Celestron nexstar 4se instruction manual

Find a Retailer. SkyAlign technology gets your telescope aligned and ready to observe in minutes. Unique single fork arm design and sturdy steel tripod all break down into separate components for easy transport and quick assembly.

Learn More. Includes These Celestron Technologies. Compatible With. Smartphone Adapter DX Kit, 1. Lens Cleaning Kit Learn More. Ultima Edge - 24mm Flat Field Eyepiece - 1. Ultima Edge - 18mm Flat Field Eyepiece - 1. Ultima Edge - 15mm Flat Field Eyepiece - 1. Ultima Edge - 10mm Flat Field Eyepiece - 1. Moon Filter Set - 1.

PowerTank Glow Learn More. Dielectric Star Diagonal, 1. Accessory Case - 1. Neutral Density Moon Filter - 1. Variable Polarizing Filter - 1. Basic Smartphone Adapter, 1. Omni 2x Barlow Lens - 1. X-Cel LX 9mm Eyepiece - 1. X-Cel LX 7mm Eyepiece - 1. X-Cel LX 5mm Eyepiece - 1. X-Cel LX 25mm Eyepiece - 1. X-Cel LX 2.

X-Cel LX 18mm Eyepiece - 1. X-Cel LX 12mm Eyepiece - 1. Universal T-Adapter - 1. Stereo Binocular Viewer Learn More. StarPointer Pro Learn More. StarPointer Finderscope Learn More. PowerTank Lithium Learn More. PowerTank 17 Learn More. Omni 9mm Eyepiece - 1. Omni 6mm Eyepiece - 1. Omni 40mm Eyepiece - 1. Omni 4mm Eyepiece - 1. Omni 32mm Eyepiece - 1. Omni 15mm Eyepiece - 1. Omni 12mm Eyepiece - 1. The Maksutov-Cassegrain optical system uses a combination of mirrors and lenses and is referred to as a compound or catadioptric telescope.

Page Focusing You can change the power of your telescope just by changing the eyepiece ocular. To determine the magnification of your telescope, simply divide the focal length of the telescope by the focal length of the eyepiece used. Page General Observing Hints Never look through window glass. Glass found in household windows is optically imperfect, and as a result, may vary in thickness from one part of a window to the next.

This inconsistency can and will affect the ability to focus your telescope. In most cases you will not be able to achieve a truly sharp image, while in some cases, you may actually see a double image.

Page The Celestial Coordinate System Up to this point, this manual covered the assembly and basic operation of your NexStar telescope. However, to understand your telescope more thoroughly , you need to know a little about the night sky. This section deals with observational astronomy in general and includes information on the night sky and polar alignment.

This daily trek is not the Sun moving as early astronomers thought, but the result of the Earth's rotation. The Earth's rotation also causes the stars to do the same, scribing out a large circle as the Earth completes one rotation. The camera must have interchangeable lenses so you can attach it to the telescope and so you can use a variety of lenses for piggyback photography. If you can't find a new camera, you can purchase a used camera body that is not percent functional. The light meter, for example, does not have to be operational since you will be determining the exposure length manually.

Page Finding The North Celestial Pole For example, in the northern hemisphere all stars move around the north celestial pole. When the telescope's polar axis is pointed at the celestial pole, it is parallel to the Earth's rotational axis. For safe solar viewing, use a Celestron solar filter see Optional Accessories section of manual that reduces the intensity of the Sun's light, making it safe to view.

With a filter you can see sunspots as they move across the solar disk and faculae, which are bright patches seen near the Sun's edge. Page Observing Deep Sky Objects The best time to observe the Sun is in the early morning or late afternoon when the air is cooler. Page Telescope Maintenance This will prevent contaminants from entering the optical tube.

Internal adjustments and cleaning should be done only by the Celestron service department. If your telescope is in need of internal cleaning, Page 38 Celestron offers the Car Battery Adapter that allows you to run the NexStar drive off an external Diagonal, 45 degree, erect image — Threads on to the back of the NexStar 4. Even if you already know your way around the major constellations, these maps can help you locate all kinds of fascinating objects.

Equatorial mount A telescope mounting in which the instrument is set upon an axis which is parallel to the axis of the Earth; the angle of the axis must be equal to the observer's latitude. Page 42 1 and those increasingly fainter from 2 down to magnitude 5. The faintest star that can be seen without a telescope is about magnitude 6. Each magnitude step corresponds to a ratio of 2.

