Part 3 of my review covers polar alignment of the CGEM. I actually used two different methods. First, I just had to try the new “All-Star” polar alignment routine that Celestron has been touting. Then, I fine-tuned it with a standard drift align.

To get set up, the polar axis of the CGEM must be pointed close to the celestial pole. Since I’m in the northern hemisphere, I pointed it toward Polaris, the North Star. The first step though was to set the latitude scale of the CGEM. This is a simple adjustment to the latitude adjustment knobs.

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This is the second in a series of reviews for my new CGEM mount from Orion Telescopes and Binoculars. This review covers the first night out with the CGEM. It was mostly a test of the goto functionality of the telescope.

I recived the CGEM on Monday September 14th, 2009 but didn’t get a chance to put it to the real test until the following Thursday. As mentioned in my first review of the CGEM, it was cloudy the night of receiving it. My chance came a few nights later with partly cloudy skies.

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This is the first of a series of reviews planned for my new Celestron CGEM mount. I had my eye on the CGEM ever since it was first announced by Celestron. Some of the attractive features were its payload, Permanent Periodic Error Correction (PEC), new All-star polar alignment, and its ability to track well past the meridian before the scope needed to be flipped. I received the CGEM on Monday of this week (9/14/09) and had it fully assembled within an hour.

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