Big list of questions SW150p reflector goto

[Radscanner]

Hi all,

Tonight was the first reasonably clear night to "launch" my newly acquired Skywatcher 150p reflector with Synscan goto. I hope you don't mind me asking a whole lot of questions which arise from my not too successful session. I live in an apartment overlooking the sea on the East Sussex coast. The only practical way of observing is to open the doublr balcony doors on the east side, or lug the whole lot on to the southwest facing balcony but that is light polluted by a large walkway lamp. The orientation is just south of east. Thus at the moment the sun rises exactly in front of me and so do the constellations. By the time Orion is high in the sky it's on the edge of my opened balcony double doors and that's a little west of south. So the potential viewing area is not perfect but adequate and the east side is good because it looks over the sea. I can get good activity for three/four hours or so at the most interesting part of the winter night sky.

The questions are numbered for your convenience should you be kind enough to answer each one. Thank you.

1. The major problem is that I cannot actually see polaris, which resides above my ceiling! I have a few tablet apps that point to it but I am finding that quite difficult as I'm never quite sure whether lining up is accurate, and so far it is way off, but that will probably get better. Thus my first question is: Can I do initial aligning on another star more to the east, and if so, how?

2. Once aligned, even if it is not entirely accurate, does the accuracy improve by keying in a goto object then manually correcting, then pressing enter? In other words, does the goto computer interpret the correction as an added bonus in extrapolating a correction from the initial misalingment?

3. I have in the equipment provided a barlow 2x, a 25mm wide angle eyepiece and a 10mm eyepiece. The 25 EP looks ok and can focus pretty well. Not perfect but useable. With the barlow it is impossible to focus well and with the 10mm eyepiece wihout the barlow the view is very fuzzy and quite impossible to focus even though I'm aiming at very bright stars. Is this a collumation problem or something else?

4. The eyepieces come with an extension, What eyepieces is this made for? It is definitely a standard 1.25 inch fit, but I'm finding that with a couple of short spare eyepieces I have from another telescope they cannot be focussed without it (shaft is too short) and cannot be focussed with it either (shaft too long!). So I suppose I need a primer on what exactly this extension is for?

5. The finder scope is extremely frustrating. Having BLACK cross hairs it is almost impossible to line up since the crosshairs are too dark. The image is over magnified (god knows how people use more powerful ones) and the field of view is far too small to quickly align manually on much. I think I would be better off with a NON magnifying, right way up, red dot finder as I can see perfectly well which star or object I want to point at without any magnification in a finder. The finderscope just narrows things up and makes it almost as hard to find things as the scope itself.

6. The EQ3 mount is much more solid than the many reviews here suggest, but maybe that's because I hardly extend the legs. However I have noticed that while the mount is very smooth once I get away from the "home" position, when the mount is in the classic starting position (facing north at 51 degrees alt with no declination or RA) it goes "stiff". Once out of that central stiff area it is very smooth, and I'm wondering whether the goto motors are proving inaccurate because of this stiif portion. If so how can I "free up" the movement?

7. I'm told that the eyepieces with this kit are made for short f number scopes like the 150p (f5). Does that mean eyepieces should have a longer shaft than normal?

8. How can I go about getting higher magnification (not extreme but a little more) without things going out of focus. I ought to reiterate that this is not looking at faint objects but VERY bright stars. At higher magnifications the barlow and smaller EP produces really awful focus, and much worse that a litte 114 mm scope I looked through just a few days before.

9. The backlash defaults to a setting of zero. Do I need to increase this? How do I know whether backlash is occuring?

Thanks very much to anyone who cares to enlighten me with their wisdom.

All the best.

[Radscanner]

Ps: Apologies for a few mispelled words!

[perrin6]

I get the impression you might be observing from indoors which would seriously blur the image due to warm air currents.

[Radscanner]

I get the impression you might be observing from indoors which would seriously blur the image due to warm air currents.

Maybe but I'm not so sure. I turned down any heating so in effect the outside temp was similar to inside: Freezing! Also, the lower mag eyepiece was pretty well in focus and I didn't see the kind of atmospheric interference I've seen before through other scopes from warm to cold conditions.

[John]

Observing from inside a building, even with the heating turned down, is not going to do anything for the quality of the views. It's not just the air in your apartment that will affect things but the air coming from the building as a whole. Unless you can persuade all the other apartment owners to turn their heating off for a few hours as well !

[Radscanner]

OKI, be that as it may, would anyone like to kindly answer the questions, leaving aside the opinion on viewing from inside out. Let's pretend for a moment that the telescope is outiside and forget the focussing problem. There are still the goto/alignment/extension tube/ etc etc. At the moment these are just as important questions as the views on being inside. Thank you so much.

[Radscanner]

BTW, I am now (after experimenting) quite certain that the focussing issue is NOT anything to do with being inside since I forgot to mention that I pointed earlier at Jupiter and it was very crisply in focus, the building is very cold and the heating was turned completely off for two hours before viewing. Is it possible just for the time being to help me with the main thrust of the main questions without getting too hung up on whether I was inside, outside or suspended from a balloon!!

[Radscanner]

....and I've just got hold of a temp gauge and tested the temps inside and out, and a floor below which is a car park. All locations showed exactly the same temperature - 1 degree celsius. Sorry to repeat posts but I cannot find a way of editing one post!

[brantuk]

Astronomy is a bit like rugby - you can't play it indoors lol. If you setup pointing north and do a rough polar align it will be accurate enough for observing. Improving accuracy won't be done by manual adjustment though - you need to use the PAE - hold "Esc" down for two seconds on a goto object and the menu will take you through it.

