ENTER. 2.
Big Dipper 1. P olar align the telescope. For more information on polar aligning, see the Polar Alignment section earlier in the manual. Li le Dipper 2. Remove all visual accessories. 3. Thread the Radial Guider onto your telescope. Cassiopeia N.C.P tars Polaris (North Star) S ter Poin 4. Thread the T-Ring onto the Radial Guider. 5. M ount your camera body onto the T-Ring the same as you would any other lens. 6. Set the shutter speed to the “B” setting. 7. Focus the telescope on a star.
4. P lug the autoguider cable into the autoguider port on the mount’s electronics panel. 5. T o begin recording the drive’s periodic error, press the MENU button and select PEC from the Utilities menu. Use the Up/Down scroll buttons to display the Record option and press ENTER. When you are ready to record, press the ENTER button again to begin. You will have 5 seconds before the system starts to record.
Appendix A – Advanced VX Mount Technical Specifications Payload Capacity (excluding counterweight) 30 Pounds Optical Mounting System Standard Vixen-style “V” dovetail bar Computerized Hand Control NexStar+ hand control with LCD display, 19 fiber-optic backlit LED buttons Database 40,000+ objects, 100 user-defined programmable objects.
CELESTRON TWO YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY A. Celestron warrants your telescope mount to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for two years. Celestron will repair or replace such product or part thereof which, upon inspection by Celestron, is found to be defective in materials or workmanship. As a condition to the obligation of Celestron to repair or replace such product, the product must be returned to Celestron together with proof-of-purchase satisfactory to Celestron. B.
