Celestron CPC 925 User manual

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BAS – Celestron CPC 9.25 Telescope User Guide
This is a brief guide to seng-up and observing with the Celestron CPC 925 Schmi Cassegrain
telescope.
The Safety of You and the Telescope
The telescope is very heavy. And, its storage box is very heavy and awkward to li and place into (or
remove from) vehicles.
BAS strongly recommended any liing of the telescope and its storage box be performed by two
people. Also, the removal of the telescope from the box and placement on the tripod should only be
aempted by two people.
The storage box has wheels and detachable “wheel barrow” handles for easier movement. Or, the
simple rope handle can be substuted for the wheel barrow handles.
Telescope Components
To use the telescope, you will need:
•CPC 9.25 telescope
•Tripod and center support bracket
•Hand controller
•Charged 12v baery and telescope power cable
•Finderscope
•Visual back and diagonal mirror eyepiece holder
•Eyepieces
•A planetarium app (SkySafari or similar app) on a mobile device is also recommended
•Dew shield
Seng Up the telescope
Tripod and aaching the telescope
Place the tripod on rm ground and fully spread the legs. Adjust the length of one, or more, legs if
necessary to level the tripod top. Use the bubble level in the tripod top as the levelling guide.
Ensure the tripod posioning pin is poking up above the top of the tripod (this pin is used to inially
center the telescope on the tripod top).
Before aempng to li the telescope into place, make sure the opcal tube is pointed in the
downward posion aiming at the telescope base (where all the electronics aachment sockets are).

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Li (two-person li is strongly recommended) the
telescope from its storage box and place the telescope
base on the tripod top. Maintain a very rm grip on the
telescope. The tripod posioning pin needs to slip into a
hole in the boom of the telescope base. You should
feel the telescope “clunk” down about 1cm when
properly centered on the pin. Maintain a rm hold on
the telescope side handle (the telescope is sll at risk of
falling to the ground). Slowly rotate the telescope base
on the tripod top unl you feel another “clunk” as the
telescope base matches the locaon of the three
mounng bolts that are on the under-side of the tripod head. Screw the three bolts into the
telescope base. The telescope is now aached to the tripod and no longer at risk of falling.
Aaching components to the telescope
Aach the hand controller and 12v
baery power cable.
On the le-side “shoulder” of the
telescope there is a large three-spoked
circular knob moulded into the telescope
fork arm. This is the declinaon
(up/down movement) knob. It
locks/unlocks the free movement of the
opcal tube in the up/down range of
moon. Unscrew the knob and lt the
opcal tube to aim the from corrector plate
lens toward the sky. Reghten the knob.
In the center of the telescope base is a similar
knob (right ascension locking knob) that allows
the telescope to be rotated. If you wish, you
can unscrew this knob and turn the telescope
to face a dierent direcon – and then
reghten the knob.
(Once you have completed the star alignment
procedure (explained below), do not unscrew
either of these knobs to move the telescope to
point in a dierent direcon. If you do so, you
will mess up the star alignment and the
telescope will no longer be able to nd the
objects you ask it to point to.)
Aach the nderscope, visual back and star diagonal
The nderscope is held in a quick-release bracket. Slide this bracket onto the nderscope mounng
bracket on the top of the telescope. Tighten the two bracket aachment screws.

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Screw the visual back threaded ring onto the short threaded tube on the back of the telescope. The
threaded ring can be loosened (and then reghtened) at any me during your observing session if
you need to lt the star diagonal and eyepiece to a dierent angle for easier access.
Insert the eyepiece with the largest MM number on it, most likely 25mm. The bigger the mm
number the wider eld of view the eyepiece provides. Having a wide eld of view usually make it
much easier to nd and observe objects than narrow eld eyepieces, such as a 10mm.
Provided the telescope is not aiming anywhere towards the Sun, remove the dustcover from the
front lens.
Aligning the nderscope with the telescope
Make sure you never point the telescope or nderscope towards the sun at any me!
If the nderscope does not point to the same patch of sky as the main telescope it will be very
dicult to complete the 2-star alignment procedure (explained below). In essence, the nderscope
and main telescope would be “cross-eyed”, and aim in dierent direcon.
There are three alignment screws (one is a nylon bolt) on the rear of the nderscope. By screwing
these screws in/out you can move where the crosshairs in the nderscope point. You need to
unscrew one side in order to be able to screw an opposite screw inwards.
Unscrew the declinaon knob and the right ascension knob. Point the main telescope at a disncve
object, such as a power pole, about 100m or more away. Center a disncve point such as an
insulator on the pole top (example A below). Tighten both knobs again to stop the telescope from
moving.
Now look through the nderscope. It may not be poinng exactly at the insulator on the pole
(example B below). But you need to make it do so. Use the three adjustment screws on the rear of
the nderscope to place the crosshairs over the same insulator (example C below) centered in the
main telescope view.