Thus a star of magnitude 1 is 2. For information about using NexRemote to control your telescope, refer to the help files located on the disk. In addition to NexRemote, the telescope can be controlled using other popular astronomy software programs. Page 52 Parts or product for which replacement is made shall become the property of Celestron. Barrel diameter is the diameter of the barrel that slides into the telescope's eyepiece barrel.

As mentioned, the NexStar has an internal flip mirror that can divert light either through the eyepiece barrel at the top of the rear cell or. Make sure that the flip mirror is in the "up" position for viewing. The Star Pointer is the quickest and easiest way to point your telescope exactly at a desired object in the sky. It's like having a laser pointer that you can shine directly onto the night sky. The Star Pointer is a zero magnification pointing tool that uses a coated glass window to superimpose the image of a small red dot onto the night sky.

While keeping both eyes open when looking through the Star Pointer, simply move your telescope until the red dot, seen through the Star Pointer, merges with the object as seen with your unaided eye.

The red dot is produced by a light-emitting diode LED ; it is not a laser beam and will not damage the glass window or your eye.

The Star Pointer comes equipped with a variable brightness control, two axes alignment control and a quick-release dovetail mounting bracket. Before the Star Pointer is ready to be used, it must be attached to the telescope tube and properly aligned:. Locate the dovetail mounting bracket on the rear cell of the optical tube. Slide the mounting track at the bottom of the Star Pointer over the dovetail portion of the bracket.

It may be necessary to loosen the two screws on the side of the mounting track before sliding it over the dovetail. The end of the Star Pointer with the glass window should be facing out towards the front of the telescope.

Tighten the two screws on the side of the mounting track to secure the Star Pointer to the dovetail bracket. The star pointer is powered by a long life 3-volt lithium battery CR located underneath the front portion of the Star Pointer.

Like all finderscopes, the Star Pointer must be properly aligned with the main telescope before it can be used. This is a simple process using the azimuth and altitude control knobs located on the side and bottom of the Star Pointer.

The alignment procedure is best done at night since the LED dot will be difficult to see during the day. To turn on the Star Pointer, rotate the variable brightness control see figure clockwise until you here a "click". Remember to remove the plastic cover over the battery, and always turn the power off after you have found an object.

This will extend the life of both the battery and the LED. Locate a bright star or planet and center it in a low power eyepiece in the main telescope. With both eyes open, look through the glass window at the alignment star. If the Star Pointer is not aligned, take notice of where the red dot is relative to the bright star. Without moving the main telescope, turn the Star Pointer's azimuth and altitude alignment controls until the red dot is directly over the alignment star.

If the LED dot is brighter than the alignment star, it may make it difficult to see the star. Turn the variable brightness control counterclockwise, until the red dot is the same brightness as the alignment star. This will make it easier to get an accurate alignment. The Star Pointer is now ready to be used. The NexStar 4 SE dovetailed quick release bracket that allows you to adjust the optical tube for proper balancing or remove the tube for safe storage.

To adjust or remove the tube from that base, simply loosen the quick release clamp knob see figure and. This tripod can go anywhere, from your backyard to a remote observing site and can hold your NexStar in Alt-Az or can be polar aligned with the use of the built-in equatorial wedge tilt plate. Hold the tripod with the head up, away from the ground. Pull the legs apart until the legs are fully extended and press it down flat against the ground.

Place the center leg brace over the center support rod so that the slotted cutout is directly under the latitude adjustment rod. Tighten with the leg brace locking knob until the leg brace firmly presses out against each leg. Rotate the knob counterclockwise until. Extend the center portion of the tripod leg to the desired height making sure that the bubble in the bubble level is centered.. Tighten the knob to hold the tripod leg in place.

If polar aligning your telescope, it is best to adjust the latitude of the wedge tilt plate before mounting the telescope:. Loosen the latitude locking lever located next to the latitude adjustment rod and raise the wedge tilt plate until the scale on the latitude adjustment rod is the same as the latitude of your observing site. Tighten the locking lever to hold the tilt plate securely in place.

Set the base of the telescope on the wedge tilt plate so that the hole in the center of the base goes over the positioning pin on top of the tilt plate.

