StarGazingSiouxsie

Plus I got to see Pluto!!! More or less sits between Saturn & Jupiter at the moment. Looked like a speck of lilac dust but I saw it!! Although it was very steamy and hot last night, at one point a gentle breeze started. It lasted for about 20 minutes only but in that tiny window of time a few things happened. My corrector plate became instantly unfogged (think about when you clear your cvar wiondscreen with the blower) and I saw my best view of Saturn EVER. Clearly saw the equatorial banding of the planet's atmosphere and cool colour definition. This is a good article for anyone interested about where to look for Pluto at the moment https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/cool-off-with-pluto-this-summer/

Thanks, yeah that is on my to do list Along with using one of my hair dryers to keep the dew & Corrector Plate fogging at bay. I have a Dew Shiled on order. Last night it was a real problem, although it was extremely humid and sticky where I am ( 38 north) I am also wondering - if one felt that a star was particularly well centered in a high power eyepiece if at that moment one could use the calibrate proceedure I mentioned above as a new / updated calibration point?? There is one way to find out - my inherent need to tamper with things and investigate must be satisfied.

OK, so this is what I learnt this evening. This is the actual process of calibrating a star to StarSense as opposed to what the StarSense mnanual says. The manual I that came with my telescope is dated February 2016 and is the same version as appears on Celestron's site. Linked to here: https://celestron-site-support-files.s3.amazonaws.com/support_files/94005_StarSense_AutoAlign_Manual_5LANG_F.pdf I know Celestron are reknowned for having out of date or inaccurate manuals but the data in the current manual is woefully lacking. It may have been extant, in date, once but it surely isn't now. Anyway - this is the process that worked for me. Maybe it will help someone else out down the line - Star Sense Calibrate After you have completed the initial Auto Align procedure (page 11 of StarSense manual) - * Install a low magnification eyepiece. Something between 25mm - 40mm is ideal, depending on the focal length of your telescope. * Select STARS from the hand controller (HC) * When you see NAMED on the HC display, press ENTER * Scroll the list of stars and select one as your calibration star. ( TIP - Do your homework in advance and select a few suitable (Mag 1.5 or below) stars. Use something like Stellarium in adavnce of your session to see where the stars you would like to use will be in the sky when you are outside. I like Red Giants and the like as they easier for my Neuro A Typical brain to discern. ) * Press ENTER and your scope will slew to the star * Important bit and the bit that isn't currently, as of August 2020, in the manual: * Once your telescope has slewed to your star of choice, press BACK until you come to the 'Starsense Ready’ screen * Then select MENU * Select ‘StarSense’ and press ENTER * Then select CALIBRATE and press ENTER * Press ENTER again (It should name the star you are calibrating on) * Look in your eyepiece. The telescope at this stage will be in Coarse Centering Mode which has a relatively fast slew rate. * Once you see the star in your eyepiece, roughly centre it using the HC arrow keys, then press ENTER * The telescope will now enter into Fine Centering Mode, which has a slower slew rate to allow more accurtate centering of a target. * Change your eyepiece to a higher magnification, something like 15mm - 20mm is ideal. * Centre the star in your eyepiece * Then press ALIGN * The hand controller will display a new center coordinate for the star * Press ENTER to accept * Then start new Auto Align That's what worked for me. Your starship mileage may vary - but I hope it might help someone down the line. Siouxsie

Thanks, John I think it's so cool that you can look at Jupiter & Saturn almost at the your zenith (which for me would be near Lyra / Vega). Where I am, Jupiter & Saturn are just visible over the forest near me at about 22 degrees up. Also very cool that you get to see Mars at such at a reasonable hour!! I will have to wait a few more months to view Mars at that time but I am looking forward to it!! Siouxsie

Thanks, Geoff, that's a great tip. So, in Para 2 - * scroll to the star you want to use for calibration, then press 'Enter'. StarSense will slew to the star. * Then press 'Align' (the missing step from the manual) and follow the directions from Para 3 onward. Right? Late edit - Geoff, I appreciate you helping me, but I don't think what you said is right. As far as I know and I have read and watched, 'Align' is not selected until one has actually got something centered or otherwise ready for StarrSense to align to. I'll soon find out!

Wow I'm loving that colour!!! I could sit and stare at that all day!!! Those filters are defs going on my shopping list. Along with some other Baader accessories I've been drooling over latelyt (ClickLocks, prisms, etc). Astronomy is defs fuelling and enabling my impulse purchasing tendency - the problem is, the online stores know this and follow me around online everywhere I go. .

What do you get to see, sunspots & stuff?

