Astro_Dad

@paulastro have you managed a first light ? I wanted to test the ability of the StarSense last night even though the conditions were quite poor - interesting to note that it worked brilliantly with fairly high cloud cover and only 3-4 naked eye visible - I hope you’ve managed to test and the phones are playing ball!

Andrew

Skies looked promising so took the 10” Dob early for cooling. Enjoyed a quick view of the 1st quarter moon, just as some attractive pink/purple sunset clouds were passing, making for a pleasant start. As the skies darkened somewhat more crater detail was on offer, but conditions far from ideal - transparency and seeing both appeared poor. I also spent some of this time checking the new RACI finderscope was all in order.

I popped out again later at around 23.20. Sadly the sky was very cloudy by now, and only 3-4 stars were visible by naked eye (including Vega and Arcturus). I really didn’t hold out much hope for the StarSense but it still gained a lock swiftly - impressive! A good test of its ability to plate solve under sub optimal conditions. 

The cloudy skies meant it was going to be a limited quick session. Took in M3, M13, and my first view of M10 in Ophiucus. The latter was very faint initially and didn’t improve much on account of the lack of proper darkness and cloud, but nevertheless as my eyes became slightly more dark adapted I was able to make out structure, with a pleasing number of stars resolved towards the edges. 
I finished with a quick look at “crowd pleaser” Albireo - clear and sharp as ever. Called it a night just before midnight. 

Not bad for a quick impromptu session, but hoping for more at the weekend without work to get up for in the mornings!

23 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Possibly a breakthrough with the A52s, or at least some degree of optimism.  I was fiddling around with this phone, checking permissions etc and to my amazement, both the 'centre camera over mirror' and 'drag the image to the crosshair screen' showed the pic from the phone!  I couldn't believe it.  Several times over a few minutes  they worked as they should.  However it then stopped working and they were as my original post - no camera pic.  I then tried many times and couldn't get it to work again.

I though about it, and remembered when the camera pic doesn't show in the first of these screens, a green light flickers on for about a second.  It seemed as if the camera was 'trying' to come on. So with no real expectarions I went to my phone app and switched it on. Back to Starsense and the picture was back on these two screens, along with a steady green light in the top right hand corner!  Now this may have been a coincidence, I didn't wait to find out.

Went outside and quickly set the dob up, centred the mirror image and aligned the camera pic on the crosshairs to the view through the telescopes.  So it's all aligned ready to try on the night sky I won't go near the app gain until its clear - which could be a few days.

It would seem strange that actually turning the camera on would make it  work. It feels rather like jump starting a car rather than high tech!

Hope it's clear soon!

A breakthrough indeed! Fingers crossed for more progress tonight. 

Just back from a campsite located in an old quarry in Buxton - the Summer Triangle just visible above the rock face. Shot using an iPhone, no edits. 

Another camping trip but no travel ‘scope this time - too cloudy anyway here in the Peak District but always good to get a naked eye glimpse of something however basic - The Plough through a momentary break in the clouds! Simple stuff!

21 hours ago, paulastro said:

Last evening not long before sunset,  the sky outside turned a very orange colour, and spots of rain started pattering on the window.  It looked very strange outside so I rushed out.

When I got outside, as the rain increased, I saw one of the best rainbows I had ever seen, and the eiree orange sky was truly spectaculer. Luckily I had my phone in my pocket and snapped away as my shirt became soaked.  It was worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning images, thanks Paul. We’ve had some pretty spectacular sunsets here too over the past day or so. Haven’t managed to coincide a shot with a rainbow though !

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

I couldn't find anything in the manual about realigning on objects once centered in the field of view.  My decades old Sky Commander DSCs (section 5.7 Realign on Object Menu) and the much newer SkEye app (section 3.3.4 Adding more Alignments) both have the ability to tell it that the object is centered in the main telescope, and thus to adjust its alignment to compensate.  Did I miss something in the Starsense manual about how to do this?

