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Showing results for tags 'celestron'.
Found 193 results
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I’ve been using my 8’ Edge HD on an Evolution mount for a couple of years now and I added a wedge to it a few months back. Using SkyPortal with StarSense I’ve never really had any major issues getting it aligned. Last night I was setting up to photograph Mars and went through my normal procedure. StarSense took its images but, after confirming success with the third plate, instead of just winding up a bit and parking it proceeded to pitch the ota towards the north well below the horizon. Fortunately nothing snagged. I skipped the ASPA and instructed it to goto Mars and was surprised to find it was spot on (better than usual actually). Anyone any ideas why it took that nose dive? Thanks. -
I have the aforementioned telescope but not used it in several years. It's just been sat, quietly out of the way in a small cupboard (dry, dark, nothing amazing) but not stored in it's box as perhaps it could have been. Nonetheless, I went to take it out as a friend had asked me to take it to his for an evening's viewing pleasure. I tried the batteries I'd just bought (16xrechargables) but was unable to get any signs of life. Between myself and a friend who's somewhat more conversant with electricity than myself, we discovered so far that there's no signs anywhere of life from it - but we're not (as yet) sure whether it's a poor connection from the battery compartment or the switch. We do know the batteries are good. Any advice on narrowing down causes, please? -
Hi, I'm just wanting some advice on the eye relief and the quality of the 6mm Omni ep. I have a Nextar 127slt MAK. Can someone please tell me if I should buy it? Thank you, Spacecake
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Celestron's EdgeHD product line features an integrated field flattener. As with all flatteners, these produce optimal results when the imaging plane is a specific distance from the flattener. In the EdgeHD whitepaper Celestron describe the optimal backfocus of 133.35mm (5.25") for the 8" model, and 146.05 (5.75") for the 9.25", 11" and 14" models. They suggest that the image plane should be placed within 0.5mm of this distance. When putting together an imaging train it can be quite hard to determine the actual backfocus. You could add together all the optical lengths quoted by manufacturers, you could get calipers and actually measure each part or even try to measure the entire thing (although it can be quite hard to figure out where to measure from. At some point, you have to trust some manufacturer spec (unless you fancy risking your sensor). Once all this is done you might, however, find that things vary ever so slightly; everything from the tightness of threads to the T-ring not quite giving exactly 55mm. How do you work out if you've done it all correctly? In a table in the whitepaper (page 13), focal lengths are given for each OTA (for example 2125mm for the 8" model). Hypothetically then, it should be possible to measure whether or not you're at optimal backfocus by plate solving for your image scale. In the same table, an image scale is given for a sensor with pixel size 6.4 micron but you can use a calculator (such at the astronomy.tools one) to work out the expected image scale for your particular sensor. This does require that your image is as close to perfect focus as possible. Putting all this into practice. I used my calipers to try to get the image train as close to 133.35mm as I could and then plate solved some resulting data taken with a DSLR with 5 micron pixels. From my calculations, if I'm in focus at the correct spacing, I should have an image scale of 0.485"/pixel. However, my astrometry.net solves gave an image scale of 0.495"/pixel. Working backwards, this indicates that I was at a focal length of 2083mm, quite a way inside 2125mm. Although I can't find a reference I've read that, for an SCT, the focal length changes by approximately 3mm for each 1mm of backfocus, this implies that my sensor is 14mm too close! Now, I'm no expert with calipers but I feel like I couldn't have been more than a few mm out, and if anything I thought I was too far. I suppose I could have been a bit out of focus but surely not ~10mm. Is there a mistake in my logic of aiming for 2125mm focal length? -
