Cosmic Geoff

As per the above comments, the nosepiece appears to be missing. The chances of obtaining this as a spare part are vanishingly small, so you need to buy two eyepieces to replace the missing or unusable ones. You also need to buy a counterweight as it is not really safe to operate the mount & scope without it. Weigh the OTA and get a counterweight with approximately the same weight or less, and the hole size to fit over the counterweight bar. Check astroboot.eu as a possible source of budget spare parts.

Ideally you need two different outfits to fulfil your requirements. How you square this with a 800 pound budget is up to you. If you check the online catalogues you will see that the Celestron C6 is offered bundled with an unusual variety of mounts, from an AZ-Gti or SLT (potentially rather wobbly ) to a costly AVX or EVolution mount. The SE bundle is probably the best compromise for visual use. You may find that some of the bundles cost no more than the OTA!

The two outfits you cite are radically different, so you need to decide whether you want a visual scope outfit (5SE or 6SE) or an imaging outfit (150PDS +EQ5). The latter could also be used for visual, but it is a less portable outfit, and IMHO the Celestron Nexstar software and SE mount is a lot easier to use than the Skywatcher Synscan on a EQ5.

I imaged Jupiter, Saturn and Mars this morning around 3.30am in the interval between 'high enough' and dawn. Equipment: CPC800, ASI224MC, ADC. Captured with Sharpcap, processed with Registax6. Used best 20% of 5000 frame videos. It's so long since I did any planetary imaging that I had to re-learn what to do. The Jupiter and Saturn images seem under-exposed.

Just to clarify, there are now SLT and SE versions of the C5 and C6, and Astro-Fi versions. The SLT versions are are probably under-mounted. The C6 SE has the same mount as the C8 SE. IIRC, Bundles with the C6 go all the way up to AVX and Evolution mounts, with price tags to match.

If you have a Powerseeker 114 you might benefit from an upgrade. 🙂 A significant increase in aperture would help you see more of fainter deep sky objects and also offer a shade more resolution for planets. I suggest giving some thought to your upgrade route. Most telescopes can be put on various alternative mounts. Is the manual equatorial really doing anything useful for you, or could you manage with a manual alt-azimuth mount (including Dobsonian?) Do you want powered tracking in RA, or the option to add it later? If you want the option to upgrade at some time to powered RA/Dec drives or a full GoTo by buying an upgrade kit, this limits you to choosing a German equatorial. I note that you are not thinking of a Goto system at present. £500 would only buy you a basic outfit with little gain in aperture over the 114. You could just buy a GoTo mount, but not one with much potential for scope upgrades. I find GoTo really useful, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

If it is the C6 OTA that is contemplated, it looks that you can get it with a Astro-fi mount or SLT mount for the same price. If that's correct, you are getting a free (but wobbly) GoTo mount worth around £250.

No load capacity for the EQ-2 is quoted, but the load capacity for the more substantial EQ3-2 is given as 5Kg. So you figure it out... It appears that a telescope weighting 4.54Kg will be at best on the limit for the Eq-2. The practical result will depend to some degree on whether the telescope is long (traditional refractor) or compact (Maksutov). In any case, for a "good telescope" you might consider a mount upgrade worthwhile.

The Bird-Jones has a bad reputation because it is a poor implementation of the basic idea. If you posted some photos of your scope it would help clear up the matter of what design it is. There is no way you can modify it to see more deep space objects - it is what it is and to see more of faint fuzzies etc you need more aperture. The darkness or otherwise of your skies also makes a huge difference. The book is available from forum sponsor FLO for 20 pounds and it seems to be in stock. Another route you might consider is EEVA - using a small aperture telescope with electronic assistance for near real time views. I put together an EEVA rig with items I already had - 120mm f5 refractor, SLT mount on wood tripod, ASI224MC camera, and laptop with stacking software, and found its reach on faint objects was greater than that of an 8" SCT used visually.

Reconnect the original handset and see if this setup works or not. This should take only a minute. If you conclude the Starsense is faulty, contact the seller.

