C8NGT first light at last..................

[gary1968]

Well finally got 1st light with the C8NGT and after a 2nd attempt at alignment it was working great, (thanks Martin )

Observers present, Martin, Kenny, David, Paul and myself.

After alignment of the C8NGT was completed it was sent to Vega to test the goto, it was bang on.

Ist real target was M57, in a 20mm eyepiece it was definately a ring, cetral void was clearly visible.

2nd was NGC7331, Martins request, it appeared to be an edge on galaxy but it was faint and difficult to make out

3rd was NGC457, one of my favourites and the eyes were, as usual, amazing.

4th was Mars, early on it was a 'boiling mess' but by 11:00 it had settled down a bit but no real detail was observed.

4th was Cats Eye Nebula, couldn't see it, will try again another night.

5th was NGC6543, good visually with a 2x barlow and a 10mm eyepiece.

6th was Uranus, we thought it looked good with a slight bluish/green hue.

7th was Neptune, not sure if it was in the eyepice, there was an object with a slight disc like form but will try again.

8th was M42, watching the Orion Nebula rising over the hill top was amazing, I was really surprised to see how fast objects move when you have a fixed referance point, (the hill top), to measure it by. I had the scope track this for almost 1/2 an hour and M42 remained in the same position in the eyepiece for the duration.

9th was the Blue Snowball, that was very small through the 20mm eyepiece but also very blue.

10th was comet Holmes, very well difined, filled almost all of the 20mm. This was my 1st sight of the coment and I was a little disappointed that the core was not as obvious as I had hoped.

Overall I am very impressed with both the C8N and it CG5GT mount. I have read loads about people saying the mount is noisy but I dont think it is any louder than my SLT was. The goto's were excellent and the tracking was also very good.

I think it was a good idea by Celestron not to have a dry cell battery compartment as this seems to lead to trouble for people who try them, (me included with my old SLT)

3 hours after the mount was aligned it was still putting objects within the view of the 20mm eyepiece, although they were a little off centre, another calibration would have sorted that.

The optics of the scope also were good. When I took delivery of it I checked the collimation and found it to be a bit out so I adjusted the secondary using a laser collimator and then a cheshire to adjust the primary.

I think that this is an excellent package for the money and at a little under £600 it is certainly not over priced.

Gary A

[Albireo380]

Great first light Gary. Mars was boiling away for me too. Were you at Harperigg then? What happened to Martin's mount?

NGC457 - what's that one???

Tom

[gary1968]

Thanks for that Tom, thats the first irst light report and first observation report I have done and yes we were at Harperigg, with Martin, David, Kenny and Paul. Unfortuately Martin had a wee accident while assembling his mount. He thinks that the head wasn't located on the 'dog' correcly and when he let it go it fell..

I do hope that he was able to fix it.

NGC457 is the Owl Cluster, one of the named clusters where you can see why it was named as it was.

Cheers,

Gary A

[Albireo380]

Ahh.... the Owl Cluster - I know it now.

Martin was very pleased with his new mount when he set it up at Drymen a few weeks ago - he will be VERY unhappy if it is damaged.

I was at Drymen when you , Martin et al were at Harperigg - i must get down there some time.

Cheers

Tom