My Second, Slightly More Successful, Attempt at Stargazing

[Feral Rabbit]

Well I have had my Celestron 8 EdgeHD for a month and my first attempt, 2 weeks ago, was less than successful (my lack of understanding of the AVX alignment process and eager neighbours all waiting to see something spectacular) meant that I saw nothing apart from a few star fields. By this time the neighbours had become either despondent or bored and I decided that I needed to research setup a bit better.

So tonight, with clear skies and armed with new knowledge I set up at the bottom of the communal garden (read large grassy field). Set up the tripod facing north using a compass and levelled using a bubble spirit level. Attached mount making sure I was at 51 degrees. Attached and balanced the OTA all just in time for Polaris to show. I was amazed how close I was to being polar aligned (Polaris was just the other side of the ring of the Polar scope to where it should be according to a phone app). So once adjusted I gavemyself a little pat on the back.

Then came the alignment 1st star Arcturus. Took out my Illuminated crosshairs reticule and switched it on. Oh it was already on and flat battery. So I thought oh well I will use my 40mm Plossl and this is where the fun begins. It's a rather narrow FOV and it was full of stars, not bright ones but still, full of stars anyway after using my RDF I think I found it. Second alignment I chose Mizar and the system slewed around and after a bit of jiggery pokery, about 10minutes actually, I found it and then nearly jumped out of my skin when a plane taking off from Gatwick shot across my view. Then the calibration star, Altair, system dutifully slewed around couldn't see it in the eyepiece tried the RDF, rechecked the eyepiece and nothing except a field of dim stars but no bright Altair so after 20 minutes I found it. Woo Hoo!!  Pleased with myself I decided to take a tour of the night sky. First stop The Whirlpool Galaxy, the system slewed around and nothing, just stars. Oh well I will try the Andromeda galaxy system again aligned itself onto nothing but a field of stars ( I thought I would have seen a smudge) so I decided to revisit Mizar and Alcor and the system slewed around and was well out pointing over towards Merak. I then noticed the amount of dew on everything, I mean it was dripping off the mount and eyepiece tray  so I packed up and came in.

I'm pleased with my initial setup (assuming I was right)

Lessons learnt

1. Make sure the illuminated crosshairs eyepiece is switched off when you finish using it.

2. Align RDF before it gets dark.

3. Buy some more eyepieces with a wide FOV.

4. Don't set up on the grass (although this is a great dark site as the trees flanking the sides blocks out most of the light pollution.) as the dew is +++

5. Get a chair. (My back and thighs are killing me)

5. Practice, practice, practice.

Although not a great success I feel I have progressed from the first time and most importantly I thoroughly enjoyed myself as even with the naked eye I saw a couple of shooting stars, several satellites, and a lovely Milky Way. Not to mention the beautiful double of Mizar.

I probably only spent two and a half hours out but unfortunately it was a work night. Perhaps the weekend will be good.

Regards

Martin

[ronin]

It does sounds as if the finder and the scope need aligning, the biggest problem is getting something convenient to perform the alignment with. I was lucky as I noticed a faulty light that stayed on during the day that was nicely located. Having a bright yellow light about 1.5 miles away is very useful at times.

You are going to be stuck with the field of view a bit, a 30mm ES 82 would just give 1.2 degrees. Which is a useful improvement. If you went to a 2" eyepiece that would mean a fair  bit of work when changing eyepieces.

[Feral Rabbit]

Hi ronin, yes doing it in the twilight on a faint star wasn't the best move. It was one of the things I was going to do when I aligned the Polar finder scope the last time I was out but the neighbours distracted me somewhat along with the fact I was trying to remember everything I had read and I was extremely nervous (silly really as it's only a telescope).

But I learnt a lot about the scope and set up. 

All my learning points I can address but I assume that dew is more of a problem on grass than on hard standing which is a shame really as the spot on the lawn is probably as good as you are going to get here in the South East.

[stevetynant]

Dew is a problem for all of is fr especially in the Autumn.would it be possible to create a small patio area on your lawn.a bit of concrete and a few well placed slabs will make things much more comfortable for you through the winter months when the lawn starts to get saturated, especially if you've found a great spot.

[cotterless45]

Dew time's coming ! Should be quite active in Capel-le -Fog !

Nick.

[Feral Rabbit]

Unfortunately I am unable to create a patio area (communal garden I'm afraid) but I can use the expansive drive/car park which I did on my first night. Unfortunately it is a little busy with cars so can ruin the night vision at times.

Last night ventured back onto the lawn it's amazing that a car pulls into the car park 100m away from me and they obviously see me at the bottom of the garden and decide (after they've switched off the engine and lights) to switch on their lights, at full beam, for a good 3-4 minutes illuminating my site.

Seeing for me wasn't all that good anyway at seemed a bit misty when looking at the stars. Didn't catch Jacques either with scope or bins but had a nice time just getting used to the EdgeHD.

Martin

[Billy Bluelight]

Hi Martin,

I have the same 'scope as you and am assuming you also have the Advanced VX mount?

