NEXGUIDE USER`S MANUAL V2.0
Contents
1. Output current of 250mA or more 2 1 mm power plug with positive tip TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS e Telescope Mount Equatorial mount or Alt Az mount with a wedge The mount must have a dual axis motor drive with ST 4 compatible autoguiding port Guiding Cable You may use the supplied autoguiding cable if the pin configuration of your motor drive is the same as the diagram shown on the right Guide Scope An additional telescope with an M42 0 75 thread or a 1 25 eyepiece holder is required as a guide scope An aperture of at least 80 mm helps reduce the exposure time of the NexGuide yielding a more accurate guiding result The ideal focal length is between 400 mm and 1200 mm An adjustable guide scope tube ring along with a finderscope or red dot finder will help you locate a guide star 654321 1 NC 2 Ground 3 RA left 4 DEC up 5 DEC down 6 RA right GETTING STARTED ATTACHING NEXGuIpE To A Guine Scope There are two ways to install NexGuide Option 1 Use an M42 thread adapter to thread NexGuide directly onto the guide scope This installation method provides the most secure connection and is best suited for guide scopes equipped with a finderscope or a red dot finder Option 2 Attach the M42 to 1 25 adapter to NexGuide then insert and lock it into the 1 25 inch eyepiece holder on the guide scope This method is suitable for those using a par focal eyepiece to searc2. Preview Mode Move the RA motors at guiding rate Guiding Mode Set the RA correction aggressiveness Menu Mode Scroll between menu items and change values under submenus e Lock Menu Move crosshair horizontally across preview area when manually locking on a star GETTING STARTED NaviGaTING THE Menus Press the MENU button to activate the main menu tree Use the UP DOWN buttons to scroll between the menu items Press the ENTER or RIGHT to choose between the following submenus ZM STAR or ZM CTR Menu These two menus zoom in on the image and are only usable when NexGuide is in preview mode Using the UP DOWN buttons choose between the zoom level 1 the entire image 2 384x384 pixels of the image sensor 3 128x128 pixels of the image sensor and 4 64x64 pixels of the image sensor After choosing the level press ENTER to confirm or ESC to keep the previous zoom level ZM STAR tries to use the position of the brightest star in the NexGuide s field of view as the center of the zoomed image unless the star is too close to the edge of the image sensor ZM CTR always zooms at the center of the image sensor Lock Menu This submenu locks or re locks a star in NexGuide s field of view for later guiding operation After entering this submenu use the UP DOWN buttons to choose from the following options and then press ENTER or LEFT button to confirm The current mode is displayed in the upper left corner of the LCD
3. 8 CELESTRON NexGuipE USER S MANUAL vo 1 OPERATION UNDER THE NIGHT 9 SPECIFICATIONS sseccsssecsssseccssseccssnecenssesessvesesssesensees 15 THANK YOU FOR PURCHASING THE NEXGUIDE AUTOGUIDER NEXGUIDE WILL IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR ASTROIMAGES AND HELP YOU ACHIEVE PINPOINT STARS DURING LONG EXPOSURES NEXGUIDE ATTACHES DIRECTLY TO YOUR GUIDE SCOPE AND DOES NOT REQUIRE A COMPUTER ABOUT THE NexGuipE PACKAGE Please take some time to familiarize yourself with NexGuide before using it for the first time under the night sky Some parts are pre installed on NexGuide so you may need to remove them before use See instructions below for more details 1 25 EXTENSION BARREL M42 T01 25 ADAPTER PAR FOCAL RING___ NEXGUIDE S MAIN BODY HAND CONTROL GUIDING CABLE BATTERY CASE NexGuipE MAIN BODY FRONT VIEW REAR VIEW A G CELESTRON A M42 Thread B CCD Sensor C Power Jack D USB Port E Autoguider Port F Hand Control Port G LCD Screen GETTING STARTED Powerina NExGuIpE NexGuide includes a battery case that accepts four D Cell 1 5V batteries not included Alternatively you may use an optional power supply that meets the following requirements DC 6V 14V output voltage lower voltage recommended
4. Activate Autoguiding AUTO CAL Auto Calibration is recommended whenever the telescope has been moved to a new object An auto calibration routine will detect the correct setting of the guiding parameters including control signal polarity parameters as well as the guiding aggressiveness for the RA and Dec axes NexGuide will automatically start autoguiding after the calibration is complete RESUME This is to resume previous autoguiding NexGuide will skip the auto calibration routine and begin autoguiding with the previous guiding parameters 13 OPERATING UNDER THE NIGHT SKY The following diagram is what you will see in the GUIDING mode GUIDING A crosshalr is Exposure time B gt displayed for you to Brightness of the star YT B3 monitor the effects R A and Dec guiding GR 2 __ of autoguiding The center of the cross is the position of the guide star when guiding is activated agressiveness in mS Pixel The drift in R A and Dec in pixels Indication that the SynGuider is sending RA RA or Dec Dec signals via the autoguider port Operations The guiding aggressiveness of the RA or Dec axis can be increased or decreased with the direction buttons Use the RIGHT LEFT buttons to adjust the RA aggressiveness and the UP DOWN buttons to adjust the Dec aggressiveness If the NexGuide loses the guide star during autoguiding it will prompt STAR LOST Press ESC to return to Previ
