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 | Can I use my NexStar GT - GTL telescope for photography? |  |
 | Yes. Your telescope can be used in several ways to take photographs of celestial and even terrestrial objects. |
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| How do I get an erect image in my eyepiece? |  |
| To get a correct view when using the telescope for ground or terrestrial viewing, use an erect-image diagonal (available from Celestron) for you |
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| Why do planets appear as small dots, even with my 10mm eyepiece? | |
| Planets are small enough and far enough away that they will never fill a significant fraction of your field of view even at you scope's highest usable magnification.I |
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| Why does there appear to be a black circle in the middle of my image when I look at a star or planet? | |
| If you can see the shadow of the secondary mirror (the black circle) and spider vanes in the eyepiece, the scope is not focused. As you move the focuser, the image should get smaller until you re |
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| When I try to align the scope, why does my scope point down to the ground? | |
| This sounds like the tube ring was installed upside down. This is an easy fix. Look for the silver knob on the large black ring that holds the telescope in place. This knob is most likely located |
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| Why doesn't my accessory tray look like the one in the manual and why doesn't it appear to fit on my tripod? | |
| There was a product design change that replaced the triangular tray with a round version. Here is the correct way to mount it. Carefully remove the plastic bolt from the accessory tray. Spread th |
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| Why can't my GT telescope point straight upward? | |
| Due to the design of the fork assembly and the balance point of the tube, your scope will be unable to point directly to the zenith. The electronics have special filters in the hand control that limit the me |
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| Why are all nine planets not in the database? | |
| This telescope is equipped with electronic filters that prevent you from being able to select objects that are below your visible horizon or outside of the scope's range of slewing. It does this by removing |
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| How do I remove the black cardboard cover from the end of the optical tube? | |
| This cover does not get removed. This piece is actually a light baffle which prevents stray light from entering the back of the optical tube from behind the mirror. Removing this can allow the stray light to |
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| I use a compass to align my scope north, but my telescope will still not place an alignment star within the finderscope's field of view. Why not? | |
| The telescope's computer needs a single reference point in space in order to locate he approximate positions of the alignment stars. This scope uses true north and level to define this point. Unfortunately, |
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| Why does my scope move well past the alignment stars when I attempt to use Auto-Align? | |
| Having the wrong model selected in the hand control can change the gear ratios the scope uses to calculate the correct position of objects in the sky. To correct this, go into the main menu and UTILITIES - S |
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| Why does the front of the telescope droop downward whenever I point it close to level? | |
| This scope comes with a slip clutch in the altitude axis. If the tube is placed in the tube ring too far forward, the scope's weight will overcome the tension of the clutch and the scope will slip downward. |
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| What can I expect to see in my telescope? | |
| NexStar GT and GTL series scopes range from 60mm to 130mm aperture. You should have no problem seeing most of the planets (Jupiter and Saturn especially) and great views of our moon. You may be able to see s |
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| Tips for terrestrial viewing | |
| Terrestrial viewing is best done with a magnification of 15x to 60x. If you exceed 60x magnification, a view can be blurry because the of earth’s atmosphere. Heat waves and high-altitude winds move air |
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| What is my scope's StarPointer for? How do I use it? | |
| A telescope gives magnified views of the earth and the sky. As such, its field of view is very narrow. Pointing the scope at a distant object on the ground or a small, faint object in the sky can be difficul |
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| Why does my hand control say STARPOINTER OFF? | |
| After pressing the ALIGN button on the last alignment star, the message STARPOINTER OFF flashes briefly on the hand control of the NexStar GT, SLT and SE series telescopes. |
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| How much magnification can I use with my GT and how much is too much? | |
| Magnification of a telescope is actually a relationship between two independent optical systems – the telescope itself and the eyepiece you are usin |
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| How can I enter my location manually into the NexStar GT? Can I use information from my handheld GPS? | |
| You can manually enter in your location via the hand control. You need your latitude and longitude in the degrees-minutes-seconds format. Get this information from& |
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| How do I enter location and time for my NexStar GT or GTL? | |
| Your NexStar GT or GTL alignment procedures will prompt you for location and time at the beginning of every observing session. You will need to enter everything the first time you do it. Subsequent |
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| How do I power my NexStar GT or GTL? | |
| The NexStar GT or GTL can be powered in three different ways. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks.The easiest way is |
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| Why does my NexStar GT or GTL go to the wrong NGC object? | |
| If you enter an NGC object not in the NexStar GT or GTL database, the scope will slew to the next NGC object on the list. |
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| How do I get a flashable hand control for my NexStar GT or GTL? | |
| You can use a flash upgradeable hand control with SkyAlign technology for your older NexStar GT or GTL scope. (These telescopes are id |
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| Why does my NexStar GT or GTL telescope point 15 degrees away from where it should? | |
| The scope relies on your input to get the correct time-site information. If you neglect to change daylight savings time, your scope will be 15 degrees off west or east when the time changes in the spring and |
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| My time zone isn’t in SETUP TIME-SITE for my GT. What do I do? | |
| Time zones that are fractional ½ hour aren’t in the current firmware. These include most of India, as well as all |
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| How do I manually move my NexStar GT scope? | |
