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Hi. I’ve Celestron cpc 1100 EdgeHD. When I try to allign the scope through skyportal via WiFi module, after completing the plate solving process, it asks me to select one brightest star and press go-to option to move the scope towards that star for example Vega. In skyportal it stops at an exact Vega location, however in eyepiece I can’t see it. I know I have to fine allign, so when I manually fine allign the scope in the eyepiece, the cross mark in the skyportal moves far away from Vega and then refuses to allign because it has to be Certain degree close to Vega. Can anyone advise how to fix it ?

Hi. I have Celestron CPC 1100 EdgeHD with Starsense and WiFi Module. During the alignment process, WiFi module stops responding, whereas my tablet or iPhone is connected to the WiFi module, the SkyPortal message pops up that connection is failed and scope isn’t responding? Can anyone help me how t fix this urgently ? It was working fine yesterday but now I can see this message. I though it’s a power issue, so I disconnected the power tank and connected the scope directly to the electricity through supplied adapter, but failed.

Hi All, Complete beginner here, with this being my first post to the forum. I recently bought my first scope and I've had a couple nights so far with just viewing. I've now decided to try my hand at utilising my camera and hoping to try stack images and get a decent shot of the moon. The issue I'm having at the moment is that I can't seem to get the moon fully in frame. Using a T ring adapter and Barlow lens attached to my scope I'm essentially cropping out edges of the moon, however when I remove the actual barlow lens and use only the adapter, T ring and my scope as the prime, I can't seem to focus. This may be a pretty basic issue, so apologies, I haven't had much luck with google yet. I'm unsure if I require some sort of reducer or if I'm perhaps overlooking something. For reference I'm using the following: Celestron 130 EQ Fujifilm XT3 (APS-C) Barlow adapter/lens Kipon T2 Adapter for Fuji Really appreciate any guidance or advice you can offer. Dylan

Hi everyone - juts purchased my first telescope and am asking for advice on what is best to be seen through this telescope as a starter - have already seen the moon and some distant stars and am comfortable with using all of the eye pieces included. What would anyone recommend?

Hi, I have a Motor drive for the 130EQ and when I attach and switch it on it drives the RA axis. But once its attached its very difficult to move the OTA in the RA axis manually. Am I missing something? Is there a way to easily couple & decouple the motor so the OTA can be moved manually? Is there someone who uses one of these motors who can help me pls.

Hello all! A question for all you Starsense users out there ... When I do an auto align with Starsense, it duly goes through it's routine of moving the scope to different star targets and resolves each one fine (5 targets I believe). Then it displays on the handset "StarSense Ready". At this point the telescope tube is always pointing in some random direction - is this how yours behaves after it finishes alignment ? Just pointing at the last star it used as a target reference ? At this point I usually set my scope to go to it's "HOME" position, but whenever I "GOTO" a target it is never in the scopes eyepiece and I have to manually hunt around for it. (Using a wide angled eyepiece). Should I just "GOTO" a target without going to "HOME" position first, or should it not matter ? NB - All this after precise Polar Alignment using Polemaster. Grateful for your input Many thanks Kind Regards V.

Hi I’m attempting to get back into astronomy, previously owned a 150pl reflector but parted company with it several years ago, I like the idea of a Cassegrain style as one of the big factors Of letting the 150pl go. was storage and transportation of It! I am interested in mostly visual observations but would look to take a few pictures here and there OF planets and easy nebula/DSO., I feel that a Schmidt-Cassegrain would be the best suited, my main stumbling point is should I get the 5 or 6 version. Is the 6 under mounted? And is it worth the extra cash, obviously there’s a higher light gathering power on the 6 but would it be much better than the 5, I see that the % of lens obstruction on the seems high! As the secondary mirror looks to be the same size on both 40% vs 14%! Obstruction by area. Any guidance would be very appreciated. I’m not against the idea of upgrading the mount in the future to a eq5 maybe? But want in usable to start with.

