First light CPC800

[JasOne]

A few years ago I bought a SW Mak 127 on an EQ5 mount, used it a few times in my garden - which suffered from light pollution and a restricted view. That coupled with the faff of setting up an eq mount meant my attention drifted. A couple of years ago I moved a few miles out of town. While walking the dog under clear skies I turned off the torch and enjoyed the breathtaking view. I'm also getting back into physics for the first time since university days, so before long I was on my knees polar aligning again! It is (as most readers of this will know) thrilling and satisfying to track down objects of interest using a star atlas hopping from star to star. However the ratio of finding to observing was definitely skewed to finding - and I really wanted something that would track an object.

So a used CPC800 for sale just down the road was too good an opportunity to miss. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago and last Weds (28th Dec) was my first opportunity to really try it out. The sky was cloud free as dusk settled in and I couldn't wait to get started.

The first of many pleasures of that evening was how quick and easy it was to get set up - from garage to garden in less than ten minutes. I let everything cool for 45mins or so then tried my first alignment. My garden is quite high up with fairly unobstructed views westwards from ESE to NNW. Cygnus and Aries were easily visible so I used auto two star align. Really simple - point the scope at Deneb, tell it it's looking at Deneb, centre in eyepiece, select Hamal, scope slews to Hamal (approximately) centre, select align, done. A 3 minute job and no kneeling on the ground trying to polar align with Polaris just peeking over the roof of my house behind me!

I checked the alignment by using the goto to slew to a few highlights. First up was the Ring Nebula. Lyra was fairly low by now and the sky, although cloudless, was not brilliant. There was enough moisture in the air for the lights of Penrith to interfere and everybody I'm the village had their wood burners on - so I wasn't expecting to see much of M57. It was dead centre of my 25mm eyepiece and looked better than it ever had in my 5" scope despite the unfavourable conditions. This was the first time I've ever used a goto scope - so for the next 30 minutes or so I just played around slewing to various objects and being amazed at how accurate the goto is. My first view of the Orion Nebula in an 8" scope was, of course, stunning. What a luxury too to have an object tracked! The other thing that struck me is how ridiculously solid the CPC is on its mount - no vibrations whatsoever when focussing.

Anyway I had a plan - I'd been observing some objects in Cygnus and Lyra with the Mak, so I wanted to see how they compared. I also had a list of objects in Auriga to tour courtesy of December's issue of Astronomy now. So, having settled my initial excitement at having all this new technology - it was time to enjoy the sky...

First up was M29 which I've previously found a little, well, underwhelming in my 5" scope. Sadly I cannot report any significant shift from my initial feelings despite the extra aperture. At least I didn't spend 45 minutes trying to find it this time. My "sketches" are hilariously inept - but as far as I can tell, no real difference from views I've had in that past.

Next was M39 - and thank the maker for goto scopes! I appreciate that this says as much about my lack of skill as anything else, but I have spent nearly an hour in the past trying to find M39 and this time I was straight there. I settled in to enjoy the view. As I said, I'm rubbish at sketching, but I really find it helps to absorb what's before you and take the time to enjoy it. It also meant that afterwards I could compare my sketch to the eyepiece view in SkySafari; using the slider for star magnitude until it matches my sketch I can estimate that I was seeing down to about Mag 12.5. My dark adaptation was not the best as I'm right in the line of fire for headlights of cars coming over a crest on the A6 about a mile away.

Although it was cloudless it was very cold and humid. There was already a lot of dew on the tube of my scope and although the shield was keeping the corrector plate clear for now, I wanted to get to work on Auriga before dew stopped play. I therefore shifted the scope round the corner of my house a little to open up the SE view and quickly realigned on Betelguese and Capella. Probably not the ideal separation of stars - but since I was going to be working in that area I thought it would be fine and it was. 

First up on my list were three Messiers M36, M37 and M38. First was M36 which was beautifully "pinwheely" and I was trying to get it into focus for another comedy sketch. I couldn't get the stars in pinpoint focus and a quick inspection of the corrector plate showed a haze beginning to appear. Everything else outside was very wet and the grass was getting crunchy with thick frost so I guess it was inevitable. I spent another half hour or so touring my target list and having a quick look, but in truth it was time to pack up. Furthermore my 7Ah power tank was giving up the ghost.

So a slightly disappointing end to things, but some valuable experience gained nonetheless. Even though the dewshield held out for three hours, I've ordered a dew strip and controller so I can keep going for longer. Like the lady who swallowed the fly, one thing leads to another so a LiPo power pack is on the way to fuel the scope so the power tank can feed the dew strip. My garden is quite exposed and it gets plenty of frost so I feel that's a worthwhile investment. All in all I couldn't be happier with the scope and I'm looking forward to more time with it as soon as possible.

Jason

[alan potts]

Very nice report Jason and welcome to SGL, hope it is the first of many observations. I do find M29 one of the most disappointing Messier objects, it is sort of like a little M45 in a starfield, it is easy to miss. There are of course many more interesting object in the sky than that one. Sadly these type of scopes do act like a bit of a dew magnet and if there is any rest assured the front glass plate will collect it, I know mine tends to and we here are generally dry compared to England.

Thanks for taking the time to post the report!

Alan

[alanjgreen]

Jason - nice report. Glad you like the scope.

Got to love "auto two star", it's a mystery why celestron don't make this the default for alignment.

we may be lucky with the weather and get more time out next week - I've got my battery on charge so at least I'm prepared !!

Alan