Hi, Now, I know that Cubble likes to keep fit. I try to keep all of my telescopes healthy and feed them only the best planets and DSOs. But - why is that Cubble just LOVES to go all around the houses on some of his GOTOs?! Talk about taking the long way home!!! I could have sworn that I had 'Cordwrap' set to 'Off'............. I have set Cubs up with a totally cordfree / wire free system and therefore find this going 340 degrees around to an object that is 10 degrees away incredibly annoying and time wasting. Well, I think I may have found the answer today. Some of you may already know this but for those that don't, I hope it helps relieve some of your frustration. What I disovered is that the Star Sense hand controller resets the Cordwrap setting (MENU>>>TELESCOPE>>>CORDWRAP) back to 'ON' each time a new alignment is completed. So, one can spend time seemingly making sure that it is set to 'OFF' (if that's the setting you want, of course) only to find that once you have completed an alignment, the hand controller defaults the Cordwrap setting back to 'ON'. So, if you don't want or need Cordwrap set to 'ON', make sure you change the setting after completing each new alignment. Siouxsie- 15 replies
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Hello, Does anyone know if I should upgrade my telescope? I have a Celestron Nextar 127slt and I've been using it for a few years now. I want to see more detail on Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Does anyone have any suggestions from Celestron? Kind Regards
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Hi Everyone For the first time in 57 years I'm having the itch to look up , I'm fed up with looking at people wearing masks, moaning there's no loo rolls and 2mtr distance markings on the floor, so I think me needs to take a deep breath and look through some quality glass and see the amazing views above the clouds. The problem I'm having, after watching many YouTube videos, is lots of different views on what your first scope should be, so, I need your help please. My budget started at around £500 but I'm starting to think I need around £700 to get something I'm going to be pleased with, unless I come across a used one of course. I'm pretty sure it's going to be mostly visual star gazing I'll be doing and then perhaps as my interest and curiosity grows, I'll have a dabble into astrophotography, although this side of it does look very complicated, not to mention much more expensive. I have noticed in many videos that there is a push for newbies to get a reflector scope but they do seem a bit too big and cumbersome, and storage is an issue where I live, so I'm thinking more of a refractor. There's a few nice 80 ed scopes out there but as I understand it, the moon will look nice but I'll have a hard job making out the planets like Saturn at maximum power. 102's and 120 seems a good starter but the jump in cost to an ED version is BIG, so I'd like some help on whether or not it justifies the extra money please to remove much of the Chromatic Aboration that many complain about of the cheaper scopes. I've also noticed that some scopes out there, although different in colour and name, the build is exactly the same and it's said by some, but it's pretty obvious it is, that they are just re-branded and come from the same factory in Shenzen. So, can you help/advise please, is a 102 or a 120 a good choice, should I pay the extra for ED, and which brands should I consider, i.e. Skywatcher, Celestron etc. Also, any advise on what extras I will need, I can see most advise on upgrading the 10mm eye piece that comes with most scopes for a better one, and a decent 2x Barlow, but anything else I'll you'll think I will need please and any tips and tricks for a very keen, getting on a bit, newbie, thank you very much. Just so you know, I've made my first purchase, it's a planisphere and I'm learning how to use it from a nice chap I've found on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbz3QnAbzFM&t=962s&ab_channel=AstronomyandNatureTV Take care, stay safe and clear skies as they say Kindest regards David -
Hi, I bought a Celestron focal reducer / corrector lens part #94175 for my non Edge CPC1100. Celestron say - in bold type no less - that this reducer is not compatible with Edge HD optics. The cost of the dedicated reducer for the Edge optics ( #94242 ) is ~ $200 more than the non Edge version Out of curiousity, and to make sure what Celestron say was correct, I tried the non Edge focal reducer part number #94175 on my 8" Edge telescope - and it works just fine. The field of view is expanded as it should be and the clarity to the edge of the view is as clear as when not using the reducer. IE vignetting is minimal / non existent Has anyone else found this to be true with their Edge and non Edge telescopes? This is significant; the price difference is about $200 between the two reducers and, in my case, the non Edge reducer gives me altitude clearance on the bottom of my Evolution mount whereas using a dedicated Edge reducer ( #94242) would not. So if you're in a similar to me, try the non Edge reducer first before spending an extra $200. Siouxsie
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I recently purchased a Celestron 130slt. When aligning, the instruction manual says "center object in finderscope and press ENTER" , then "center object in eyepiece and press ENTER". My question is "what method do you use to center the object in the eyepiece, as the arrow buttons cease to function after ENTER is pressed after centering the object in the finderscope??".