Hi - I'm a relative newcomer to telescopes with goto - still trying to figure them out. I have a problem with Goto on the 8SE. Alignment usually works (Not always, but usually) I believe my set up is correct - time and date, DST and UTC (It's currently BST in the UK) I usually use 2-star alignment (Currently, most convenient for me are Sirius and Procyon) Alignment usually succeeds, but goto just doesn't. The scope slews away, sometimes even to a completely different part of the sky from the selected object (I'm familiar enough with the sky to be able to identify several bright stars without assistance) Bizarrely, this happens even if the goto object is one of the alignment stars - how could it possibly not be able to find a star when you've explicitly told it where it is? I've read that goto sometimes doesn't work well on battery power, so I've aquired a mains adapter. No change. I haven't yet updated the handset firmware (I'm waiting for a serial-usb adapter.) Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi all, looking for some help please! 🙏 I have a wedge for my 8SE and when using EQ North to align it, it says it is slewing to Vega but ends up all the way over at Polaris!? Any ideas? 🤞🏻 Thanks in advance! 😊 I have updated the firmware, Mount is pointing at north, have inputted my latitude and longitude, I have tried picking the nearest city too and nothing seems to work! 😟

Hello There, I was wondering if you could help me. I am currently making a setup but I would like to add a good finderscope onto my Celestron Starbright XLT scope. Any ideas would be appreciated. Kind Regards Welsh Dave

Hi all, I'm new to this forum but not particularly new to astronomy. Anyway, I have an issue and I'm hoping that there is someone here who can help or at least point me in the right direction. I have a celestron advanced VX which I have now owned for probably 5 years or so, I lost a bit of interest in astronomy so all of my equipment went away and I have just recently started it all up again. Iwas powering the mount using an RAC heavy duty jump starter, which, admittedly, I haven't been keeping on charge! So there is a fair chance it is dead/on it's way out. So I purchased a talentcell 8300 from Amazon, it arrived today (12th) and I plugged in straight in to the mains to charge up, as soon as it was fully charged I plugged it in to my mount and nothing, literally nothing at all, no lights, no reponse, it's as if I had not plugged it in. So I plugged one of my RAC units in, one of them, when fully charged, will power the mount but not fully, the power LED comes on but the backlight on the HC does not and all I can see on the display is "boot start". I then tried to power the mount via the same 12v cable as I was using from the RAC units but with the power pack plugged in a charging too, this all worked exactly as expected, everything turned on, I can input into the HC and the motors all respond to input. I have noticed that the power LED on the 12v cigarette connector does dim dramatically as soon as I turn the avx on (when plugged in to the RAC pack). I purchased the talentcell unit as I had noticed on other forums that people were using it for the same mount, it is rated as 12v and 6A output so all should be ok. I have not had a chance to check anything with my multimeter, and, honestly, I'm not that handy with one! Any help would be greatly appreciated Many thanks

Having forgotten to regularly charge my powertank it now only lasts around the 3 hour mark and I am only using it to power my Celestron 8SE. I tried searching on the forum for suitable replacement batteries or measurements as I just wanted to replace the battery. I couldn't find this info anywhere so I took the side off (8 screws on the 7ah version—see image—the only hidden screw was in the accessory tray under the lid—although you do need a long-bladed (?) Philips to reach some of the screws). Once off I measured the battery and it is Length 150mm, Height 100mm, Width 65mm. I thought at first that I would be able to fit a larger capacity battery but soon realised that you can't unless you started modifying the case. The largest capacity battery I could find with the right measurements was a Yuasa Yucel Y9-12 which is a 9ah model priced at £15.99 from Hardwareexpress. I hope this will help others with the 7ah powertank who want to change the battery and who can use a screwdriver.

Hi there. I finally decided to replace my old Orion Starshoot with a nice new Neximage 5, and at the same time got a laptop sporting Windows 10. The camera came with iCap software, version 2.2, and installation proceeded without incident. I got to the point where iCap was recognising the camera, but when I clicked on 'OK' iCap stopped almost immediately, at which point an error message came up announcing that iCap had closed and Windows was (allegedly) looking for a solution. I repeated the 'launch' exercise several times, always with the same result. It's really frustrating, as I just can't get on with imaging at all. Does anyone have an idea what I could try to get my Neximage up & running properly? Thanks Alan Stewart

Because of the current situation, I have, as many of you guys probably have too, spend a lot more time under the stars when possible. It has literally been over a year since last I was out doing some astrophotography because of work. So here is my second take after the long break, NGC 3344 (The Sliced Onion Galaxy). Initially I thought it would be a lot fainter than it was, so it was basically a shot in the dark, of just trying to get back at doing this. But the final image actually showed a lot more detail than I would've hoped for! Spring lent a lot of clear night, but those seems to be gone already. I would've hoped for a few more hours to add some more luminance data to it, as I did have to push it quite a bit. I am not too happy with the shape of the stars either. Guiding was not very stable through the night, even though balance and polar alignment seemed to be good. Might need to update my Celestron PEC data? Any advice or feedback is very welcome! 🤩 NGC 3344 (Sliced Onion Galaxy) _______________________ Image: Luminance - 13x16 min RGB - 2x16 min each Flat and Dark calibrated Gain 111 Offset 40 Total Integration - 5 Hours 4 minutes (LRGB) _____________________ Gear Used: Skywatcher 150PDS Celestron AVX Mount ZWO ASI 183MM-Pro Baader 2'' Neodymium Filter Baader 1,25'' RGB Filters ZWO Mini EFWExplore Scientific Coma CorrectorToupTek Camera G-1200-KMB Mono GuiderOrion Mini 50mm Guidescope ______________________ Software:SharpcapPHD 2Photoshop CS2Deep Sky StackerStellarium/Stellarium ScopeAstrotortilla

