Putting Nexstar 6SE away

[Star Baker]

Hello

At last the rain has stopped and I've finally used my new telescope out tonight, not a huge success yet as I couldn't get the Star Align to work, probably because I couldn't get the red dot on the Finderscope to move into the right place.  I'm sure I'll get there in the end, but I've got neck ache right now as I didnt have the tripod high enough so I'm going to give up for tonight.  The whole thing has got quite wet from dew but I don't know whether to allow it to dry off naturally before putting the lens cap on and likewise the eye piece or if I should dry it off with a soft cloth before putting the caps on.

Thanks for a great site; I've spent some time reading all the useful info.

[Horatio]

Same here, just got in from putting my Nexstar 6SE away too and like you I;ve not had much luck tonight.  Pretty wound up with the supplied red dot finders on these, just by turning the thing on and or even altering the brightness moves the alignment off, in a nutshell I think they're very poor.  By the time I'd sky aligned (after my 3rd attempt) the fog rolled in to the valley obscuring everything....flipin' typical. As for the red dot, I'll go telrad once I can afford it. Put your tripod on it's highest setting and use a star diagonal, saves your back.  As for the dew, I towel off the main tube and tripod legs but leave the lenses to dry off naturally including eye pieces, once dry, caps on and stored away.

Hey better luck next time for the both of us?

[baggywrinkle]

I used to invert the scope and let it dry naturally. Then give it a wipe down afterwards to remove any stain marks.

Re the RDF. Often the RDF cannot achieve enough adjustment with the two setting screws. I used a shim made of a business card underneath the back of the adapter plat for the RDF. THis worked for me.

[Horatio]

Yeh I did the shim thing too, I think it may have been your good self that suggested it   but the damned thing itself is so fickle one touch with a finger knocks it way off.  Needs something a lot studier I reckon.

[baggywrinkle]

Yeh I did the shim thing too, I think it may have been your good self that suggested it   but the damned thing itself is so fickle one touch with a finger knocks it way off.  Needs something a lot studier I reckon.

Considering the price tag on the 6SE you might have thought that Celestron would have provided an better RDF. Plus of course you are stuck with their adapater which does not accept Vixen type shoe mounts.

[Sobel]

I ended up cutting a strip off an elastic band to act as a shim for my RDF. I figured which orientation the RDF needed moving towards, for me the RDF needed a large movement to the left as well as raising on the right side.

I then loosened the base plate, inserted the elastic band cut off under the right hand edge of the base plate and resecured, remembering to slightly twist to the left. I then secured it down, attached the RDF and lo and behold, I was easily able to align with the inbuilt adjustment knobs. Now I keep it on and it makes it much easier to get aligned and running.

[Horatio]

I cut up a credit card and slipped it under  the rear end of the mounting screws to bring the front end down, which does the job but like I say, just by adjusting the brightness of the LED sends it way off course.  I'm wondering whether it's just my finder or others have the same experience with theirs?

[baggywrinkle]

I cut up a credit card and slipped it under  the rear end of the mounting screws to bring the front end down, which does the job but like I say, just by adjusting the brightness of the LED sends it way off course.  I'm wondering whether it's just my finder or others have the same experience with theirs?

I have had the problem and seen the problem reported by many SE owners owniing 4,5,6 or 8.

[Star Baker]

Hello

Thanks for all the advice.  I didn't know what a shim was but after looking  shim up on Wikipedia I find that I've used one in the past; a beer mat to steady a wobbly table in a pub.   However, I don't know which is the base plate as it's not mentioned in the picture of the Finderscope in Fig 3-3 on Page 8 of the manual.  I'm guessing it's near the bottom from the word base.  Is it the Dovetail Mountain Bracket or the Mounting Track or something else?

Also I was reading last night a very informative post somewhere on this site regarding spectacle wearing and the drawbacks of different kinds of specs.  I wear a contact lens in my left eye in order to be able to read (age) and I suspect this maybe part of the cause of my problem, doubtless the reason why the red dot was a big red smudge but not necessarily why I couldn't get the smudge anywhere near where I wanted.  But I can't find that post anymore, does anyone know where it is?

If I try and align it in the daylight, do I then have to leave it exactly where it is until nightfall?   I don't really want to do that in case my dog mistakes the tripod for a lamppost or I may want to go out.  Can I carry it carefully back inside and then back out again tonight?

Thanks.

[Horatio]

The shim goes directly between the plastic mounting plate and the tube assembly, if you want to lower the red dot in the sky then put the shim towards the back and vice a versa.  I think it's pretty naf having to resort to this but there's mine.

I don't know where the post is on specs but I'd be interested in seeing it as I wear bottle ends, I was going to put contacts in to view but wouldn't see half the stars in constellations if I did this and hence wouldn't be able to star hop very well another reason why I NEED a Goto.  Not great being nearly as blind as bat.

I suppose you could sky align and carry it back in but the date and tme may be wrong and hence throw your alignment way out?  I suppose it would be ok to do it during the night in question, just mark the spots where the feet are to place back on the same level surface,  I've not actually done this with my Nexstar (carry in and out) I used to with my Meade EQ mount and when polar aligning but I think I still triangulated back each night, can't quite remember now? 

My biggest concern (or pain) at the moment is the RDF, once aligned remembering not to even breath on it, to knock of it alignment with the OTA.  I feel as though I'm struggling with this Celestron, sky aligning and the RDF, these problems I never had with a Meade, nearly regretting not buying another Meade on an EQ just lately, seemed a darn site easier and quicker to set up even with polar aligning.  I'm hoping it's just me......a bad tradesman blames his tools

[Cjg]

Agreed re the quality of the RDF, mine once tightened up doesn't move too much from session to session - so guess am lucky in that respect.

