9/9/17 C8 First Light

[Astro_king]

Hi all,

I had been anxiously waiting for a clear night to try out the used C8 I got off a bargain that came with some nice goodies. Luckily it was clear last night so decided to just plan out a quick observing session to test the scope.

Kit:

C8 on Heq5 along with JMI motofocus and f6.3 focal reducer.

I managed to polar align fine but I suspect the mount wasn't properly level and in my excitement I totally forgot to balance the scope, just installed the counterweights and went off with polar alignment. 

I used to use an 8 inch Newtonian so I really enjoyed the lower weight of the OTA. The whole setup took me about an hour as there was cloud cover over Polaris.

That said once alignment was out of the way, it was too late to point at Saturn as it was behind the trees already (what a pity), nevertheless I decided to home in on my second favourite target, Andromeda Galaxy. 

Andromeda galaxy looked so faint I realised my Nexstar 5se gave better views of it until I looked at the corrector plate and it was dew'd already! What the hell? I just took it out. Got the hair dryer out and cleared the dew. As soon as the dew was cleared up, I looked again and the core was looked bright like anything and I just reallllly kept looking at it marvelling at it trying to make out the wings which I couldn't (severe light pollution in Manchester).

During alignment, I tried to point to vega when it was at zenith and it was split straight away which was quit a beautiful sight and made me realise the power of this scope. I next tried to point at Vega again later on in the night and I couldn't split it. Didn't make sense! Was I looking at the wrong star? I am sure Vega was a double! This was proof the seeing wasn't good as Vega had moved away from near Zenith by now.

Anyway, next tried the Hercules cluster and was left disappointed as I had hoped it would look brighter but when I zoomed in on it with a 6mm eye piece I was quite surprised at the fact that I could make out some stars at such magnification! Still not the best view imho but I need to test HC again when the seeing is better.

Before the Hercules Ckuster I had tried the double cluster and having seen it in the Newtonian 8 inch 2 weeks ago I was glad it looked the same in the C8 and the fact that it fit properly in the 25mm eye piece was great as my Nexstar 5se at f10 never managed to handle it well. Also double cluster was always dimmer in my Nexstar.

That said, since I had been out of practice, targets weren't coming to my mind so I decided to just follow the guided tour on the heq5 which was a bad idea as it decided to take the scope all over the place instead of moving on targets in an area range fashion which meant the scope was always looking at trees etc.

Then a point came when I was trying to slee to M81 that my heq5 went crazy and started pointing at the ground!

I was like whattttt!!!!!

Alignment had gone badly out and this meant I had to realign again in that painful 6x30 finderscope. At this point I missed my Telrad that I had sold a lot.

There were clouds coming so I had to quickly do a 3 star alignement but the aligbement triangle wasn't the biggest.

At this point I decided to connect my Samsung scb-2000 camera onto the scope and view things on the tele. Bad Idea! It took forever to focus and the view was sooo zoomed in (picture of Caph attached) that when I tried to slew onto Hercules Cluster, it was out of view. I was really obsesssed with making HC brighter! Anyway there went another hour wasted but at least now I knew the SCB is not meant for this scope even though I have used it on the Nexstar once but it was still too zoomed in. I had thought th focal reducer would have fared better.

Next I looked at the back garden and the moon was about to come in view and was coming from behind the house and I got all worked up as this meant at F10 and on a stable mount like heq5, unlike the Nextar, I would really get to study the moon but this was not to be as whilst waiting I tried to slew to Neptune which had now come in  view and as soon as a faint dot came into view that I could apply more power onto, the clouds homed in and this was the end of my first light with the C8.

I also tested my 15x70 celestron binos I bought for holiday and was quite impressed with the results and managed to use them to make the most of the night. Had a quick look at the moon and andromeda galaxy and now can't wait to go checkout darker skies when on holiday.

Overall, the C8 is a powerful scope and I am sure will give great results with a DSLR which I am going to buy as I sold mine before (what a shame).

This was a test as I intend to build an observatory with the C8 installed along with an ED80 resting on top of the C8. The C8 would be used for observing, whilst the ED80 would be used for imaging along with a 9x50 finderscope for guiding which is already fitted onto the C8.

Quick note about the JMI moto focus; words can't describe how easy it makes focusing on targets when powering in with high power eye piece. Just a matter of pressing two buttons and this came free with the telescope - what a bargain!

Hope you enjoyed reading the report and if there are other targets I should have tried which are reachable within the light polluted skies of Manchester than please let me know.

