First light Nextstar 127 SLT

[Paul M]

A while ago my friend's wife asked me to recommend a telescope for her to get him for his 60th birthday earlier this year. 

He's not a stargazer but has a passing interest in the night sky.  My recommendation was to not bother,  he's already got a nice pair of bins for stargazing and he'd struggle to get to grips with a scope. 

Anyway,  "no" was not an acceptable answer so I thumbed through the pages on FLO's website and after some weighing up of the benefits v complexity of Goto I settled on the Celestron Nextstar 127 SLT . 

The good lady was looking to spend considerably more than that but it wasn't justifiable . She duely ordered it from FLO. 

So fast forward to last weekend when I final saw he'd taken it out of the box up here in Rural Cumbria where we both have luxury villas on the same site. Unfortunately the sky wasn't playing ball and he was going home on Sunday whereas I'm up here all week on my holidays. He suggested I could put it through its paces during the week if the sky improved and I'd then have expert knowledge to train him with

Tonight was that night. Good clear sky but not as dark here now as it used to be. 

Did I mention the girls? Oh,  right.  Well during the summer we finally qualified as foster carers,  the MD having taken voluntary retirement after 33 years in the same job  for just that purpose . Our own son flew the nest a few years ago and is independent and self sufficient . Our 4 bed house needed refilling! The phone call to tell us we were now qualified after 9 months of procedure was also to ask us if we had room for 2 sister,  10 and 13 years old. To cut a long story short they arrived a week later with their baggage,  all their baggage. Emotional and material. 

We're 2 months into this new way of living and I've been very busy! Luckily they like it up here,  after all,  there is WiFi and lazy days

When I said the sky was good for testing my mates new scope I instantly had 2 volunteer helpers. I was trying to discourage them,  concerned that they'd just get bored out into the cold. Actually I was concerned about clumsy limbs causing damage to a brand new telescope that isn't even mine.  I was outvoted. The girls joined me down the track. They both flashed their torches in my face to acknowledge their understanding of my first rule of stargazing. "never shine torches in a stargazers dark adapted eyes" . . . Things weren't looking too promising

The scope was already assembled in the lounge of his luxury villa so I carried it out and very roughly leveled the the azimuth with the tiny bubble level on the tripod . I got the lat and long from my "current location" via SkySafari on my phone. I wasn't familiar with the Skyalign process but I'd read the quick setup booklet and had an idea what to do. 

Just point it at 3 bright stars (or solar system objects apparently ) and center them before hitting the "align" key. I had some restriction in view to the south and east but selected Vega, Altair and Capella. The girls were suitably impressed by me pulling star trek names out of thin air! 

I should mention my poor relationship with finders.  Never used one,  ever. The straight through telescopic ones that came with both my own Newts have never been used . I never liked the contortions required to use them. This scope came with a red dot finder but I couldn't be bothered aligning it with the scope for fear of the girls getting bored even sooner than expected. I prefer to just sight down the telescope tube. It's what I've always done and is second nature. During this 3 star alignment I was pointing things out to the girls. They said they could see the milky way but I wasn't convinced until their eyes became dark adapted then one of them exclaimed their surprise when they actually did see it,  followed soon after by the other one.  I knew they could see it when they described the Cygnus Rift. They'd never seen it for 2 reasons. One being the light pollution where they used to live and the other being the circumstances of where they used to live . Bit of a moment for us all I thought and I was going to deny them this! 

Right,  so all 3 stars aligned but when I clicked to complete the process I was informed it had failed   I guessed I'd set the daylight saving time wrong. I was right it was wrong. A quick second round of star alignment had success . But where to next? These young eyes would be expecting blazing supernovae and ringed planets to be displayed in sharp contrast in the eyepiece . 