No, you haven’t missed anything here - the manual is fairly high level with limited detail, and realigning in the way that is possible with SkEye is not an option that’s available (at least as far as I’m aware!).  It’s a good question though - it would be useful to be able to “tell” StarSense when an object is centred to then enable an appropriate offset for better object location/centring later.  Because it works on plate solving, as far as I have found the only way to enable more accuracy (or more centrally located targets in the eyepiece) is to improve the initial alignment of the camera with a distant target (done in daylight). Other than that, which for me gets pretty close (though not perfect) the only way is to manually nudge or reset and follow the guide arrows on the phone again. 

On 31/05/2022 at 14:59, Apprentice said:

Looking forward! Did you get the 10" or 8" version?

Sorry @Apprentice missed replying to this, but as you’ve seen it was the 10” !

@Daniel-KWill be great to hear a fellow owners take on this scope - it’s working very well for me so far. Typically after some excellent early observing sessions with it we are now in a run of cloudy nights apparently…
 

This is frustrating. I can’t easily advise as using iOS and not overly familiar with Android. Just checked though - is the A52 5G listed as A526B…?

Seems odd it won’t work if the basic criteria are met?

5 hours ago, Pixies said:

The Aero ED variants get lots of recommendations for a reasonably-priced 2" eyepiece. I still have the 35mm, but have just sold my old 30mm one.

Can't see anywhere with them in stock though.

I looked into these some time ago, and was informed by a retailer that they have been discontinued (OVL versions). Note above with interest that the Lacerta and other equivalents still available though. 

I’ve enjoyed researching the ins and outs of scope types and their pros/cons and  nuances ad infinitum - and it continues! Can’t add much though other than to say there is a very good reason the 8” Dob is so widely recommended. One thing worth pointing out is that the 8SE requires the use of electronics every time you use it (as supplied) - it can’t be moved in azimuth without power and engaging the gears. This may or may not be a “disadvantage” for you personally but something to think about. (I haven’t used an Evolution series but believe this enables free manual movement). 
I’m not on commission but unless tracking is important to you (which obviously the 8SE has) then the new range of StarSense Dobs from Celestron are potentially a great choice if manual star hopping is not going to be your thing. 

The ES 2” 28mm/68 eyepiece works well at this focal ratio too - appears well corrected and gives a good wide view without the exit pupil being too large. (But above budget). I slightly regret selling the one I had - miss it more than I thought! 

Have a follow up question on the thread above as been looking into different ocular options for my own 10” - I’m interested in unpacking the different perspectives on the 2” SL 30mm  Superview - I’m assuming it “works well” as noted by @Zermelo relative to its very affordable price (£59) but is “absolute pants” as commented by @Mr Spock due to inherent edge softness or coma, or as suggested could be just a particularly bad example. I guess like many affordable wide AFOV pieces they give a good sense of the wide field experience whilst only being sharp on axis (at “fast” focal ratios) - perhaps how much of a problem or how distracting this is depends in the individual ? Not wanting to go down a rabbit hole on this one but would like a bit more info from those with experience of using the SL Superview to help potential onward purchase. 

Thanks in advance. 

2 hours ago, paulastro said:

Thanks Andrew,, much appreciated.

Hope it has arrived  - enjoy!😀

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

Thanks Andrew.  My 8 is being delivered this afternoon.  Can you tell me if it comes in one or two boxes?  I would think two - but I don't want to give the delivery driver any unnecessary grief if he only has one parcel for me 😄.

Yes two boxes. 

7 hours ago, paulastro said:

I found a link for the Celestron Starsense Explorer Instruction Manual.  Apologies if it's been posted before on this thread

https://manuals.plus/celestron/22470-starsense-explorer-8-inch-dobsonian-telescope-manual#axzz7XMLbjoH8

Thanks Paul- this is actually a more comprehensive manual (possibly US version) than the one supplied in the box here, at least my example only included a quick setup guide with no detail on for example, collimation. Similar in this regard to the basic manual included with other StarSense ‘scopes. I think new users in particular will benefit from this more detailed version. Thanks for posting the link. 
Andrew

On 20/06/2022 at 18:39, Steve George said:

I'm also a qualified archaeologist so hoping to find ways to link the disciplines. 