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I purchased a Celestron Powerseeker 70EQ at a Goodwill thinking it was a great find for my first telescope. I get home and realize that it may be missing an eye piece. I'm unsure what else it is missing though. Where can I go to get the missing eye piece for this telescope? I don't know anything about telescopes so I'm not sure where to go or what else I will need or what else could be missing. I attached an image of it with what I think is missing. -
I am making a controller for my old celestron cg4 mount I have its original motor attached but don't know whether its bi-polar or a uni- polar. Can someone plz tell me ?. And i also need help in programming an aurdino for it. Thanks in advance Abhishek
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Hi, I have just purchased a couple of these https://www.celestron.com/products/powertank-lithium-pro The manual says that when the battery is powering something that the 4 red battery will blink in sequence to show that power is flowing. My units are fully charged up, yet when I use them the red lights don't blink in sequence. I just have 2 red static lights lit under the 4 red battery lights. I have 2 of the smaller power tanks, the next model down, and the blue battery lights on those do blink in sequence when they are powering an object. I have tested my new units and they do seem to be providing power. But, if you have one of these, could you confirm please that your red lights don't flash when powering something? Thanks. It's just that the manual is very specfic about this. (I have double checked and the manual is specific to my new units) Still, it's a Celestron manual so maybe my expectations are too high Thank you Siouxsie
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Celestron Focus Motor install problems on a CPC1100 I've read enough threads online to know I'm not the only person to encounter problems with installing the Celestron Focus Motor. Despite following the install instructions to the letter and watching a load of videos on how to do this, I could not get the motor work correctly with the screws for the mounting plate and motor mount installed anything other than loosely - which is obviously not right. I read up on a lot of threads about this and it seems the basic problem is that the mounting plate supplied with the motor causes pressure to be put on the focus bearing and thereafter causes binding and locking up. People have come up with many solutions including installing washers / shims and, taking Celestron's Tech Support advice, to install the orginal focus mounting plate first and then the Focus Motor kit mounting on top. - and that's what I did. Whether by luck or design, Cubble came with quite long screws in his original mounting plate so there was ample thread left to pass through both plates. With both plates installed, all the screws can now be tightened down (snugged down, nothing OTT), including the 2 hex screws for the motor mount. Before, the screws had to be left loose just to allow the motor to turn and, believe me, I spent hours making sure everything was true and aligned correctly to try and solve this. Anyway, that's what worked for me and I am happy that my motor is now working as intended. Celestron are a strange set up - they produce great scopes but some of their kit and accessories leaves a lot to be desired, from a R&D point of view. I hope this may help someone else out down the line. Siouxsie
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Hey there! So if you have a telescope as mentioned in the title, you probably noticed that the focus wheel stops working after a bit. Well If you look under the focuser you can see a small metal piece with 4 screws on it. You need a Philips head screwdriver to unscrew these, WARNING there's a lot of superglue(which actually isn't needed at all) so wear gloves!after you've unscrewed the metal piece a small black 2 ended piece should fall out. If it didn't fall, take it out. Now place your focusing wheels back without that small piece that fell out and screw everything back in. The remaining black piece that fell out should probably be thrown away. Now just don't focus out to the max and everything should work just fine! I hope this helped(btw I'm new here so i might've butchered the terminology) *just let me know -
Hey everyone, I just purchased my first refractor telescope but I have no idea where to get started, let’s get right into what my problem is. I purchased a Celestron C4-R; model number 21016; this came with a bunch of little pieces that I don’t know what they do, it’s a refractor telescope. I have the star diagonal but I don’t know where to attach it. I just want to know what I have to do to have it ready to be used thank you I would like help asap thank you
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Nexstar Location Settings
Ahmed alfaisal posted a topic in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice
I have 8se Celesetron telescope and Today connect my new addition starsense outo alignment but I can not find my city Iraq/Baghdad location when I was trying to configure software any help pleas -
I have recently purchased a Celestron NXT130 and have the following questions regarding planet viewing. I have obseved the moon, Jupiter and Saturn using the 25mm lens ( with and without the Barlow) with good results. However, when I switch from the 25mm to the 9mm lens (with or without the Barlow), I either can no longer see the planet (Jupiter and Saturn) or cannot properly focus (moon). I can understand that the moon may be too close for the 9mm to be effective, but I am a bit stumped about the other planets. Looking for advice.