OK,  ringed planet it is.  After a few puns about Uranus I had the Goto purring off towards the tree line. Luckily Uranus was just above them and I was pleased to find it almost central in the field of view of the supplied 25mm  eyepiece! A quick focus gave a reasonable image though seeing was a bit wobbly. I could see a disk but I knew the girls wouldn't so I changed to the supplied 9mm eyepiece and focused that. Definitely poor seeing and the focus was a bit soft. Not a brilliant eyepiece I'm thinking. I let the girls have their first look , all the time reminding them of the importance of not kicking the tripod legs or leaning against the telescope . I was also mindful of the task I had set them. Their first ever view through a telescope using a narrow field of view with less than easy eye relief on a difficult subject. Eventually they saw something blue or green and enjoyed describing it. I put the 25mm eyepiece back in and focused it. They both preferred that view. I did all the focusing but kept my specs on hoping it would be nearer to focus for them. I wanted to avoid them trying to focus for themselves so early in their careers. 

Next,  one of my favorite objects,  M13,  the Hercules Globular. With the 9mm I thought the focus was soft again but with the 25mm it was quite nice. Just as I remembered it,  a scintillating fuzzball . The girls described what they saw very well.  The enormity of what they were looking at was far beyond their grasp but they liked it. Even though feet and hands were getting cold. 1deg C forecast for overnight. 

They wanted to see the milky way through the telescope but I know that can be underwhelming if the observer doesn't take time to focus both optically and mentally.  Next best thing I could think of was the Double Cluster in Perseus . Good choice,  it just about fit in the 60x field of view and it was beautiful. This is what they wanted all along!

Time was running out, junior's bed time was approaching and they were now definitely chilled. 

The sky clarity was diminish too,  it seemed.  I hoped for more from M81/82. The lights of Penrith were washing out the contrast. The girls could see them but they were not impressed . 

What about Albireo I thought. They might like the colours. It landed in the center of the field of view and looked pretty. I always have the colours as yellow /orange and blue. They both described amber and green. So near enough. They liked that. 

One last goto then time time to pack up. M57,  the Ring Nebula might be OK I thought. And it was. Good contrast too. The girls described it extremely well. They discerned the colour and the shape accurately. Unbelievable for their first session. But time has flown. An hour and a half was enough for us all. Senior headed back the warmth and junior was chief torch bearer while I packed up. 

So what was going to be a test run and first light for the telescope turned out to be a different kind of first light experience. Two young ladies came away from it having had a very positive experience. They'll be all over my Skywatcher 250PDS back home. Might struggle to reach the eyepiece though. 

As for this here Celestron 127 SLT,  well ,  I liked it. It's just the right size for my buddy. Might benefit from better eyepieces if he starts getting into it. I see the spec mentions 2 star auto align. I didn't find that mode so don't know what it is. I'll look into it. My buddy will struggle, at least initially with the 3 star alignment. I will set up the finder for him,  honest. . . . some day  

I've already recommended a power supply of some sort . Either the power tank or mains supply. The handful of AA batteries he's currently using won't last too many cold nights of Gotoing. He's back here on Friday so hopefully he'll get his own first light and telescopic experience. 

 

[Paul M]

Having applied both my brain cells in unison, I realise that some form of photoelectric feedback is required for 2 star auto align . Celestron's Star Sense accessory is probably not going to happen! 

 

[oobydooby]

Having children to care for is a great blessing; having them share and enjoy your hobby is a wonderful blessing.  Good luck to you and your new charges.

Tony

[Paul M]

Tonight was "second light". I finally caught up with my buddy at home, not at our dark sky getaway.

It's been a brilliant clear day all day so he called to suggest a get together this evening to show him the ropes.

When I got to his house (only 3 miles from mine) Venus was still visible from his back yard so I quickly lined up the scope (without any alignment whatsoever) to catch it before it set.

