Complete Novice - First Night With Celestron CPC 800

[Zaine UK]

Hi all,

Managed to use my Telescope for the first time last night. Very clear skies over Devon. I had no idea how to start, but by the end of the night i feel like it was a night well spent learning my Telescope and it's setup and features. I carried it into the garden in two stages. Tripod first, then the Telescope. I was setup within minutes and ready to go. I was in a race because the moon was slowly disappearing behind the house. I tried the 3 star align and set it to goto the Moon. The Telescope pointed to completly the wrong area of the sky? I thought it must be the GPS or local time setting. I checked i'd set it to Universal Time.

The next few times i tried the Align it failed. I then realized my scopefinder was off centre. Also, i think i was picking too faint stars. Finally got it Aligned and everything just looked wrong with a black dot in the middle. I was starting to think the Telescope was broke and even checked for something stuck on the end lol. I set the GoTo to Jupiter and it looked the same. Just a light with a black dot in the middle.

I tried putting on the Barlow. At first i just put the Barlow on and looked through that. I soon realized the eyepiece needed to be attached into the back of the Barlow. Oh dear. I then remembered the Focus dial and started to turn it. Suddenly Jupiter and four moons with it's cloud bands were clearly visable. I was very happy. I spent the rest of the evening looking at all sorts of objects including The Orion Nebule, Beatelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius. The moon was out of sight by the time i got th Telescope working, but i'll looking forward to seeing it. Next time i'm going to take my Scope onto a hill near my house so nothing is obstructing my view. Overall very impressed and feel hooked on my new hobby. I really had no idea when i went outside, but i feel i've learnt so much in one night and won't make the same mistakes again.

I was using the biggest eyepiece (I have the Celestron Filter Kit) will i be able to get Jupiter even bigger with one of the other eyepieces?

Thanks for reading... Martin

[valleyman]

Thanks for sharing Martin, big learning curve but your going in the right direction.

[Duns]

Yes it is a bit confusing to start - but you are well on top of it.

Just need plenty of clear nights now

[Double Kick Drum]

I was using the biggest eyepiece (I have the Celestron Filter Kit) will i be able to get Jupiter even bigger with one of the other eyepieces?

Thanks for reading... Martin

The larger the eyepiece focal length, the smaller the magnification.

Magnification = FL of Scope / FL of Eyepiece.

For example, if your scope has a FL of 1500mm and you put a 15mm eyepiece in, you will have 100x magnification. A 25mm eyepiece would give you 60x magnification.

What you should find is that bright objects (Moon, planets) can take more magnification. Galaxies and clusters on the other hand are generally best with lower magnification.

Hope that helps!

[Tinker1947]

Align with your less powerful (high "mm") EP, then as you put in more powerful (low "mm") EP recenter going from a 30-35mm to a 5mm can result in the image being outside the FOV, glad your enjoying your new scope...

[Zaine UK]

Looking forward to testing out different combinations of eyepieces and my Barlow.

[rwilkey]

Martin, great report, glad you sorted it out OK, forget the Barlow for now, get used to the capabilities the ep's offer on their own merits. Your scope is already quite a long focal length, no need to make it longer with a Barlow, you will find magnification isn't everything.

[Zaine UK]

Ok, i'll give that a try next time i get a clear sky.

[Mr Noble]

I have the same scope. Its fantastic once you get it all sussed out!!

You'll need a low power EP about 30-36mm (I think about 36mm is the lowest power the CPC8 can use, I have a 40mm meade plossl, but the view if the same as with a 36mm I have. It just looks like everything is further away but both EP's actually cover the same field of view.

I find that about 8mm is the highest magnification that the scope can usefully go to on the planets and moon.

[Mr Noble]

I also swopped the finder scope for one of these and find it way easier to use (once you've zeroed it correct ally - which is easier to do in daylight by pointing it at a tree or building a mile away)

First Light Optics - Baader 30mm Sky Surfer III

[Zaine UK]

Cheers.