Hello,
I am new to this forum and I hope my question is OK here.
I just bought a Celestron 6SE telescope but having problems with alignment. I live in northeast coast of NSW, just south of Byron Bay. Initially, I could not find the southern hemisphere stars in the Hand Control.
Today I managed to use three stars to align (Sirius, betelegeuse and archernar). It came up with "successfull" but when I tried to search Jupiter in went completely other way. I am not sure whether it is aligning with southern hemisphere stars or I am doing something terribly wrong.
There was a very recent thread about a similar issue with another Celestron mount. You want to check it out and get in touch with the OP.
That said, does the mount only go astray when asking it to point to Jupiter? What happens when you point to other objects, not too far from your alignment stars, such as Procyon, Rigel, Fomalhaut?
Typical setup errors that can lead to to weird behaviour include:
pointing the mount North (in the Southern hemisphere)
entering the observing site coordinates incorrectly (E/S vs W/N)
getting the timezone and daylight saving time settings wrong (it has to be: +1000 for NSW, wall clock time, DST=Yes right now)
mistaking alignment stars for the wrong ones (although that almost always leads to failed alignment)
Then there is always a good likelihood of software bugs, which are all too common in Synta-based controllers (which I believe the Celestron ones are?). I had to revert to an older firmware version myself today to get rid of some showstopper bugs.
Do you have the scope mounted the correct way?
Sounds silly I know but...
When you press the UP key, does the scope move upwards? (or downwards)
It is possible to mount it either way.
Also, did you check that the 3 star auto alignment actually knew what the correct stars were?
You check this by, upon the message Alignment successful, pressing UNDO and it will tell you what the three alignment stars are (as far as it thinks) by pressing the page down button for each successive star.
I have had "successful alignment" but because I put the time (or date) in the wrong format, those stars were not in fact what the mount thought they were.
Finally, After Alignment successful message, i always find it useful to do a GOTO to one or more of the alignment stars selected. This will indicate how good your alignment actually is.
Hope this is of some help.
(I have had an 8SE previously)
Thanks to all for your quick response.
Allen - I did not check the stars after the alignment. Will do it today. I do not think mounting is the problem.
Steffen and John - I selected the location as Brisbane which is the nearest one I found in the database, even though I live in NSW with day light saving time.
I did not get an option to enter lat/long coordinates.
I will check the stars I selected are the same as the telescope pointing to.
OK, I had another try today. I think there are a few issues if you can help me.
1. Even after it says alignment was successful, I could not goto other known objects I can see in the sky.
2. Once I switch off the hand controller and switched on again, it asked me to align again. It does not retain the information I entered before. location was OK but the time is not changing.
3. I tried auto two star alignment to see whether it worked. But all the stars I see are not correspondent to the sky I can see. For example, I get stars like albireo, deneb, polaris and vega - all in the northern hemisphere.
4. once the three star alignment done using three stars, I could not see the names of the stars by using 'undo' button as Allen suggested.
After a long time, I have a really nice clear sky today but I could not do that much.
OK, I had another try today. I think there are a few issues if you can help me.
1. Even after it says alignment was successful, I could not goto other known objects I can see in the sky.
>> Probably because it's still has the wrong reference location.
2. Once I switch off the hand controller and switched on again, it asked me to align again. It does not retain the information I entered before. location was OK but the time is not changing.
>> The hand controller does not continue tracking time when it's switched off.
3. I tried auto two star alignment to see whether it worked. But all the stars I see are not correspondent to the sky I can see. For example, I get stars like albireo, deneb, polaris and vega - all in the northern hemisphere.
>> This will not work if the location reference is wrong (See 1.).
4. once the three star alignment done using three stars, I could not see the names of the stars by using 'undo' button as Allen suggested.
>> ??
After a long time, I have a really nice clear sky today but I could not do that much.
4. once the three star alignment done using three stars, I could not see the names of the stars by using 'undo' button as Allen suggested.
As per the manual:
7. Repeat the process for the third alignment star. When the telescope has been aligned to the final stars, the display will read
"Match Confirmed". Press UNDO to display the names of the three bright objects you aligned to, or press ENTER to
accept these three objects for alignment. You are now ready to find your first object.
The hand control will allow you to choose from either U.S. or international locations. For a listing of U.S. locations by state and
then by city, press ENTER while United States is displayed. For international locations, use the Up or Down scroll key to
select International and press ENTER.
Use the Up and Down Scroll buttons to choose your current state (or country if International locations was selected) from the
alphabetical listing and press ENTER.
Use the Up and Down Scroll buttons to choose the closest city to your location from the displayed list and press ENTER.
Time - Enter the current time for your area. You can enter either the local time (i.e. 8:00), or you can enter military 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 will read: mm/dd/yy.
-If the wrong information has been input into the hand control, the UNDO button will act as a backspace allowing the user to re-enter information.
Assuming the telescope is not FAULTY, I think it must be one of two things.
Could you be selecting from the list of US Cities instead of International (unlikely)
OR
Perhaps You are entering the incorrect time zone (perhaps -10 instead of +10)
Hi all,
I am again. Thanks for all suggestions. Yesterday I corrected the error but could not test it because the sky was cloudy.
My problem was I did not get an option to enter coordinates. I re-set the telescope to factory setting and tried again. Then I got the option to give the coords.
