Starwatcher2001

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

Taking up new interests and learning new skills is good fun, and helps keep the brain ticking. Enjoy your nice new scope.

Welcome back Nathan. Nothing like a Dob to scratch that itch.

You'll find all your old favourites are still up there patiently waiting for you, and new stuff to be discovered. Have fun.

I'd recommend you try during the daytime as Stu mentioned (makes it easier to see what you're doing, it's easier to find something to see, and you're less likely to have dew problems). Don't try focusing on something at the bottom of the garden though (unless you've got several acres), try rooftops and chimneys a 1/2 mile away or so. (Telescopes by design aren't designed to focus on close things).

Do take it from one end of the focuser to the other, it's a surprisingly long, long way.

If that doesn't work, loosen the eyepiece and move it outwards, even out of the holder, whilst looking through it. It can be tricky to keep it aligned but you might find a place it will focus. If that's the case, you may need an extension tube. But I'd be surprised if that's the case.

You could also try without the diagonal (just put the eyepiece in the tube). But again, I'd be surprised. From your photograph it looks like you've got it set up correctly.

Hi Sarah,

I can answer a couple of your questions.

Cool down: a scope will work as soon as you take it outside, but the image might now be stable or as good as it will be when it's reached the outside temperature. Heat in the tube causes ripples like you'll see on the road on a hot day. Small scopes cool fairly quickly. With a small scope, I just take it outside first, take the rest of my kit, grab a coffee and then go get observing. With my bigger scopes I just put the tube in the back garden, have my tea and then go out to play.

Eyesight: If you're just short sighted you can take your glasses off to look through the scope and adjust the focus a little. It will compensate for your glasses and you should be fine. If you've got astigmatism this doesn't quite work, depending on how bad your astigmatism is. Glasses can be worn when viewing through a telescope (I do it regularly), but you have to be a little more careful about which eyepieces you use. Eyepieces have a thing called "eye-relief", which is how far away from the top lens your eyeball can be, and still see a good amount of the field of view. You obviously can't get your eyeball as close to the lens if you've got your glasses on.  The eye-relief that you need with glasses depends on a few things, including your prescription, how deep your eye-sockets are, and how far from your face your glasses sit. Personally I need around 18-20mm depending on the eyepiece, but some people need less. I can use eyepieces with less e/r, but it's like looking down a straw.

I don't know if you've read then following thread, and I don't want to overwhelm you with more to read, but it gives a realistic description of what you're likely to see through a scope. It's well worth a read if you have time.  https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/page/14/#comment-4176722

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

I once took a holiday in Pembrokeshire and the skies were amazing. Far too good to ignore. Good luck on your astrophotography journey.

Sorry, I don't know. I did manage to find a thread here that might be useful:
https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/318998-starsense-on-az-gti/

Do be aware that StarSense isn't cheap and has it's own setup issues.

Well done on finding Orion. Star hopping is a skill that comes with practice and is well worth developing, even with a goto telescope. I have a Dob without any electronics and still enjoy hunting down objects by hopping.

Yes, go past the target if necessary and then use the correct direction buttons to creep back up on it and stop when you get there. If you overshoot, you're supposed to go back again and then creep back up to it again.  You can decide for yourself if the faff is worth it. My view is that as long as "goto" gets the object somewhere in a low power eyepiece, I'm happy. I'm not that bothered if it's not slap in the middle.

On my setup I always moved* the object to the top right quadrant of the eyepiece before the final alignment movements.  That ensured I was going in the right direction. Your actual direction might be different depending on diagonal type, and maybe other settings in the handset. In the NexStar handset you can reverse the directions that the buttons work - which is handy, but confuses matters even further!  

I like SkySafari myself, but there's quite a few app about. Stellarium is also well regarded.

(*I now use StarSense which automatically aligns everything while I bring out the rest of my kit and get a coffee etc.)

If you watch carefully when it does its goto, in one direction it will travel past the target slightly, then back up a bit. That backing up takes up the backlash to ensure accuracy.