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Hey all, My Celestron 127eq telescope's RA setting circle isn't moving properly with the mount when I try and adjust my RA. It lags behind, seemingly sticking onto the bottom of my mount. What should I do to fix this and get my setting circle right? -
When I align my Celestron CPC 1100 EdgeHD through Starsense Auto Allignment, after Completing the successful plates resolve in the handset, you have to press enter to continue to the second stage of selecting a bright star to point scope towards it, which I used to do in the past. Today after successful plate resolve, when I tried to press enter it takes you back to the first screen “Star Sense Ready” instead of selecting the brightest star option. Can anyone help and advise where am I making mistake ? -
Hi i own Celestron 130EQ which comes with 20mm erect EP and 10mm EP.... i bought a GSO ED 3x Barlow... The focus is not very sharp while using Barlow... Is it the EP at fault ???? Is it worth upgrading to Kelner or a Plossl ????
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Hello there, I told you it wouldn't be long before I started asking for help! I can download CFM from Celestron's support page. I download the zipped file, extract the contents but that's as far as I can get. The file in the unzipped file shows as a 'Jar' file instead of an exe. That naugghty little jar justs sits there and will not dance for me. I am running Windows 10. I have latest version of Java installed. I have tried turning around 3 times with one hand on my head and one on my tummy. No luck. I am neuro A typical, for the record, so that accounts for why I absolutely MUST know how to (please) open this file even though the odds are my kit is up to date. Seriously, this is driving me nuts. I found stargazerslounge via my searches in trying to solve this problem and I thought to myself what a nice vibe this ite has. so I joined. Any help / advice / chocolate (milk or dark) , money (PP or cash ) all very gratfefully and cheek kissingly received.
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Hi guys, I've literally just signed up so I'm totally new here and excited to learn from all you professional astromaster... I'm not sure if this is the right place to post so I do apologise if not... I'm after a skywatcher eq3 pro goto mount for my celestron astromaster 130eq every website i go on they are out of stock and not available for a couple of months does anybody know a stockist that has these in stock? I've only been in the astrophotography hobby 4 weeks so I've got lots to learn... Thank you for your help
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I am currently waiting for a nice shiny 100mm refractor to arrive... to put on my new HEQ5 PRO. Meanwhile, lurking in the garage in a case that hasn't been opened in over 20 years is a 40 years old this year Celestron C8 - the original fork mounted type in orange.... I'm suspecting that in order to get say a long dovetail plate to fit to it will require some modifications? At 2,000mm f/10 it will be good for lunar and Jupiter and Saturn. Has anyone any experience of doing this with the old style C8? It's fair to say I either lack the requisite skills or equipment to do anything more complex than screw/bolt things together, is if it is more than that, suggestions as to who could carry out any necessary modifications would be welcome. I realise DEC balance will be an issue on a GEM with an SCT... (In case you're wondering... back in 1980 when I bought it, there were no such things as dew straps, or much of anything else and I just found it not easy to use, eyepieces were ferociously expensive and I was a lowly bank clerk at the time, then I bought a house....). Ron.
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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 ?
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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.
