Starwatcher2001

Welcome to SGL and back to astronomy. All your old favourites are still up their waiting to be observed, and new ones to be discovered.

Welcome aboard Jack. Good to have you with us. Earlier nightfall is very welcome, unfortunately most of my neighbours will still have their lights on until midnight.

Sometimes we've got to be practical when it comes to financing a scope (kids need shoes, food on the table etc), but I've always thought that it's better to push the limit on the scope and mount, and buy the add-ons later. Eyepieces, filters and other goodies can always be bought later, but it's not easy to add an extra inch or two to that mirror or lens when you have the cash.

John, if you'd like to chat with anyone in private, just hover your mouse over their name and select "Message". You can then swap messages between yourselves.

That cupboard you've made for it looks the biz. Just needs a table with a copy of Sky & Telescope and your scope will be cosy and comfortable 😀 A shower cap over the business end of the scope will help stop other spiders getting in. I'd avoid putting the scope in there immediately after a session if it's dewed up, let it dry out naturally first. Maybe worth putting some silica gel in there somewhere to absorb any residual moisture.

I put bubbles on the mount itself, and also on the tube to level it before aligning, but to be honest I rarely check use them now. As Geoff said, I don't think it matters that much.

I never do this each time. It only calculates the offset between the tube axis and the camera axis, which shouldn't change each night unless you move the camera mount itself. Redoing it each time doesn't hurt of course, but does take a little time that I don't think is necessary. I get objects in the 40mm eyepiece almost every time... unless I've clumsily bumped into the scope in the dark. When doing this calibration, I think the most important part is to always finish the last movement of the scope using UP and RIGHT (depending on how you've got the "goto approach" settings in the handset). Otherwise the motor backlash can thrown your careful centering off a bit.

Welcome aboard SGL Dave. Good to have you with us.

Aw rats. It does look like the handsets have different software. Sorry mate, I don't think you're missing anything. Looking at the relevant updates for StarSense and NexStar: StarSense 1.19.19003 January-2019 Support for Motorized Focuser 1.20.20162 July-2020 We rearranged some of the top menus more quickly, but it will be more obvious that slow booting accessories like GPS and the SSA Camera are still active in the background. 1.20.20244 September-2020 Feature: added Peripheral menu similar to NS+ for mounts like Evolution NexStar+ 5.30.8333 January-2019 Support for Motorized Focuser. 5.31.9200 August-2019 Patch : account for additional modules, including those that failed after April 6th. So you're definitely on the highest level of software for the NexStar+. That hasn't been updated since August last year. In the last two updates to StarSense they've done some work on the menus. It's likely that they are waiting to see if there's any further issues with this, and will hopefully port the changes to NexStar in the coming months. It looks like the Focus Motor does have internal software, as the latest one is mentioned as 7.16.9300. It's worth upgrading that, but I can't imagine that has anything to do with the menu system, and there's no mention of changes to that in their notes. They do seem to update the handsets quite regularly, so keep your eye out for a newer release. I can imagine how awkward it is to try to use the Focus Motor as you are having to do. It sounds pretty poor from Celestron to be honest. I've never had much success with the "goto position" feature. Despite carefully noting the focus positions of various eyepieces, it only gets you in the ball park. Even with the same eyepiece, slight differences in the angle of the diagonal, position of the eyepiece and of course the state of the atmosphere are always going to mean you'll have to tweak the focus slighty to get that star sharp. Cheers, Mark

Welcome aboard Jay. You certainly hit the floor running. Nice image sir.