Thanks for reading.

Clear Skies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MarsG76]

Good report, few teething problems, but thats all it is, teething problems.... your gear is somewhat similar to mine. The C8 is a great scope and over time you will see some fantastic views through it...

It is a great scope for imaging too... good luck with your scope.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Congrats on your first light. C8s are great. I have had mine for almost 22 years, and am still enjoying it. For imaging I tend to focus on planets and the moon, and it really shines there. For visual, it is a great DSO scope as well, except for a handful of very large objects

[Knighty2112]

Dew shield is a must at this time of year for all SCT's. If it gets too cold also in winter you may need a heater on the C8 too perhaps, but I have yet to use my own C8 during any major cold spells yet as I've only had the C8 from April this year so need to see how it goes in winter time as well. 

[Astro_king]

 

17 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

Dew shield is a must at this time of year for all SCT's. If it gets too cold also in winter you may need a heater on the C8 too perhaps, but I have yet to use my own C8 during any major cold spells yet as I've only had the C8 from April this year so need to see how it goes in winter time as well. 

Hi Knighty2112,

 

Couldn't agree more!

A point came when I was using the hair dryer on every object I would slew to.

Also your focal reducer worked a charm! Loved the double cluster fitted inside the eyepiece.

On Vega, I was totally wrong and I have now rechecked and I must have looked at the double double instead as I remember alignment failed anyway when I used the double double calling it Vega.

Four years away from proper observing is a long time you can forget basic stuff lol.

That said, I got into the doubles for the first time as I never understood the big deal about them but now I am totally into it and I am going to split every double possible. It's a shame I couldn't split the double double due to being ignorant about what I was looking at.

Also spent some time splitting almach last night too ?

I used to do DSO photography using a DSLR and a 200p which was F5.7 I guess so this scope would do fine with a DSLR.

I do intend to mount an ED80 on top and use C8 primarily for visual and planetary photography but that is when I have my observatory built.

On that, I wanted to know where in the backyard would be the best place for an obsy? I have a place where I can see the north and south and just a bit of east through heavy light pollution via the street. Though the sky moves anyway so whatever is hidden in the east will show up in the south anyway but what is the best direction to keep in view of the scope at all times for imaging etc?

 

Also, I had the mount extended at full length but the eyepiece was never at a good range for me to view whilst standing and only good at certain positions whilst seated. What's the best height for the tripod? I am 5'10 though but Standing and viewing is out of question so it's about sitting and viewing which would be the same height for most people...

[Stu]

Some challenges to be worked through but you will get there soon enough.

A heated dew shield is definitely worth looking in to, makes a big difference.

Getting your cooling right and ensuring collimation is spot on with really help with splitting those tighter doubles.

Have fun  

[Knighty2112]

I could just split the double double last night with my 18mm X-Cel EP in my C8. As for eyepiece the height issue, that's something we all suffer with. You can get astronomy chairs that you can adjust the height of to cope with eyepiece height changes etc. Never tried one myself, or how practical they are but you could look into that. Best place to put an obstacle I guess would be the darkest spot that has the best view of the sky. Probably have to be a compromise a little between the two. The darkest spot in your garden may give a very restricted view etc., so you'll have to work out the best balance between both things I guess, and also fit in with the rest of the plan in your garden too.

Glad the focul reducer is working well. Never used it much myself, as for widefield views I use my Opticstar AS90S 'frac for  any of those.  

[Stu]

Adjustable observing chairs can be very helpful. They can be a little fiddly at times to get positioned correctly but they certainly allow you to be more relaxed than bending over an eyepiece.

Plenty of different options out there, anything from ironing chair through adjustable drum stools to purpose built observing chairs.

[Astro_king]

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

Adjustable observing chairs can be very helpful. They can be a little fiddly at times to get positioned correctly but they certainly allow you to be more relaxed than bending over an eyepiece.

Plenty of different options out there, anything from ironing chair through adjustable drum stools to purpose built observing chairs.

I should have tried the bar stool ? But the chances of tipping over in excitement over splitting a tough double could mean the end of observation for a while ?

[YKSE]

Congratulations for the nice first light!

Dew shield and heater tape are almost mandatory for C8, especially in autumn when temperature usually falls quite a lot at night.

Bright globular cousters like M13 can take some mags, just like bright open clusters, exit pupil between 1mm and 2mm should give very good view, providing the object is properly framed. With your f6.3 reducer, EPs of 6mm to 13mm should do well.

Keep up the good work.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I built my own observing chair. Works a treat