got the fever again

[tripod tipper]

I am new to the SGL. Since recently being retired, I thought I would restart an old obsessing interest, astronomy. 30+ years ago I had an 8" DOB and loved it although it was heavy and bulky and heavy to move in and out of the house. I started looking for a telescope I could handle without too much trouble and good enough for planetary and deep sky observation. I purchased a Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ because the price was right. It came with a 20mm, 4mm and a 3X barlow. First thing I did was to assemble it with the axis motor and when dark go outside after temp stabilization and see how well it  worked, it was very clear. Then I set the EQ to Polaris, picked a subject (Saturn) and started to track it. The ep's didn't satisfy me, then I purchased several other ep's and filters, it added to the already impressive quality. Last night I tracked Saturn and started with a 25mm EP, after getting the settings right, I went to a 9MM re tweaked the tracking and decline till centered in the ep. I was amazed at the clarity, the planet and rings had great detail even to see the lines on the planet. I don't see any of these refractors in the threads. I was told it's a good starter scope, however I believe it's better than that. does anyone have experience with similar scopes?

[Knighty2112]

Astrology! Yikes, want to be careful around here. That be witchcraft talk! The pitch forks and the burning torches are been gathered as I write to build a bonfire for a witchy lynching! Hehe!

Welcome back!   

[Debo]

41 minutes ago, tripod tipper said:

astrology

Oops 

[tripod tipper]

Sorry!! astronomy. Wow I didn't proof check properly. Please don't burn me, I have a family and they would get all my possessions!

[LukeSkywatcher]

You managed to happily track Saturn with an 80mm EQ scope using a 9mm EP?. Back in the day when i tried that, Saturn literally raced across the FOV in a matter of seconds. It was hard to keep up with it. The scope was perfectly polar aligned.

Its doable. Just not much fun.

[tripod tipper]

Paul,

I must admit it wasn't fun to start, I did however start with the 25mm ep, but when I got it, it was worth it. Wen I had the alignment set, it took some tweaking for Shure, then when I applied the 9mm I needed to re tweak gracefully. Better than cutting the grass. As far as the "astrology" goes, total brain #art. I have corrected that. Please don't pitchfork me and don't burn me, I'm allergic to fire.

[tripod tipper]

If anyone is just reading this thread, I made a mistake and wrote astrology instead of astronomy on the first writing, silly me, I since edited it. I do have a healthy sense of humor and had a good laugh even at myself . Knighty2112, thanks for the catch but could you please call off the villagers.

 

Super giant,

I'll describe how I learned to track, This doesn't mean I have all the answers or know better than anyone, others may do it differently. First thing was assemble the stand and telescope and drive motor, (You Tube is great recourse). I then set to Polaris and lined up the spotter (again, You Tube helped), leaving the tripod alone I then moved the balanced scope in the direction of mars with the 25mm eyepiece in the scope, turned on the drive and found mars in the scope. I watched for tracking and either sped up or slowed down the drive till Saturn stayed center in the horizontal direction, still had vertical drift so I slowly adjusted the DEC slightly either + or - as needed, went back and forth with both adjustments till Saturn stood still in the EP. Then put in the 9mm and did the same as the 25mm until Saturn again stood still. It is a process to be sure but when your there you will enjoy it and maybe even take pics of it. Thank you all!

Dennis, aka tripod tripper

[Knighty2112]

OK folks! About turn, and put those torches out please!  

[tripod tipper]

Thanks Knighty2112,

They all had nasty looks on their faces.

[Jeff-Colorado]

Welcome to SGL and back into astronomy. It is a fun and relaxing hobby.  The nice thing about the 80EQ is that if you ever decide to go bigger, you've got yourself a nice travel scope. Yes, Saturn is beautiful right now (although a bit low on the horizon).

[Uranium235]

Astrology?  Burn him!

 

 

[Ibbo!]

7 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

OK folks! About turn, and put those torches out please!  

Oh I don't know we have not had a good burning for a while (nearest I could get)

[tripod tipper]

 Oh wow! I'm laughing the biggest belly laugh I've had in a long while, glad it wasn't a stoning like Monty Pythons "history of the world". And main sequence, you and I have the same diabolical sense of humor! BTW which one of you guys carry the shackles,? just good to know.

Back to astronomy (with hoses ready). I now have a full bag of lenses and filters. Funny you mentioned this one becoming a travel scope, I am already browsing for another larger and more powerful scope and out of the corner of my eye, the Celestron 130EQ-MD looks fitting, still have cost of living to deal with. I could see myself going to a star party with both. Thank you all for the fun, I very much enjoyed it.

[Jeff-Colorado]

You have the right sense of humor for this motley gang of astronomers!

If I were you, I would wait a while, maybe attend a star party and see other telescopes, before buying a second scope. Make sure the second one is the final one (at least for a couple of years).

I started with a Celestron 127 SLT and now have a Celestron SE 8 (for me, the perfect balance of power and yet still portable).

[baggywrinkle]

Welcome to SGL and back to astronomy, good to have a laugh on a Friday morning.....

Notice where you live....I bet you did not expect the Spanish Inquisition.....

 

[tripod tipper]

The Spanish Inquisition... I was sweating bullets thru it all!! sort of like Mom and Dad finding out YOU painted the cat..

I don't plan to sell the telescope have, I intend to keep it for myself and also let the youngsters in my neighborhood see thru it. In my own experience, I've noticed refractor scopes are a little less sensitive to light pollution than reflectors, I could be wrong, I could use other opinions concerning that. I do know refractors have a minute difference to reflectors, red focus seems a hair longer than blue, so depending on the filter, focus may vary. 

[tripod tipper]

I don't mean to carry this thread on too long, however I bought the extra eyepieces, filters and camera after I followed Saturn. I saw what was probably the most fantastic sight that night, I watched a meteor or something like it move across the FOV very close to Saturn. It was bright and exciting, I was amazed.

[Jeff-Colorado]

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

[tripod tipper]

Thanks jeff-colorado,

I don't think that will happen again, many lessons learned from that kind of activity. The world is what it is...! I've been very busy star gazing the last few days, I've even took out the binoculars and star gazed and never before doing that, I was amazed of what you can see, star clusters, double stars and if I stare long enough with a steady hand I think I've seen a galaxy, I don't know for sure. It's too bad the moon is in the new phase, I really enjoy looking at the surface during anything but full. I still looked at Mars and Saturn, although Jupiter is low to the western horizon, I still got a good look last night. I just need to know who it is around here that is doing the cloud dance. Forgot to put on the mosquito spray and today paying for it.