Cosmic Geoff

The four brighter stars of the Trapezium are easy to see, but the E and F are more difficult. AFAIK I have only seen the E and F stars by imaging the Trapezium with my 8" SCT.

If you are seriously considering the 10" GoTo Dob, which seems a fine instrument, you should probably run it past the person who is going to help you take it outdoors, given its size and weight. Have you a storage location? You also need to budget for a power pack and approx. three decent eyepieces suited to a telescope of this focal ratio (f5?) If you want to know details of the alignment procedure (which typically involves aligning it with two stars), you can download a Synscan manual at any time. My telescopes are in my signature, and I use all three for different tasks. I have not gone bigger than 8" as I felt a bigger instrument would be too big and too heavy for my circumstances, and the 'seeing' (q.v.) at this location would not allow a bigger telescope to give of its best except on very rare occasions.

You can buy a GoTo dob (see astronomy dealers' websites) but they are far more expensive than the manual version. In general the GoTo is effectively built into the base, and the most practical (or only) way to upgrade is to sell the whole thing and buy anew. There is an exception if the telescope is a solid tube (=round cylinder, not a truss) you can scrap the chipboard base, buy tube rings and a dovetail bar, and put it on an equatorial heavy duty GoTo mount suitable for allsorts of imaging if you want, but be warned that the cost of doing this could be eye-watering- several times what you paid for the manual outfit in the first place. While a 10" is obviously more capable, you don't need one that big to see some of these things. A metorite is a space rock that has fallen to the ground. If you want a GoTo mounted scope, for this budget you can buy a rather small scope on a lightweight mount. You can buy a good sized manual Dobsonian outfit for this budget, if that's what you want. You don't need a GoTo mount to find the Moon or Jupiter. 🙂 But trying to image with a Dobsonian is like rowing across the English Channel - some people have succeeded in doing it but most people would take the ferry.

What is your budget? What max size and weight is acceptable, given that you/your helper have to move it outside? What kind of tracking is acceptable - manual (=you push it or twiddle knobs), motorised (= an electrical motor moves an equatorial mount (q.v.) at the right speed to counteract the Earth's rotation) or the full monty - a GoTo mount - all GoTo mounts include tracking among their functions? Do you want to image the moon and planets only? Or deep-sky objects in addition to these? This has more severe requirements re. a mount and probably requires a different telescope and camera. If you can write down answers to these and get back to us, it is more likely to elicit constructive suggestions. As a general comment, I would suggest that you think of buying a relatively cheap and simple telescope (it does not matter that much what sort), and then buy another later in the light of what you have learnt and what you liked or didn't like about the first one. Trying to buy a telescope for life that does everything is unlikely to work. (that is why some of your correpondents list several telescopes and mounts in their signatures) Note that any sort of telescope, even a small cheap one, will give a 'wow' factor when looking a the moon. What sort of telescope you buy for observing the planets is going to be a compromise between what would be ideal, and real-life considerations like cost, size, weight and whether you are allowed to build an observatory to put it in. We can't tell you which one would suit you - it has to be your choice. Almost every type of telescope (except short focal length achromats) has been recommended by some people as suitable for planetary observing, so the choice is wide. There is a thread on this forum entitled "What can I expect to See?" If you have not found it yet, I suggest you do so and study it. Asteroids - the brighter ones are not hard to see, but the hard part is distinguishing them from stars. Comets - spectacular ones do not come around that often, but you may see one visible in binoculars or a small telescope if you wait long enough. Imaging and GoTo gear increases your chances of bagging one.

Don't rush to spend your money on upgrades. You should wait and see what upgrades you yourself think are necessary or desirable, after using the scope for a while. Things you might (or might not) want to consider are: an upgrade to the stock eyepieces, especially the 9 or 10 mm one, a different finder (e.g angled or RACI), a RA motor to make the mount track, a planetary camera for a play with planetary imaging, a whole-aperture solar filter (you can make one with Baader film)

The dovetail bar that came with my ST102 Startravel is 17cm long. However I have modified it slightly to countersing a bolt, so that it would slide into a Celestron SLT clamp, and again with an extra hole so I could slide the tube forward to balance a DSLR on the back end.