| Your NexStar telescope is designed to be motor-driven under control of its GOTO firmware. The hand control functions and arrow keys allow it to point anywhere in the sky. The only limits are those impo |
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| Why is the time on my NexStar wrong? | |
| The current NexStar series do not have a real-time clock. When the scope is powered on and an alignment method is chosen, the last-entered time and location a |
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| My GT telescope slews erratically and it's not locating objects. What can I do? | |
| If your NexStar GT scope isn’t performing well, try checking your power supply.Fresh batteries in a clean holder and all wires |
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| Leveling your NexStar GT telescope mount | |
| For the best use of your telescope, level your tripod before observations begin.This is especially important for your NexStar GT mount because it affects the scope’s GOTO accuracy. |
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| Why isn’t my older model NexStar GT with the original hand control working properly? | |
| The older GT models without flashable hand controls require you to select the model using MENU – UTILITIES – SELECT (example, 60, 80, 114) as a part of first use of the scope. And for |
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| My GT scope’s hand control only shows objects whose names begin with the letters A through F. What’s wrong? | |
| These hand controls were shipped with GT telescopes made in early 2004. If you have one and use the Two-Star alignment, you’ll only see objects named be |
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| Why does my GT telescope jump when I press or release a direction button? Is this backlash? | |
| Your scope is experiencing backlash, play in the drive gears. All telescopes have some backlash, as gears can’t be too tight, preventing the motors from turning. Backlash causes the delay in scope move |
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| How do I properly store my NexStar GT? | |
| It’s best to protect your telescope from the elements and bring it inside between observing sessions. Allow the scope to w |
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| My NexStar GT optical tube is slipping in altitude | |
| Your altitude clutch is slipping, causing the scope to droop in altitude. Remove the optical tube, unscrew the tube clamp tightening knob as much as needed, and s |
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| My NexStar GT slews in the wrong direction. Is this an encoder problem? | |
| It could be an encoder problem. The encoder is a light-emitting diode (LED) device that measures how much the motor has turned. Try this general test of the encoders: |
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| I can’t find anything with my StarPointer-equipped telescope - help! | |
| If you can’t find anything with your telescope, you may need to try aiming the telescope and aligning the StarPointer in daylight. This is best done when the scope is first set up. |
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| I upgraded-reflashed my NexStar GT hand control and now I’m not getting the control functions for my mount, but for another mount. What happened? How can this be fixed? | |
| You probably flashed it with the wrong version of firmware, one for another mount. When you do this, you may get the telescope model displayed correctly when your scope is powered up, but a completely differ |
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| My cordwrap was turned on before I updated my alt-azimuth GOTO scope’s hand control. Now it’s off – what happened? | |
| Cordwrap safeguards against your scope slewing more than 360 degrees in azimuth, which can spiral your power and accessory cables around the b |
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| Where can I download the unified ASCOM drivers for Celestron? | |
| Please go to this web page on the ASCOM Initiatives website: |
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| I’m using rechargeable batteries with my Celestron GOTO mount and the mount won’t power up even though the batteries are new and fully charged. What’s the problem? | |
| Most likely it’s because the NiMH (nickel metal hydride) or Ni-cad (nickel cadmium) batteries just aren’t providing enough voltage because of their chemistry.Celestron |
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| How do I do a GOTO or alignment on the sun when it does not appear in the SOLAR SYSTEM list? | |
| Once you have your solar filter over the front of your scope, you can safely point it at the sun. However, as a safety feature, the sun does not appear in the hand control unless you enable it.Go |
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| Is there any way to run Celestron’s Window-based drivers and software on Macs? | |
| The drivers and software used with most Celestron products are (as of Fall 2009) not compatible with Mac operating systems.Though Celestron provides no support for these work |
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| My Celestron software won’t run on my Windows 7 computer. Help! | |
| If you have NexRemote, HCupdate, MCupdate,PECTool compatibility issues, simply download the latest versions from Celestron’s Manuals/Drivers page. |
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| Can all named stars listed in the hand control be used for alignment? | |
| No. Only stars brighther than or equal to magnitude 2.5 (bright stars) can be used for alignments with Celestron’s NexStar computerized mounts.Even though there are about 250 |
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| My old NexStar GT motor board had 8 pins and new ones have only 6 pins. Will replacing the old board with the new one be a problem? | |
| If you are replacing your old 8-pin board with a new 6-pin board from Celestron (#NXW436) , then you will also need to replace both motors with the new motors (#E8-B00-19A for Al |
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| How do you stop a GOTO slew in progress? Is there a better way than turning off power or pulling the power plug? | |
| Interrupt the mount’s GOTO slew by pressing any arrow key. The mount will halt the GOTO in progress.Since this is a regular h |
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| How can I make my own collimating tool to use with my Newtonian reflector? | |
| There are several ways to do-it-yourself when it comes to collimating tools.The easiest way is to just drill a 1/16” to 1/8” hole in the center of your ey |
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| Can I use a GPS with a NexStar GT mount? What about SkyScout Connect? | |
| The NexStar GT mount was designed before the current line of flashable (reprogrammable) NexStar hand control technology. Because of the GT's older technology, neit |
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| I’m experiencing motion to the east after slews with my Celestron Alt-Az GOTO mount. Is this backlash and how do I correct it? | |
| Yes, it is classic gear backlash.Gear backlash will often show up on the Az axis at rates above rate 2 when moving east. Here’s how to fix this |
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| Where can I find a smartphone adapter to take pictures with my scope? | |
| Please contact Orion Telescopes and check out their line of SteadyPix smartphone adapters: |
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