StarDuke82

The past two nights whenever I use my goto on my Celestron Evo 9.25” to look at something high on the in the sky like the moon has been lately if I want to use it to goto say venus or slew to a star it wants to roll backwards, I mean to say past 90 degrees so that the eyepiece begins to rotate under the scope the first time it did this it had rotated almost 20 degrees before I caught it and my scope locked up and I had to take it in for the night, luckily I was able to get it unlocked with the hand controller. I took it out again tonight first time since it happened and everything was working fine until I used goto to the moon and then I decided to goto back to venus because some clouds moved in and once again it decided to rotate backwards. I just got it back from celestron for repair of a burnt out motor control board and I would hate to send it back again and have to get out my 6 inch Newtonian again for a month or more, anybody got any thoughts as to what is going on?

I picked this up at a local hardware ware store for about $40 and it suits my needs the foam is precut/scored so it’s easy to just place our eyepieces and equipment and then use your hands to pull out whatever you need to make a hole for them to nestle in, the dividers are optional and it comes with a carrying strap. I used a exacto knife to make one the pockets in the upper pockets bigger for my plugs and cables, and store manuals in large folder compartment.

It’s actually something I stumbled across after reading an article about observing the night sky and it said that the best astronomers use both eyes when viewing through their telescopes instead of one and I thought how could one do that without binoviewers so I decided to try some experiments one night and amazingly it worked but it’s extremely hard to maintain and easyto lose focus and hard to get back into. Far easier to use just one eye but for a brief fun moment its a interesting and fun way to observe. Let me know if it works out for you.

Let me know how it works out for you I’m genuinely curious if it works for others. Also sorry for the delay in responding.

Let me know how it works out for you I’m genuinely curious if this works for others or if this is just some fluke I managed.

Did some Lunar observations as the moon was to enticing and I had just gotten my ND and Moon and Skyglow filters in.

With the mount off it’s ever so slightly off center but still within the boundaries of the circle indicating that it’s level the mount seems to add just enough extra weight to nudge it into the center. I’ve checked just about everything I can think of and the tripod on my old 130 SLT has all three legs the same length so it’s obviously an issue with this particular tripod or model, or maybe like Mr Spock said it’s just a Tripod that doesn’t have equal legs for where it is though this particular tripod has hash marks so you can make sure all three are at the same height. 🤷🏻

Tried out my Celestron NexXYZ DX tonight and took some lunar photos using my 40mm eyepiece and my 8-24 mm zoom eyepiece used a ND 0,9 filter to help with the glare, still learning.

I have a celestron starsense autoalign camera and I did have it perfectly calibrated to my telescope unfortunately I had to send my mount off to be repaired and now I have to recalibrate the Starsense Camera again as the go to is off. I usually calibrate on Sirius as it is bright and easily identifiable but currently it is in the southwest and behind some trees as is familiar Orion, however I think this Star that makes up the point of the triangle in this photo is yellow Arcturus if so I should be able to use it for calibration purposes but I won’t to be sure before I do. Photo was taken looking east and upwards at 11:38pm est this evening.

Okay that makes sense and I just checked it with my phone app and another level, phone says it’s more or less level (-1) and of course the other level says it is level, it just looks odd your brain thinks they should be more or less the same length for something to be level unless you’re dealing with a sloping surface.

I was supposed to have some Apertura Vibration bundled with my scope when I ordered it but they are backordered with no word on when the manufacturer will have more, but I bought a rubber mat to help with vibrations and I sit in a bar stool with footrests when I am observing on my deck I found that if my feet are not touching the deck vibrations tend to not be transferred as badly.

So I’m inside my home where I generally store my scope during the day and I decide to adjust the height of my tripod because it was a bit too high the last time I had it out, one leg is plush to floor, another about an inch out and the third is about 2 inches out but the level on my tripod is dead center. Floor is level in the house, and I get the same level results on my back deck, if I put all three feet flat on the ground/ floor the level bubble is way off center. So how is this level 🤣

I have floaters and what is also called visual snow all my life if you don’t know what visual snow is it’s like seeing the world through vibrating swirling almost invisible television static, so I have learned to compensate but I do get the errant squiggly line that will pass my vision when I am observing, my biggest issue with observing higher magnifications with smaller exit pupils is blackout it’s like either my pupil constricts and I can’t see what I’m looking at anymore or it hits my blind spot and I can’t see it only happens when I am really tired though 🤷🏻

True but with the iPhone 13 Pro and later IPhones the Cameras have an optional on/off night mode that takes a time lapsed long exposure that can be timed as long as 10 seconds I believe (I would have to double check) that allows for excellent night shots that render the night sky anywhere from deep blue to a gray blue depending upon how long the exposure setting runs and you don’t get the blackout, greyout effect that is usual.