Hi and welcome to SGL. You've chosen a top-notch hobby. I've not seen one, but after a quick Google, that looks like a practical telescope you've got, and quite capable of letting you see quite a number of the jewels in the sky. I started with a smaller scope and it kept me going for a good year. Personally, I'd have a really good play with it in daylight first, to get the feel of how everything goes together and how the handset works. Putting kit together in the dark is easier if you've done it a few times in daylight. First make sure the finder is aligned. Put your biggest eyepiece in (25mm or somesuch), aim the telescope at a distant object preferably a couple of hundred yards away, and get it to focus. If you look at objects too close, they may not come into focus properly. Then look through the finder and adjust the whatever knobs are on it until it is pointing at the exact same thing. It's worth spending a bit of time on this and getting the objects smack bang in the middle. For extra points put a smaller eyepiece in (higher mag) and fine tune the finder. Then have a crack at slewing around, finding objects using the finder. Even though you've got a "goto" scope, it's good practice for when you get the dob you fancy. Get a feel for how the object looks in the eyepiece (upside down, left/right inverted?). It really doesn't matter in space which way up an object is, but it does when you're moving around or comparing what you see in the eyepiece to a chart. Get a feel for how much of the object you see (field of view) and the size (magnification) as you switch eyepieces. Get yourself a good sky atlas, or possibly an app, and learn where the constellations are - particularly those that are "up" at this time of year. Getting the lie of the land, or indeed sky, is the first step to finding objects. The online or downloadable apps such as "Stellarium" allow you to watch the constellations move in more than real time, which is great for working out what might be visible at any one time (and not behind the house/shed or whatever). Choose a few (the Moon and Mars are great choices right now) and make them your first targets. Maybe have a look at "Albireo" a beautiful double in Cygnus, which is nearly overhead at the moment. Also try the globular M13 in Hercules. The "double cluster" between Perseus and Cassiopeia is a beautiful view. Obviously none of these are going to look like the images in the book, but they should look quite reasonable in your scope. In due course, you'll want to be learning how to collimate your telescope to squeeze the very best view from the optics, and learn to perform alignment to the night sky to use the goto efficiently, but first I'd suggest just going out and playing with your telescope. Unless the collimation is very poor, you should still enjoy the view. One thing that often doesn't occur to new astronomers is that it's much more comfortable sitting down to observe. It's also a lot easier to watch an object for a while without crunching over the telescope. Other things that help is being warm, especially head and feet. Observing whilst feeling cold isn't fun. A red light for reading maps, making notes etc., will protect your precious night vision. Above all else... enjoy yourself. Cheers, Mark

Hi Capt and welcome aboard SGL. Glad you like the place. "... with my remaining eye!" - sounds like you've worked with lasers in the lab too.😀 That's a nice scope you've got, especially for the price. Nice one. Personally I'd have a crack at straightening the spider vane. It would annoy me "as is", but may damage the image a bit, although I'm sure somebody more knowledgable than me will confirm/deny. Looks like it readily comes out and would probably straighten nicely in a vice. You'll probably have to realign it when you've reassembled it. With the spider out, I'd have a look at that white part on the focuser tube. Looks like it might be a label with a barcode on. It's in a prime position to reflect stray light into the eyepiece. I'd remove it, or paint it matt black. Can't comment on the collimation of that scope as I've never seen one in the flesh. All the best, Mark

This is my C9.25 Evo on alt-az mount. I'm 60 and out of shape (well round is a shape I suppose), but can take this through the house, assemble it, align it with StarSense and be observing inside 20 minutes. The tripod is the heaviest but doesn't need to be lifted high. The bolt for the accessory tray unscrews and drops down without coming all the way off. That allows the tray to be dropped and twisted around, allowing it to be collapsed together without needing any further dismantling. Both the mount and the tube have carrying handles, so it's three trips indoors for the scope and one more for the eyepiece case and assorted other stuff. I've only had it a few months, so haven't travelled with it, but don't think there'll be any problems getting it in the car. Packing it to prevent it rolling around will need a bit of thought. I'm thinking tripod in the boot, mount and tube on back seats wrapped in a sleeping bag and seatbelted up. I'm sure the lot would go in the boot if necessary. (It's a lot lighter and smaller than my diving rig).

Before you write it off, I'd go around every wire and give them a gentle tug to see if anything is loose. Press all connectors back together in case they've worked their way apart. If you've got access to a soldering iron, heat the solder on each component in turn in case there's a dry joint. If the connectors for the two motors are the same, I'd swap them around. It won't work like that of course, but might tell you if it's the circuit board or motor that's at fault.

Welcome aboard SGL, good to have you with us.

I wonder if you're on a different version of the software. I'm using the StarSense handset and I think you're using the NexStar handset. I thought they were both the same, in terms of how the focuser and motor controls work. Okay, let's try an experiment. Do can do this during the day of course, no need to lose valuable observing time. 1. Get everything plugged in and running. No need to do any alignment. 2. Press MENU, FOCUSER, MOVE IN/OUT, RATE = 3. At this point you should be seeing this screen. Is that right? 3. You should be able to press the SCROLL buttons to move the focus. Nothing will change on the display, except the POSITION value. 4. Now without touching anything else, just try pressing one of the MOVEMENT keys and see what happens. On mine, the scroll display stays on the screen, but I also get an inverse number in thr top right of the display telling me the speed the motor is slewing. The telescope moves. 5. On mine as long as I don't go to another menu option, I can press the MOVEMENT keys to move the scope, and SCROLL buttons to focus, all day long. In fact I can press both at once and the telescope and focus move at the same time. I can also hit "MOTOR SPEED" followed by a number key to change the speed at which the telescope moves. 6. On mine, I can be almost anywhere in any menu, and the MOVEMENT keys will always work, slewing at whatever rate I previously set. Does yours behave like that? 7. If you're getting different behaviour, it might be down to a different version of software on your handset. You can find this out with MENU, HAND CONTROLLER, GET VERSION INFO There's more information on that screen if you hit the SCROLL DOWN button. (The arrow in the top right gives you a clue about that). You can find out about software versions here: https://www.celestron.com/pages/firmware-update-history Before you go down the track of updating the handset's firmware (which can be a bit chewy), find out (a) what version you are on, and (b) if a newer version of the NexStar software adds this feature as it does on StarSense handsets. It's generally not a good idea to upgrade unless there's a feature or bugfix that you need. Cheers, Mark

