broader understanding of certain concepts.  See Chapters 2 through 4 of this manual for 

further clarification. 

5.3.1  Align Telescope 

GoTo Bright Star 

Reset Alignment* 

Additional Align* 

Synchronize 

Polar Al. Assist* 

Polar Axis Corr.* 

Although "Align Telescope" is the first menu item encountered after a "Cold Start," it is 

not necessarily the first that should be used.  If Gemini has been powered on for the very 

first time, has had its CMOS parameters reset, has been moved to a new geographic 

location, or is about to be used in a different Hand Controller mode than previously 

employed, "Setup" is the menu item that should be used first, and all needed parameters 

should be entered therein. 

After a "Cold Start," pressing the MENU button displays "Align Telescope" with a 

limited submenu containing only "GoTo Bright Star" and "Synchronize."  The remaining 

items of the submenu become visible after the first star alignment. 

5.3.1.1  GoTo Bright Star 

  GoTo Bright Star   is a convenient way to slew to a bright star for the purpose of doing 

an alignment.  It is essentially equivalent to selecting a bright star from the Object 

Database and executing a GoTo command.   

Select "Align Telescope

GoTo Bright Star"

to

display a list of bright stars currently 

above the horizon.  Scroll through the list until a suitable alignment star is found.  Then 

press the RA+ button on the Hand Controller to select the star and cause the telescope to 

slew toward it.  When it arrives at the star, the LED displays   FINISHED

 and goes 

blank.   

If Gemini was powered on with the telescope polar aligned and in the Startup Position, 

the targeted star will either be in the telescope's field of view or close to it.  Center the 

star in the field of view using the Hand Controller.  Next, press the MENU button and 

select "Align Telescope

Synchronize.    When the selected star is confirmed on the 

display, press the RA+ button again, and "Aligned!" appears, indicating that this first star 

alignment was successful.  This is the first in a series of alignments required to build a 

pointing model for GoTo accuracy.  This is the same procedure that you would use after a 

  Warm Start   or   Warm Restart,   but rather than starting a pointing model, it 

synchronizes the existing pointing model with the actual sky. 

You can also use   GoTo Bright Star   to slew to stars for subsequent alignments after the 

procedure described above.  In this case, after executing the   GoTo Bright Star   

Gemini Users Manual 

4  

4