Could be of interest?

https://www.coursera.org/learn/archaeoastronomy

4 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

I know this post is two and half weeks late and I apologise, but its the first time I've seen the Lunar X & V so felt the picture was worth posting as they both stood out so well.

Rough iPhone pic taken through a combination of my Tak FC-100DL, Pentax XF 8.5, TV 2.5X power mate and WO BV's so magnification was pretty high.

For those that own the Atlas of the Moon I found the Lunar X fairly easily (circled yellow) but the V was more tricky so not 100% sure (circled red), maybe top right corner of page 17?

 

Excellent shot and report - well worth a later post for us all to appreciate. Well done! (Nice rig too 😀). 

5 hours ago, josefk said:

Also out for the parade of planets this morning.

A chance drink of water and a glance out of the window to see mainly clear skies about 03:15 ish triggered me to action and a short walk up to my local park with the binoculars.

The skies were clear except an arms length fistful of cloud low on the eastern horizon. Observed Jupiter and three moons (i think IO was a bit too snug into the planet to spot at just 15x in my bins). Mars was barely naked eye visible to the NE of Jupiter while Saturn was naked eye visible but only after finding it in the binoculars then know exactly where to look. A few minutes later and a slight walk further up into my local park to a higher vantage point and Venus was visible. I thought i would miss out on Mercury due to the cloud bank and growing brightness but finally i also had Mercury in the bino's. Mercury wasn't naked eye visible in the growing light even knowing where to look. A strange and lovely experience to spot all five in a sky with nothing else in it except the moon and Carrion Crows. 🙂

Well done @josefk this is what I’d set out to achieve but didn’t quite have the vantage point. Must have been quite a sight in the stillness of that time of day - great report! 

Gas Giants - My first viewing of Saturn and Jupiter this year. Alarm set for 3am. 

03.10. 

Saturn against the pre dawn sky. Easily visible with naked eye, sharp and clear telescopically, (Heritage 150p, 8mm eyepiece, 93.75x ).

Very sharply defined viewing through the Heritage, and I think I could make out a small area of atmospheric detail on the disc (a slightly deeper yellow/brown marking). 

Interesting to see the change in the aspect of the rings in comparison to last year - now noticeably more edge on. 

Titan visible to the SE of the planet.  

At 03.50 Jupiter coming into view clear of trees. Two belts clearly visible plus 4 moons. 

Mars behind trees so no luck there, ended session at 4am!

6 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Did you manage to achieve good focus on this? I bought one a little while ago and had trouble getting a good focus at infinity.

I’ve just aligned this and focused on my usual distant TV transmitter mast - seems OK. Can be tricky to align using the adjustment screws if honest - one always seems too loose but eventually sorted. With my previous version I didn’t have any problem achieving focus on distant targets- moon, deep sky etc. using the focusing ring and then retightening, so hopefully this will be no different. 

Continuing the evolution of the set up - a RACI finderscope is definitely a useful addition in a number of scenarios - I’ve missed having one in situ - even if using StarSense the view through the 9x50 can be useful and rewarding.

I’ve had one of these before and do miss it - will be taking its place on the Celestron Dob 😀

10 hours ago, Millenium said:

I

Thanks @Millenium for clarifying this - I don’t think I’ve heard from anyone with hands on experience of the 8 inch model yet, but it was indeed the 8 that was reviewed and where this was mentioned. We speculated there could be a difference between the two sizes, and the product photos online seem to support this idea too. Interesting! 

5 hours ago, paulastro said:

Can someone tell me if the finder foot for the RDF is a standard SW fitting finder foot please?  Heaven forbid I should want to buy one of these scopes, but if I did, I'd want to use an optical finder if I wasn't using the StarSense 😊.  Many thanks.

 

Yes indeed - it’s the standard Synta size.  I’ll be testing a RACI finderscope in this position imminently - for those manual occasions…