well I did it.

[dafed]

As an absolute beginner in astronomy, i've always had a lifelong interest in astronomy and i've always wanted to buy my own telescope well finally at the age of 62 i did it i went out and i have ordered a Celestron CPC Deluxe 800 EdgeHD Telescope. I thought i , would buy a scope that I could grow into and once comfortable with observing, progress onto astro photography just hope I have made a wise choice, so please any advice on equipment for observing, such as what eyepieces to get, would be gratefully received.

David

[LouisJB]

congratulations! and welcome too.

I hope you get great use from it.

I'm not sure I can recommend eyepieces, but you'll end up with several over time for sure, along with lots of other accessories

Are you familiar with the night sky? Something like Stellarium is very useful for planning etc before you get out there with it.

[ronin]

For AP you will likely have to consider a wedge for the scope in the future, or place the scope on a pier.

The Alt/Az nature of the mount makes it unsuitable for long exposure DSO imaging. Planetary imaging is fairly straightforward on an Alt/Az mount so try that initially.

Eyepieces as the scope will be about 2000mm FL and f/10 you will find most reasonable eyepiece operate well.

Probably stay above 10mm at first, and following the general idea try the BST Starguiders. If you want a few try 12mm, 15mm and 25mm.

Not sure what data the CPC's need or want to get going.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

If you want to start with affordable eyepieces, I would check out the Baader Hyperion range.

They are of excellent quality at a great price.

[dafed]

Thank you guys, much appreciated, regarding the wedge, will that allow timed exposures

[LouisJB]

inclining the fork will allow you to polar align, which then would allow longer exposures as the tube will naturally track with the motion of the night sky. Without, as a standard alt-az you're going to get field rotation which means longer exposures are unlikely to be possible. Shorter exposures and video of planets etc would be fine in either case though.

[dafed]

inclining the fork will allow you to polar align, which then would allow longer exposures as the tube will naturally track with the motion of the night sky. Without, as a standard alt-az you're going to get field rotation which means longer exposures are unlikely to be possible. Shorter exposures and video of planets etc would be fine in either case though.

But if i use a heavy duty wedge would that not allow me to use long exposures?. 

[LouisJB]

But if i use a heavy duty wedge would that not allow me to use long exposures?. 

I believe it would allow that, allowing for other caveats like whether you might need guiding etc.

I don't have/use a fork mounted setup so I'm not the best person to advise you on the details but the simple theory is putting a wedge in the fork inclines the axis so that it can have a axis of rotation pointing at polaris or more specifically the NCP - just like an GEM (EQ) mount does.

[dafed]

I believe it would allow that, allowing for other caveats like whether you might need guiding etc.

I don't have/use a fork mounted setup so I'm not the best person to advise you on the details but the simple theory is putting a wedge in the fork inclines the axis so that it can have a axis of rotation pointing at polaris or more specifically the NCP - just like an GEM (EQ) mount does.

Ok ,Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

[Northern Soul man]

Hi David and welcome to the SGL mate, that's an absolutely stunning scope your getting, I'm purely a visual observer and I settled on the CPC, I've had it over a year now and have found it to be very accurate in alignment with all the objects in or very near to the centre of the eyepiece - you will need a dew shield and dew heaters to keep the corrector plate clear and not misting up on these damp nights.

For Lunar and Planetary work it will be excellent, try to make the most of Jupiter this time around as she rides nice and high in the sky and at her best now.  The CPC will be a little forgiving on eyepieces at F10, I use the Hyperions and find them to be very nice eyepieces, even the Baader Hyperion zoom works extremely well, the 24mm setting is a little narrow, but a very nice zoom eyepiece.

The field of view is a little small on these SCT scopes, but you will get most of the objects nicely placed and only the open star clusters will need a little sweeping around - even the double cluster in Perseus will have to be viewed one cluster at a time.

A good power source will be needed, either a dedicated power supply or a 17Ah power tank to run power, but make sure that the power tip fits tightly into the power "hole" as if you use a tip thats slightly smaller you may loose power mid session and have to re - align again.    Paul.

