DavidB

Oh, thank the heavens that someone else has had the same experiences of a new scope!! I bought a Celestron NexStar and set it up in the middle of the afternoon because I couldn't wait til dark. Then at night took it outside just as the clouds came across. No sky for the next three nights. Took it out on a clear night and attempted to set it up in the dark. Realised I needed to put spectacles on and off at various times at the same time holding a torch and trying to put the scope on the mount. Blinded myself twice as the torch twisted in the hand. Nearly dropped the very expensive new tube. Got tangled up with some plant life that seemed to come out at me. Eventually got the scope up and running. By this time the skys had clouded over and cleared again. Then I turned the electrics on and attempted a three star alignment. Actually got the beast to settle on two stars and Jupiter but then after a few seconds got the message "Alignment Failed". Walked around the garden stumbling over a bench, a cement tortoise and bruising my chins on an over-large plant pot before realising that the stoopid machine did not keep track of the time and date and that it was working on the settings I had used days before when I bought it!! Sadly, I gave up at that point and retired to a bottle containing lots of lovely malt and alcohol from Scotland. Since then there has only been one clear night and I looked at the moons of Jupiter using the scope manually and gazed around in awe with a pair of Helios binoculars. A month later have still not used the GoTo as bad light stopped play. I am now cheating. I have joined an observing group in my area and am hoping to throw myself on their mercy for help in return for promises of pints of bitter.