This becomes more obvious if you connect the mount to an app like SkySafari. The app will show a map of the sky with cross-hairs showing where the scope is pointing. During slewing the cross-hairs will move on the screen, and they'll sometimes go past the target then back. (That's the scope using that "one weird trick" itself).

Depending on the handset that comes with the goto, there's sometimes a "backlash setting" for both alt and az directions. Here you can set the backlash values for both movements. The scope can then use a faster motor speed to take up the slack.

For example, suppose I'm using high magnification to look at a feature on the moon. I'll set the motor speed to 1 or 2, so as I move the scope with the controller it only moves slowly. (Don't want it whipping off the moon entirely!) I press the button to move slightly to the right and the scope responds instantly. It does the same every time I move right. I now press left and I hear the motor running but it takes 20 seconds before the telescope tube actually moves (which is annoying). Next time I press left it will respond instantly as it's already taken up the slack. Every time I change direction I have to wait for the slack to be taken up again.

Now suppose I tell the telescope just how much backlash there is (the manual should tell you how, but it's basically trial and error). I adjust the backlash accordingly and do the same experiment with that lunar feature. This time when I change direction with the buttons, the scope knows how much backlash there is and can use a higher speed to take up the slack, before dropping back to the speed I asked it to move. So it doesn't prevent backlash, the scope just takes it up quicker to give a faster response when you change directions. You can hear the motor change note when it does this.  It may well take it into account when slewing to a different object, but I'm not sure.

If you don't set the backlash the scope still works and is just as accurate, you just may get that annoying pause when changing direction, particularly when using higher magnifications. So it's not something to worry about when you're starting out. Indeed I suspect many people don't bother, or have too little backlash to make the effort worth while.

Note, as I understand it, the scope knowing the backlash doesn't save you from having to use that "one weird direction trick" when aligning.

6 hours ago, DhamR said:

* alignment requires you to finish on an up and a right movement for some reason, this baffled me for ages with the select/confirm button being greyed out otherwise with no error. This is just poor UI design tbh. 

This is because all gears have some slop in them, also known as backlash. When they are moved in one direction they mesh and take up any slack. If you then move them in the other direction the motor will need to run for a short while (depending on the quality and design of the gears) to take up the slack in the other direction before the telescope itself actually moves. By forcing you to be consistent in the direction of the last movement you make, it ensures consistency in your positioning.

On my C925 scope using high-power eyepieces (and therefore a slow motor speed) it can take 20 seconds before I see movement through the eyepiece. The backlash is pretty poor. But once you know that "one weird trick" of always ending alignment in the same way, it makes alignment more accurate.

Hiya and welcome aboard SGL.

While you're waiting for a dark night, I'd recommend having a play with your new telescope during daylight.

First have a go at focusing the main telescope. Put your largest eyepiece in and point the scope at something distant (1/2 a mile or so if possible), chimney pots, aerials etc are all good targets. Astronomical telescopes don't often focus on close objects. Play with the focuser until you get a sharp image. It may be upside down or left/right inverted, but that's fine. There is no up/down in space.

Once you've got the hang of focusing with different eyepieces and moving the scope around, have a go at setting up the finder scope. That's the small telescope that probably sits on top of the main one. Both the finder and the main telescope tube have to point to exactly the same thing, otherwise you won't be able to find anything. With the main telescope pointing at something familiar, look through the finder and adjust the screws until it also points to the same thing. For extra points get them both smack bang in the middle with your smallest eyepiece.

Now you've got that set up, the way to operate the scope is to use the small finder scope (which gives a larger field of view), to aim the whole instrument. Have a play.

Get used to finding all the bits, putting it together and taking it apart... before trying it in the dark.

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

You're in the right place to get help and support on astronomy - and make friends.

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

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us. 

Hope you enjoy the forum and making new friends on here.

Clear skies.

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

The best scope is a scope that's getting used, as the old adage goes. My main scope is a C925 which can be a bit of a heft to get in and out of the house, but lately have been enjoying the views from a much smaller 80mm frac as a "grab and go". It's a different type of observing of course, but the lower power and wider fields can be just as much fun. I'm spending more time getting acquainted with an object's neighbourhood, which helps put them more in context. Likewise with the moon, with lower powers I'm getting a different view to what I'm used to. Quick setup is getting more important as the chances to observe over the last year seem fewer and fewer.