Thanks Mick, that's great info. My scope was defs tracking for a little while after a successful alignment but an unsuccessful calibration (Vega) So maybe it tracked for a little while and then realised it shouldn't be and went on strike or something. Bottom line is I got to enjoy a tracked image of Jupiter appx 28 degrees up with nice views of cloud belts and moons. Saturn too for a little while. I saw one of Saturn's moons, too, I'm guessing Titan. I'm just hoping & praying I didn't do any permanent damage to the motors etc.

One thing I have noticed - not sure if it's coincidence or something more (I don't believe in coincidence, btw) is that after I did a factory reset on my handcontroller (StarSense HC - I don't have a NexStar HC, my set up didn't come with one) I examined the tracking menu. I found that tracking was 'Disabled'. My understanding is that 'Sidereal' is the default setting. Now, whether my scope went into some kind of safe mode and disabled the tracking after me confusing it or whether tracking defaults to 'Disabled' after a reset, I don't know. I wish I'd checked that first now before doing the reset but we shall soon see the next time it's clear here............. One thing I did discover that might help someone else out down the line - when I tried to input my latt / long into 'Location' in the StarSense HC I could only see options for country, state and city. I later discovered you have to get to the country / state / city part of the menu and then press the Celestron logo button (AKA the 'Option' ) on the HC and this then changes the input fields to lattitude & longtitude.

Such insolence! 😱 Nah, great question. Hi Bryan I believe I did do them back up, yes, as I was trying to manually lock on to Jupiter & Saturn a little later and I can remember tightening the clutches back up - only to see those 2 planets disappearing out of the centre of my eyepiece.

I did. And it said it found an asteroid 😵

My particular model; came with a 2" diagonal, but I take your point. I did actually experimnent indoors moving the OTA further along the mount to ensure business end clearance of diagonal etc in the zenith position. Then of course I forgot to do this when I was observing yesterday. So you don't think a 40mm would be worth me getting, as in it won't give much advantage over the (2") 32mm that I have? Maybe if I were to try and find a 40mm with a wifder FOV than 56 degrees?? (the FOV of the 32mm) Let's say I centre a bright star in the 32 or 40mm eyepiece. I then change to a higher magnification eyepiece, say a 15mm, as part of the fine tuning part of calibration - generally speaking, could I expect to see the target somewhere in the FOV of the 15mm? (Assuming tracking is all OK, I had target edad centered in the 32 or 40mm eyepiece, etc) IE I wouldn't have to start searching for the target again? Or ?? Thanks

Hello my cosmic cousins Do you have a particular star that you like to use as part as your alignment routine or as a calibration star? (E.G for StarSense Auto Align, or All Star Polar Alignment, etc) If you do, then pleasae share and also why you use that particular one. Last night, I tried using Vega as my calibration star. I was having big alignment problems anyway, but aside from that, although Vega is very bright, it's also very high lattitude and challenging for me to get a comfortable eyepiece position. Additionally - and for me personally this is a big issue - I am Neuro A Typical. Aside from other issues, it gives me difficulty in picking out or discerning one bright object from another, even when the objects in the eyepiece (in this instance) are of differing magnitudes. My vision is 20 / 20, it's just that I often have challenges discerning objects of similar size, shape or colour from each other. So what I thought might help me is if I try and use stars that are Red Giants or whom oterwise have a red / orange spectral signature, which would (hopefully) make it easier for me to identify / lock onto them with my vision. I am thinking of stars like Antares, Betelgeuse, Arcturus, Aldebaran, Kochab, and others. Obviously, the time of year and one's lattitude / longtitude are factors which will affect which of these (Northern Hemisphere) stars may be visible. Are any of those stars ones that you use? Any other thoughts, tips, experiences you'd like to share? Siouxsie

Last night wasn't totally in vain, I did learn a few things. 1. Never trust the weather forecast (For my fellow Bits in the UK - we really do have the best weather service in the world!! The National Weather Service where I live is inconsistent at best.......) 2. Don't try to use Vega as a calibration star when wearing a short skirt - don't ask. 3. Don't try to use Vega as a calibration star without fiorst checking your visional back + diagonal will clear the bottom of the mount when approaching the zenith..... 4. I need to use an eyepiece with preferably 40mm focal length during initial calibration to simply sight the star in an eyepiece. I used a 32mm with a 56 degree FOV last night and found it a little restrictive. Although that is probably also due to my 8" SCT's comparitively narrower field of view. But I feel I would do better with a 40mm. 5. Last night was not cold at all - 75F at 10pm - nor clear skies - but the amount of dew on my OTA!!! Wow!!! Defs need to get a dew cover. Heated one or not?? 6. Did I mention not to trust the weather forecast? 7. Never give up on your telescope and always believe in its ability to transport you to those wonderful places in the Cosmos.

