New Scope

[scorpio1948]

Hi All,

Its been a while, a bit of update.

Moved out of the SA1 area to the SA6 (Morriston, Swansea) area. Much less light pollution.

I got a bit fed up by the limits of my Celestron AM 114EQ, even though I bought a Skywatcher AZ Goto mount and a Opticstar PX-75C camera, to upgrade it a bit.

Anyway, I have just ordered a Celestron Nexstar 8 SE, hopefully it will arrive within a few days.

Any advice about this Telescope B4 it arrives would be really appreciated.

Best wishes to you all, happy stargazing

Scorp.

[Marki]

Nice scope, Scorp. I had one for a year or so - lovely clear optics and good aperture (I only got rid of mine because I turned into a refractor fan and needed to fund another purchase) - it'll be a noticeable step up from the 114, especially under darker skies!

My advice, use it with a power tank or mains supply - whilst you can use it with 8 AA batteries they die really quickly, and then the go-to alignment is all over the place! You might want to think about upgrading the red dot finderscope thing too - I found it a pain and cheap and nasty, given the quality of the scope itself.

Anyway, enjoy! Look forward to reading how you get on with it

And hope you get some good clear skies to test it on too

[Caldwell14]

Yep you need a power tank, these scope's eat Duracell's.

[scorpio1948]

Hi Mark, Caldwell,

Thanks for the tips guys, appreciated.

I have ordered a mains adapter for the scope as at the moment I'm without transport and limited to backyard. I had to search around because most of the adapters on the Internet were for America. 

I also fitted my 114 with a Telrad, so all I need is a base to make the swap. Know of any local (UK) suppliers?

As most of you know, I only took up this hobby a year ago when I retired, so I'm a complete newbie at this. I'll probably be asking questions that might seem a bit 'strange' LOL.

Here's one..I bought a laser collimator for my 114, is this now redundant or can it be used on the Nexstar? 

Anyway guys, thanks again for the tips.

Here's a toast to 'Clear skies and Happy stargazing' 

Catch you soon

Scorp

[Marki]

Hi Scorp

SCT type scopes like the 8SE retain collimation pretty well, but I'd hang on to the collimator  - you never know when it'll come in handy! I think First Light Optics (our sponsors on this site) carry Telrads and the acccessories that go with them - might be worth checking with them; send them a quick email and they respond pretty quickly I find. The telrad won't fit the red dot finder base fitted to the 8SE (I think), so you'll have to fix it some other way.

Cheers

Mark

[scorpio1948]

Thanks Mark,

Just dropped them an email (First Light Optics).

Tried to get the old base plate off my 114, that double sided tape (supplied with Telrad) is as tough as it comes.

Bit disappointed today, according to the courier City-Link; and their tracking service my scope should have been delivered today (Friday). After waiting in all-day 'no scope'.

Not the first time this has happened with this courier and the Swansea depo is less than two miles from my home.

Might ask one of my sons to drive me over there tomorrow morning.

Its the only time I'm glad that the sky is completely overcast down here. Otherwise I'd be fuming  

Anyway, Cheers Mark

Scorp (or Pete)

[Newbie karl 1]

Hi Scorpio,

I too have recently purchased this scope and I must say, am loving it. I haven't been able to get to a dark area yet and have been limited as I have a street light right outside the house! Admittedly I don't have a great deal to compare against but have been very happy with it so far.. regarding power, I bought a jump pack for about 30 from rawlins and a 5m cable from first light optics and works great!

Enjoy the scope!

Karl

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

[scorpio1948]

Hi Scorpio,

I too have recently purchased this scope and I must say, am loving it. I haven't been able to get to a dark area yet and have been limited as I have a street light right outside the house! Admittedly I don't have a great deal to compare against but have been very happy with it so far.. regarding power, I bought a jump pack for about 30 from rawlins and a 5m cable from first light optics and works great!

Enjoy the scope!

Karl

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

Hi karl

Thanks for the update.

Overcast skies have prevented me from using it, although from my terrestrial viewing it sure looks promising.

I too have a slight light pollution problem, I live halfway up a hill (111m), the brow of the hill (My SW Horizon) has a street running right across it complete with the orange lights.

Anyway I bought a UHC filter, its great, like flicking a light switch the street lights simply disappear. (My Grandchildren think I'm Magic) LOL

Thanks Again

Scorp

[Sandraj]

Hi karl

Thanks for the update.

