Mrs Polar Bear accompanied me to pick up the C8. Her face was a picture when she saw the size of the case it was in. Back home further bewilderment followed when she saw it assembled on the substantial mount and tripod. I had to think quickly as I was met with a barrage of questions "where will you keep it, have you thought this through, you had better use it" Of course, being a man these things are not important, solutions tend to happen all on their own in the future so no point fretting about the present. Don't worry, later, and tomorrow are after all widely used male responses.

So to the 3 C's. Check, Clean, Collimate.

Check....All the tripod, mount and scope screws and fixings were checked for tightness and functionality. The handset is a little sporadic as the pins on the connector have lost a little tension.

Clean.....The scope has been in storage so has suffered from a little fungus on the inside of the corrector plate. This was removed and cleaned. Several of the allen head screws holding the retainer ring were difficult to remove and the allen key just spun in the heads. Celestron should of put larger set screws in and I will do this in the morning after a visit to my local nut and bolt supplier. So no first light unfortunately. Thankfully the primary mirror is like new without a trace of dust.

Collimate.....The collimation is a mile out so tomorrow will be spent getting this set up.

On sorting all the bits that came with the scope there were a few nice surprises, a 90 degree prism, a T2 camera adapter, several filters including a LP filter, manuals and a book on 8" SCT's

Should have it sorted tomorrow and I will need to brush up on polar alignment.

Paul