There are many possible solutions. For an AC source, make sure it is regulated, has sufficient amperage and (preferably) is rated for outside use and temperature extremes. However I use a battery even in the backyard rather than have the faff and hazard of a trailing AC mains able. For DC, the astronomy power tanks are popular, also auto engine starters, and sealed lead acid batteries with the appropriate cabling attached. If you are just running the mount, one charge will last for many nights. I have a LiFePo power pack - expensive but long lasting, and it doubled as a worklight for working under my car.

Yes, codes 16 and 17 basically mean something is not working for whatever reason. I had it from my SLT mount at least once. Refreshing corrupted firmware cured the problem in this case. I have cautioned people on more than one occasion that one should not update firmware just because one can, or in hopes that it will cure some unrelated issue. Updating the firmware is a lot of work, and it can go wrong, as here. Only update firmware if you need to address a problem detailed in the 'small print' that always accompanies a firmware issue, detailing what bugs and issues it is meant to fix. Or if the firmware appears to have become corrupted. You also had issues with your older controller? May be worth checking that there is not a bad connection between the controller cable and the mount. I had that happen with my C8 SE.

I could be wrong, but I think that your telescope may be a Bird-Jones design, and these do not have a good reputation. Is the tube anything like 1000mm long? Is there a lens inside the focuser? (other than the eyepiece) If you have doubts about its performance, a telescope upgrade may be indicated. If you intend to eventually do deep sky astrophotography you really need a mount like the HEQ5 for best results, and if you buy any other Goto mount in the meantime, you could end up buying twice. The book "Making Every Photon Count" is the standard reference. Nothing wrong with using a DSLR and laptop.

Does your ETX90 have GPS? A Google search may shed light on your problem.

Which firmware do you want to update? Despite its age, the mount firmware is unlikely to need updating for any reason. That leaves the Starsense firmware (since you have dispensed with the original Nexstar handset.) If this is not up to date, it is probably a good idea to update it, as there have been issues with the Starsense. People tend to assume that they 'have' to update firmware, or that updating it will cure some unrelated problem, but I always advise people not to fool with firmware unless the update is going to address some specific issue detailed in the version notes for the upgrade. Updating can be a lot of work, and things can go wrong... Instructions for the update should be available from Celestron or nexstarside.com. I don't know if it works from a Mac as I have only used Windows 7 for firmware upgades. You will need cabling with a serial to USB converter to connect the Mac to the Starsense handset, and software driver for the serial-to-USB device. Do not try updating the Starsense camera firmware or plugging anything directly into the camera, otherwise you may end up bricking it. I have not heard anything about the camera needing an update, and if it does, this may happen via the handset. Is the 6SE/Starsense combination working properly? If it is, consider leaving well alone.

You might get more replies if you gave more information. What do you intend to use the setup for? What kind of telescope is included in the 127 eq outfit? Why are you interested in the Explore Scientific mount (which is probably quite good) rather than one of the popular GoTo mounts offered by Skywatcher, etc? If the mount is intended for astrophotography, you would get better results with a heavy duty mount like a HEQ5 and probably a different telescope. It depends how serious your ambitions are and how much you want to spend.

I see that this is a Newtonian reflector on an equatorial mount. That is a pretty generic arrangement, so you should try again to find a helpful setup video, or try to find and download a .pdf of the instructions for the PS1000. The first thing to do is to take it outside and adjust the finderscope as michael8554 describes. If you need to know what the various knobs on the mount do, twiddle them and see... One knob should give a slow motion about the lower (RA) axis if you lock the RA clutch, and another should give a slow motion about the upper (declination) axis if you lock the declination clutch. If you free the clutches you can swing the telescope at will. With the clutches free, make sure the counterweight is attached and the telescope etc roughtly balances about each axis. Now you should be ready to look at something in the night sky. If you want it to track by moving the mount around one axis rather than two, you have to do a rough 'polar align' but this is not essential for a first look.

A budget of £100-£150 does not go far when buying astronomical kit. A lot of the telescopes in this price range, even some from leading brands, can be of poor quality and be difficult to use. The Americans call these "hobby killers". So you should pay careful attention to the advice given above.