I have a Svbony helical focuser (non-rotating) and a Chinese one that looks the same. You can get these things with various different threads on the inner end, to suit your kit. Mine screws onto the focuser of a 102mm f5 Startravel, adapting it for a planetary 1.25" camera. The extra length is no problem if you can omit a diagonal used for visual.

I image things with mine. 🙂 The GoTO helps with finding targets in the first place, and with accurate tracking. It seems to be regarded as the absolute minimum for serious imaging.

This does not seem to be a popular mount in the UK. Until someone better informed comes along, here's my stab in the dark. If Sirius didn't write their software from scratch, they may have based it on someone else's. In the latest Sky-watcher Synscan software, MEL and MAZ are parameters that pop up at the end of alignment to show you how much your polar alignment is off, and there is some procedure for using them to fine-tune the mechanical adjustment. I generally ignore them as it's too much for my aged brain. 🙁 I have found that the GoTo is not very accurate, particularly if the sought object is the other side of the meridian from the two alignment stars, and have got around this by setting up the mount with added software for a "plate-solve and re-sync" (which works brilliantly, BTW). Addendum, from review: "The Sirius equatorial mount comes with the SynScan hand controller that is often used with Orion and Sky Watcher GoTo setups. It offers a 42,900 object database, guided sky tours, and more."

Minimum: Sky-watcher EQ3-2 Synscan. Recommendation: EQ5 Synscan - possibly better quality, definitely more possibilities for mounting alternative scopes, or imaging. Alternatives: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/explore-scientific-mounts.html

Well done. I left the mount out and set the alarm for 4am but found that cloud had come over earlier than forecast. 🙁 And it wil be cloudy for the next few days.😧

The older handset is the Nexstar*. I found that all three variants (Nexstar*, Nexstar+ and Starsense) workd with the C8 SE.

I have a Nexstar+ handset, now several years old, used with a SLT mount. It was OK to begin with it, but the buttons have become less and less responsive in the top row, so that I have to mash the Align, Enter or Back buttons repeatedly to get any response, and it is becoming worse. A couple of years ago I dismantled the handset and tried cleaning the button tracks, but it did not make much if any difference. I have searched online and not found a similar case, much less any fix. Last time I used the handset it was so bad on the Align button that I almost gave up. Now I am wondering what to do next - buy a new Nexstar+ handset, upgrade the whole mount to something else, or use the spare (older version) Nexstar handset I'm not using, that came with the C8 SE?

The auto two star is probably the one to try, unless you have no clue which alignment star is which - in which case use the sky align. If you just want to observe, e.g. Venus, then use the solar system align. Would it be easier if I was to connect a pc via ethernet cable!? I doubt it. It doesn't connect via Ethernet, but by a combination of serial and USB, with adapter.

There are several motorising kits available: RA only (6 volt) - cheapest. RA + Dec (6 volt) RA+Dec deluxe, with provision for guiding Synscan GoTo upgrade kit. - most useful. Your choice.

A dew shield. Essential in the UK climate. An external power supply. You should think of upgrading the 10mm eyepiece, as the kit eyepiece is usually of poor quality.

I recommend the Baader Skysurfer III - works well, looks smart and has not gone wrong yet (unlike the basic red-dot kit finders and the more expensive Celestron I tried). Red dot finders will let you correct a wide misalignment, so complement optical finders well. I have never seen the point of using a laser.

I don't think they are any worse than any other make in that respect. If a set of good eyepieces, an external power pack, a phone holder, etc were included it would put up the price to the point where customers would not buy or would go elsewhere. BTW, if you buy the Mak it needs a dew shield. It's essential, not an optional extra, in our climate.