[Radscanner]

Thanks Bright Giant. Regarding indoors...so that means all existing world observatories that have a roof, rooms, places to make tea etc shouldn't be there

[ianfiat]

Hi Radscanner, I have the same telescope as you, not used it much though since its rained pretty solidly since I got it!

1 The accurate alignment with polaris is only really important if you are imaging- I just align the mount to North and then do a 3 star align, I've found that when I've done this objects I find with the Synscan are within the view of a 15mm or 30mm eyepiece.

2 No, once you've used goto to find an object, fine adjustments have no effect on the alignment

3 I've never used the eyepieces that came with the scope- I already had 8mm, 15mm and 30mm Vixen NPL's, and I've always found them pin sharp.- Is it seeing conditions rather than collimation which is causing you problems?

4 No idea I'm afraid. There is a T adaptor that screws into the barlow to fit an SLR camera to.

5 The finderscope is OK if the alignment stars are within its field of view- I have a Telrad fitted too.

6 No

7 No

8 I tghink the highest practical magnification would be from using a 8mm EP with a 2 x barlow - gives a mag of around 190X

9 I've no idea what backlash is

[Radscanner]

Hi Ianflat, Thanks so much for taking the trouble to answer the questions posed. I think everyone else is getting hung up about me being indoors even though I assured them that there was absolutely no atmospheric or temperature difference between inside and out, the scope had at least an hour to cool and I was on a balcony at the time, so virtually in the open air. So the other people on this thread seem to avoid answering the questions. So special thanks to you for actually answering them!

I've already ordered some better eyepieces. I think the 25mm was fine because it is a better EP. Apparently the 10mm is not so good and that's probably why I had bad focus (nothing to do with being "indoors")

Regarding the re-alignment I've discovered the PAE function on the Goto (Pointing Accuracy Enhancement) which involves pressing ESCAPE for a few seconds then re-aligning on previous target. In this way the synscan computer re-learns the position and this can improve general alignment. I think previously I was pointing way off North and that's why I had problems. Last night's second session was much better and focussing was better too despite worse seeing conditions. Thanks again for your answers.

[brantuk]

Most observatories have a roof that opens up to the sky and no heating inside - at least the ones I've been in have been freezing inside. They're also usually well away from light pollution and other houses that emit heat. However - like yourself I used to view from a bedroom window with the radiator switched off - but that meant waiting for the right stuff to come past at the right time of year and very limited time at the eyepiece.

You'll see so much more of the sky and so many more objects by being outside with the scope in the right conditions - I'm sure you'd enjoy it a lot more - but in the end it's all down to personal preference - I totally get that.

[Andymac79]

Is it an EQ3 pro mount or a basic with drive motors, may have missed you saying. You can check the backlash by locking the clutches and then checking for excess play in the 2 axis' (give them a wiggle n shake)

If you dont get on with the finder bin it and get a Telrad or a red dot finder but Telrad is the way to go.

[Radscanner]

Most observatories have a roof that opens up to the sky and no heating inside - at least the ones I've been in have been freezing inside. They're also usually well away from light pollution and other houses that emit heat. However - like yourself I used to view from a bedroom window with the radiator switched off - but that meant waiting for the right stuff to come past at the right time of year and very limited time at the eyepiece.

You'll see so much more of the sky and so many more objects by being outside with the scope in the right conditions - I'm sure you'd enjoy it a lot more - but in the end it's all down to personal preference - I totally get that.

Hi Brantuk, I'm actually almost on a beach. The problem is that particularly over weekends we get all sorts of people walking very large dogs, and occasional assorted drunks all of whom might react oddly to what they would consider a large contraption looking skywards operated by someone they might consider a mad geek! So for that reason for the moment I do most viewing from two different balconies, one of which has almost 180 degree views from North East to South and the other, smaller balcony which faces south west to north west. All in all that's quite a good vista. I have double doors on one side and I can plonk the scope virtually outside, turn all heating off and wait an hour. A recent session confirmed focussing was fine and I saw no evidence of dew or temperature problems etc. Yes, all the observatories I've been to are ambient temperature, thus freezing cold. If you like I am partially emulating an observatory sliding roof but projected in front rather than above. It's perfectly adequate for my needs and seawards the light pollution is very low. I will one day pluck up courage to go on the beach once I get more familiar with the scope.

[Radscanner]

Is it an EQ3 pro mount or a basic with drive motors, may have missed you saying. You can check the backlash by locking the clutches and then checking for excess play in the 2 axis' (give them a wiggle n shake)

If you dont get on with the finder bin it and get a Telrad or a red dot finder but Telrad is the way to go.

Thanks for that advice. Vey helpful.

[Radscanner]

Forgot to say...yes EQ3 pro goto mount.

[Gazetilludrop]

Hi Radscanner,

Regarding adapter you mentioned in Q4, is it not the adapter for the 2" EP's? (If its the same thing I'm thinking of? ) I too have the standard EP's and have no problem with the 10mm plus barlow focus, great image of Jupiter and the moons can be achieved with this scope. I suspect some extenuating circumstances are causing your trouble. I view from a south facing back garden with low LP and its quite sheltered so I'm quite fortunate. Sorry I can't help with the Goto yet as I'm a total noob and I've not had the weather or cloud gaps to have a good play and power it up. I would certainly at least try to have a go out in the open then you can rule out any suggestions, just avoid the dogs and drunks!