Starwatcher2001

Welcome aboard. Sounds like it would be a crime not to use a telescope in that location.

I started amateur astronomy in the nineties and am back after a long break. In the month I've been here I've leared a lot from the good people, who are all so willing to share their knowledge and enthusiasm. I love the friendly atmosphere and feel quite at home here. Second only to being under dark skies, this is a great place to be. Thank you everyone.

There's a thread here about StarSense misbehaviour. It seems aimed at the NexStar handset, but might be useful. Look for a "Factory settings" option on the "utilities" menu and see if you can reset it. https://www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/HCFix.htm

My dob used a plywood tube, so I glued a couple of strips of velcro down the back and used a tupperware box of lead with velcro on the bottom. I like hi-tech solutions.

Sorry Keith, I missed the moon out! Which is always lovely to look at, especially around the shadow (known as the terminator). Binoculars are often a great start to astronomy as they are easier to use than a scope and will help to learn the night sky (if you're not familiar with it yet). They can be rewarding on their own, but if you choose to get a telescope later, bins will always be of use to help find objects. This is a good article on using bins to observe, and also has a good list of objects you can look for: https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/binocular-stargazing-catalog/ If you don't currently have any charts with the constellations on them, this program is a great online version: https://stellarium-web.org/ Enjoy your observing, and if you've got any other questions, feel free to ask away. Nothing is considered a daft question on here. Cheers, Mark

That's a great report Nige and just the kind of thing you can look back on and compare with later observations. What size scope were you using?

Open star clusters, globular clusters (eg M13), some of the brighter galaxies, doubles such as Mizar in Ursa Major. Bins are best used with a tripod if you have one, or steady yourself against something fixed. (I used to use the washing post). This is especially important with 15 x 70 which will be tricky to hold steady for long. They can give spectacular views of the milky way, just sit or lay down and gaze upwards. Apparently you can also use the to watch sports and wildlife, if that's your thing 🙂

Welcome aboard. You're certainly in the right place.

Welcome aboard to a fantastic hobby. There's certainly been a sudden run to get astonomy kit. It's great to see more people interested in looking at the universe, but anoying when you're trying to get equipment. I've got some kit on order that had a 30-40 (business) days delivery time, but I suppose it's best to get in the queue and be patient. Having said that, I bought my actual scope second hand off ebay, have it already and saved quite a bit. Whilst your waiting on equipment, there's the perfect opportunity to get out under the stars and begin getting on first name terms with all the stars and constellations that will quickly become old friends.

Welcome aboard igorigs. Hope you quickly feel at home here. Good observing.

I suspect that the majority of people who take up astronomy are initially disappointed when they first realise what they'll see through the eyepiece won't look anything like the images in the magazines. Unless of course they are prepared to spend a lot of money and time learning. Sadly a good number give up, which is a shame, because with a bit of patience and understanding even a small instrument can be quite rewarding. My first telescope was a 70mm refractor with 0.965" plastic eyepieces and it satisfied me for 18 months or so. I learned the basics of star-hopping and went for targets that were practical: planets, moon, open clusters, planetary nebulas, the bigger globulars, and doubles that I developed a passion for. Sure, many of them looked like fuzzy blobs, but the fact I could find them and appreciate just what they were was amazing. Those exact photons that were making up the images had travelled across the galaxy for tens of thousands of years and I was the only person to see them. Finding and seeing the ring nebular looked like the tiniest of donuts, but was clearly not a normal star, the gas shell was a star in it's death throes. I then spent months hunting for doubles that I could split in my small scope, and seeing if I could discern colour differences. By lowering my expectations, I got a lot of pleasure from what could observe. Jupiter and Saturn are not well placed right now for observing, so it's going to be especially tough with a smaller instrument. I'd suggest not worrying about photos, I never managed to get anything decent though mine, and just concentrate on getting as good focus as you can, not touching the telescope, and just watching it drift across the eyepiece and observing what you can. With a bit of experience, you'll find you'll make out more, and maybe see some of those "faint fuzzies" that were once beyond you. Certainly as the nights start getting properly dark, you'll see more and more. What's the Bushnell like looking at stars, are they pin-point or do they look like little comets? I'm wondering if checking the collimation might give you better views? All the best, Mark

Agree, and another vote for Skysafari Pro, which works beautifully with my Celestron NexStar 925. It's well worth the £19 I paid for it last month. Initial alignment seems more intuitive, and exploring particular constellations is a lot more fun as you'll find yourself looking at objects that were not on your list, but that happened to be close. Observing from my back garden, I've got the house to the south, and trees north, but there's lots to see in the portion of the sky I've got access to. Edited to add: There's some "in app purchases" such as LiveSky and extended databases aimed more at professionals, you don't need to purchase these. The telescope control already comes with the PRO version.

Is the date the correct way around? It's probably US format MM/DD/YY? edit: Sorry, misunderstood your post. Did you get a user manual for the scope or app? I've tried looking it up and can't find anything. Is this your telescope? It looks like there's no drive or electronics in the scope or mount, and the app is supposed to be standalone. https://www.highpointscientific.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-lt-114az-newtonian-reflector-22452

Good tip, Ed. My Telrad looks like an old truck, with it's DIY duct tape covered plastic appendage. Certainly keeps the dew off. The cutouts at the back so I can get to the adjusters.

You're in good company, Hubble has the same issue.

That's a very capable scope for the money. Is that a Telrad base? I've always found them easier to star-hop than finders.