5. e Auto NexGuide will try to automatically lock onto the brightest star in the FOV e Manual Re Lock NexGuide will show a small pick up crosshair in the image area of the LCD display Use the four direction buttons to move the crosshair onto or near a star Press ENTER to lock NexGuide on the star Unlock NexGuide will exit from the locked guiding mode and return to preview mode GETTING STARTED Guide Menu This menu activates or de activates autoguiding Use the UP DOWN buttons to choose from the following three options Auto Cal NexGuide will start an auto calibration routine prior to the start of autoguiding e Resume NexGuide will immediately re start autoguiding with the previous guiding parameters Stop NexGuide will stop autoguiding and return to the locked mode Cross Menu This menu displays the crosshair on the LCD screen The center of the crosshair represents the center of the image sensor The crosshair can also be used to roughly calculate the positioning of a star in the field of view Dec Backlash Menu To reduce the affect of Dec axis backlash during autoguiding the NexGuide can send a signal to the Dec motors for a pre determined time whenever the NexGuide reverses direction while guiding When you select this menu the current setting is displayed on the left side of the LCD screen Use the UP DOWN buttons to change the value Press ENTER or LEFT to confirm If your equatorial mount has no or minimal backlas
6. ew Mode and begin the auto calibration routine again To avoid creating any vibration that may interfere with guiding place the control pad on a solid surface such as your accessory tray so that it does not hang directly from NexGuide Suspend Autoguiding The exposure on your astroimaging camera should be stopped before suspending autoguiding Use the Guide Stop Menu to stop autoguiding 14 SPECIFICATIONS IMAGE SENSOR Type APTINA MT9V034C12STM CMOS Sensor Chip size 4 51mm X 2 88 mm Y Number of effective pixels 752 X 480 Y Unit cell size 6 0um X 6 0um Y POWER SUPPLY DC 4 5V 14V 150mA a 5V power supply is recommended Power Jack 2 1mm tip positive or USB type B EXPOSURE TIME 2 5 15 30 70 100 200 300 400 500 600 1200 2000 mS CELESTRON 2835 Columbia Street e Torrance CA 90503 U S A el 310 328 9560 e Fax 310 212 5835 Website www celestron com Copyright 2013 CELESTRON LLC All Rights reserved Products or instructions may change without notice or obligation his product is designed and intended for use by those 14 years of age and older 2 Year Warranty his device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rule Operation is subject to the following two conditions This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operations a 15
7. h or if you have done very accurate polar alignment the Dec backlash should be set to 0 GETTING STARTED e Noise Menu This menu sets the cut off value for the noise filter of the image sensor The proper noise level differs according to exposure time so NexGuide provides independent noise level control for each exposure time and automatically uses the corresponding noise level when you change the exposure time Once this submenu is selected you will see the current cut off value displayed in the text zone of the LCD and the image zone will continually refresh If you see a short solid horizontal line in the upper or middle portion of the LCD s image area the cut off value is too low and you should increase it until you can see reasonable amount of noise dots spread evenly in the LCD s image area If there is no noise spot in the image zone of the LCD it might mean that the cut off value is set too high This could reduce the NexGuide s ability to detect faint stars Reduce the cut off value until you can see some noise dots diversify evenly in the image area RESET Menu Returns all settings back to their factory defaults GETTING STARTED Preparing NexGuide To get NexGuide ready for autoguiding follow these steps 1 Adjust the focus Preview Mode 2 Align NexGuide s orientation with the R A and Dec axes of the mount 3 Find and lock a guide star Locked Mode 4 Start autoguiding Guiding Mode Detailed instructio
8. h for a guide star When the star has been located simply exchange the eyepiece for NexGuide CABLES 1 Plug the hand control into the connector labeled Hand Control on NexGuide 2 Plug one end of the guiding cable into the port labeled Auto Guider and the other end into the guiding port on your mount 3 Plug the battery pack or power supply into NexGuide s power outlet READING THE LCD Display The LCD screen is divided into two zones The left half displays text information such as the menu data and status of the device The right half of the screen displays the image captured by the optical sensor GETTING STARTED UsING HAND There are nine illuminated buttons on the Hand Control MENU Open and close the main menu e ESC Cancel an operation or quit from 8 menu ENTER Confirm an operation or open a submenu e Increase or decrease the exposure time UP DOWN The function of these buttons depends on the working mode of the autoguider Preview Mode Move the dec motors at guiding rate Guiding Mode Set the Dec correction aggressiveness e Menu Mode Scroll between menu items and change values under submenus e Noise Menu Increase decrease noise menu values e Lock Menu Move crosshair vertically across preview area when manually locking on a star LEFT RIGHT The function of these buttons depends on the working mode of the autoguider