Unfortunately you do. Bit of a pain to be honest, especially if you need to move the scope around the garden to see something previously hidden by trees etc. You don't have to do the finder alignment bit each time though.

I've just got back into astronomy after almost 20 years away and it feels great. Hope you re-enjoy all your favourite objects and find plenty of new ones to absorb you. All the best, Mark

Welcome aboard. Good to have you with us. Sitting down is a relaxing way to observe and helps you keep your eye in a good position. Enjoy your new scope, there's a lot of fantastic jewels up there just waiting for you to take a peek at them.

Another here with astigmatism. Whether it causes a problem or not can depend on the level of astigmatism and the focal length of the eyepiece (or more correctly, the size of the exit pupil of an eyepiece when in a particular telescope). Longer focal lengths provide a wider beam of light, which is detected by a bigger area of your eye, and is more likely to show up problems with astigmatism. Shorter focal lengths give a narrower beam and therefore only use a smaller area of your pupil, which can mean astigmatism is not visible. For me, anything longer than 17mm shows stars like lines without my glasses, but shorter ones don't. That means I can "get away" without glasses at higher powers and therefore don't need eyepieces with longer eye-relief. If possible, give prospective eyepieces a try before buying (not easy in this climate I know), or assume that glasses are always needed.

Welcome aboard Trevor. If you've not discovered it yet on this comprehensive forum, there's an area for discussion of bins: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/133-discussions-binoculars/

You can amend your signature by clicking on your username at the top right, select "account", and then look for "signature" on the left. Then fiddle around with it for a week... or is that just me?

First step is to get your finder aligned: - During the day, aim the main telescope tube at a something a few hundred yards away using the motors and your 25mm eyepiece. - Adjust the knobs on your finder until it points to the exact same place as the main tube does. - Put your 9mm eyepiece in, centre the object and re-adjust your finder until the two show the same thing in the centre. - You should only have to do that once, but it's good practice to check it when you first set up. That way finding the first object is a cinch, even if you use "Go to" for the rest of them. As previous posters have said, definitely get tracking going. - Make sure the tripod is fairly level - Hit 'ALIGN' from the main menu - Press SCROLL DOWN a couple of times to get to "Solar System Align" and press ENTER. - It will show current Time, Date and Zone. Press ENTER to say you want to amend that. - Key in the current time. (24 hour clock) ENTER - Key in the date (USA format, month first) ENTER - Use SCROLL to select your time zone. ENTER - Select ENTER to select daylight saving. Level the tube using the motors (I also aim mine due South). ENTER - Use SCROLL until you find the Moon (or Mars) ENTER - Put your 25mm eyepiece in, and use the motors to find and centre the object. When you're there, hit ENTER. (That's called "Coarse Centering") - Put your 9mm eyepiece in and do the same. You'll notice the motors move slower during this process. That's normal. - Finally, Press ALIGN to tell it you're done (that was "Fine centering"). The scope should now track that object reasonably well. Tips for using the Focus Motor - Select MENU - Scroll to the FOCUSER option, ENTER - Scroll down a few times to get to Focus IN/OUT, ENTER - Focus Speed = 3, ENTER Now leave the handset as it is and start looking through the eyepiece. You can still move the scope using the keypad, which you'll quickly learn to do by touch whilst looking through the eyepiece (the motor buttons feel different). To change the speed that the motors move you around, hit MOTOR SPEED (bottom right), and then a number. (I tend to just use 9,6,3, which are easily felt without looking). You can also still change the focus using the scroll buttons - again by feel, once you get used to it. To change the focus speed, hit BACK (top right), and the 1, 2 or 3. You can practice this during the day, and I promise you, within a few minutes you'll be able to do this with your eyes closed (except the bit where you look through the eyepiece 🤣) Most importantly: enjoy yourself, and come back with any other questions you might have. Mark

Haha.. you got it spot on first time. Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

Welcome aboard SGL. Astronomy can be frustrating and demanding, but those times when you see the gems in the universe make it all the more worth it.