Scope Calculator This MS Excel spreadsheet allows you to store and calculate the vital statistics of your telescope and eyepieces. For the telescope it includes calculations for maximum resolution, maximum field of view and maximum magnification. For each eyepiece it calculates true field of view and magnification. Also allows for up to two different barlows. Requires MS Excel 97 or later. If you do not have Excel, but want to use the Scope Calculator, try Google Sheets (search at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/) or Open Office (https://www.openoffice.org/). Click here to download
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NexStar Control Pad
(NSCP) A simple program that allows enhanced remote control from a PC connected to most Celestron GoTo telescopes. (Models NOT supported are the original NexStar 5/8, the NexStar GT using hand controls without a Version command on the Utilities menu and the Ultima 2000 line.) NSCP provides on-screen arrow buttons, a unique 'spiral-out' feature for helping to locate objects that miss the small chips of most web cam and CCD cameras and more. |
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Introduction to Astronomy - Presentation
Updated January 2005 A presentation I developed to introduce those with no knowledge of astronomy to our oldest science. Includes discussion of the night sky, the solar system, deep sky objects, books, web sites and other resources. The presentation is in PowerPoint format and includes 'notes' pages on slides that don't already lead the discussion. (Use the View, Notes Page menu command in PowerPoint to see notes, and you will find an option in Print dialog box to print the notes.) The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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A presentation on astronomy for a younger audience - suitable for scouts, elementary school students. Includes discussion of the night sky, the solar system, deep sky objects, a bit about equipment and astronomy as a hobby. The presentation is in PowerPoint format and includes 'notes' pages on slides that don't already lead the discussion. (Use the View, Notes Page menu command in PowerPoint to see notes, and you will find an option in Print dialog box to print the notes.) The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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Equipment Basics - Presentation A presentation I developed to discuss basic astronomy equipment. Includes discussion of binoculars, telescopes, mounts, accessories, books, web sites and other resources. The presentation is in PowerPoint format. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
(322KB) Italian version translated by Andrea Sciutto (http://digilander.libero.it/andreorig):
Click here to download
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Place the Planets Game The object of the game is to place the planets in their correct orbits in respect to the Sun. The pieces of the game consist of a poster with the edge of the Sun on one side and nine patches of Velcro in a line extending out to the right. Each planet has a piece of Velcro on the back and players are then given an opportunity to stick the planets in their correct location. This PDF document (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader free from www.adobe.com) will allow you print scale versions of the planets and includes instructions for completing the game. Click here to download
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Eyepieces - Presentation A presentation I developed for a meeting of our local astronomy club. Covers eyepieces, Barlow lenses and binoviewers. The presentation is available below in PowerPoint or Adobe format. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download in PowerPoint format
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Click here to download in Adobe format
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Filters for Astronomy - Presentation A presentation I developed for a meeting of our local astronomy club. Covers solar, Moon, color and deep sky filters. The presentation is in PowerPoint 97 format. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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Precession - Presentation A presentation I developed for a meeting of our local astronomy club. The presentation is in PowerPoint 2003 format. Be sure to print or at least read the 'notes' below the slides - there is important information about the animations in the presentation. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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Discovering the Expanding Universe - Presentation A presentation I developed for a meeting of our local astronomy club. Provides quite a bit of information, but you will still be required to do a little homework before you can make a presentation. The presentation is in PowerPoint 2000 format. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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Exoplanets - Presentation A presentation I developed for a meeting of our local astronomy club. Provides quite a bit of information and online resources about exoplanets, but you will still be required to do a little homework before you can make a presentation. The presentation is in PowerPoint 2000 format. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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Saturn - Presentation A presentation I developed for a public star party of our local astronomy club. Some of the information for the presentation is in the 'notes' section of the slides. The presentation is in PowerPoint 2000 format. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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Mars - Up Close and Personal
Presentation A presentation I developed for a public star party of our local astronomy club. Some of the information for the presentation is in the 'notes' section of the slides. The presentation is in PowerPoint 2000 format. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets (in color) for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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Planning Observing Sessions - Presentation A presentation I developed for a meeting of our local astronomy club. The presentation is in PowerPoint 2000 format. The slides can be printed on paper as a handout, or on transparency sheets for use with an overhead projector, or if you are fortunate enough to have a PC projector unit you can make the presentation directly from PowerPoint. Feel free to use, abuse or improve to suit your needs! Click here to download
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Observation Logs Based on samples from several books I have created loose-leaf observation log sheets to help record observing sessions. There are two sheets, one for just narrative log entries, the other with a sketching area. I would recommend printing with a laser printer or, if you must print with an inkjet printer, make copies on a copy machine. Inkjet printouts tend to smear when covered with heavy dew. |
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| Both the narrative log sheet and sketch log sheet in PDF format. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader (available at www.adobe.com) to view or print. Can be printed and hand written or completed on the screen and printed. |
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| Both the narrative log sheet and sketch log sheet in Microsoft Word format. Narrative log sheet automatically repeats session information on the top of successive pages. Requires MS Word to view, print or edit. If you do not have MS Word, try Google Docs (search at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/) or Open Office (https://www.openoffice.org/). |
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NexStar Object Lists These are the special lists in the NexStar hand control database. Click the link to open each list in a new window or you can download all the lists as an Excel (97 or later) workbook by clicking the link below. - Named Stars (Alignment Stars) - for version 4/104 and higher hand control and all CGE, CGE Pro, CGEM and AS-GT hand controls
- Named Stars (Alignment Stars) - for hand controls prior to versions 4/104.
