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Hi from a new Telescope owner

LFFPicard

By LFFPicard
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LFFPicard

LFFPicard

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Hi!


My name is Gary and I am from Burgess Hill, West Sussex


I have recently (Well July) purchased a telescope, I had years ago had a cheap telescope that could just about get some good views of the moon. Now I have finally taken the next step and indulged in an array of items, I am very keen to get going but lack the usefulness of being able to drive. Even at the age of 31 I have still not got a licence so getting my scope to any decent location is hard.


I got a bundle from Sussex Astronomy Center containing the following:


Celestron NexStar SLT 130

4mm Skywatcher eyepiece

6mm Skywatcher eyepiece

Skywatcher 4 filter set (Moon & Planets)

Skywatcher 7ah Power Tank

Celestron heavy duty power lead

Light pollution filter


Additionally I have coming in the next few weeks:





I got the StarSense as no matter how much practice I did I could never get the alignment right and objects would always be off center, this was particularly a pain when I tried to view Saturn as I popped the 4mm eyepiece straight in and i was not there, I had to start with my 9mm and work my way down centering each time.


I am happy with my set-up thus far but need a lot of practice, and now Jupiter is coming up earlier I can start looking at that. The Neximage is the entry level one but I will upgrade to the Neximage 5 when I am more comfortable with the setup, I have ordered a 10m USB extension to hook it up to my PC fro the back garden, and plan to borrow my GF's laptop for out and about viewing.


Anyway, that's my brief introduction :)

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Dannae

Dannae

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Hi Gary and welcome , I think you have a very solid set up to start out with planetary imaging. I stared out with a toucam back in the day when all the cool cats used them and I think the camera you have is an evolution of it. Only thing you can't control is the seeing unfortunately but that effects us all.

Good luck and look forward to seeing your images.

Regards

Dannae

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ronin

ronin

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Little puzzled why they gave a 6mm and a 4mm eyepiece. The 6mm is fair the 4mm is the odd one - not easy to use in most scopes.

Do not expect things to be centered perfectly, that does not happen. So working down from a longish eyepiece to a shorter one is normal. I therefore suspect that the Starsense may not make that aspect any better. I would expect an object to be visible in say a 15-20mm eyepiece, but not in a 6mm and even less in a 4mm. With a 4mm your field of view is 0.3 of a degree edge to edge. You are therefore looking at 0.15 degrees centre to edge, and you are not going to get that accuracy.

Watch the power tank, they must not be allowed to drain, either when in use or when stood. They are a small lead-acid battery and the plates get damaged when they get drained, then they don't work. Although tempting do not run it down when using the scope. Too easy to continue using the scope until the power level drops.

Saturn would have been better with the 6mm, the 4mm likely is too much.

When Jupiter is visible no smaller then the 6mm is the best advice.

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LFFPicard

LFFPicard

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Thanks for the welcome and the advice all.

Luckily I read the manual on the tank and it stated that even if I do not use it especially in the winter months to charge it at least every other month to ensure it does not drain out. I tend to use the flashlight on it for a bit to use some power then stick it on charge just to keep the cycle going.

I do not know much about the Solar System Imager but it looked like it ran off the USB directly hence why I invested in a USB extension so I can run it to my PC form the back garden and will use a laptop when out and about.

I am curious though if anyone has a similar scope, I did ask specifically when I went in for a telescope if I could see Saturn and Jupiter and it's moons. Now granted it was not ideal but I went up the downs with the scope and even though the view was shaky, I did not see much more than a distant circular object with rungs around. Is this what I am to expect? I was hoping for a bit more of a closer view, even the celestron image slideshow for the scope on the FLO website showed better than I saw. If I remember I started with the 9mm and worked down to the 6mm and 4mm to view Saturn and that was the best I got. Would I benefit from a Barlow? Or do I just need more practice and less expectations?

Thanks all!

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swag72

swag72

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Hi Gary and welcome to SGL - Have you looked in the sketching forum by chance? It sounds like an odd question, but it will really give you an idea of what to expect at the eye piece. As an imager, I take pictures with colour and definition and then folks new to the hobby think that they will be able to see this sort of thing through the scope - Sadly not. 

This thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/ is also worth a read to structure your expectation.

This is a great place to be, there's loads of knowledgeable and friendly folks.

