Starwatcher2001

Have you thought about second hand? There's a Starsense currently for sale in the Classifieds section.

Welcome aboard Chris. Good to have you with us.

Welcome to SGL Brian. Good to have you with us. Sorry, can't help on the dark arts of AP, but wish you every success.

Welcome aboard SGL Alan. Good to have you with us. I've got the 16mm OVL and it's a lovely and much used EP.

Welcome to SGL. Good to have you with us. By "new moon", I presume you mean seeing the thin crescent of the moon when it's only a day or two old? A "New Moon" is when the moon is in the same direction as the Sun and you wouldn't want to go looking through bins in that direction. Chasing the crescent is quite fun though and can be seen in daylight with the naked eye a few days after a New Moon. You can see a fair bit with a pair of bins and certainly learn a lot about astronomy and the night sky. Right now's not the best time as the coming summer means it doesn't get dark very early, and hardly dark at all for a month or two. But it's still worth getting a book on the constellations (although there's also newfangled apps now), and getting outside and learning who's who, and the names and positions of the brightest stars. With a bit of practice you'll find yourself being able to spot the brighter stars in twilight as they first appear and know instinctively who they are by their position. If you can do this each week or so, you'll quickly get a grasp of how the heavens move and how the constellations not only move position but orientation too. When I was first learning, I used to get up early in the morning to see how different the sky looked. You don't have to learn the sky, but it puts you in a great position to find the jewels that are up there more easily, and I like to think it brings you just that bit closer to the Universe. I started learning around Christmas and it always brings a tingle of anticipation when that season comes back and I know my old friends will be visible again. If you've not come across it, there's some terrific information on here about observing with bins, for example: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/133-discussions-binoculars/ My own number one tip would be to get or make a mount for your bins, rather than holding them by hand. Even steadying yourself by leaning on the washing post or similar will help you observe more. There's no such thing as a daft question on here, so feel free to ask about anything. We were all there once!

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

- Failing to align due to leaving dust cap on camera - Poor pointing due to not tightening clutches - Arrived at dark site, unpacked, set kit up... no eyepiece case

I went around the houses with the same issue, updating software, closing down other apps on my tablet, switching off battery saving, forgetting other networks... I couldn't figure out a pattern, some nights it would work fine, but others would cause problems all night. Sometimes I could restart SkySafari and it would "cure" the problem for a while, other times I had to switch off the tablet and scope, then start from scratch including re-aligning. The thing that finally solved my connection problems was buying an external Wifi module (2nd hand) and turning off the internal one! Its worked fine since then.

I've never used that combination, so this is just guesswork. What's Stellarium running on, and is the date and time accurate on that platform (including DST)? Does the Stellarium also need to know the correct location, or does it take that from the scope? The fact that it sometimes gets it right makes me wonder if it's an intermittant fault in the cable. After it finally gets it right, does it behave properly from then on? Is there a chance any clutches are slipping (got caught with that a couple of times on my C9.25)?

I usually get somewhere in the middle third in a 25mm eyepiece (94x - 0.56 degrees) on my scope. If you're working in a particular area of the sky, add another alignment point in that area and that should improve local accuracy.

Yeah, I recall having to search around for this solution myself. It should indeed be in the manual. Glad you're sorted mate. There's a thread on CN that explains it more: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/551792-nexstar-plus-option-button/ Cheers, Mark

Ah, you need to know the magic key. When you're in the list of cities, press the Celestron Logo button (bottom left). That toggles to the coordinates:

The handset is a bit deceptive. The menu looks like you're in the right place to enter time AND Location, but this screen is JUST for time. When you're here, press SCROLL DOWN. You'll then get this menu where the location is entered. Is that the problem or am I misunderstanding?

Ouch indeed. Glad your kit didn't get damaged. Thought we were going to lose some slates last night, but all looked fine this morning. Sympathies.

I spent a few hours trying to persuade my new SkySense system to work before throwing it to one side and going manual. When I packed up for the night I realised I'd left the lens cap on. It's no longer black.

Welcome aboard SGL Gavin. Good to have you with us. As others have said, there's little you can do about it, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy astronomy. I border Middlesbrough which is bortle 7/8, but I've seen a lot of really cool objects from here: clusters, globulars, doubles, brighter galaxies and nebula, planets, moon, asteroids.... Obviously getting out to a dark site is much better, but getting out under the stars in a poor locale is much more rewarding than sitting watching the tv. Enjoy your scope.

John Dobson's original design used an LP record as it has a grooved surface. The Sidewalk Astronomers, founded by John, later moved to a pebbly finish much as you describe and found a product called "Ebony Star" gave a smooth action. I had the pleasure of meeting John in Pontefract in 2002, courtesy of the West Yorkshire Astronomy Group. He was quite a character and told a good many fascinating stories, not just about astronomy. He was a very knowledgable guy.

Welcome aboard SGL Stuart. Good to have you with us. You're in the right place!

Welcome aboard SGL to the pair of you. Good to have you with us. You've got yourselves a good scope there, capable of seeing some great objects.

I've always found that getting the right "feel" for a Dob is a balancing act between smoothness, but also a little "sticktion". Too smooth and it can move in a wind, to much stick and it takes too much force to nudge and overshoots. When I built mine I used a tapered roller bearing (from a GS750) in the centre, teflon sliders and an adjustable clutch so I could vary the feel. Lubricants never helped due to problems mentioned above, and temperature.

I've been out doing exactly the same thing: doubles in Orion. Sky quite hazy at times and could only find the 4 main stars in the trapezium. Spent some time with Meissa (lambda). A-B took 147x to split. Found C,D,E, but F eluded me. I'll have to try again at a later date. Found A and B in Iota (Nair al Saif) and think I found C, but it seemed a lot further away than my notes say it is. I'll have to check that one. With Orion being pretty much South, the positional angles are easier to work with (on an Alt-Az mount). Looked at Struve 747 which I can't recall seeing before. Thoroughly enjoyable evening, despite a full moon, Bortle 7 and neighbours lights on.

Does the finder scope fit to the tube with screws? If so, is it possible to losen them a little and move the bracket itself? On other scopes it's sometimes necessary to "shim" the mount with a piece of cardboard or similar. If you're able to take a photo or two of the finder and post them, it might help someone come up with a solution. Oh, welcome to SGL. Good to have you with us.

I'm not familar with that scope, but I'm sure those that are will be along soon to give you some great advice. Welcome aboard SGL, and welcome to the wonderful hobby that is astronomy. It's great to see your enthusiasm.

I don't use a filter either. Yes, it's bright, but the iris soon closes up and after a few seconds I find it quite comfortable. Just don't expect to do any DSO work for a while afterwards!

Hi Siouxie. Reading your point 3, I'm not sure this applies to you, but there's definitely a problem if the camera is removed and replaced each session. Both the mounting bracket and camera bracket are tapered by 5mm, and the bracket has two triangular recesses into which the mounting bolts on the camera fit into. This leaves lots of "play", and depending on the order, and how you tighten the two bolts, there can be upto a degree of difference in the axes each time. I measured this by fastening a laser measure on the camera and marking the locations on a flat surface at the other side of the room then using a bit of trig. It's hard to get the exact same alignment consistently each time you put the camera on. It's not just a lateral difference but vertical too, which I think comes from the bolts engaging with the recesses in the mount bracket. I think the only practical options I can think of are to either do the added faff with the calibration each time, or leave the camera permanently mounted - which leaves it quite vulnerable.