Have only managed three sessions since purchasing five weeks ago, but I find the alignment process quite straightforward and that it takes only a few minutes to do.  I don't have a polar 'scope - almost bought one the other day but was advised by the supplier that it's not actually essential for observing to be that accurate, so I passed for the time being.

This is my alignment procedure and it was really accurate from the very first time:

Firstly, you MUST ensure the finderscope and 'scope are in tandem by adjusting on something distant - say a church tower or mast - in daylight.  If you don't do this essential first step it makes the job of aligning a matter of purely guesswork. 

When ready to use, roughly level the mount with a small spirit level - it doesn't need to be spot-on it seems.

Manually move the whole 'scope and adjust the latitude gauge so that you can see Polaris in your finderscope and through your 40mm eyepiece on the main 'scope - tweak the finderscope as needed to ensure they are both truly accurately calibrated and singing from the same hymn sheet.

Start the two star alignment process using the handset - ensuring you enter the correct date and time - adding one minute I find assists this as a minute will pass while you enter the rest of the data.

I believe the really important bit is to keep on adding calibration stars after that two star alignment is complete, making certain to centre each one in the main 'scope (not the finderscope as Celestron state).  The more stars you add and the better each one is centred in the main 'scope the better accuracy becomes to the next (you can elect to keep adding another and another and so on) the more accurate it becomes in use.  I normally do five stars.

On each occasion I've found this works really well and takes about five to ten minutes maximum - even first time.  

When complete you should be able to choose what to slew to and it will be dead centre of the eyepiece.  I left mine tracking the Hercules Galaxy on a quite a high power eyepiece for ten minutes last night and although it had moved towards the edge from dead centre, it was still in the eyepiece.

I'm only a beginner myself at this, am probably giving wrong advice here and no doubt there are far more effective ways of doing it, but all I can say is it works for me.  For photography though it clearly would not be accurate enough, but for observing it seems to work well and takes just minutes.

Finally, I bought my kit from Opticstar in Sale, Manchester and treated myself  this week to their Opticstar XL 7.5 - 22.5 zoom eyepiece at £199 http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_5_1_8_331.  I used it last night and was so impressed with the quality.  The 40mm Celestron is good but using this zoom  makes a massive difference - sharp as a tack at all settings, parfocal at all settings and worth every penny - a delight to use I have to say.  (I don't have any connection to Opticstar by the way  )       

Hope that helps!

[Billy Bluelight]

Martin - sorry to teach Granny to suck eggs, but I've made this mistake at least once - do make sure the two sets of white marks on the declination and RA settings are aligned with the corresponding marks on the 'scope before you start - otherwise you have no chance.  As the Irish are apt to say when asked for directions "Well, I wouldn't start from here to be sure!"   

[timwetherell]

Last night ventured back onto the lawn it's amazing that a car pulls into the car park 100m away from me and they obviously see me at the bottom of the garden and decide (after they've switched off the engine and lights) to switch on their lights, at full beam, for a good 3-4 minutes illuminating my site.

Yep, they do that. Back when I was a kid recording music on my little tape player by holding the microphone to the speaker of the record player people would come in and shout "Oh are you recording? I said are you recording?"

[Feral Rabbit]

Thanks Billy, I must admit that I thought my RD finder was centred and yesterday went out to check and it was way off for some reason, may not have been seated correctly when I did my first alignment with the OTA  . Otherwise I don't know why that happened. I have re-centred it ready for the next time.

I am using a polar scope as I want to be able to do astrophotography and will need to be really spot on for long exposures and the fact I quite like the idea of doing it manually as well (you never know if your mount or power supply will fail you).

Everything else you have pointed out I have done with the exception that I have only ever done one calibration star so will take your advice and do more next time.

I did get a 12.5mm illuminated crosshairs eyepiece which really helped with centring the stars the other night and on re-aligning my RDF yesterday. Otherwise I'm using the 40mm EP that came with the scope which tbh is nothing special and a 10mm Celestron Luminos EP that is superb.

Regards

Martin

[Billy Bluelight]

Thanks Billy, I must admit that I thought my RD finder was centred and yesterday went out to check and it was way off for some reason, may not have been seated correctly when I did my first alignment with the OTA  . Otherwise I don't know why that happened. I have re-centred it ready for the next time.

I am using a polar scope as I want to be able to do astrophotography and will need to be really spot on for long exposures and the fact I quite like the idea of doing it manually as well (you never know if your mount or power supply will fail you).

Everything else you have pointed out I have done with the exception that I have only ever done one calibration star so will take your advice and do more next time.

I did get a 12.5mm illuminated crosshairs eyepiece which really helped with centring the stars the other night and on re-aligning my RDF yesterday. Otherwise I'm using the 40mm EP that came with the scope which tbh is nothing special and a 10mm Celestron Luminos EP that is superb.

Regards

Martin

I think you will find adding more stars to the alignment process will help a lot - each one you do seems to make the next one more accurate, until the last couple should be spot-on in the centre without any further adjustment.  Good luck!

[AndyWB]

Unfortunately I am unable to create a patio area (communal garden I'm afraid) but I can use the expansive drive/car park which I did on my first night.

You could get a cheap tarpaulin and throw that down. That'd give you a temporary patio...