Overcast skies have prevented me from using it, although from my terrestrial viewing it sure looks promising.

I too have a slight light pollution problem, I live halfway up a hill (111m), the brow of the hill (My SW Horizon) has a street running right across it complete with the orange lights.

Anyway I bought a UHC filter, its great, like flicking a light switch the street lights simply disappear. (My Grandchildren think I'm Magic) LOL

Thanks Again

Scorp

How are you getting on with the 8SE Scorpio? I am seriously thinking of getting one soon, will need another Telrad base and a power pack as well to go with it, I would be interested in your thoughts on it.

[damnut]

Hi Scorp,

Great scope you have there, the only thing I can think of that you are missing is a set of bobs knobs for ease of collimation.

Hwyl!

p.s

Good dewshield too, as the meniscus attracts dew like dogy doo doo attracts flies!!

[L8-Nite]

Hi Scorp,

I was going to say something about bobs knobs, oh yeah, they are awfull expensive for just several socket head cap screws with plastic tops squeezed on.

These screws and caps can be obtained much more economically from industrial supplies; here is an example.

[scorpio1948]

Hi All,

Typical, new scope, same old weather. 

Still it's looking promising over the weekend, waiting for a new moon, and a clear sky. I want to try to see what's beyond our own little cluster of planets.

I can't say 'To  boldly venture where no-one has gone before',  (sorry  ), but I will be joining quite a number of you.

Cheers

Pete.

[Sandraj]

Hi All,

Typical, new scope, same old weather. 

Still it's looking promising over the weekend, waiting for a new moon, and a clear sky. I want to try to see what's beyond our own little cluster of planets.

I can't say 'To  boldly venture where no-one has gone before',  (sorry  ), but I will be joining quite a number of you.

Cheers

Pete.

And thanks to Valleyman, mine should be arriving tomorrow 

[scorpio1948]

How are you getting on with the 8SE Scorpio? I am seriously thinking of getting one soon, will need another Telrad base and a power pack as well to go with it, I would be interested in your thoughts on it.

Hi Sandra'

Sorry about the late reply, haven't had much of a chance to use it to its full potential (weather).

From what I have seen, I am very impressed, managed to get into some double clusters the other night, moon was still very low on my Eastern Horizon.

Unfortunately, by the time I could get a good Galaxi the moon was up, so it rather spoilt it.

Noticed one thing, the GOTO feature isn't as good as my Skywatcher Mount, might be my initial setup, but I found the target to be a few degrees out, small targets were completely outside my view.

Like I said, it could be my initial setup, haven't had much of a chance to experiment with the advanced 'Goto' settings. 

Hopefully, the weather will start to improve,  so I could let you know about its DS potential, if you wish.

Cheers

Pete.

[Sandraj]

Thanks Pete, I hope to get out tonight, will have to see if these clouds go that are above us at the moment. One good thing I have noticed is that its not a very heavy scope.

[scorpio1948]

Thanks Pete, I hope to get out tonight, will have to see if these clouds go that are above us at the moment. One good thing I have noticed is that its not a very heavy scope.

Hi Sandra,

If you do manage to get out and get some DS viewing, perhaps you could let me know how it handles them. 

Total reverse of your original question  .

Looks like its clearing over my area, unfortunately, I'm going to my wifes, godson's, Engagement party. Can't get out of it. 

OK ! Enjoy

Pete.

[Sandraj]

Hi Sandra,

If you do manage to get out and get some DS viewing, perhaps you could let me know how it handles them. 

Total reverse of your original question  .

Looks like its clearing over my area, unfortunately, I'm going to my wifes, godson's, Engagement party. Can't get out of it. 

OK ! Enjoy

Pete.

I didn't manage any deep sky, it was to light to pick anything out, I have seen the M51 in my Dob before so I know it's capable of showing it but last night I couldn't see it in the Dob or Nexstar. I went out at 12.30 and stayed out till 3am, Most of that time was wasted setting the Nexstar up. 

3 star align was useless, I know why, my coordinates were wrong, I used an app on my mobile to get them and I made a mess of it, couldn't work out how to delete them, until I came across the restate factory settings. (might help if I read the manual  I don't do manuals, suppose I will have to now)

I used 2 star and that worked fine, I am using the red dot finder that came with the scope  and used Bristol as my city, until I find out my coordinates it will have to do.

So it was basically the moon and I playing with eyepieces and cameras  the time ran away and it was getting light before I knew it.

