Celestron Advanced VX 22020 User Manual download pdf (Page 4)

SkyandTelescope.com December 2014 69

and spacers. Luckily, the instructions for conﬁ guring the

OAG for my setup were clear. Three setscrews attached the

camera to the guider body. I prefer a more secure connec-

tion, but it caused no problems and I was impressed by the

OAG’s otherwise hefty construction and quality ﬁ nish.

My pictures with the guider weren’t award winners

because I was imaging from my light-polluted backyard

under a full Moon. And I did have one scare — when I

began autoguiding at ﬁ rst, the guide camera didn’t pick

up a single star. It turned out that my autoguider wouldn’t

reach focus without an extension tube due to the presence

of the Edge reducer. With the guider inserted into the

tube from an old Barlow, the OAG worked well, keeping

stars respectably round.

The StarSense AutoAlign Camera

Celestron’s StarSense accessory mounts to the Edge’s tube

in place of the telescope’s -mm ﬁ nder and automates

the Go To alignment process. The box contained a small

camera and a replacement NexStar hand control. Connect

the StarSense controller in place of the original, hook the

camera to one of the mount’s Auxiliary ports, and you’re

ready to go.

I was skeptical that such a seemingly simple gadget

would enable the VX to align itself. Nevertheless, it

worked. I turned on the mount, entered the date, time,

and city, and selected Auto Alignment. StarSense directed

the mount to take images of star ﬁ elds on both sides of

the meridian. Despite a bright Moon, the camera was

sensitive enough to acquire  to  stars every time. In

only three minutes the StarSense indicated that the VX

was aligned. We’d see about that.

I punched in M. There it was near the center of the

ﬁ eld of a -mm eyepiece at ×. M? Same. M? Yep.

Every single object from horizon to horizon was in the

eyepiece. Go To accuracy seemed just as good as with

alignments done the old-fashioned way.

Not that the StarSense was perfect. My eyes had dif-

ﬁ culty with the display’s small fonts. More signiﬁ cantly,

the StarSense’s All-Star polar-alignment routine didn’t

work. The results it yielded were inaccurate — it put the

telescope degrees away from the celestial pole. I contacted

Celestron technical support, who assured me they are

working to make All-Star functional by the end of .

Even without All-Star, however, the StarSense was amaz-

ing. Not only did it align the VX as well as I could, it was

just so cool.

The VX mount is not a caviar-class GEM, but it makes

up for that with its low price, portability, and solid per-

formance. Throw in the optically impressive Edge ,

the Edge Reducer, the o -axis guider, and the StarSense,

and a novice — or an old hand — will be equipped with a

system ready to take on almost any task for a price lower

than I would have thought possible.

✦

S&T contributing editor Rod Mollise writes an entertaining

astronomical blog at www.uncle-rods.blogspot.com.

WHAT WE LIKE:

Good construction quality with large, clear aperture

WHAT WE DON’T LIKE:

Camera and T-ring attach to o -axis guider with less-than-

secure setscrews

WHAT WE LIKE:

Completes a good Go To alignment in  minutes

WHAT WE DON’T LIKE:

The All-Star polar-alignment feature did not function

The author’s image of globular cluster M15 consists of twenty

30-second, stacked, unguided, prime-focus f/7 exposures.

The Celestron StarSense camera takes the place of the stan-

dard 9x50-mm ﬁ nder when used. This camera automates the

Go To alignment process.

STARSENSE AUTO-ALIGN CAMERA U.S. price: .

OFF-AXIS GUIDER U.S. price: .

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