Rotate the base so the holes under each rubber foot line up with the mounting bolts attached to the tilt plate. First thread in the mounting bolt closest to the latitude adjustment rod, then align the other two holes and thread in the remaining mounting bolts. Check that the latitude locking lever is still locked down tight. The NexStar 4 has a removable hand controller built into the side of the fork arm designed to give you instant access to all the functions the NexStar has to offer.

With automatic slewing to nearly 40, 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 4 hand controller :. 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.

Align: Instructs the NexStar to use a selected star or object as an alignment position. Direction Keys: Allows complete control of the NexStar in any direction. Use the direction keys to center objects in the StarPointer finderscope and eyepiece. Catalog Keys: The NexStar has a key on the hand control to allow direct access to each of the catalogs in its 40, object database. The NexStar contains the following catalogs in its database:.

Planets - All 8 planets in our Solar System plus the Moon. Stars — A compiled list of the brightest stars from the SAO catalog. Info : Displays coordinates and useful information about objects selected from the NexStar database. Tour: Activates the tour mode, which seeks out all the best objects for a given month and automatically slews the NexStar to those objects.

Enter: Pressing Enter allows you to select any of the NexStar functions, accept entered parameters and slew the telescope to displayed objects. 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. Menu: Displays the many setup and utilities functions such as tracking rate and user defined objects and many others.

Scroll Keys: Used to scroll up and down within any of the menu lists. A double arrow symbol on the right side of the LCD indicates that the scroll keys can be used to view additional information.

Rate: Instantly changes the rate of speed of the motors when the direction buttons are pressed. This section describes the basic hand control procedures needed to operate the NexStar. These procedures are grouped into three categories: Alignment, Setup and Utilities. The alignment section deals with the initial telescope alignment as well as finding objects in the sky; the setup section discusses changing parameters such as tracking mode and tracking rate; finally, the last section reviews all of the utility functions such as adjusting the telescopes slew limits and backlash compensation.

In order for the NexStar to accurately point to objects in the sky, it must first be aligned to known positions stars in the 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 will ask the user to choose and center the first alignment star, then the NexStar will automatically select and slew to a second star for alignment.

Two-Star Alignment requires the user to identify and manually slew the telescope to the two alignment stars. Although not as accurate as the other alignment methods, OneStar Align is the quickest way to find and track bright planets and objects in Altazimuth mode. Solar System Align will display a list of visible daytime objects planets and the moon available to align the. This is the simplest form of mounting in which the telescope is attached directly to a tripod.

Each alignment method is discussed in detail below. Sky Align is the easiest way to get your NexStar aligned and ready to observe. Even if you do not know a single star in the sky, the NexStar will have you aligned in minutes by asking for basic information like the date, time and location.

Then you simply need to aim the telescope to any three bright celestial objects in the sky. Since Sky Align requires no knowledge of the night sky it is not necessary to know the name of the stars at which you are aiming. You may even select a planet or the moon. The NexStar is then ready to start finding and tracking any of the objects in its object database. Before the telescope is ready to be aligned, it should be set up in an outside location with all accessories eyepiece, diagonal and finderscope attached and lens cover removed.

Also make sure that the tripod is leveled as described in the Assembly section of the manual. To begin Sky Align:. Location - The NexStar will display a list of cities to choose from. Choose the city from the database that is closest to your current observing site. The city you choose will be remembered in the hand controls memory so that it will be automatically displayed the next time an alignment is done.

Alternatively, if you know the exact longitude and latitude of your observing site, it can be entered directly into the hand control and remembered for future use as well. To choose a location city:. City Database will allow you to select the closest city to your observing site from a list of either international or U.

Custom Site allows you to enter the exact longitude and latitude of your observing site. The hand control will allow you to choose from either U. For a listing of U. Time - Enter the current time for your area.

You can enter either the local time i. 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. Use the arrow buttons on the hand control to slew move the telescope towards any bright celestial object in the sky.

If the finderscope has been properly aligned with the telescope tube, the alignment star should now be visible inside the field of view of the eyepiece. The hand control will ask that you center the bright alignment star in the center of the eyepiece and press the ALIGN button. This will accept the star as the first alignment position. There is no need to adjust the slewing rate of the motors after each alignment step.

The NexStar automatically selects the best slewing rate for aligning objects in both the finderscope and the eyepiece. For the second alignment object, choose a bright star or planet as far as possible from the first alignment object. Repeat the process for the third alignment star. When the telescope has been aligned to the final stars, the display will read " Match Confirmed". You are now ready to find your first object.