Celestron Advanced VX Mount

[Mad Taff]

Hi

I finally had some clear skies last night to try out my new Celestron Advanced VX mount that arrived about two weeks ago.

The first thing that struck me was how sturdy and imposing this mount is. Compared to my EQ5 it is a big beast. The telescopic legs are 2” in diameter and the whole set up can extend to over 5 feet high. This would be too tall for me using my Skywatcher 200p reflector but I would imagine that it would be more comfortable at that height for those who use refractors.

Anyway, with the tripod legs more or less at their lowest height I went about assembling my 200p. I’d had plenty of time to read the instructions which are well written, however I had them with me and used them for reference.

The thing that struck me when setting up was that balancing the scope was a little trickier as the RA and Dec clutches are a little stiff and therefore reduces play in the movement to get the balance right. However after fiddling a bit more than normal I’m happy that I got it balanced properly in the end. I was impressed how firm my telescope sat on this mount. With my EQ5 I always felt it was at its limit.

I’ve never used Goto so aligning the telescope was an experience but much more straightforward than I expected. After setting time, date, location and time zone on the hand held Nexstar control terminal, I was invited to ‘Two Star Align’. The first star offered was Arcturus. No good as it was behind the garage. Flicking through the options Alcor came up. Pressing the appropriate buttons the telescope slewed in the direction of Alcor. The motors were reassuringly solid sounding and had no problem handling the telescope. Alcor was off centre of the finderscope. It was easy to centre it and then confirm alignment. The second star I aligned to was Vega, more or less straight above. I aligned to a third star but can’t remember the name of that one.

I then tried out the capabilities of the Goto system. It took me to double stars, galaxies and nebulas. I spent most of my observing session looking at Uranus and Neptune, both of which I had never seen before, as for me, it would be impossible to find them without Goto. It was a fantastic experience to see those tiny discs of planets so far away. After about 3 hours of observing high cloud started rolling so I packed up.

There’s so much more to learn with this mount such as finding my way around the hand control, realignment, polar alignment, and eventually astrophotography etc. Can’t wait for the next clear night and I will be out again. I expect I will be seeking help on here from time to time. I am extremely pleased with my purchase and hopefully will allow me to expand my interest and keep me happy for years to come. Cheers, Phil

[Kirscovitch]

Glad to hear you like your VX. I've had mine about 6 months now and absolutely love it. Only gripe is like you mentioned, the balancing can be a bit tricky due to the stiffness but other than that it's great.