Hi. Just starting to use autofocus with the Celestron motor focus and SGP. Can anyone give me some starting points for step size, backlash etc. I’m getting there but wasting a lot of imaging time just trying to get this to work accurately. I’m currently trying a step size of 75 and a backlash of 50. Any tips most appreciated.

Hi SGL I popped this topic on CN too but noone seems to know anything. I came by an old Celestron Ultima 8 pre-PEC. I really like the scope and the mount it may be that I have read too much of Uncle Rod's and other's praise that I feel this scope has some intangible personality and charm. Anyway... Circuitry in the base seems to work fine even though the batteries don't hold charge but drive the Ra axis . I have 2 replacement on its way to me. Now my issue: It didn't come with a hand controller. I know it is not needed for tracking, and I don't have a Dec motor but I find it would be useful for centering in RA and D.A.R.V. method drift alignment. I was on the verge of making a crude controller out of veroboard and 4 momentary switches that I thought to be correct from the info on various sites, but then I came across an Ultima 8 project that clearly showed the hand controller for my scope. The pic attached is the one. I am looking for help on how the dial and buttons are wired in and/or photos of the innards of the hand controller or if anyone knows what else is inside the handbox. The sources I was going on so far is a combination of the following 3 links: https://www.cloudyni...ding/?p=8015749 https://onstep.group...in/message/6300 https://github.com/garlick/ultima8/blob/master/base/README.md These of course don't include drive rate rotary switch in the middle and if I could I would really like to to restore the full ability of this mount without spending too much on electronics. Plus I don't want to spend time and effort on wiring something that doesn't work. Oh and lastly I have no background or experience in electronics just own a soldering station and a whole lot of determination. Thanks in advance Greg

Has anyone used the celestron lithium powertank (the small one, not the pro version) with a skywatcher HEQ5? It looks like it should be perfect but that is coming from someone who is relatively clueless From the skywatcher specs, it looks like the mount needs 2 amps of current, and the powertank supplies 3, so that should be good? It also looks like the power cable is a double-ended tip-positive 2.1 mm plug, so i assume that even though it doesn't have one of those 12V car battery inputs, it shouldn't matter right? (just to save people some time, i'm not going to bother with a lead battery / leisure battery / jump-start pack / etc)

I have Celestron AstroMaster 130 eq. I know how to attach the motor driver, too. I want to dive into astrophotography. But I don't know: How can I accurate polar align my telescope, if it doesn't have any polar scope? I think drift polar-alignment is very hard. Is there any other way? How fast must be the motor driver's speed if I don't have polar-aligned telescope yet? I am buying my new Orion StarShoot G4 Monochrome Deep Space Imaging Camera. Is it good that I attach Orion camera on Celestron telescope? I want to buy ZWO 1.25" LRGB Imaging Filter Set. Is it good to attach ZWO on Orion and Celestron? Is it a good choice to select these machines? And finally: is Celestron AstroMaster 130 eq telescope good enough for astro imaging? (I want to image DSO objects.) Thank you for your effort and time. Clear skies!

Hello everyone, I'd say it's been about 6 years since I last posted on this forum, oops 😁. Anyway Ive been looking for a new scope something with abit more punch than the skywatcher 130m I have been using and came across this beaut on eBay, I won the auction and picked it up yesterday. The guy was selling it on behalf of an elderly gentleman man who couldn't use it anymore, (it's been sitting in an unheated garage for many years 😩) he had no idea on the make or model other than its a c8, I did a bit of research and found its a c8 super polaris. The mount has both RA and Dec axis motors but I have no way to power them, the action of the mount is buttery smooth. However I plan to mount this on my HEQ5 anyway... The scope its self seems to be in good condition some minor scratches on the tube but nothing too alarming, no finderscope or dust cover but I plan on adding my own finder anyway. The focus is super smoothe and can't see much if any image shift in use (not tested on a star yet due to preverbial clouds) My main concern is as its been in an unheated garage for some considerable time and there seems to be some minor mildew on the primary which I plan on cleaning... when I feel brave enough.. I don't think the secondary screws are original, should be Phillips head? Tested on a small light down the garden and it seems to be well collimated, but does have a small amount of mildew on it I don't recognise the mounting bar, I would like to swap it to a vixen style bar so I can mount it on my HEQ5 maybe this? Anyway that's where I am with it sorry its been so long since I last posted, I hope to be a tad more active on here. Harry