It was easy enough and while I was there I roughly aligned the Red Dot Finder for using later on. The supplied eyepieces are a bit cheap looking so I took my 30 odd year old Plossls that I got with Ye Olde Fullerscope. Not spectacular by modern standards but bomb proof. Anyway, so I got Venus centred still with some twilight evident. Just like the Moon in it's first quarterishness. I could see the phase but, as expected, my buddy's first comment was about the tiny image size. So I swapped the 25mm eyepiece for a 12.5mm. The problem now being the rate of drift. Couldn't keep Venus in the field long enough for him to find the exit pupil let alone focus or try and track with the handset.

Ok, the quick Venus job wasn't the best start.

I set about the three star alignment process, trying to explain as I went along. Deneb, Dubhe and Aldebaran were my targets. Dubhe was too dim for me to see in the RDF so I reverted to type and eyeballed down the scope tube for that one. I didn't look to see if the RDF is dimmable as my buddy was getting cold and increasingly underwhelmed.

Luckily my first alignment attempt was successful which surprised me as when the success message appeared on the handset I realised I hadn't changed the Lat and Long  from our site in Cumbria to our site on the Fylde Coast ( I kept quiet about that hoping it still worked). Anyway the first GOTO I selected was the Moon and it landed with the Moon in the field so I was relieved!

My buddy (shall we call him John?), John, was pleased to be finally seeing stuff. I upped the magnification again and the view was still nice but John was struggling with eye relief,  focusing and causing the image to dance while trying not to! 

Although we had a good sky view to the east and had some potentially great subjects to view I was struggling to find anything "wow!". The Pleiades actually disappointed me. Even on low power the whole cluster didn't fit the field. I'll be honest and say that I thought that GOTO had missed! only when I slewed the scope did I realise it was on target.

So next to Mars. But the GOTO landed miles off, one of us had knocked the scope I think. By now John was getting less keen by the minute. I quickly got mars in view and could see the disk. I'm not sure John could.

And that was it. After thinking about trying to find some DSO's I decided that the Moon would wash out anything I found, if I could find it easily without GOTO.

We agreed to try again on a darker, less cold night. What I think we need it some Jupiter and Saturn.

Lets hope 3rd light is more positive! 

[alanjgreen]

Paul,

when you want to do a QUICK viewing on the moon or a clearly visible planet, then go for "solar system align" option. You can then either spend time making sure the moon/planet is nicely centered or just hit enter a few times until you get alignment success message.

key thing is that tracking is now ON.

now when you centre the moon/planet it will stay in field of view.

 

Alan 

[Paul M]

11 hours ago, alanjgreen said:

Paul,

when you want to do a QUICK viewing on the moon or a clearly visible planet, then go for "solar system align" option. You can then either spend time making sure the moon/planet is nicely centered or just hit enter a few times until you get alignment success message.

key thing is that tracking is now ON.

now when you centre the moon/planet it will stay in field of view.

 

Alan 

Thanks for that tip. Seems logical now I've thought about it.

I'm still not familiar with the Celestron system. On Synscan it's possible to refine alignment as you arrive at each object by way of a few key presses. Just centre the object using the handset and tell it to align (can't remember which key sequence). Is that possible with the Celestron?

I don't have the handbook to hand, should have brought it home with me yesterday evening. I could download it I suppose.

In the long term I suspect this scope will get mothballed or sold on. Hopefully I can avert that by making the setting up and usage seem easier next time!

[alanjgreen]

Can't remember if nexstar can do this ?

 I have been using starsense camera for alignment on my cpc for the past 2 years and you can definitely add alignment points with the starsense system. 

 

[alanjgreen]

Paul,

nexstar does have "precise goto" as an option once you have achieved the initial alignment.

you select precise goto (from TELESCOPE menu) then choose your desired object. The scope then automatically picks nearest bright star to that object and slews to that star. It then prompts you to centre that star in the eyepiece (if it was not dead centre) then on ENTER the scope completes the slew to your chosen target object with high accuracy.

this works well and I used it a lot with the fainter objects.

 

Alan