- CCD Objects (NexStar 8/9.25/11 GPS, CPC, NexStar 5i/8i, SE, CGE, CGE Pro, CGEM and AS-GT only)
These lists are the objects found in the new GT, NexStar 8/9.25/11 GPS and NexStar 5i/8i models. Older models have slightly fewer objects. If you do not have Excel, but want to use these Excel files, try Google Sheets (search at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/) or Open Office (https://www.openoffice.org/). Click here to download all in Excel format
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This list was provided by Chris Rowland for adding the NexStar SAO star catalog to Cartes du Ciel. Cartes du Ciel is a free planetarium program available at http://www.stargazing.net/astropc. |
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| Unzip and run the installation file to install the list as a 'catalog' set to be active in a 15 degree or smaller field of view. |
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Star Lists The stars in the NexStar 5/8 and original GT hand control are accessed via a Celestron specific identifying number. A cross reference is necessary to lookup the Celestron number if you know the SAO number. Star lists are available on Celestron's web site, but previously the 60/80/114/4 star list provided on the Celestron web site had several major errors. If you downloaded the list from them after about January 23, 2001, you have a good list. Stars in all the newer hand controls are accessed via SAO numbers. The lists here just identify which stars are in the hand control databases and identify additional double stars. In each file, there are separate sheets for the entire star list, the alignment stars (original alignment stars, not the newer lists available in hand control version 4 - those are available a bit higher up on this page), double stars and variable stars. The variable stars listed are just those originally identified by Celestron, but I expanded the double star lists substantially. The first three star lists are in Excel (97 or later) spreadsheet format.If you do not have Excel, but want to use these Excel files, try Google Sheets (search at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/) or Open Office (https://www.openoffice.org/). |
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| Star list for the NexStar 60/76/80/102/114/4/130 GT models with hand controls prior to version 4/104. 2,823 stars including 563 double stars. |
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| Star list for the original NexStar 5/8. 10,384 stars including 1,367 double stars. |
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| Star list for the NexStar 8/9.25/11 GPS, 5i/8i, CPC, LCM, SE, SLT, AS-GT, StarSeeker, CGE, CGE Pro, CGEM and the GT with version 4/104 hand control. 29,522 stars including 2,566 double stars. | | The following three star lists are in Adobe PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at www.adobe.com. These lists are the double stars only. You can get the full star lists in PDF format on the NexStar pages at Celestron's web site - www.celestron.com. Telescope models as above. |
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| List of 564 double stars for the NexStar 60/76/80/102/114/4/130 GT models referenced by NexStar and SAO numbers. |
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| List of 1,367 double stars for the original NexStar 5/8 with NexStar and SAO numbers cross referenced. |
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| List of 2,566 double stars for the NexStar 8/9.25/11 GPS, 5i/8i, CPC, LCM, SE, SLT, AS-GT, StarSeeker, CGE, CGE Pro, CGEM and the GT with version 4/104 hand control. Referenced by SAO numbers to allow use of the star list in the hand control. |
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Deep Sky Object Lists I have extracted the following Deep Sky Object lists from either the source of the list or other reliable sources and converted them to Microsoft Excel 97 and Adobe PDF format. The Excel lists allow easy sorting by RA, Dec, magnitude, constellation, etc.If you do not have Excel, but want to use the Excel files, try Google Sheets (search at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/) or Open Office (https://www.openoffice.org/). | | All 110 official Messier objects, including the best estimate of the disputed and otherwise non-existent M102. | | The 109 objects from Sky and Telescope's Caldwell list. | | The entire NGC list, including Dreyer's descriptions. All current hand controls include the entire NGC list. | | The 1,165 NGC objects in the NexStar 60/76/80/102/114/4/130 GT hand control database for versions prior to 4/104, including Dreyer's descriptions. | | The entire IC list, including Dreyer's descriptions. | | The first 2712 Abell Galaxy Clusters - as found in the GPS, 'i' series, CPC, AS-GT, CGEM, CGE, CGE Pro hand controls. Provides information on the number of galaxies in each cluster. | | The Herschel 400 - 400 of the best objects from the NGC list as selected by the Astronomical League. Includes Dreyer's descriptions. |
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Select Alignment Stars - Version 2
Updated 24 January 2004 This program was written by Jean Piquette to aid in the selection of two good alignment stars. You provide the program with your longitude, latitude, time zone and the date and time you will be observing and it provides you with a list of alignment star pairs in order from best to worst. The selections are based upon separation of the stars as well as their placement in the sky. If you have ever wondered which stars are the best for a given session, this program is for you. After downloading the program, unzip it into a folder on your Desktop and read through the 'readme' file. Click here to download
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Mars Previewer II I didn't make this one, Leandro Ríos did. It is freeware and it doesn't have a permanent home on the Internet, so I have included it here to insure it doesn't disappear or become unavailable. Click here to download
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