Time for yet another cry for help when it comes to choosing diagonal. I have read the many similar threads and gathered some knowledge (too many to start linking). I have come some way in my process and now that it is coming to final decisions I would like to hear from the experts. Not many of threads I have read end with the OP returning to deliver some review/verdict of his/her final decision. While I wait for response on some thread where I asked about the result, the eagerness in me forces me to write my own thread. Perhaps some of the people asking these questions before can now answer in my thread as experts!I have the Nexstar Evolution 9.25 and am currently using the stock diagonal. My eyepieces are the Baader 8-24 mm zoom and the stock 40 mm Plössl. I would also like to upgrade EPs and there I'm looking at something better in 24 mm range, as well some nice low power for more FOV. I'm following threads about EPs and SCTs with great interest for this (on CN). Can say that I'm currently leaning towards the 1.25" 24 mm ES 68° and 2" 36 mm Hyperion aspheric (if going 2" route).I'm thinking 2 alternatives (including a budget alternative for one of them). I'm looking at Baader mainly for ClickLock (and expect good optics): Baader T2 Zeiss prism with a 1.25" ClickLock EP (T2 part #08) -OR- the 2" prism with 2" ClickLock (splurging that is). The budget alternative would be to get the non-Zeiss T2 prism instead for the 1.25". Worth noting that I would like to get the Celestron f/6.3 Reducer/Corrector. This would be for future purposes of delving into EAA but of course I would use it visually as well (especially if choosing the T2 route). The reasoning for my alternatives: Go for the 2" Zeiss prism to theoretically get the best of the best in visual terms. I would make better use of the 46 mm baffle tube opening. Theoretically possible to combine with the R/C thanks to relative short light path (although not necessarily needed with 2" EPs). Downside of going to 2" accessories would be the cost, EPs, filters etc., on top of diagonal. Would not be able to spend all these costs at once. Cheaper route with T2 prism (especially the non-Zeiss), not only diagonal but also the other accessories. Cost of the R/C would be comparable to e.g. the 36 mm aspheric and give similar power and FOV with the 24 mm ES, i.e. the 24 mm would act as both. Extra plus is the ClickLock clamp for 1.25" with built in fine focusing not involving the mirror. Downside of knowing that not all light coming out of baffle tube is used. To get the wide FOV (24 mm + R/C) I'm adding glass to the optical train (theoretically not a good thing). I'm leaning towards the T2 as it would be a cheaper diagonal and for EPs I would only need the 24 mm and then the reducer instead of a 30-40 mm, so saving the expense of one EP. Then I would already have the reducer for continuing into EAA. The questions I hope the experts here can help with: The old reducer vs 2" diagonal question. With R/C and the 24 mm I can get roughly the same mag and FOV as e.g. the 36 mm Hyperion (technically 38 mm vs 36 mm and 68° vs 72°). Also reading good things about the ES 68° and with R/C the EP should behave the same. Am I missing something here? The logics say that the I would lose some contrast with the R/C (not using full opening + adding elements), correct? Possibly flatter fields though (not important now, hopefully the EP threads might tell soon enough). The Zeiss vs non-Zeiss T2? Big differences? I have read a few posts on this so most to get some updated views here (have read that Baader has changed some things over the years). Using the R/C (f/6.3) with these prisms. I know f/7 is mentioned as "the limit" but also remember BillP's test where he was happy down to f/6 with the prisms (in 2014 at least). Perhaps most important: have I missed some other obvious alternative here? Maybe I have forgotten some question here but perhaps for the best as I assume those who have gotten this far are tired of reading now. Thanks for getting here though!Thanks,Viktor