Whatever kit you decide to use, your old friends are still up there waiting for you. Enjoy!

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

Glad you joined us. Lurkings good, but joining in is more fun - no matter what stage in the journey one is.

Hi Jassy, welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

You've made a good move asking for advice as there's lots of choice and it can be a bit bewildering for the newcomer.

I'd echo what David said - don't buy from a department store etc.

I'm sure plenty of other folks will leap in with good suggestions, but it's also worth having a read at the beginner threads already on SGL as there's lots of help and advice in there.

Hope he, and you, enjoy the journey.

On 29/11/2021 at 11:34, Sunshine said:

lol, I recall working in a scope shop in my teens when a young, wealthy man came in and insisted on the most expensive scope, I sold him the 12" LX200 we had in stock. With it I sold him every acssesory

we possibly had including several TV eyepieces and a wedge to boot. Even vibration pads, when I say wealthy I mean stinking,  I made commission and he kept asking for whatever we had.

I was the fortunate person on the other end of a story like this. I came across my Celestron 9.25 Evo on ebay for an excellent price. It came with lots of goodies and was such a good deal that I was quite wary to begin with. I engaged the seller in conversation and it turned out he was a dealer selling it for a customer, whom he said was a "collector of fine things".  Took the plunge and when it arrived it was pristine. The points on the tripod had never seen ground by the look of it. It was probably set up in a drawing room somewhere and never used.

Welcome board SGL, good to have you with us.

Welcome back to astronomy too. There's some cracking objects up there just waiting to be looked at.

Welcome aboard SGL Krushy, good to have you with us.

It would be a shame to not look at those beautiful skies. Enjoy your journey.

Welcome aboard SGL Claire, good to have you with us.

I also love the enthusiasm. The heavens still blow me away after 20+ years.

Out towards the South West, you'll find Cygnus the swan, wings outstretched. At the bottom of the constellation you'll find Albireo which is probably the most gorgeous double star in the sky. Two stars of different types and colours in orbit around each other. You won't see any movement, but you will see a glorious sight.

Looking East, you'll find Andromeda. The bright star on the left (and the end of one of her 'legs') is called Almach, and is another beautiful double.

It's great fun to look at these one after the other and compare the colours, gaps and magnitude.

Mizar and Alcor (Horse and Rider) was the first double I came across and still love them. as I live in very light polluted skies, doubles have become a favourite.

Kaspersky certainly messes with comms ports (and a lot of other things). First thing I do with any comms problem is switch off the virus checker and firewall, get stuff going, then switch them on and check if they are still running. I feel your pain, but I think there's a good chance you've found the cause.

I took another step towards improving the eye-relief in my eyepiece stable with this rather nice Baader Hyperion 17mm courtesy of @StarryEyed. It's in good condition and nicely wrapped for the journey. Thanks very much. Top bloke. Hopefully I'll get to try it before Christmas...

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who plays "join the dots" with the constellations.

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

I have both Dob and SCT, as many here do. My gut says Dob for all the reasons above. It's very liberating to just drag it out, let it cool down and get straight on with observing. Learning to star-hop and seek out the treasures is fun on its own.  But if your main observing will be done from light polluted skies, it can be difficult and frustrating to star-hop if you can't see many stars with the naked eye. So after years of using a dob, and worsening skies, I now prefer the SCT now as I actually do a lot more actual observing of objects in an evening.

Do you know the "Bortle rating" of your location?  If not, have a look here and click on the map where you'll be observing from and that will give you the stats for how polluted your skies are. It's not perfectly accurate but can be a good guide. I'd also recommend going outside on a clear night and seeing how many stars you can see in Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

https://lightpollutionmap.info

I live in a Bortle 7/8 and can star-hop but it can be difficult at times, especially when neighbours lights are on. Any worse than this and I'd definitely use a goto.