Postman didn’t exactly bring this I picked it up up at Tractor Supply Store about an hour away from my home but it was worth the ride for the value ($35) and it keeps my astronomical supplies organized already know I’ll be needing another one. I could have laid it out neater but I decided to add the dividers after I had placed my items instead of before or just leaving them out all together so it doesn’t look as nice as it could look but hey it suits its purpose.

If you’re just looking for Alt and Alz cords Planet finder is a good IOS app for planets but a more well rounded free app is Celestrons skyportal app it’s meant for to be used with their advanced wifi controlled go to scopes but can still be used to find the cords of stars and planets and contains almost all the same objects listed in their skysafari pro app.

I have a 13 pro also I don’t know if you used the night setting or not but it has one and it automatically adjusts the exposure allowing more light in for some amazing night shots that show the stars, I was amazed when I took photos of the lunar eclipse last year, looks like you captured ursa major, good job it’s not easy taking Star shots you either need a very steady hand or a tripod to keep the camera still.

I sometimes have found with wide field of view eyepieces that also allow good eye relief that I can use both eyes to observe. I usually focus first with one eye then move back away from the eye piece and position myself slowly while relaxing my eyes, whenever I do this the scope and eyepiece seem to vanish and I am left looking at what I am observing seemingly floating in midair. It’s sort of like the technique used to see those magic eye pictures from the late 90’s early 00’s and probably crosses your eyes 😂 and is difficult to maintain without losing focus but an unforgettable and amazing experience akin to viewing through binoviewers without the setup.

My Baader Hyperion Zoom lens with Barlow, and my Baader Hyperion 5mm 68* eyepiece along with my Baader neodymium moon and skyglow filter and Baader Nd 0.9 filter yesterday, and my repaired SCT mount arrived today I sent my mount to Celestron on march 27 and I am really surprised at the quick turnaround after reading about repair times on the forums, now I just have to wait for a cloudless night to bring my scope out and try out my new eyepieces.

Thank you everyone for the advice I decided not to buy a kit a start upgrading my eyepiece collection and based on advice I have read here I decided to start by upgrading to a Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom with an included Barlow, a Baader Hyperion 5 mm (for my highest magnification) a Baader Moon and Skyglow filter, and a Baader ND filter (0.9 if I remember correctly) and plan on replacing my remaining eyepieces one or two at a time as my budget allows with Baader Hyperions over the next couple of years but seeing as I will probably get the most use out of the Zoom and can increase magnification 2.5 X with the Barlow it’s not a priority. You guys are Awesome and knowledgeable and I thank you all again for the advice.

I am actually trying to decide between Badder Hyperions and Explore Scientific eyepieces as good mid range replacements for what I have and this has really narrowed down my selection of choices

I’m wanting to improve Planetary views foremost as I live in a Bortle 5-6 zone in the middle of rural suburbia and it’s approximately a 2 hour drive to a Bortle 1 zone, so I do most of my observations from my backyard and only head to Dark Sky when I have time to make enjoy it by camping for a few days. I’ve been doing a lot of research on what to buy as a standard barlow and can’t decide between an XLT or just a standard inexpensive one like an Arpertura. I’m also looking at a Baader Zoom Eyepiece with included barlow to maybe start my upgraded collection. I have looked at so many different eyepieces this weekend my head is spinning trying to decide what options best.

I just bought a 10 inch SCT, an upgrade from my 6 inch Newtonian and I am debating on whether I should buy an eyepiece kit complete with everything or just buy a Barlow, 5 or 6 mm eyepiece and some new filters? I already have 40mm, 25mm, 13mm, 10mm Plossl eyepieces and a Celestron 8-24mm Zoom eyepiece in my slowly growing collection and plan on investing in a good quality set of eyepieces later on down the road so I’m not sure what would be the best route.

It’s rained here for almost a week and despite a wet morning and afternoon full of clouds the sun came out and the clouds broke apart just before sunset so I took my telescope out on the back deck and did some observations of Venus as I have been excited about having a telescope again and have been tracking its phases the past few months for the first time ever. I have to say tonight Venus looked like a bright glowing lemon drop shaped jewel in the sky.

I actually found this particular image online while looking for what particular phase Venus was in at the moment and actually found a current visual 2023 Planetary Guide for Venus, although I do sketch my observations from time to time and I am beginning to venture into Astrophotography.