Hello, i am new to this forum, i made my account here because i need help. So few weeks ago i ordered a USB to Serial cable to be able to Control my Telescope with my computer using stellarium. It arrived today. So i made my Star Alignment, then i plugged the cable to my Telescope and Computer, i installed the Cable driver and ASCOM Platform + ASCOM Celestron Driver. I started DriverConnect.exe and put the Celestron Driver i downloaded, and did the properties informations ( had to tick on "Advanced Setup" and "Show All COM Ports" ) and i put "COM8" on "COM Port", then i pressed "OK" and then "Connect" Result: Create Creating device Connected Connecting to device Error System.Exception: Connect to COM1 failed, no Celestron scope detected to System.Dynamic.ComRuntimeHelpers.CheckThrowException(Int32 hresult, ExcepInfo& excepInfo, UInt32 argErr, String message) to CallSite.Target(Closure , CallSite , ComObject , Boolean ) to ASCOM.DriverConnect.ConnectForm.btnConnect_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverConnect\ConnectForm.cs:line 268 Dispose Disposing of device ReleaseComObject Releasing COM instance ReleaseComObject Completed release. Count: 0 GC Collect Starting garbage collection GC Collect Completed garbage collection "Connect to COM1 failed, no Celestron scope detected" In Stellarium i set-up everything, the plug-in and restarted the app, then added my telescope and i says it's "connected" but i can't find my telescope. Telescope: Celestron NexStar 127SLT The Cable i bought: https://www.amazon.com/Telescope-CP2102-Adapter-Control-Console/dp/B077G37VL1/ PC Specs: Windows 10 Pro, GTX 970, 8GB Ram(DDR4), i7 6700 3.4Ghz Looking forward for your help, thanks in advance, dragorom7.

Hello guys, I recently got into astronomy so I bought my first telescope. I've read through several articles and the recommendation for a beginner's telescope (value/price) was Celestron Astromaster 130EQ-MD. I bought this from someone who was not really using it and it is in a very good condition. Prior to actually purchasing this, I've watched countless videos on how the telescope works, what needs to be done - latitude, RA/DEC alignment, polar alignment, etc.. After reading through all available manuals and videos, I finally brought it home from the seller (they've had it for around 5 years but it wasn't used much). After setting up the tripod, mounting the telescope and familiarising myself with all the different knobs, I pointed the mount/telescope towards north. The first thing I had to do was setting up the latitude. Since I am based in London, the latitude is around 52 degrees. Afterwards, I had to align the declination axis so the telescope can be balanced. As I understand it, you should be able to move it to any position on the axis and it should stay in that position. If the front or rear was heavier, I would either pushing or pulling the telescope after unlocking the brackets holding it together. This is where the issues began, I could balance the telescope so it doesn't move while in the horizontal position, however, when pointing it towards north, it would exclusively lean towards one direction - to the left. If the telescope was pointing to north, north-east or east, it would pull towards the west all the time. It is probably easier to show it in the video. I've spent three days trying to balance the telescope by using different methods and it just would not work. I've also tried balancing the RA axis first. This could be somehow done, but the declination axis would still pull the telescope to the left. It is extremely frustrating as I don't know what could be causing this. Balancing the telescope should be relatively easy from what I have heard - either push it or pull it depending on where the weight is. However, I have been really struggling to get it set-up. I would be thankful for any suggestions and please feel free to ask any questions so I can help with finding out what is wrong. Thank you. VID_20190918_202940.mp4

Hi, I have recently bought the celestron AM 130 EQ. when setting up , I wrongly assembled the counter weight first rather than adjusting the lattitude knob both at the front and rear side. That made the counter weight pull towards the floor and now the lattitude adjustment knob is jammed, I cant move it counter clockwise. The pin at lattitude is showing 0 degree. What to do. Please help.

Hi all. I have just bought a Celestron 18771-CGL power tank to allow me to get out to the dark skies of the South Downs with my Nexstar 8SE. This is a great bit of kit because it's so light and portable and powers the scope for hours no problem. However, I've also been thinking about getting a dew heater and the only downside of the power tank is it's lack of a second 12v output. I was looking on the First Light Optics website and they sell a DC splitter cable to allow two devices to be powered from a single output. I'm not an electrician obviously, but logical tells me if the dew heater controller is also a 12v device there should be no problem running both the scope and the heater at the same time other than draining the battery faster. Is anyone using a splitter cable in this way? Or can anyone confirm my logic is flawed?

Inspired, as usual by Gina's exploits with a Raspberry Pi and Indi I decided to have a go myself. I have ordered an RPi 3 and await arrival. In the meantime I decided to modify a cheap 28BYJ-48 stepper motor for bipolar operation following Gina's instructions. Then I tested the motor with a Pololu A4988 stepper driver I had left over from my 3D printer build using details I found here and it worked first time. I needed a 12V supply to drive the 5V motor as now the windings are being used in series. Once the Pi arrives I will be installing Raspbian, Indi and connecting up to my Nexstar 127 SLT and then building a new focuser using my existing sketch and the motor I modded today.