[Gazetilludrop]

Hi dafad,

Sorry can't comment on the scope but congrats on your purchase! Here's to some clear skies to get out there & use them eh?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lphilpot]

You'll also be wanting some star charts as well. Over the years I've primarily used SkyAtlas 2000 (both original and DeLuxe), Uranometria 2000 (original) and a couple others (Cambridge Star Atlas and the Pocket Sky Atlas, although I've had a difficult time adjusting to the PSA). There are other excellent published atlases as well. However, there are some pretty darn good free atlases available on the Net, if you're interested in printing them:

Deep Sky Hunter

It's available two 'depths', that is, number of stars, objects, details, etc.

Mag 7 Star Atlas (also here for an updated version)

Pretty nice atlas, laid out (I think) for US aspect ratio page sizes; the others are A* sizes

Toshimi Taki's star atlas

Simliar to the Deep Sky Hunter, he has two atlases, one to 6.5 (approx. naked eye limit) and another to 8.5 (same as SkyAtlas DeLuxe, IIRC). Also, he has a double star atlas and planisphere, all freely available as PDFs. I'm fairly impressed with the 8.5 atlas and am (slightly ) considering priting it out, despite it being 146+ charts. I already have a DeLuxe SkyAtlas, but one can't have too many of such things.

TriAtlas

As I read in one review, "Be afraid. Be very afraid"   Probably right, since this is a VERY dense chart. Actually, there are several versions, to different levels of detail. The deepest set is 571 (!) charts. Obviously you won't be printing this entire set!

These are all good for general use and since they're free, just download a few samples and see what you think. I've seen a few others online, but nothing else too significant.

If you need highly detailed charts of specific objects / areas, I recommend using software to print them. There are a vast number of astronomical packages out there, but some of my favorites are:

Cartes du Ciel (free)
SkyTools (commercial)

C2A (free)

Megastar (10 years old, but still prints excellent charts)

I'm sure others will have other favorites as well.

Have fun!

[dafed]

Hi David and welcome to the SGL mate, that's an absolutely stunning scope your getting, I'm purely a visual observer and I settled on the CPC, I've had it over a year now and have found it to be very accurate in alignment with all the objects in or very near to the centre of the eyepiece - you will need a dew shield and dew heaters to keep the corrector plate clear and not misting up on these damp nights.

For Lunar and Planetary work it will be excellent, try to make the most of Jupiter this time around as she rides nice and high in the sky and at her best now.  The CPC will be a little forgiving on eyepieces at F10, I use the Hyperions and find them to be very nice eyepieces, even the Baader Hyperion zoom works extremely well, the 24mm setting is a little narrow, but a very nice zoom eyepiece.

The field of view is a little small on these SCT scopes, but you will get most of the objects nicely placed and only the open star clusters will need a little sweeping around - even the double cluster in Perseus will have to be viewed one cluster at a time.

A good power source will be needed, either a dedicated power supply or a 17Ah power tank to run power, but make sure that the power tip fits tightly into the power "hole" as if you use a tip thats slightly smaller you may loose power mid session and have to re - align again.    Paul.

G,day Paul, thanks for the welcome, yes its a stunning piece of kit i took a trip up to Rother Valley Optics to collect it, while there i also picked up a Celestron 17Ah power tank ,a baader Hyperion 13 mm eyepiece and a moon filter.

I must be honest I am terrified at the thought of putting it all together, I think its the putting together the finder-scope and then starting up with the GPS and to be honest every thing else that goes with using it, but I suppose i will have to

get used to the fact that i have to do it. 

Did you have much experience with this type of telescope and how did you find the task of putting it all together .

david

[dafed]

G,day Paul, thanks for the welcome, yes its a stunning piece of kit i took a trip up to Rother Valley Optics to collect it, while there i also picked up a Celestron 17Ah power tank ,a baader Hyperion 13 mm eyepiece and a moon filter.

I must be honest I am terrified at the thought of putting it all together, I think its the putting together the finder-scope and then starting up with the GPS and to be honest every thing else that goes with using it, but I suppose i will have to

get used to the fact that i have to do it. 

Did you have much experience with this type of telescope and how did you find the task of putting it all together .

[dafed]

You'll also be wanting some star charts as well. Over the years I've primarily used SkyAtlas 2000 (both original and DeLuxe), Uranometria 2000 (original) and a couple others (Cambridge Star Atlas and the Pocket Sky Atlas, although I've had a difficult time adjusting to the PSA). There are other excellent published atlases as well. However, there are some pretty darn good free atlases available on the Net, if you're interested in printing them:

Deep Sky Hunter

It's available two 'depths', that is, number of stars, objects, details, etc.