Look forward to seeing you around :)

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Sky King

Sky King

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Hi Gary,

Greetings from beautiful Cape Cod, Mass and welcome.

Like you I upgraded several years ago from a basic telescope (Scope refractor) I got for my 10th birthday back in 1966, to a Meade ETX 105 about 2 years ago. I'm currently working on perfecting the art of astrophotography.

John

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RT65CB-SWL

RT65CB-SWL

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Hi Gary / 'LFFPicard' and welcome to SGL.

Thanks for the welcome and the advice all...

...If I remember I started with the 9mm and worked down to the 6mm and 4mm to view Saturn and that was the best I got. Would I benefit from a Barlow? Or do I just need more practice and less expectations?

Thanks all!

I would invest in a wide-angle eyepiece rather than a Barlow as a 6mm & 4mm, (assuming these are Plossel e/p's), I would think are at the maximum theoretical limit of magnification for your 'scope.

Saturn and most of the planets have not been well placed this year and I think next year is the same.

Keep practicing.

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gnomus

gnomus

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Hi!
My name is Gary and ...
I had to start with my 9mm and work my way down centering each time ....

If your GOTO is such that you get objects in the field of view with your 9mm eyepiece (a little over 70x mag, I believe) then your alignment is certainly good enough.   I must say I'd be tempted to start looking for objects using the largest eyepiece I have - I think your scope comes with a 25mm, isn't that right?

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LFFPicard

LFFPicard

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Hi Gary and welcome to SGL - Have you looked in the sketching forum by chance? It sounds like an odd question, but it will really give you an idea of what to expect at the eye piece. As an imager, I take pictures with colour and definition and then folks new to the hobby think that they will be able to see this sort of thing through the scope - Sadly not. 

This thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/ is also worth a read to structure your expectation.

This is a great place to be, there's loads of knowledgeable and friendly folks.

Look forward to seeing you around :)

Thank you for the advice, I had a look through the post you have suggested and it has made things a lot clearer and my view of Saturn was about what is suggested in that post. Thanks!

Hi and welcome. Check for updates to your Starsense as there have been a few recently.

Peter

Hi, I did read a few reviews that said about updating the StarSense when you get it. I am a little concerned though that I did not order a AUX splitter when I ordered the StarSense, my NexStar has a Handheld Port and a AUX Port am I ok witht his or does the StarSense require more than one AUX and therefore I should of ordered a splitter?

Hi

Stellarium is free to download is let's you see what is up there.

Jack and jill is very dark if you can get a lift to the carpatk.

Thanks for the Stellarium advice as per below.

Also my shaky experience with Saturn was up Jack and Jill, I think I upset a few people who came up on a Saturday night expecting something different than me standing in the car park with my telescope :D It was a bit windy up there but hopefully another visit wont be so bad.

Welcome.  I'd second the recommendation of Stellarium http://www.stellarium.org/en_GB/

I'd also suggest a good book - popular choices seem to be 'Turn Left At Orion' and/or 'Nightwatch' (both should be available on Amazon).

Good luck.

Thanks for this advice, I have downloaded and looked at this, I did get the Celestron SkyX first light edition with the scope but I have also installed Stellarium as well and it looks rather nice.

Hi Gary / 'LFFPicard' and welcome to SGL.

I would invest in a wide-angle eyepiece rather than a Barlow as a 6mm & 4mm, (assuming these are Plossel e/p's), I would think are at the maximum theoretical limit of magnification for your 'scope.

Saturn and most of the planets have not been well placed this year and I think next year is the same.

Keep practicing.

Plossel? If you mean brand then the 6mm and 4mm are Skywatcher e/p's and the standard 9mm and 25mm e/p - I did notice Saturn went down early in the evening so I went to higher ground (The South Downs) to get a view as I was impatient and wanted to see more than stars with my new scope!

If your GOTO is such that you get objects in the field of view with your 9mm eyepiece (a little over 70x mag, I believe) then your alignment is certainly good enough.   I must say I'd be tempted to start looking for objects using the largest eyepiece I have - I think your scope comes with a 25mm, isn't that right?

That is correct, and when I thought I was mis-aligning my scope I did narrow down on Saturn by starting with the 2mm, centering the Saturn (A dot at this point) switching to my 9mm and repeating all the way down to the 4mm. It took a bit of fiddling as I had to keep scouting around the center of my FOV to get it in view and keep it there.

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