Thanks for those tips. Just as many people seem to say that they find using the SkyPortal app easier than the StarSense HC but each to their own. I found it frustrating last night that the connection between phone & scope dropped quite often, despite me being 5 feet from it. It could have been for any number of reasons. I think the fact that the clouds were rolling in (unforecast) affeceted the plate solving which then upset the overall connection somehow.

I want it to work!!! I think it's very cool technology. I wonder what the deminimis amount of stars or area of sky that StarSense can use to complete an Auto Alignment? I think Celestron did, to their credit, design this product mindful that many people have only limited accerss to open areas of sky.

Thank you, I'll bear that in mind. I also asked Michael Swanson for his opinion and he said it would be tough to align the functionality between the two.

Thanks for your insights, appreciated. My telescope didn't come with the Nexstar HC , just the StarSense one. I wish it did though bcus the NexStar can access parts of the Utilities menu (mount lights, battery status, etc) that the StarSense HC can't. No, I had to cancel my order for The Cubble, AKA the 9.25 Celestron SCT. I was told it was on back order until at least October. I couldn't wait that long!! I can just about manage to lift the 8 Evolution set up in one go but only for very short distances, it's actually quite heavy (for me anayway). Build quality is great though, so no grumbles from me on that.

@Knighty2112 Thanks very much, Gus. I'll bear your insights in mind. I have started by doing a factory reset on the StarSsense HC and then next time out (if we ever get a clear night here again ) I will try aligning StarSense with the HC instead of the SkyPortal app.

Thanks Ed. Battery (mine has the one large Lithium Iron battery) seems fine, power not an issue.

Hello I am really worried that I may have broken my new telescope. It said it was going to be 100% clear tonight, so I prepped Celeste Bubble, my new 8" Celestron Evolution, and took her outside for her first light. Within an hour it was 100% cloud cover Within that hour, mutiple attempts at aligning my scope failed. I was using a smart phone and the SkyPortal app with Star Sense. I had the Star Sense HC completely unplugged, btw. A few people advised me to do that to try and help ensure it wouldn't affect m using the Sky Portal app. I am not so worried about the alignment failing. What I am worried about is that during one of my failed alignments, the scope ended up trying to plate solve my house. So, being the lazy cow that I am, rather than pick up the telescope and move it to face clear sky, I simply loosened the azimuth clutch and spun it around 180 degrees. After I did that, the scope would not track anymore. I could hear the motors turning (or doing something) but whatever I had in my eyepiece was moving out of view. It was tracking OK before this - I manually (clutches) aligned to Jupiter so as to at least see something and it was tracking Jupiter fine. I checked the scope settings on my phone and it was set to track Sidereal, it hadn't been switched off by accident. I tried another alignment which failed and that's when I spun the mount around 180 using the azimuth clutch. Do You think I have broken something? Have you heard of this before? Is there some sort of reset or something I can do? What a disaster of an evening. Thanks for any help or advice you can give me Siouxsie

Thanks for your responses, I will reply more fully soon.

Hi, I have a Celestron 8" Evolution with StarSense. Once I have enabled Auto Align, done the calibration stars, and enabled Auto Align again - after all that is done, will the telescope then automagically track the first object I choose to observe? I have read all the manuals etc but I haven't used a telescope with tracking before, only manual ones. I feel I might be missing something very obvious here but such is the nature of learning! My learning curve is still very steep!! My understanding is that the telescope will track automagically, I don't have to enable tracking as such. I can select 3 tracking modes - Sidereal, Lunar and Solar. I believe the tracking defaults to Sidereal. Do I have that right? IE I don't have to switch tracking on as such? Note - I only have a StarSesne HC, it didn't come with a NexStar HC - will this be OK? Does re-centering an object in the eyepiece while tracking damage or strain the motors? Thanks for any advice, opinions or thoughts Siouxsie

Just as an update in case it helps anyone out down the line............ I was able to achieve focus by using a 2X Barlow lens with the binoviewers in Cassie, my 5" Newtonian I was able to achieve focus in Celeste Bubble, my new 8" SCT without using any magnification at all, just using the binoviewers as is.

Hello JBB The fact that it says that in the manual - the manual; specific to this model and not just a generic Evolution manual - was also doing my brain in and causing me to worry. The fact that yours isn't working either (and Steve's reply) tells me it's an editorial oversight by Celestron. They have actually described the functionality of a regular Evolution mount's battery status light. When comparing the area of the mount which contains the Celestron logo between a regular Evolution mount and the Limited Edition's mount, it can be seen that they are very different on this model compared to the regular Evolution model. I for one love the Limited Edition's looks but think Celestron should have left the regular Evolution's light installed. Yours didn't come with a NexStar HC either - correct?