Mag 7 Star Atlas (also here for an updated version)

Pretty nice atlas, laid out (I think) for US aspect ratio page sizes; the others are A* sizes

Toshimi Taki's star atlas

Simliar to the Deep Sky Hunter, he has two atlases, one to 6.5 (approx. naked eye limit) and another to 8.5 (same as SkyAtlas DeLuxe, IIRC). Also, he has a double star atlas and planisphere, all freely available as PDFs. I'm fairly impressed with the 8.5 atlas and am (slightly ) considering priting it out, despite it being 146+ charts. I already have a DeLuxe SkyAtlas, but one can't have too many of such things.

TriAtlas

As I read in one review, "Be afraid. Be very afraid"   Probably right, since this is a VERY dense chart. Actually, there are several versions, to different levels of detail. The deepest set is 571 (!) charts. Obviously you won't be printing this entire set!

These are all good for general use and since they're free, just download a few samples and see what you think. I've seen a few others online, but nothing else too significant.

If you need highly detailed charts of specific objects / areas, I recommend using software to print them. There are a vast number of astronomical packages out there, but some of my favorites are:

Cartes du Ciel (free)

SkyTools (commercial)

C2A (free)

Megastar (10 years old, but still prints excellent charts)

I'm sure others will have other favorites as well.

Have fun!

You'll also be wanting some star charts as well. Over the years I've primarily used SkyAtlas 2000 (both original and DeLuxe), Uranometria 2000 (original) and a couple others (Cambridge Star Atlas and the Pocket Sky Atlas, although I've had a difficult time adjusting to the PSA). There are other excellent published atlases as well. However, there are some pretty darn good free atlases available on the Net, if you're interested in printing them:

Deep Sky Hunter

It's available two 'depths', that is, number of stars, objects, details, etc.

Mag 7 Star Atlas (also here for an updated version)

Pretty nice atlas, laid out (I think) for US aspect ratio page sizes; the others are A* sizes

Toshimi Taki's star atlas

Simliar to the Deep Sky Hunter, he has two atlases, one to 6.5 (approx. naked eye limit) and another to 8.5 (same as SkyAtlas DeLuxe, IIRC). Also, he has a double star atlas and planisphere, all freely available as PDFs. I'm fairly impressed with the 8.5 atlas and am (slightly ) considering priting it out, despite it being 146+ charts. I already have a DeLuxe SkyAtlas, but one can't have too many of such things.

TriAtlas

As I read in one review, "Be afraid. Be very afraid"   Probably right, since this is a VERY dense chart. Actually, there are several versions, to different levels of detail. The deepest set is 571 (!) charts. Obviously you won't be printing this entire set!

These are all good for general use and since they're free, just download a few samples and see what you think. I've seen a few others online, but nothing else too significant.

If you need highly detailed charts of specific objects / areas, I recommend using software to print them. There are a vast number of astronomical packages out there, but some of my favorites are:

Cartes du Ciel (free)

SkyTools (commercial)

C2A (free)

Megastar (10 years old, but still prints excellent charts)

I'm sure others will have other favorites as well.

Have fun!

Thank you, learning about and using the star charts  should be fun , thanks for the links.

david

[Northern Soul man]

Hi David, its really straight forward, just set the tripod up where you will do most of your observing try not to extend the legs too much as this will make the whole thing more stable when in use.  not sure if there's a bubble level on the top of the tripod, if so just level the legs up, place the fork mount and tube on the little centre locator pin and rotate the tube until you feel it lock onto the tripod, then tighten the three bolts just under the tripod to secure the whole thing.

Fit the finder into the bracket (I think it only goes in one way), if the Moon's up, align the finder whilst pointing the main scope at the centre of the moon ( if the moons not about you can do this in the day, pointing at a distant object like a tv antenna) by adjusting the screws which hold the finder in its bracket (you can adjust the focus in the finder by twisting the serrated lock ring away from the dew shield on the front of the finder) line the view in the finder at the centre of the cross hairs to match the view in the main scope.  

I then attach the power cord and then switch her on, it will take a little while for the GPS to "find" your location (longitude and latitude), don't worry if you set up near to the house, I do this and always get a good alignment ( I was sure that the GPS could only "see" a small portion of the sky, but it always finds the co - ordinates) whilst its searching for the GPS settings, you can push the "back" button on the handset, using the scroll up and down arrows (right side of the handset), check the date/time and if all's ok your ready to start the alignment.