Good video. It should help any newbie who buy one of these. I have a Startravel 102 f5 which seems to be the same telescope, and I have an ASI120MC camera. Actually I have mostly used the superior ASI224MC with this scope, plus a SLT alt-az GoTo mount. The results don't match what some can do with expensive gear, but I was pleasantly surprised with what it could do from my urban backyard. Highlights include: Image of starfield including an identifiable Pluto Image including a faint galaxy I couldn't see at a dark sky site with my C8 Images of a couple of comets too faint to find visually here. Image of M33 - never seen it visually from anywhere Some pretty images of star clusters and globular clusters. Some of the above are posted in "EEVA Reports". Scope nerds may note that the Starquest 102 has a dovetail bar screwed to the tube, while the Startravel has the conventional tube rings + dovetail bar; probably a longer bar.

The 10 mm eyepiece gives a higher magnification than the 20mm. The finder scope is intended to help you get objects into the field of view of the main scope. You may have to align the finder (on a distant object, in daylight) so that both scopes point in the same direction and the same object shows in the middle of the field of view of each. The Barlow will increase the magnification of each eyepiece by x3. How useful this is, you will have to find out for yourself. 🙂 This is a very small and low-cost scope, so don't expect it to do too much. The Moon should look impressive through it, though.

Thought it worth refreshing this thread, as I bought one and it was DOA. With the button cell fitted (plus side outwards) it would not turn on. Not an unique experience, apparently. I could see that the negative contact, a flat disk, was flush with the surrounding insulation, which did not look good. Obviously the central disk needs to be higher than the insulation so that the flat button cell will make proper contact. I did not want to send it back, which would have been a problem anyway as I am self isolating. So I fixed a small piece of folded aluminium foil over the central contact, securing it with a small piece of sticky tape extending to one side. Now the device turns on OK. As some have commented, the circles are rather too bright.

I am getting the impression that what you really want to do is DSO photography, and that visual observing and planetary imaging are optional extras. I have not seen an AZ GTI mount. It seems to be popular, and can be used as outlined above but will not be a full substitute for a heavy duty imaging mount like a HEQ5. As for the filters, I looked up the IDAS D2, which according to the published info offers some relief from LED pollution. But it is expensive, and not a cure-all. Before committing to spending a lot of money, you should confirm that DSO imaging will be worthwhile from your location. A 60mm refractor will be underwhelming if only usable as a visual scope at your location. You should obtain and read the book "Making Every Photon Count" which imagers recomment to all imaging newbies. It might save you from spending money on unsuitable kit.

Which scope? It would make sense to buy the C5. It is available (here) packaged with several different GoTo mounts of varying degrees of stability. Or you could buy the C5 OTA only + a heavy duty mount also suited to future use on deep space astrophotography. With (for example) the C5 SE package, which has an alt-azimuth GoTo mount, you could do visual observing of objects less affected by light pollution, and also have a go at planetary imaging. Alt-azimuth GoTo mounts are less of a bother to set up and use for everything other than long exposure deep space imaging (which they won't do). CLS filter - note that if your local light pollution is caused by white LED lighting, no filter will block it, as these lights have a continuous spectrum. Light pollution filters only worked with the older sodium or mercury lights.

I have seen galaxies with my 127mm Mak (~ same aperture as a C5.) But if you live in an area with light pollution, you will not see many. I would not call the C5 'perfect' for planets. For its aperture, it is well suited for visual and imaging on planets. But a larger aperture SCT (8", 9.25" etc) would be better... You will also need a dedicated planetary camera and maybe an ADC (atmospheric dispersion corrector) which could cost you several hundred pounds extra. I won't say that you cannot image DSOs with it, but particularly with light polluted skies it could be a challenge. (and you would need a solid equatorial mount and maybe guiding). It would be wise to look into whether you can do deep sky imaging effectively in your skies with the z61. For visual its use would be limited though you would get some nice views of star clusters.

Your Heritage will show you some of the brighter galaxies under the right conditions. I have seen some with my 127mm Mak and 102mm Startravel. A red dot finder is actually better for finding faint objects than an optical finder, as you can aim it at the area where the object is. With an optical finder you will not be seeing anything and so will find it hard to tell where the scope is aimed unless some stars show. The optical finder is only useful when you can see somethng in it. Both types have their uses. If you really want to swap the finder, this should be easy if your scope has the wedge-shaped 'Synta' mount point. If so, a Skywatcher 6x30 finder will slot straight in.