9. mum BRI reading required for the NexGuide to work stably is 10 Try to bring the BRI reading to at least 10 for best results Use the NOISE menu to filter out the noise if the image area of the LCD screen becomes blank or the background noise becomes too noticeable Adjust the guide scope to bring the star to the center if it is too close to the edge of the image zone on the NexGuide This is only necessary when the zoom level is set at 1 6 Lock the guide star automatically or manually using the Lock Menu When manually locking on a star use the arrow button to position the small crosshair over the desired guide star Press ENTER to manually lock on that star If the guide star is successfully locked NexGuide will enter Locked Mode The zoom level will automatically be switched to 4 and NexGuide will display an area of 64x64 pixels near the locked star NexGuide will keep tracking the star as it slowly drifts away from its original position 12 OPERATING UNDER THE NIGHT SKY The diagram on the right is an example of the LCD display a DX DY are the locked star s offset to its original locked position b YO are the position of the center of the image in sensor s pixel matrix c If NexGuide loses the guide star it will wait until the star reappears Press ESC to return to Review Mode Autoguiding Guiding Mode Once NexGuide is successfully locked onto a star you may activate guiding with the Guide Menu
10. ns for each of these steps are provided below The left half of the LCD screen The right half of the screen displays displays text information the image detected by the sensor The current mode _ _ B8312 The brightest star The current exposure BIN N is framed The brightness of the brightest star BRI 35 The position of the brightest star wa The current zoom level F The position of the center of the image Stars are represented by dots GETTING STARTED Adjusting Focus Preview Mode 1 Insert an optical eyepiece into the eyepiece holder of the guide scope Activate tracking on the mount and center a bright star in the eyepiece s field of view 2 Remove the optical eyepiece replace it with NexGuide and power it on NexGuide will automatically enter Preview Mode 3 Use the buttons to set the exposure time to 200 milliseconds 4 Use the NOISE Menu to set the noise control level until the LCD is free of background noise 5 Adjust the focuser of the guide scope until the image of the bright star appears in the LCD as a blank dot Continue to adjust the focuser until the blank dot appears to be smallest suggesting that the image is in focus At this point if you continue to turn the focuser you will see that the dot becomes larger again The BRI reading will increase as the image comes into focus If the BRI reading increases
11. ntered and place NexGuide back onto the guide scope Aligning NexGuide s orientation with the R A and Dec axes of your mount 1 Turn on the crosshair on the LCD screen using the Cross Menu 2 Rotate the autoguider inside the focuser barrel so that when the equatorial mount is slowly slewing in RA axis the star image moves parallel to either the horizontal or the vertical line Instead of using the hand control of the mount you may use the LEFT RIGHT direction buttons on the NexGuide to control the RA axis of the mount Remember to mark the position of the NexGuide on the guide scope so you won t have to perform the autoguider alignment again 11 OPERATING UNDER THE NIGHT SKY Finding and locking a guide star 1 Locate the celestial object that you will be imaging through your main telescope Activate tracking on the equatorial mount The guide scope should also be pointed to the same region in the sky 2 Insert the parfocal eyepiece into the guide scope Locate a bright star nearby and adjust the guide scope so the star appears in the center of the parfocal eyepiece 3 Replace the par focal eyepiece with NexGuide 4 The image of the star should appear in the image zone of the LCD screen If not use the buttons to increase the exposure time until the image of the star appears Note Generally speaking shorter exposure gives better periodic error correction results The BRI reading on the screen is a good reference The mini
12. to over 253 use the buttons to reduce the exposure time to avoid over exposure 6 Use the hand control on your equatorial mount to slowly move the star into the center of the image display area 7 Use the ZM STAR menu to change the zoom level to show more details of the star image Fine tune the focuser to obtain the smallest star image and the highest BRI reading Lock the focuser of the guide scope and remove the NexGuide 10 OPERATING UNDER THE NIGHT SKY Now it is time to make a parfocal eyepiece This will come in handy when you want to find another guide star without changing the focus of the guide scope Use the included parfocal ring to ensure the eyepiece is in focus with the autoguider 1 Remove the autoguider from the guide scope lt gt 2 Place the parfocal ring loosely around the eyepiece barrel 3 Insert the eyepiece into the guide scope focuser A crosshair or reticle eyepiece is recommended for precise centering of the guide star 4 Slowly slide the eyepiece towards your eye until the star image is sharp Do not move the focuser knobs Note You may need to attach the 1 25 extension barrel to the eyepiece if the eyepiece is too short to reach focus 5 Slide the parfocal ring towards the focuser draw tube as far as it will go 6 Use the thumbscrews on the ring to lock it in place This will mark the correct focus position for that eyepiece 7 Ensure your guide star is still ce
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