Using the 40mm eyepiece in the scope, loosen the clutches on both axes and point the scope to Polaris, check in the main scope you have the right star it has a faint double at about the 5 O'clock position I think - anyway its a double, then lock the clutches and use Polaris as the first alignment star under the Auto two star align function on the handset, centre Polaris in the FOV, press "align", then choose your second star - this star needs to be a good distance away from Polaris, maybe towards the South, say Belegeuse, Procyon, castor or Pollux or Aldebaren, the scope will then slew to where it thinks the star is, centre the star using the direction controls on the handset, when centred, press "align", you should get the message "align success" and away you go!!!!!

Just keep reading the "set up" process and it will soon sink in, your ready then to start observing - this is when the fun starts!!! Jupiter will be amazing, check the transit times of the Great Red Spot moving across the face of Jupiter (the view you get through the scope with the star diagonal in place is North at the top but East/ West will be switched , the planet rotates West to East, so will rotate from the right to the left in the eyepiece.

Best to start with the Messier objects, from night to night you will get a feel for the "seeing" conditions and "transparency" of the sky, some nights will be better than others and starting with the 40mm eyepiece, try for the open clusters like M36, M37, M38 in Auriga and the Double cluster in Perseus (NGC 884 I think) is nice (but you will only get 1 cluster at a time in the scope so you will need to sweep with the direction buttons on the handset) you can then swap to the 13mm eyepiece which will give a slightly higher magnification and will better resolve the inner stars of each cluster.

There's a few to get on with David, just concentrate on the set up process as this will give the scope a "map" of the night sky.  I have always had really good accuracy with the CPC 1100 with each object very close to the centre FOV of a 36mm EP.

Remember though, light pollution is a real pain and this has a lot to do with the object being visible or invisible in the EP, for me M1 (The Crab Nebula) is a very faint object, the scope may be directly on the Crab, but due to the amount of light pollution, it may be invisible, so its all to do with the quality of the sky where a low power view will give a bright sky background, just by increasing the magnification a little can render the object visible.

Hope that helps a little David to get you started, the edge HD will provide you with a wonderful view of the night sky, Jupiter, the Moon, the rings of Saturn and the countless objects, all at our fingertips!!!!!!.    Paul.

[dafed]

Hi David, its really straight forward, just set the tripod up where you will do most of your observing try not to extend the legs too much as this will make the whole thing more stable when in use.  not sure if there's a bubble level on the top of the tripod, if so just level the legs up, place the fork mount and tube on the little centre locator pin and rotate the tube until you feel it lock onto the tripod, then tighten the three bolts just under the tripod to secure the whole thing.

Fit the finder into the bracket (I think it only goes in one way), if the Moon's up, align the finder whilst pointing the main scope at the centre of the moon ( if the moons not about you can do this in the day, pointing at a distant object like a tv antenna) by adjusting the screws which hold the finder in its bracket (you can adjust the focus in the finder by twisting the serrated lock ring away from the dew shield on the front of the finder) line the view in the finder at the centre of the cross hairs to match the view in the main scope.  

I then attach the power cord and then switch her on, it will take a little while for the GPS to "find" your location (longitude and latitude), don't worry if you set up near to the house, I do this and always get a good alignment ( I was sure that the GPS could only "see" a small portion of the sky, but it always finds the co - ordinates) whilst its searching for the GPS settings, you can push the "back" button on the handset, using the scroll up and down arrows (right side of the handset), check the date/time and if all's ok your ready to start the alignment.

Using the 40mm eyepiece in the scope, loosen the clutches on both axes and point the scope to Polaris, check in the main scope you have the right star it has a faint double at about the 5 O'clock position I think - anyway its a double, then lock the clutches and use Polaris as the first alignment star under the Auto two star align function on the handset, centre Polaris in the FOV, press "align", then choose your second star - this star needs to be a good distance away from Polaris, maybe towards the South, say Belegeuse, Procyon, castor or Pollux or Aldebaren, the scope will then slew to where it thinks the star is, centre the star using the direction controls on the handset, when centred, press "align", you should get the message "align success" and away you go!!!!!

Just keep reading the "set up" process and it will soon sink in, your ready then to start observing - this is when the fun starts!!! Jupiter will be amazing, check the transit times of the Great Red Spot moving across the face of Jupiter (the view you get through the scope with the star diagonal in place is North at the top but East/ West will be switched , the planet rotates West to East, so will rotate from the right to the left in the eyepiece.