Yes, we got that. But which one? There are scores of different equatorial mount models. A photo of yours might help us help you. But if the mount axis is pointing at Polaris, you may have solved your problem. If you are using the telescope visually, the adjustment is not critical anyway.

You do not need to search for a review of the 127mm Makusov - everybody here who has used one knows that these are fine instruments. I have not seen a Viruoso mount, but I wonder if this is the most suitable mount for your circumstances. Young children tend to grab anything within reach, not least the eyepiece end of a telescope. With a GoTo scope, he last thing you want is anybody pulling at or jolting it after it has been set up, as this will upset the alignment, and you will have to take time out to set it up again. It would seem better to put the scope on a heavy mount that is resistant to being pulled or knocked. I took a 102mm f5 refractor + AZ4-2 mount to an outreach meeting a couple of months ago, and was surprised to find that this low-magnification setup (chosen more for robustness than anything else) gave various members of the public a "wow" factor when aimed at Jupiter and Saturn or the Moon. Inevitably some forum menbers will suggest getting a Dobsonian telescope, where the same money gets you a bigger telescope and a more basic mount, less easily knocked over if floor mounted, and this is certainly something to consider. As for astrophotography, note that 1) it costs a lot of money, and 2) the kit bears little relation to what you would buy for visual use. The 127 Mak + Virtuoso does not look suitable for imaging other than of the most basic sort. For planetary imaging a dedicated planetary video camera attached to the scope,+ laptop will work much better (not child or dog proof?)

I suggest you check the Beginner Scopes from forum sponsor FLO, and then get back to us with any further questions. How far you have to carry the scope, how bad your skies are, and whether you like fancy tech may have a bearing on your final decision.

I would doubt that you need a 'back to the factory' to change an internal battery. I read somwwhere about the characteristics of the Evolution internal battery, and it seemed rather small... Having had to change a number of laptop batteries, I would not expect the Evolution battery to last longer than about 3 years. So long as you get a battery of the same type (e.g. Li-ion) and the same number of cells, a replacement ought to work, even if you have to do some soldering. Or just continue using an external battery/power pack, like the rest of us have to do. With my latest laptop I had to unscrew and unclip the underside, and unscrew the battery, in order to exchange it. I wonder how many owners of ultraslim laptops just take it to a service agent if the battery starts failing. Addendum: Have just read the Cloudynights post above, which details the battery and shows a picture - it has multiple wires going to it - just like laptop batteries have a multiway collector linking them to the charge circuit. Best of luck with changing that if it's wired in. Addendum 2: A post in the Cloudynights thread mentions a battery connector, so looks like it can be unplugged. The battery is in the arm.

I should think that the more solid the mount (and a CGEM II should be pretty solid) the less useful an electric focuser becomes compared with manual focusing. My flip mirror has a limited range focus on the eyepiece port. I suggest you look up helical focusers to see what they look like. I have two, from Svbony - with T2 or other threads one end of a barrel about 40cm long, and a 1.25" fitting for an eyepiece (etc) at the other. By rotating a sleeve they give a focus range of 10cm which does not rotate the eyepiece, camera or other device attached to the oiter end. These can be very useful but do remember that it inserts an extra 40 cm or so into the optical path.

Binoculars in general have a tendency to go out of collimation with time, usage or knocks (mine did.) Combine this with a zoom mechanism, expect it to stay collimated at all zoom levels, and you have a recipe for trouble. Also note that zoom eyepieces have a smaller field of view at low powers than the equivalent fixed eyepiece. In short, cheap zoom binoculars should be avoided like Covid-19.

Looking to the future, and maybe out of your present budget, but if you have the EQ5 with the Synscan GoTo, and a camera and laptop that allow you to platesolve, instead of struggling to get the (possibly invisible) object that you want to image into the field, you can platesolve and then tell the system to re-sync, placing the object dead centre in the image field. I have only used this a few times, but it's brilliant. 😀 (Actually, this should work with any Synscan or Nexstar GoTo mount.)