Cosmic Geoff

This outfit is in stock? Not necessarily a good sign, in the current situation. 🙂 I used to have a 203mm f5 Newtonian on an EQ-5 manual mount. I thought the combination was horrible and soon abandoned it. This outfit is not well suited to beginning deep space astrophotography. The typical deep space imaging outfit is a small high-quality refractor on a heavy GoTo equatorial mount. If you are interested in deep space astrophotography, you should obtain and read "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards, available from FLO. It could save you from making expensive purchasing errors.

Looks like you have a bargain! It should be a good outfit for visual use. The Barlow, if complete, will have a lens at one end only. The 'spotter scope' (finder) may be incomplete. The 'viewing scope' in the mount is intended for polar alignment. I am not sure what you intend with the Raspberry Pi module. This scope is not ideal for astrophotography. The optical tube might serve, but you may have trouble getting a camera to focus. Except for the very shortest of exposures (Moon?), you would need a motor drive on the RA axis. If you have not yet encountered it, get and read "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards (available from FLO), and if you are still interested in trying deep space astrophotography after reading this, add up the total cost of his kit...

It will only recognise the equipment if the comms are working, and achieving that may not be as simple as plugging in a USB cable. It certainly wasn't as simple with the earlier serial port version, where you had to find a USB to serial adapter, buy a cable, install a driver and assign a serial port. Or if it finds stars, you could just leave well alone. People seem to assume they have to install these updates, but it only makes sense if they solve a security issue (totally not relevant with astro mounts) or you have it in black and white that the update fixes a problem you are experiencing. In the case of Starsense, it seems that the updates do fix some issue with EQ mounts.

Page 12 of instructions: First Time Setup: Calibrate Centre. After performing paragraph 2. you have to press ALIGN, then carry on. I don't know why you are having trouble with the software update, but you need to get the calibration problem sorted first. IIRC you have to install Java or some such software before the CFM will work. Also remember that if you really must give yourself grief updating the mount software, you can put the original handset back on the mount to remove the Starsense from the equation. There used to be a separate utility (whose name or acronym escapes me at present) for testing and updating the mounts. In the case of the SE mounts, the mount software rarely gets updates and generally will not require updating.

There appears to be a fault with the Starsense instructions in the section describing how to calibrate the camera electronically with the telescope. I posted about this on the forum previously. There is a point at which you should press Align instead of Enter. You do have to enter the date and time each time you power up the Starsense. 😦 The system may require a software update, but before that, get it to work properly as-is, and read the small print of what the updates actually do before you try any update.

A plain EQ mount if used visually requires adjustment about just one axis to keep an object in the eyepiece field (assuming it is polar aligned). You can in most cases fit a RA motor for hands-off tracking. Some might consider this an advantage, while others prefer the simplicity and ease of aiming of an alt-azimuth mount. Moving to GoTo mounts, even an alt-azimuth type will track. There is no need for an EQ mount here unless you intend long exposure astrophotography.

I am not sure what exactly you mean by a 'red zone.' Where I live, the skies are said to be Bortle 6, and trying to look for deep sky objects (galaxies) is not a rewarding exercise. I was able to see far more galaxies when I took my C8 SE to rural Devon. So, if your objective is to view galaxies and you live in a city, it just isn't going to work. The suggestion that you invest in EVAA has merit. I experimented with this here, and was astonished to find that on imaging a galaxy I'd also seen in Devon I could make out another fainter galaxy in the image that was less visible in the Devon skies where I used a telescope twice the aperture. If you are confined to observing from a city, you should concentrate on observing objects like double stars, globular clusters, planetary nebulae, open clusters, and planets, as their high surface brightness will cut through the murk. For this a long focal ratio telescope such as a traditional achro refractor, Maksutov or SCT will serve better than a short focal ratio Newtonian. Likewise you should invest in a GoTO mount, not a Dob mount, as 'star hopping' will be difficult when fainter stars are hidden by light pollution. With GoTo you need at minimum to be able to see and identify a couple of brighter stars, and the electronics will do the rest of the work of finding faint objects. I would also point out that when seen visually, galaxies do not look anything like the photographs. All you can typically see is a faint grey smudge representing the bright central nucleus.