Best to start with the Messier objects, from night to night you will get a feel for the "seeing" conditions and "transparency" of the sky, some nights will be better than others and starting with the 40mm eyepiece, try for the open clusters like M36, M37, M38 in Auriga and the Double cluster in Perseus (NGC 884 I think) is nice (but you will only get 1 cluster at a time in the scope so you will need to sweep with the direction buttons on the handset) you can then swap to the 13mm eyepiece which will give a slightly higher magnification and will better resolve the inner stars of each cluster.

There's a few to get on with David, just concentrate on the set up process as this will give the scope a "map" of the night sky.  I have always had really good accuracy with the CPC 1100 with each object very close to the centre FOV of a 36mm EP.

Remember though, light pollution is a real pain and this has a lot to do with the object being visible or invisible in the EP, for me M1 (The Crab Nebula) is a very faint object, the scope may be directly on the Crab, but due to the amount of light pollution, it may be invisible, so its all to do with the quality of the sky where a low power view will give a bright sky background, just by increasing the magnification a little can render the object visible.

Hope that helps a little David to get you started, the edge HD will provide you with a wonderful view of the night sky, Jupiter, the Moon, the rings of Saturn and the countless objects, all at our fingertips!!!!!!.    Paul.

blumming hell Paul, you certainly know your stuff, 

all I can say is thank you, and with regards to the manual your right i need to digest it untill i know it backwards, I have bought a book call Making every photon count , its brilliant, James the moderator recommended it to me

I also need to join a club so i can learn from other people like yourself who are kind enough to help raw beginers, so thank you Paul. 

[Northern Soul man]

Thanks David, its ok, sorry I can't help you with the photo/imaging, I'm just purely visual, If your near to Wolverhampton, they have a society, just type in Wolvas into your search bar, think they meet over towards Penn, Walsall also have a society, I went up to Barr Beacon a few weeks ago and it was a fantastic night I took my scope up there and set up with some Astronomers from Wolves and Walsall - there wasn't a cloud in the sky all night, was really nice to see and hear the people's comments.  There's another meet up at Barr beacon on the 1st and 8th March for Jupiter watch.

I've been interested in Astronomy for over 25 years and been observing for most of the time - not out so much as I used to be, but I just love everything about the night sky, even with our light polluted skies in the Midlands, for me, its not just about going out under the clear night skies (must admit though that I love it!!) it just amazes me that its only been around 400 years since the birth of the telescope, in that time, the amount which is now known about the universe, is still relatively small compared to what we still don't know !!!

Keep in touch David and keep us informed of how you get on mate, regards   Paul.

[dafed]

Thanks David, its ok, sorry I can't help you with the photo/imaging, I'm just purely visual, If your near to Wolverhampton, they have a society, just type in Wolvas into your search bar, think they meet over towards Penn, Walsall also have a society, I went up to Barr Beacon a few weeks ago and it was a fantastic night I took my scope up there and set up with some Astronomers from Wolves and Walsall - there wasn't a cloud in the sky all night, was really nice to see and hear the people's comments.  There's another meet up at Barr beacon on the 1st and 8th March for Jupiter watch.

I've been interested in Astronomy for over 25 years and been observing for most of the time - not out so much as I used to be, but I just love everything about the night sky, even with our light polluted skies in the Midlands, for me, its not just about going out under the clear night skies (must admit though that I love it!!) it just amazes me that its only been around 400 years since the birth of the telescope, in that time, the amount which is now known about the universe, is still relatively small compared to what we still don't know !!!

Keep in touch David and keep us informed of how you get on mate, regards   Paul.

Definitely will keep in touch, and thank you for your advice:) 

david

[MrFinster]

If you want to start with affordable eyepieces, I would check out the Baader Hyperion range.

They are of excellent quality at a great price.

Agreed, 

I have the Hyperion 8 - 24 mm zoom and although opinions on zoom eyepieces are clearly divided, I love it to bits but will be getting a couple of the fixed focal lengths. 

[dafed]

Well I unboxed it this afternoon, set it up and wow had my first real close look at the moon,

the view knocked my socks off , it was just amazing, I used the Hyperion 13 mm its a lovely eyepiece i am well and truly hooked.

david