Overly excited man who should no better could use some pro tips!

[Martial]

Hi all! Firstly, I've read lots of really useful tips from this site from some very kind and understanding people. On behalf of newbies everywhere, thank you! The vibe is great and creates a wonderful community environment.

As for me, I'm going through some health poop at the moment so my lovely partner bought me an early birthday present in the shape of a Celestron 127slt. VERY exciting, found 5 constant days not so exciting and the requirement to get the azimuth set up just right as a little bit painful but I got there! 7 days in now and I've seen my first clear stripe of the moon. It might be the boy in me but that was a great place to start. I could really use some advice on a few bits if you have the time. These are:

The kit comes with a 9mm EP and a 26mm EP. Should I be looking to use the 25mm first to find the star and then try and focus on them? Each time I do, the image goes from looking just like the star I can see with my naked eye to, through manual focusing, to looking kinda like a polo mint (or halo). I know I've probably only just scratched the service but the only thing I'm mainly scratching is my head!

Also, I've managed to get sky align working but I hear 2 star aligning is better. Do I need to be clever and KNOW what I'm aligning for that?

Lastly, depending on cloud cover, etc I like to send my telescope towards the brightest stars on the night. Does anyone know if Celestron 127slt has a why of identifying what you've just landed on (considering I have sky aligned it already). I don't mind using star maps (my inner geek loves them) but I wonder if the machine is aligned, is there a button I can press that gives me info on the star I've just manually tracked.

Anyway guys, all help and advise is gratefully received and enjoy your nights out!

Thanks v.much

[Martial]

Sorry, meant to say 5 days of watching CLOUDS with not a star in the sky. Was funny tho...

[John]

Hello and welcome to the forum

I'm no expert on GOTO mounts so someone else will chip in there but stars will look the same though the scope as they do with our eyes, just a little brighter and there will be more of them. The "polo mint" look means that the scope is not focussed properly. When it is focused you will see a pinpoint of light when you look at a star or maybe a couple of them as quite a few are double stars through as scope.

It's probably best to use the 26mm eyepiece to center an object, once the GOTO has found it, and then apply more magnification with the 9mm eyepiece on the Moon, planets and double stars. The deep sky objects (galaxies, star clusters and nebulae) will be best viewed at lower magnification (ie: the 26mm eyepiece).

Hope that helps a bit and enjoy your scope

[ronin]

Start with the 25 it has a wider view so is easier.

If you aim at a star there is usually an option for the scope to identify it and display which one. Do not try lots in a row, the accuracy is not good over several continuous requests. Also look up PAE, you could need to perform that at times.

Polo mint is normal, object is just well out of focus and needs refocusing.

Usually to GOTO anything the handset says what it is going to, and leaves the text on the handset.

Stars remain points, but you see a lot more of them and get confused. Try Aldebaran, big red and has the Hyades next to it, makes it easy to be identified.

Eyepieces supplied are not normally great, see how they do.

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi and welcome.

[happy-kat]

Hi

Stellarium is great free software for those cloudy moments indoors.

[Martial]

Thank you SO much everyone! Had a great night star gazing tonight and telescope working perfectly. SO happy! Need to find a club now

[MarkJ44]

Hi and welcome

Ditto everything above, the only thing i would add re alignment, is that i use skyalign and to improve accuracy i use a 12.5mm illuminated reticle ep, improved accuracy heaps. I start with the 25mm and refine the centreing with the reticle. It helps finding the more difficult objects.

cheers