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Astrophotography Eyepiece Selection assistance
How CCD Cameras Work Nexstar 11 tips Rumor mill When setting up the Nexstar11 telescope try and position it in a somewhat open area. The GPS satellite receiver antenna is mounted in the top of one of the fork arms. If you put the Nexstar11 telescope close to a large obstruction it will shield the antenna from the satellite and you will not get GPS lock. A normal GPS lock time should be in the 3 to 5 minute range on the outside. Be sure to leave your scope on for at lease 20 minutes the first time you turn it on.
When transporting the Nexstar11 telescope back the mirror up as far as possible. This will keep the mirror from flopping around on the rails. To do so turn the focus as far clockwise as possible.
You may see a small pause after the Nexstar11 positions itself using the controller buttons, or in a directed search. This is caused by the slop in the gear chain which positions the scope. If you end Nexstar11 telescope movement in the downward and right direction you will get the scope in the right position to minimize the gear slop and hence the pause
Increasing the stability of the Nexstar11 Telescope Wedge Here is the trick to make the telescope "better". Look at the plate that sits on top of the tripod of the telescope and the two rails that sit on each side of the telescope. You will note that you can actually move that plate to two different positions of the telescope. The obvious one everyone uses is the position that places the plate even with the side rails on the telescope. There is a full set of holes that allows you to move the plate about 3" towards the south end of the telescope. This includes an extra set of holes for the deluxe azimuth knob. If you move the plate to this position you will dramatically remove a lot of flex and vibration that the previous setup had by nature of the long cantilever of the telescope.
The only thing I found is that it does change the center of gravity of the telescope so you need to be aware of this. In fact I found that if you flop the wedge around 180 degrees so that the plate is held on by the threads cut in the aluminum tripod top rather than the inserts you get perfect balance. Of course as many of you know if you mount it this way the azimuth screw will run into the tripod leg top. The solution is to just replace that existing 1/4" x 20 long threaded rod with a longer rod (about 3/4" is right) and place some washers spacers between the plastic handle and the plate side so it will clear the leg top. I haven't been able to quantify the reduction in vibration or improvement in stiffness other than visual and trial by error but it seems significant. Finally make sure you have all of those side plate screws especially the bigger ones tightened down otherwise you could get some movement as the screws move in the holes on the the telescope.
I know of some people that have used set screws to ensure that there is absolutely no movement in the areas where the big screws go |
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