PWI Telescope Control Software Manual

All-Star Polar Alignment (ASPA) for EQ Setups

CPWI and the mount are now aligned to the night sky, but the EQ mount may not be accurately polar aligned. Celestron’s proprietary

All-Star Polar Alignment procedure (ASPA) can help correct equatorial mount’s polar alignment quickly and easily. To perform an

ASPA in CPWI, you must have at least 3 alignment points in your alignment model.(In the Data bar at the top of the screen, “Pointing

Model” should indicate at least 3 points.)

After a successful 3-point (or more) alignment is completed, CPWI will automatically ask if you want to perform an All-Star Polar

Alignment. Otherwise, you can select “Perform ASPA” from the Alignment section in the Menu. You will receive a notiﬁ cation if you

need more alignment points to complete an ASPA.

Once you select All-Star Polar Alignment, you will see the All-Star Polar Alignment window.

Your polar alignment error will be displayed. Take note of the displayed error if needed, then click Next.

Select a star for ASPA from the SkyViewer. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, you should select a star on the southern horizon.

Southern Hemisphere users should select stars on the northern horizon. Do not use any stars directly overhead near zenith, directly

east or west at any elevation above the horizon, or near the North Pole for Northern Hemisphere users or South Pole for Southern

Hemisphere users. Once you have found a star for ASPA, select it, then select GoTo in the ASPA pop-up window.

Center the selected star in the eyepiece (or camera) using the onscreen slew controls. Once the star is centered in the ﬁ eld of view,

press the “Centered” box in the ASPA window. (NOTE: Remember to ﬁ nish centering with the UP and RIGHT direction keys for best

polar alignment accuracy.) The mount will then slew to the position the star should be if the mount were perfectly polar aligned. If the

mount is very far from being polar aligned, then the star may no longer even be in the ﬁ eld of view! In this case, you will need to use

the ﬁ nderscope to ﬁ nd the star. Now, use the mount’s altitude and azimuth polar alignment adjustment knobs to re-center the star in

the eyepiece’s ﬁ eld of view.

Polar alignment is now complete. If you want to check your results, re-align the mount in CPWI by selecting Delete Alignment from

the Alignment section of the Menu, then select Perform Alignment. After realigning, check your polar align error by performing ASPA

again to review your results. At this point, you can either exit ASPA and start using CPWI, or perform another ASPA if you’d like. The

second time you do an ASPA, the mount’s polar alignment adjustment knobs should need minimal—if any—adjustment.

Once you have completed one ASPA after initial Alignment, you are ready to use CPWI to control your Celestron telescope.

Slewing to an Object

To select your desired object in the SkyViewer, use your

cursor to click and drag to navigate the planetarium. Once

you ﬁ nd the object you want to slew to, click on it. A Target

window will pop up. Select GoTo. The telescope will then

slew to the object you have chosen. The object should be in

the ﬁ eld of view of the telescope.

When you select an object in the SkyViewer, you also have

the option to select Info. If you are connected to the internet,

clicking Info will take you online to where you can learn more

information about the object. If you are connected via WiFi in

direct connect mode, you will not be able to use this feature,

since your computer is connected directly to the WiFi module.

The telescope’s current position is indicated by the green

crosshair in the SkyViewer. Slewing the telescope in CPWI

will move the green crosshair in real time as you slew. When

you make a selection in the SkyViewer, a yellow crosshair will

appear over the object.