I think we will have to wait till the nights get darker to really enjoy the scope, as even the wonderful views I have had with the Dob are not possible lately.

[L8-Nite]

..........  I used 2 star and that worked fine, I am using the red dot finder that came with the scope  and used Bristol as my city, until I find out my coordinates it will have to do.  ..........

I don't know much about "go to" or modern electronics, but you can find your exact coordinates by using Google Earth.  Zoom down to see your house, and read the Longitude & Lattitude at the bottom of the page; hope this helps.

[scorpio1948]

I don't know much about "go to" or modern electronics, but you can find your exact coordinates by using Google Earth.  Zoom down to see your house, and read the Longitude & Lattitude at the bottom of the page; hope this helps.

Hi Sandra,

As Mike said, I use Google Earth for cords' zoom down to your viewing spot (Don't let it go into 'Street View' ) and the cords' show up in the bottom task bar.

Make sure your cords are set to Degrees, minutes, you can do this in the options menu on Google Earth..

You can enter these  coordinates' directly into your nexstar.

BTW... If you had Nexremote amongst your software, it a bit of a waste of time. It don't relay the info you use to set up, to your hand controller. You can only use one or the other.

so if you set up using the hand controller, and nip indoors for computer control, it won't work. I had to contact Celestron to get this bit of info.

OK! Here's to ; long dark nights and clear skies

Cheers

Pete

[Sandraj]

Thanks both for the google info, done, written down and ready to go into handset 

I haven't used the CD's yet Pete, I have a MacBook Air which doesn't come with a CD/DVD, so have just ordered an external CD/DVD drive, only a cheap one, spent enough lately I think. 

[Sandraj]

Well everything was going great until dew came and attacked us, need to make a dew shield, no where much around us, so will have to wait till we go to Llansamlet Asda or Llanelli Asda, other than that I found the two star named alignment the best and most accurate.

Pete...Deep Sky wasn't to bad at all, M13, M81 and M82 were all nice centred and clear  then I heard my husband go to the loo and popped inside to ask him if he fancied a cuppa, in the short time that it took to make him one and tell him how it was going the dew had moved in  so that was the end of that.

Enjoyed the time I had though 

[scorpio1948]

Hi Sandra, and All

Dew is a massive problem in my area, so I bought a dew shield with heater built in, plus the controller Etc. Bought it from FLO, good service.

Anyway, spent so much cash this last month that, Kay (My wife of 44 years), has threatened to divorce me; especially when I wanted to knock part of the house down to get a better view of the North.     

Thanks for the info on the DS Sandra. Hopefully I will be setting up ready for tonight, made blackout screens from some cheap pond-liner I got on E bay so my patio is in complete darkness.

Catch everyone with the results

Cheers

Pete

[valleyman]

Running a hair dryer of the tube on a cool heat will take the dew of for a bit.

Halford camping Mat and some Velcro should do the trick.

Also, when you make the shield it should be at least 150% longer than the Circumference of the OTA.

So for a 8" SE it needs to be at least 12" long plus a couple of inches for fitting round the tube

Pat

[Sandraj]

Running a hair dryer of the tube on a cool heat will take the dew of for a bit.

Halford camping Mat and some Velcro should do the trick.

Also, when you make the shield it should be at least 150% longer than the Circumference of the OTA.

So for a 8" SE it needs to be at least 12" long plus a couple of inches for fitting round the tube

Pat

Thanks, lucky you said how long to make it or I would of only done half that size, no Halfords here either so a trip out is on the cards to the larger shops.

Hope you get out tonight Pete, its started clouding over here, so I am gonna get some kip and see what its like in a few hours, if I manage to wake up. By the way, don't pull part of the house down , not a good idea 

[scorpio1948]

No luck last night, high cloud blocked my viewing area, a few gaps buy not enough clear sky.

Waited for a couple of hours but not much change, so I decided to call it a night.

Went out for a ciggy later, didn't look up in-case it had cleared (Sods-Law). 

Anyway, went back to my other pastime 'Model Railways', although these days they are digital layouts on computer. Yup! nearly 66 and still playing with toys.

Question, anyone reading this thread know what settings to use for the controller on my heat shield.

Controller:::::::::::::::::::::::::: Hitecastro, Mini Dew Controller. Running from a 12V mains adapter.

Heat Shield/Dew Shield :::: Astrozap Flexi-Heat Dew Shield

No instruction manual so I don't want to overheat the optics.

OK All, Catch you later

Clear skies and happy viewing

Pete