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You now have the nderscope properly aligned with the main telescope.
Aach the dew shield
Aaching the dew shield is not essenal. However, it is
recommended in humid weather where the nighme temperature
is expected to drop. It is best to aach the dew shield when the
telescope is rst set up, rather than waing unl dew starts to
condense of the front corrector plate lens. By then it is too late.
The supplied Astrozap dew shield is the 12v DC powered version.
However, the baery supplied with the telescope has insucient
capacity to drive the dew shield. But this is not a problem as even
without power the dew shield can stop the condensaon of dew on
the lens for many hours. Simple t the shield over the front of the
telescope so that ~80% of the shield extends out beyond the front of the corrector plate lens.
Power-on the telescope and input inial sengs
A note about the Hand Controller
There are mes when the hand controller LED screen will display an up/down arrow on the
righthand side. This means you are being asked to select something from a list of opons. You use
the 6 and 9 keys to scroll up or down through the opons list.
The Celestron CPC telescope has a
GPS chip to inform the telescope of
its current locaon. However, this
chip no longer works in the BAS
CPC. So, you need to follow a
slightly dierent inializaon
procedure to that listed in the
telescope user manual. We need to
tell the telescope the current me,
date and internaonal me-zone.
You are strongly recommended to
familiarize yourself with the CPC
Menu Tree (at the end of this
document) before launching into
the next steps.
Inial sengs
Turning GPS OFF and seng the
current date, me and me zone.

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Task
Hand Controller Message Displayed
Note
Power-on the telescope
Inializing
CPC Ready
Press ENTER to begin alignment.
Connect the 12v baery cable
to the telescope power socket.
Turn the power switch ON.
Once the controller says “Press
ENTER to begin alignment”
you need to divert away from
the proposed alignment
process and turn the GPS
funcon o (if you don’t the
telescope may automacally
choose the wrong date and
me and frustraon will
result).
Scroll through the
telescope menu system
to the GPS ON/OFF ulity,
and turn GPS OFF.
Press ENTER to begin alignment.
MENU
UTILITIES
UTILITIES
GPS ON/OFF
Press ENTER to
Turn GPS on
(Do not press ENTER at this
stage.)
Press the MENU buon, which
is also buon 3.
Once you have pressed the
MENU/3 buon you may
immediately land on the
UTILITIES opon or perhaps
some other opon. Use the
Up 6/Down 9 buons to scroll
through the opons unl
UTILITIES is displayed. Once
Ulies is displayed, press the
ENTER buon to enter the
Ulies area.
If you don’t immediately land
on the GPS ON/OFF opon,
use the Up 6/Down 9 buons
to scroll through the opons
unl GPS ON/OFF is displayed.
Press ENTER to enter the GPS
area.
If the hand controller display
reads “Press ENTER to Turn
GPS on” it means the GPS is
already turned o. . This is
prefect. It means you can just
exit this menu area by pressing
the UNDO buon. Press the
UNDO buon a couple of
mes to get back to the CPC
READY screen.

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However, if the hand controller
display reads “Press ENTER to
Turn GPS o” you need to do
as instructed and press ENTER.
The GPS is now turned OFF.
Now press the UNDO buon
to exit this menu area. Press
the UNDO buon a couple of
mes to get back to the CPC
READY screen
Scroll through the menu
system to set the current
date, me and me zone.
CPC READY
UTILITIES
SCOPE SETUP
SCOPE SETUP
SETUP TIME-SITE
TIME hh:mm:ss
xx:xx:xx
SELECT ONE
STANDARD TIME
SELECT TIME ZONE
ZONE 10
DATE mm/dd/yy
xx:xx:xx
From the CPS READY screen,
press the MENU buon. Use
the Up 6/Down 9 buons to
scroll through the opons unl
SCOPE SETUP is displayed.
Press ENTER to enter this
menu area.
When “Setup Time-Site” is
displayed, press ENTER.
The telescope is now asking
you to key-in the current me
in 24 hour format –
hours:minutes:seconds,
perhaps 19:33:12. Press
ENTER when all digits inserted.
If daylight saving does not
apply, press ENTER to select
standard me.
Queensland is in internaonal
me zone +10. Press ENTER of
“ZONE 10” is displayed, or use
the Up/Down keys to move to
10, then press ENTER.
Key in the current date in
American mm:dd:yy format.
Press ENTER.
2-Star Alignment
You are now ready to align the telescope with the stars in the sky. But to do this you needed to rst
set the correct me, date and me zone in the telescope. But that is now done.
Before you start the alignment process you will need to familiarise yourself with some of the brighter
stars in the sky as the telescope will soon ask you which two stars you want to align it to. At the rear
of this document are four star charts, two for early April and two for early August. One chart for