The Evostar does not seem to offer much advantage over the Newtonian - similar weight, length and focal length. A ST80 will be very portable, but maybe a bit small? I have found a ST102 to be a useful instrument. It can be safely carried with one hand, and can be used for widefield, comet hunting, and EEVA style imaging with a planetary camera, and it has a 2" focuser, so you can attach a DSLR to it.

It reminds me of working some years ago for a company that did warrantry repairs for a well-known manufacturer of home/small office printers. A few customers imported USA model printers to the UK and wondered why they went pop. Unfortunately for them, the USA models were fitted with 120 volt power supply modules, while the UK mains is 240v. Just to complicate matters, worldwide power supplies that will work on either 120v or 240v without adjustment do exist. But you can't assume that you have one without reading the small print.

Without commenting directly on the original poster's experience, this should be an object lesson in being very careful when you pick up a power supply and think of plugging it into your mount. It could be the wrong voltage, or the polarity could be wrong, or it may not supply enough current, or the plug could be not quite the correct fit, or it could be a shoddily made item that self-destructs and takes your mount electronics with it. If you are not skilled in these matters, play safe and buy a power pack that is specifically sold for powering astro mounts.

I never heard of a laptop charger that did not deliver 19 volts. 😲

A 127mm (5") Maksutov will also challenge a 8" SCT (including for planetary imaging) when the seeing is poor - and it is a lot more compact, lighter and cheaper than a 5" Apo.

If you can find a fixed position for an EQ mount and mark the positions of the tripod feet, you only need to provide an alignment accurate enough for visual use and do it once.

I would suggest that you only spend the full 1500 pound budget if you are sure about what you want and what you intend to do with it. If this is not the case, I recommend you get a smaller and simpler outfit and use it tikk you can decide what to buy next. The C8 SE is mentioned. This is a good outfit for visual use and with a few accessories (eyepieces, dew shield, power tank) will fill out your budget. The outfit is portable - you can pick up and carry outside the whole assembly, and it breaks down into three sections if you want ti take it on holiday to a dark site. However, even though the C8 SE costs a wad of money, the mount is only suitable for visual use. You can use it for planetary imaging, but the wobble and backlash will prove trying. If you want to do any planetary imaging at any time, you'd want to spend even more money on a C8 variant with a better and more solid mount. The new Classic Cassegrains look like an interesting option if you want a planetary scope. Other possible OTAs that might catch your fancy are a f8 Newtonian, or a !80mm Sky-watcher Mak on a suitable mount. Au usual, various people recommend you buy a Dob. I would urge you instead to consider a GoTo outfit if you can afford it, which it seems you can. A proper mount is as important as the scope itself, and with a good GoTo mount you can do so much more, and spend your time looking at objects rather than for them. Should you be told that GoTo are hard to use, I would say that the ease of use of GoTo systems varies greatly. The Nexstar system is easy to learn, and adding GPS or a Starsense reduces the effort further.

I was inspired by LeeHore's effort on 21 Jan to see what my 127mm Mak would do. I usually image with a 203mm SCT. The Mars image was taken with a 127mm Celestron Mak on the SLT mount and a wood tripod, with ASI224MC camera (no ADC) and with & without a x2 Barlow. For once, the Barlowed images came out better than the direct image. I was able to compare them directly in Photoshop after digitally enlarging the smaller image, the smaller image appearing distinctly pixellated. Best 20% of 5000 frame video, processed with Registax6. The image shows Mare Cimmerium etc. Angular size 8.4" The Moon image was one of a number of images taken with the ASI224MC, full chip. Best 25% of 1000 frames, processed with Registax6.