I found the 3 star align process to be more of a pain than the auto 2 star, which I find to be accurate enough and more prone to giving the "Align Success" message  - did read somewhere that the 3 star align was better suited to an EQ mount than the Alt Az that the NexStar series come with.

Let the scope dry out thoroughly, I usually leave it lens up on the mount with the rear cover off, to ensure warm air from my study gets inside - there are reports on here of condensation inside the scope - FLO do sell a special desiccant filled cap if your scope suffers.

Better luck with clearer skies to you soon I hope.

Chris 

[Donkeiller]

The RDF has been fine on mine.

I agree with Cjg that the 3 star align process is a pain in the a***.

The auto 2 star, however, has never failed.

[Horatio]

The RDF has been fine on mine.

I agree with Cjg that the 3 star align process is a pain in the a***.

The auto 2 star, however, has never failed.

reckon it must just must be my RDF if I'm going to have to pay for another to replace it, I'll do it with a Telrad after all reviews on here.  After saying that, it'd be nice to try another Celestron RDF just to see that it is mine that's up 'the creek'. The 3 star align is a pain, never seems to go first time?  Doing the alignment is taking precious time off the viewing as my thermostat gets lower and lower.......brr

[Cjg]

reckon it must just must be my RDF if I'm going to have to pay for another to replace it, I'll do it with a Telrad after all reviews on here.  After saying that, it'd be nice to try another Celestron RDF just to see that it is mine that's up 'the creek'. The 3 star align is a pain, never seems to go first time?  Doing the alignment is taking precious time off the viewing as my thermostat gets lower and lower.......brr

Good luck, my best views ever have been when the temp has been -7.5 and -9 - am sure at that temp, the seeing becomes clearer, easier to see the faint stuff.

That said, having a warm clubhouse and kitchen that can be lit with just red lighting rather than white ( very nearly wrote a red light only area, but the connotations..   ) means that you can nip in and warm up  / have a brew without losing dark adaption helps a lot.

Layer up, let the scope cool down and enjoy ;-)

Chris

[Horatio]

Good luck, my best views ever have been when the temp has been -7.5 and -9 - am sure at that temp, the seeing becomes clearer, easier to see the faint stuff.

That said, having a warm clubhouse and kitchen that can be lit with just red lighting rather than white ( very nearly wrote a red light only area, but the connotations..   ) means that you can nip in and warm up  / have a brew without losing dark adaption helps a lot.

Layer up, let the scope cool down and enjoy ;-)

Chris

-7.5 and -9.....!!!

I only look stupid  I'd want to see back to the big bang itself with those temperatures. 

Fair play though to you Chris, you must be hard core whilst I'm in the play dough league (if you remember that, may be too young?)

[Cjg]

-7.5 and -9.....!!!

I only look stupid  I'd want to see back to the big bang itself with those temperatures. 

Fair play though to you Chris, you must be hard core whilst I'm in the play dough league (if you remember that, may be too young?)

Was at Seething with Norwich Astro Society! 4th year of membership, thoroughly enjoy it. Friendly group and learnt loads in my time from some serious hardcore observers. 1 of whom is running a training session next Friday, he refers to scopes with less than 8 " of aperture as "moderately sized " ...he has a 24" Dob!.

At a club, you are with others who help, so is easier to stay out longer. In fact I packed it in at - 7.5 as my scope had frozen up and got called a "Wimp" (in a nice way) for doing so. If you have similar near you, then worth a visit.

Best,

Chris.

[baggywrinkle]

Was at Seething with Norwich Astro Society! 4th year of membership, thoroughly enjoy it. Friendly group and learnt loads in my time from some serious hardcore observers. 1 of whom is running a training session next Friday, he refers to scopes with less than 8 " of aperture as "moderately sized " ...he has a 24" Dob!.

At a club, you are with others who help, so is easier to stay out longer. In fact I packed it in at - 7.5 as my scope had frozen up and got called a "Wimp" (in a nice way) for doing so. If you have similar near you, then worth a visit.

Best,

Chris.

Hope to catch up with you there after April. I am moving to Ely and will probably become a member of the NAS, I was once a member back in 1970.....

[Cjg]

Hope to catch up with you there after April. I am moving to Ely and will probably become a member of the NAS, I was once a member back in 1970.....

Excellent, is a thriving club. You can catch up with us via Twitter (if you tweet) @NorwichAS.

See you in April, we have a massive event coming together for April - a first for the UK we think!

Chris

[baggywrinkle]

Sadly Twitter is blocked in China....like many things..

[Teignstar]

Good morning

I have a Nexstar 6SE which I have just been given as a retirement present.

The red dot alignment seems to have worked on mine, although on the rear adjuster I am at the maximum travel!.

As seems to be the case, I am struggling with the 3 star alignment, but still persevere.

Hopefully, it will work, I think it may be that my stars are not far enough apart in the align process. I look south and the stars are close together.

The 2 star process seems more successful, or maybe I use the planet alignment on the sun.

Peter

[Horatio]

The red dot alignment seems to have worked on mine, although on the rear adjuster I am at the maximum travel!.

Sounds like you need a shim......

[Cjg]

Sadly Twitter is blocked in China....like many things..

April is not that far away, it's almost Mid January - this time last year the world hadn't ended with the Mayan NotApocolyse but the UK was grinding to a halt with snow and ice....See you soon.