Entered the coordinates and just tested to see the star list. Now the star list shows all my familiar stars.
I do not think that just entering a city from the database is enough for alignment.
I aligned the telescope with auto two stars and it worked fine (sirius and canopus). I tested with some known other stars and all worked fine.
Now I need to find suitable eye pieces to explore some deep sky objects. I have seen really nice photos of the deep sky objects in the forum.
Could you suggest me what eyepieces should I buy and from where?
I recently bought a 6SE myself, and had some similar alignment problems initially, in addition to "runaway slew" problems where the scope would start moving uncontrollably past the object selected, and I'd have to hit one of the movement arrows to stop it.
It turns out that if you surf around on the web, and look at the Celestron FAQ for the 6SE, that the scope is very picky about having enough power (current and voltage). It malfunctions in strange ways if there is insufficient power.
I was using very good Energizer rechargeable batteries, but it turns out that rechargables only provide 1.2 to 1.3V and the Celestron really really wants a solid 1.5V (per battery), or 12V (all 8 batteries).
So, make sure you have good power if you have any positioning problems.
There are two alternatives:
1. Use high quality alkalines or long life Lithium (not Lithium-ION rechargeables!)
2. Use an external power source (needs a separate thread I think because there are so many options).
I ended up buying a JumpStart unit from Super Cheap auto and virtually ALL of my alignment problems have disappeared. The scope moves with confidence, and the JumpStart unit has powered my 6SE for 8 full continuous hours many times and still had plenty of power left (plus I had my iPad plugged into it as well). While at first it seems these units would be a ridiculously risky low-quality option (they are <$90!)... I am an electronics engineer and disassembled one, and essentially you are getting significantly cleaner more stable power from one of these cheap units than you would your car battery. There are downsides, as you need to keep them "nearly charged" most of the time. Letting them run low can shorten their life. But, considering that 8 Lithium Energizer AA batteries cost $40 alone, The SCA jumpstarter is actually a great value. If you want more reliability, just buy two! Interestingly, the little cable inside the jumpstarter box will fit the Celstron perfectly, you don't even need to buy any cables! You can also get a cheap 12V extension cable at any SCA store for $12.
If you do use an external power source, be attentive to the power cord and make sure you either turn the Cordwrap feature on, or be very observant to be sure the cord does not wrap around the unit during positioning.
Hello Garywiz,
Thanks for your explanations. It really helps, especially from another owner of a 6SE.
I also found strange navigation behaviour of the telescope - some times it goes passing the object. Also, goes only clockwise. I was watching Jupiter and wanted to check another object just left of Jupiter. But it started rotating clockwise - almost a full circle before going to the object.
I am using rechargeable batteries. I will go with your suggestion about buying a powerpack from supercheap. Someone else also mentioned about it.
I haven't done that much explorations yet. I need to buy some eyepieces (only have the one came with the telescope). I need to buy a set. From where can I buy anyway?
I am also waiting to for a serial connector so I can connect my laptop to the telescope.
Thanks.
Sumith
Sumith
Sound like you are getting on top of the issues.
You mentioned buying a set of eyepieces. You can buy sets of Celestron EPs at places like Aust Geographic and online places have them as well.
My advice is steer clear.
For $400 you get a set of plossls which are no better than the one you have just different focal lengths. You do get some filters but unless you are doing a lot of planetary work these will not get much use.
IMHO much better off getting a good quality EP that may cost simalr but will last you a long time and give great views. For about the same money you could get a 12mm or 13mm Nagler that will give you around 120x (twice the power of your 25mm) and much wider fields.
Hello Garywiz,
I also found strange navigation behaviour of the telescope - some times it goes passing the object. Also, goes only clockwise. I was watching Jupiter and wanted to check another object just left of Jupiter. But it started rotating clockwise - almost a full circle before going to the object.
Passing the object… this could be because your alignment procedure does not "settle" in the same direction as the default GOTO alignment. The manual mentions this, but it's not very clear. For me, this means that during SkyAlign I have to move "past" each alignment star and be sure that I do my final positioning using the "left" and "down" arrows. You need to do this consistently. It solved the problem for me and my GOTO's are perfect every time now.
"almost a full circle"… This might be because you have "Cordwrap" turned ON (you can find it under the utilities menu). Cordwrap will do exactly what you say in an effort to be sure that the cord never wraps around the mount. But, if you are very observant and careful, you can go with cordwrap off.
>It solved the problem for me and my GOTO's are perfect every time now<
What do you mean by this? I have to align the telescope every time I switch on. I thought once it done we don't have to do this - but it is not the case.
>It solved the problem for me and my GOTO's are perfect every time now<
What do you mean by this? I have to align the telescope every time I switch on. I thought once it done we don't have to do this - but it is not the case.
Yes, you have to align every time you turn on the scope, since every tripod position, time and date, and geographic position requires different alignment. So, alignment can't be "remembered".
What I meant by "my GOTO's are perfect every time" is that now, when I put in M1 or Jupiter on the hand control and hit "enter", the scope positions exactly to that object and centers it perfectly in the EP.
Nextar 6SE - Star alignment issues
Interestingly, the little cable inside the jumpstarter box will fit the Celstron perfectly, you don't even need to buy any cables! You can also get a cheap 12V extension cable at any SCA store for $12.