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each month looks towards the northern sky and the other the south. The telescope has a database
of about 50 stars it will accept as alignment stars.
Pick an appropriate star chart and nd two stars highlighted (underlined) on the chart that you can
idenfy in the sky. Having a mobile device with a planetarium app, such as SkySafari, beside you will
make this task easier and more reliable.
Unl you complete the two-star alignment procedure, the telescope has no idea where it is poinng
in the sky or where objects are located. The star alignment procedure gives the telescope the
accurate locaon of two inial stars. From this, it can then determine the locaon of all the
thousands of objects in its database. So, the inial star alignment procedure is crical to a successful
night under the stars.
Task
Hand Controller Message Displayed
Note
Tell the telescope you
want to use the TWO
STAR ALIGNMENT
method.
CPC READY
Press ENTER to begin alignment.
ALIGNMENT
TWO STAR ALIGNMENT
TIME hh:mm:ss
ZONE 10
DATE mm/dd/yy
Press the UNDO buon a
couple of mes unl you get
back to the CPC READY
message.
Press the ENTER buon and
use the Up/Down buons to
select Two-Star Alignment,
press ENTER. (Do not select
the AUTO TWO STAR opon).
The telescope will ask you to
enter the TIME, however, this
should already be correct, so
hit ENTER to accept the
displayed me. Similarly, you
will be asked to set the Zone
and then the DATE. In each
case just press ENTER to
accept the correct informaon
you entered earlier.
Select your rst
alignment star and align
the telescope to it.
Repeat with the second
alignment star
Star 1
Xxxxxx
The telescope will display the
name of a star which it
believes is currently visible in
the sky. If you do not want to
use this specic star as your
rst alignment star you use the
Up/Down keys to scroll
through the list of stars. When
you are happy to use the star
named in the display, hit
ENTER.

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Centre the star in the nderscope.
Press ENTER when ready.
Star 2
Xxxxxx
Centre the star in the nderscope.
Press ENTER when ready.
Centre the star in the eyepiece.
Press ALIGN when ready.
Align Success
Now use the le/right &
up/down direcon keys (the
central four controller keys
with black triangles on them)
to move the telescope towards
the named star.
Once you get reasonably close
to the star, start looking
through the nderscope and
connue to move the
telescope up/down/le/right
unl you have the named star
under the nderscope
crosshairs. Then press ENTER.
You now repeat the process.
Inially align the second star.
Use the Up/Down keys if you
want to select a dierent star
to the one prompted by the
telescope.
Centre the second star in the
nderscope crosshairs and
then hit ENTER. Then centre
the star in the telescope
eyepiece and hit ALIGN.
If the telescope math
determines that you have
accurately aligned it on the
selected atars you will see the
message “Align Success”. You
are now ready to observe
objects.
Align Fail
If the alignment fails you need
to repeat the Two Star
Alignment procedure. Start by
clicking the UNDO buon a
coupole of mes to get back to
the CPC Ready message and
then repeat the procedure,
making sure you have aligned
the telescope on the correct
stars. Use your planetarium
app (SkySafari is
recommended) to help idenfy
the alignment stars correctly.

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Observing Objects
Some of the hand controller number keys provide direct access to catalogs of objects.
Key 1/M – list the Messier objects. These are bright objects that Charles Messier thought looked at
bit like comets. Press the 1/M key and use the Up/Down keys to select and object. Then press
ENTER and the telescope will slew to the bject.
Key 2/CALD – list the Caldwell objects. It operates the same as key 1/M.
Key 4/NGC – list thousands of NGC list (New General Catalog). Each object has a xxxx four-digit
number. Key in your desired four digits and hit ENTER. The telescope slews to the object.
Key 5/Planets – lists the planets currently visible. The procedure is the same.
Key 7/Star – lists named stars.
Key 8/List – provides a drop-down list of 15 dierent catalogs and types of objects. Use the
Up/Down keys to select a category from the list, press ENTER and then scroll through each detailed
list in the same manner as for the keys outlined above.
The listed opons are: named stars; named objects; asterisms; tour; variable stars; double stars; CCD
objects; Abel objects; IC or Index Catalog; Messier catalog; NGC catalog; SAO catalog; solar system;
constellaons.
Key 0/Tour – lists a selecon of objects that you can observe as a general tour of objects currently
visible.
Key INFO – provides informaon about the object you have asked to telescope to slew to. Click the
key to learn more about the object. Click UNDO when nished.
When you have nished using the telescope, turn the power switch OFF. Carefully pack the
equipment away.
If the telescope and equipment is covered with condensaon, leave the storage box open and
components (such as eyepieces) unpacked for a day or so when you get home to properly dry out.
Packing opcal equipment away while moist causes mold to grow on opcal surfaces. That is a very
bad thing.
Please treat the equipment carefully, as if you own it and paid far too much money for it.

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CPC Menu Tree
From the “CPC Ready” posion displayed on the hand controller, there are three secons of the menu system
you can reach via a single buon press. Pressing the MENU or 3 buon takes you to the main MENU opons
(the lehand column of the menu tree). Pressing the ALIGN buon takes you to alignment menu opons.
Pressing the LIST or 8 buon takes you to a list of categorized objects you can slew the telescope to (the
righthand column of the menu tree).