I’ve been having to reset the time or clock on my Celestron CGE-Pro equatorial mount before observing. I just recently found out from others, there is a CR2025 battery that requires changing from time to time.

Celestron calls for a CR2025 as a replacement battery.

Re: Replacing the internal battery in a Celestron CGE-Pro Equartorial Mount from Celestron online, as following:

The battery is located under a clip on the PC > Autoguide > Power Cord board inside the pier. Replace with a 3-volt CR2025, available at many drug, photo, and hardware stores.

It’s actually a fairly straight forward process, but “can be” time consuming.

There are a lot of electronics surrounding this battery…so you don’t want to damage your mount electronics due to an inexpensive leaking battery.

The bolts that hold this top cap are Allen heads requiring a 5.5 mm wrench. Seldom do I find any application, involving telescopes, high-end precision bicycles or other that require half sizes, but this is no problem.

The following plate was a bit difficult to remove. It was “stuck” and required attempting with several techniques before finally getting it out. It had drops of silicon in several places along the edge, which had to be removed and cleared before removing the aluminum plate.

I found that using Allen wrenches “to hook under the two larger holes” in conjunction, and then pulling up was successful.

Use care as not to damage the plate, or some of the ribbon wires, located just underneath the plate.

When installing the new battery, I used “nitrile powder-free gloves” to avoid getting finger oil or grease on the battery.

Remove the old battery, insert the new one, and then reassemble the mount, connect the Dec and RA cables and you’re all finished.

However, everything related to time and dates will have to be changed via the hand controller.

Storage:

I had set the clock, and checked all other specifications during this afternoon. However, last night when performing the alignment process, the mount couldn’t even find Vega, just overhead. And could not perform any two or three star alignment.

So finally, after at least an hour of frustration…I did a “complete factory reset” and reentered all necessary information which resolved the problem.

Note: After the battery change, the time is perfect, each and every time.

The story how a very small mountain town in western North Carolina became very important to the world of professional astronomy, with it’s contribution to the making of the first 200-inch Palomar Telescope Mirror. And most importantly, as of current all electronic devices use chips made from the ultra-pure quartz from Spruce Pine. Roger Ivester

I’m posting the following “brief excerpt” from a published article by David Biddix of Spruce Pine:

Description: Spruce Pine, North Carolina, a small town in the western part of the state, has a storied history related to astronomy instruments. The Spruce Pine Mining District, a geographical area that features significant deposits of mica, feldspar, and quartz, has played a significant role in astronomy for the past 80 years. The mirror in the 200 inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Mountain is made from quartz mined in the District in the 1930s. Today, all electronic devices including computers, televisions, cell phones, mp3 players, and other gadgets owe their existence to ultra-pure quartz mined near Spruce Pine. In this podcast, you’ll learn how this down-to-earth small town helps astronomers reach for the stars.

Bios: David Biddix is a local historian who has published two books in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series with co-author Chris Hollifield: one on Spruce Pine, North Carolina and one on Little Switzerland, North Carolina. He was born and currently lives in Spruce Pine. David’s interests include amateur radio, astronomy, and history.

Alex Glover…is the Director of Mining and Environment for Active Minerals International, LLC. He is a licensed professional geologist in nine southeastern states in the United States and has lived in the Spruce Pine area since 1997. He is interested both in the geology of the Spruce Pine Mining District and in its history, which goes back some 170 years.

….I’ve always wondered why ore from the Chestnut Flats Mine near Spruce Pine was chosen for the telescope’s mirror. Recently, I had a discussion with Alex Glover, a local geologist and mining historian who is very familiar with what is known as the Spruce Pine Mining District, a 10 mile-long, 5 mile-wide outcropping of rock from early in earth’s history that contains some of the purest minerals in the world and is the economic lifeblood of this region. This purity was the reason Corning Glass came to this region to find materials for the mirror. Alex speaks about what types of minerals are found in the district….

David Biddix: Spruce Pine, North Carolina

Note: The following photo of the (Chestnut Flats Mine) where the quartz for the 200-inch Palomar mirror was mined, is now closed and privately owned.  Roger Ivester

My personal quartz specimens as following from the Spruce Pine mining district:

Historic photo of the mine from days past. Photo credit: Mitchell County Historical Society

 

Kenneth was one of the most talented people I have ever known. He previously worked at the hospital as a pulmonary technologist, former music shop owner, a master carpenter and was a perfectionist in everything he did.

Ken could play musical instruments and write songs. He was a combat veteran in Vietnam, a battlefield medic…surviving explosions, bombs and bullets. He never told me what wounds he attended to, but I figured if he wanted me to know, he would have told me.

He will be missed by his family and all of his friends, and I’m so fortunate and privileged to have been able to call Ken, my friend.

We spent many Sunday’s in church together and afterwards shared lunch at KFC/Taco Bell, Ken & Mary’s, or Shelby Cafe with his wife, Bonnie and my wife, Debbie.

I’m also including a YouTube video of the Battle of Cam Lo, by Ken to honor Larry Maxam who was killed during this battle. 

Kenneth wrote and sings the song in the video.

Again, Kenneth wrote and sings in the following video.

Beginning in (2022) my oldest grandson, needed a project to show the movement of the sun over a period of time….if possible an entire year. However, despite living more than 200 plus miles apart, we both made similar “solar devices” to measure the suns shadow, beginning on the Vernal Equinox (March 20th 2022) and beyond.

The following photo:

The yellow tape mark on the right side of the scale shows the sun shadow on the 2022 Spring Equinox. (This was my first measurement)

The white tape was placed on the first day of summer (June 20th 2022) which shows the longest day of the year. Note: the sun is not directly overhead using this method, as the shadow indicates.

The blue mark was placed on the scale, on the shortest day of the year, December 21st 2022, which is the longest shadow of the year for 2022.

A second way to measure the suns shadow, by Tom English.

I thought of a variation that I might try someday:  Put a straight pole into the ground, facing due south, and at an angle of 54 degrees (for you it would be 55 degrees)

Then on the two equinoxes it would cast no shadow at local noon. 

On the June solstice the shadow will cast its greatest extent southward, and on the December solstice the shadow will cast at greatest extent northward of the stick.

Roger Ivester

My latitude is 35º 15′

(90º – 35º) = 55º

Debbie using an angle finder to insure the proper angle is at 55º.

The angle is toward the South at 55º

Point the steel rod toward North, but again the angle is toward the South. So draw a line, with the post, going South to North.

Note the shadow. It will be increasing each day to get shorter, until on September 22nd, there will be no shadow, as the sun will be “pointing down” the rod.

At 1:00 PM EDT, today (September 22nd) a photo was made, and indeed showing no shadow, as the sun was shining directly down the steel rod.

The previous marks (blue and yellow) on the scale indicate the positions of the suns shadow on different days, since August 24th.

The black mark shows the shadow on the first day of winter. The yellow mark was made on the longest day of the year….or the first day of summer.