If you don't have the Nexstar or Nexstar+ user manual, I suggest that you download it and study it. It should be easy to get the alignment to work, provided you enter the right data. You will have to set the location, which may take a careful study of the instructions and the menu system. Many people get the format wrong, so check that the Lat/Long location you have looked up is in the same format that the mount uses. (or set on the nearest city.) The same remarks apply to setting the date and time. (24 hour clock, time zone =0, daylight saving =no) To check the mount is working, select one-star align and align it on a bright star. Alternatively, select solar system align. If it does not offer you the options of using the Moon and Mars in the next few evenings, you have done something wrong. Do NOT try upgrading the software. This is not usually necessary, is a fiddly process, and can end in tears. Finally you need to power it from a proper power supply, not 8x AA from Poundland.🙂

I suggest you get a power supply that more closely resembles the sealed lead acid powered 'astro power tanks'. Either an actual astro power tank, or something like this: https://www.halfords.com/motoring/battery-maintenance/jump-starters/4-in-1-jump-starter-594335.html This contains a 12v sealed lead acid battery. Or one of the LiFePo astro power tanks - more robust and longer lasting than sealed lead acid, and designed for powering Astro mounts.

What does the manual say? AFAIK astro mounts are designed to work from a nominal 12v DC, or from a six-cell lead acid battery which could be up to 13.8v when fully charged and just disconnected from the charger. The mount is unlikely to blow up when subjected to a modest over voltage, e.g. 16v. But the 16v from the car booster will be subject to a +/- tolerance so could be more than +16, Personally, if I had spent around £1000 on the mount, I would not risk it - I'd use a more suitable supply.

There is a good database of double stars and other stuff at virtualcolony.com/sac/ You can search by constellation, brightness difference, etc. Also look for the Washington Double Star catalog if you want a professional list that includes everything.

It will not download GPS info if you just turn it on. You have to go into the setup as far as selecting an alignment mode, and then wait, IIRC.

I am pleased for you that you had a First Light without any problems. If you know your stars, you will find that a two star auto align is even quicker, with the GPS setting the time and location for you. I found it useful to have a red dot or similar 'finder for the finder' to get the optical finder and OTA pointing accurately enough for alignment stars to be found in the optical finder.

I suggest you look at the thread 'What can I expect to see'? in the Beginners Observing section here. What you can see with a given telescope depends on a number of factors asides from the quality of the main components. The starter eyepieces supplied with many of the outfits are not very good, particularly the 9 or 10mm. Some skill and experience in observing is also required. With my 127mm Mak I managed to glimpse the Great Red Spot only once or twice, but in a processed image I took with the same scope, the GRS is as obvious as the nose on your face. To see the ultimate of planetary detail, it helps a lot to use a binoviewer so you can employ both eyes, but these are a significant expense and it can be difficult to get them to focus with scopes other than Maksutovs or Schmidt-Cassegrains. If they are both 130mm Newtonians, the specs are likely to be much the same, and they might even have come from the same Chinese factory.

Lots of people will suggest you get a big Dobsonian, but once you have mastered it, a proper GoTo mount (not the Starsense phone app) is a major asset that will enable you to do more with your scope and find more faint and non-obvious objects. With your budget you could get a smallish scope on a Goto mount, making a portable package you can take out to a dark spot. A smallish scope of good quality should show you the Cassini division under the right conditions (and eyepiece upgrade). I still regularly use the 127mm Mak and SLT mount I bought several years ago (clouds permitting) despite now having other instruments.

I'd assume that the OTA is a write-off. The Starsense should be OK if it has no visible damage. You can try the diagonal in another scope.

First, I have found that I need to use a dew shield with a Mak or SCT unless the humidity is low. I have never bothered with a heater band and can only recall one night when despite the dew shield, the corrector plate dewed up aftter a while enough to interfere with observing. Photos of SCTs in use will show you how to place the dew shield (basically extending forward from the front casting). If you keep the outfit in a garage, by the time you 'fool around' for 20 mins or so setting it up it outdoors, it should be cool enough. After use I take my telescopes indoors and let them dry out naturally, with round plastic dust covers in place. Dew is pure water so it should all disappear without leaving a residue, and if the manufacturers were doing their job the finish should not take any harm.