It's swings and roundabouts* my friend. During the winter you'll get longer nights of darkness to embrace your hobby. Edit: *does this translate well into Danish? British saying "some you win, some you lose".

Hi again. A good start to learning to star-hop to cool objects is knowing the amount of sky that you're looking at through your finder scope and eyepiece. Your finder scope is 9x50, which shows approximately 5 degrees of sky. Your 25mm eyepiece in that scope shows 1 degree. If you are using a printed chart or book to navigate around the sky, get yourself some clear acetate sheet and draw two circles in the correct scale to represent your finder and biggest eyepiece (5 and 1 degrees). Putting them on the chart when you're observing, should show roughly the same field of view as you'll see in the sky. This can help you confirm you're in the right place. Don't forget that when looking through the eyepiece of a Newtonion scope, the image is upside-down, so you'll need to turn the chart upside down. Alternatively, if you have a printer, print pages from an online planetarium (such as https://stellarium-web.org/), and then draw your finder view on top. (I prefer to do this as you can scribble on it under the stars). If I were finding Andromeda by star-hopping, I'd do the following: - Look in the sky for the square of pegasus and note the left-most star (Alpheratz). - I'd look two stars along her "leg" (Delta Andromedae and Mirach) - I'd look two stars upwards (Mu Andromedae and Nu Andromedae) (See: Image Start.jpg. Hops.jpg is the route we are going to take) - I'd then move the scope to point to Mu Andromedae in the finder. - Through the 25mm eyepiece, I'd expect to see that nice group of three bright stars. If I couldn't see them, I'd know my finder was misaligned. - I'd turn my chart around until it matched exactly what I see though the eyepiece. That's my starting point, and if I lose my way I can always start back here again. (Hop1.jpg) - I'd move my scope slightly up and right, and watch the image in the eyepiece slide down and left, until the star I've marked is in the centre. (HD 4322) (Hop2.jpg) - Towards the bottom left of the view should be those two nice pointer stars. - I'd move the scope up and right again, watching the image move down and left, putting those two "pointers" near the top right of the field of view. (Hop3.jpg) - Moving the scope up a littled, M32 (A companion of M31) should come into the eyepiece. - Moving up a little more and you should be right in the middle of M31. All this is a lot easier to do than describe. It's just a question of plotting your route, working out your field of view and getting your head around the orientation of the image. On a clear night it's probably easier just to find Andromeda in a pain of binoculars and pointing the finder straight at it. I've laboured the process a little to try to show the basics of star-hopping. Hope that helps. Mark

This bit looks like a keyway to unscrewing the front ring, you can see the thread behind it. However, without the right tool, it looks like a receipe for scratching the front lens if you slip. Approaching it from the rear does seem like a prudent idea.

Welcome aboard. I've been observing for 20 odd years and would have bitten my arm off for a scope like yours. I've finally got the 925 version and I love it. You've chosen a great scope that will serve you well, so don't regret it. Have a look on this forum and elsewhere for images taken with the SE8. Some of them are quite spectacular. There is a lot to learn in this hobby, but you've got the right approach - enjoying it is the key. Stop reading the ads and get yourself outside and start learning the sky :-). When your scope turns up, you'll have a head start on where to point it. Another diver, eh? There's something in us that wants to look at the beauty of the universe. Losing yourself in the stars is just as wonderful as being on a gentle drift dive and watching the wildlife going about their lives.

What sort of time are you looking for the objects? Right now it's hardly getting dark at all, and not favourable to seeing faint galaxies. I'm assuming you've already successfully found and observed the brighter objects like planets, some star-clusters and doubles? If not, give them a go first and that will give you confidence in finding things. (Sorry if you've been there and done that!) What about globular clusters like M13, over there in Hercules? You should be able to see that in your scope in the West after midnight, when the Sun and Moon have both cleared off. With a low power EP, it should look like a fuzzy snowball, and look quite nice with a higher power. If you're okay with the above, and getting nice images, we can assume your scope's okay, your focusing is good, and you've got the hang of pointing it in the right place! What happens if you try to observe M31 (Andromeda)? Is the white spot you describe like a lighter smudge of grey, rather than a point of light? If that's the case, you've found it and the conditions are just not up to seeing it well. Andromeda is a massive object, but you should be able to see the core in your 10". It might be that it's not dark enough, or there's thin clouds overhead. Try bumping the scope gently, that sometimes helps make them pop out of the background. I can't often see the Milky Way from my back yard (Bortle 7/8), but I can see some brighter galaxies, but without much structure or detail. I bet on a clear, properly dark night you'll see much more. Do be aware though that they won't look as nice as they do in the photographs, but with a little experience you'll hone your observings skills (like averted vision) and start to tease more detail out of the objects.

Thank you all for the warm welcome, it's very much appreciated. This is a great place to be and I already feel at home here. See you on the forums 🙂

Hi Sam, An 8" mirror (200p) will capture 78% more light than a 6" (150p), which will result in a brighter image, better resolution, and more detail in the things you view. If weight, size and transporting it around (if appropriate) are not an issue, the general advice is to go for the biggest aperture you can afford. You can always buy more eyepieces as you go along, but upgrading to a bigger mirror means changing your scope. If I were choosing between the 150p and the 200p, I'd choose the 200p every day - and twice on Sundays. All the best, Mark

First off, you're not stupid. Stuff happens. Second, don't panic and do anything in haste. I'm sure there's someone on here who will know what the issue is and can point you in the right direction.

Welcome aboard. Hope you soon feel at home here.