Hi all - new Nexstar SE 6

[BlackCat]

Well - had a very generous birthday present a couple of weeks ago (after some hinting and a bit of Googling ...)

Now have a very pretty Celestron SE6 - and have been wowed with what I've been able to see when pointing directly at sky objects (i.e. Jupiter at the moment).

The GoTo mount and handset aren't fantastically user friendly (can't actually read the Nexremote display in the dark),

What do forumers reckon to the Celestron Starsense Accessory?

And what should be on the shopping list for accessories to compliment this system (EP's etc)

[oldpink]

does your handset not have a way to brighten & dim
shouldn't be that hard to read

welcome to SGL

[BlackCat]

Yes - the handset has contrast and bold controls.

But for me changing  them doesn't  make it easy to read as the brightness and contrast don't (for me) go far enough to make the LCD display legible

....and the remote crashed the day before yesterday and had to be re-flashed

[oldpink]

is it too dark or light
there are ways to deal with that, or is it something else
TBH I can't see how its an issue as it should be similar to my goto handset which I can read very easily as can most other people

[Steve_meg]

Firstly great telescope you have there. However I have the same mount and find the display very bright and easy to read.

As for starsense, I should have mine tomorrow so will let you know once the clouds clear.

Also biggest tip, if you haven't already, is to get a power tank. I found, as have others, that if used on batteries it will do crazy things.

[baggywrinkle]

There should be a backlight on the handset.

Get some double sided velcro and stick one half to the mount the other on the hand set. I quickly found the handset does not stow well in the recess and falls out.

I also made a sun filter using the Baader solar filter sheet.

http://www.nexstarsite.com/

The above site has some good tips.

Add ep's to give you 50x, 100x and 150x without a Barlow. I have some celestron Omni and Excel, they are very good.

The max magnification is going to be about 300x

I also bought a divers belt weight which I put in the tray underneeath to add a bit of extra stability.

[oldpink]

very rarely use my handset these days as I use EQMOD in direct control mode
I tend to control everything from a laptop and xbox controller to control the scope and focus

I use CDC or stellarium to control the position and tracking

[alcol620]

baggywrinkle

Great idea, the double sided velcro. The handset has a mind of its own when left to 'float free'. Out to get some velcro.

[LukeSkywatcher]

baggywrinkle

Great idea, the double sided velcro. The handset has a mind of its own when left to 'float free'. Out to get some velcro.

Yep, great idea. Its something i've been meaning to do myself but have not bothered. I have a pack of those sticky tabs in a drawer.

[BlackCat]

Thanks everyone - all useful tips.

Discovered the battery issue on night one - a quick Google revealed the problem. Of course tried to do everything on day one (sky align then slew to planet x then slew to planet y then slew here and there and search for ...) and the result was utter disappointment.

Took several steps back and decided to do things manually until everything else works. Then was wowed by the view of Jupiter and her moons.... now I'm hooked! Am constantly looking outside to see if the sky is clear instead of rotting in front of the telly ..

Have now got a Tracer powerpack, but can't find a supplier who has the relevant cable in stock (anyone know who can supply this at short notice?). Desperate as costing a fortune in batteries.

As an aside regarding the handset display - having changed batteries about 6 times since getting the scope, and having what I think is a dim handset display every time, after a further battery change the handset display was great. But then I got the Bootloader 'Invalid Package 0002' message which meant I needed to reflash the handset. Luckily I had an old laptop with a serial port, since getting the main PC with a  USB to Serial port cable to work is not an easy process. BTW the display is back to its old dimness ...

So at the moment am just using the scope to go directly to objects in the sky and not bothering with the GoTo (which I gather is not perfect but will use as a guide).

Finally - had another beautiful view of Jupiter a couple of days ago before the rains came ...

[Astral Enigma]

I also bought a Nexstar SE6 a few weeks ago. I've found that, for home use, a simple mains power supply is sufficient and easy to use but I'm considering the Tracer for remote use.

I also had problems reading the display - eyesight not the same in both eyes - but setting the text to bold has helped, and slowing the scroll slightly helped too. 

My biggest issues has been tracking - I haven't found it tracking too well, and slewing from (say) Jupiter to Mars it wasn't quite in the right place, and by the time i'd gone to Saturn and back it was well out of place. How's it been for you?

[BlackCat]

I haven't had too much trouble with tracking a single object - it's not absolutely spot on but it does keep objects in the FOV for quite a while, though haven't timed it and I haven't hopped from one object to another and back. I make sure that I select Solar Tracking rate after I focus on eg Jupiter or whatever. I've also got into the habit of levelling the tripod as accurately as possible before each session (with a proper spirit level - chucked out the tiny little jobby that came with the scope); levelling each leg one by one, reversing the spirit level every time until all three legs are spot on.

Haven't been able to explore the GoTo capabilities yet, as I'm still on internal batteries (still waiting for the cable to connect the Tracer powerpack), and as discussed here and elsewhere, the GoTo suffers unless there is adequate power. I'm just using the scope until the batteries wheeze their final last breath and I hook 'em out and go to bed. What I could buy with the money spent on AA's ....

Another problem I have is that the sky window isn't great - trees, fences and surrounding houses plus light pollution. Ah well...

But - saw Saturn for the very first time last night. I'm hooked!

Thanks Baggywrinkle for the EP recommendation - I've been looking at those too

[dannybgoode]

Get a little Gerber Recon Task Light torch from Amazon - c. £15.  Has a little rotating front dial so you can change the light colour between white, green, blue and red.

Red is good as it has limited effect on night vision and is useful to see most things with.  if you need a little more then the green is very good for viewing star charts etc before going back to the red before too much damage is done to the night sight.

Eyepieces - check out the Maxvision 16 & 24mm on www.explorescientific.co.uk - these go for well over £200 if branded Meade 5000 SWA (properly kosher offer - plenty on here about them).