First light with the new scope

[Cyclops]

Finally, a gap in the clouds, albeit a short one...Anyway, got to see Betelgeuse and the stars in Orion's belt. Finderscope seemed to work ok, tho I was only using the 20mm EP (20x). I'm in 2 minds about putting the lens caps on the finder tho. Its a chew on to get them on and off. Anyway saw a few other fainter stars in the field, and quite sharp too! The tripod however, oh dear, very fiddly-you have to really tighten the centre column knob to stop the whole thing moving. And the tilt is terrible. You centre the star, tighten the screw and the star drops to the bottom so you have to loosen the screw and position the star above centre then tighten and hope its centred. 9 times out of 10 it isnt! Also its not tall enough. I have to kneel on the ground even to look through the finder on anything above house top level. But I have a better tripod in the cupboard (Slik 88) so I might just end up using that. 

Overall tho a pleasant experience and it's good to get back in the saddle!

[Red Dwarfer]

Nice little scope - I have a little Travelscope 70/400 set up in the box room for occasional use through an opened skylight and is great for bright , widefield views .

 

[Cyclops]

2 minutes ago, Red Dwarfer said:

Nice little scope - I have a little Travelscope 70/400 set up in the box room for occasional use through an opened skylight and is great for bright , widefield views .

 

Those are the specs of mine, 70/400 with 20 and 9mm EPs

[Red Dwarfer]

Yep , mine`s a Celestron - looks like an ST80`s little brother .

Bang yours on to an AZ3 and it`ll work a 100% .

[Cyclops]

50 minutes ago, Red Dwarfer said:

Yep , mine`s a Celestron - looks like an ST80`s little brother .

Bang yours on to an AZ3 and it`ll work a 100% .

Can't afford a mount but my other tripod should do fine.

Before getting this scope I nearly got the Celestron. There was one in Cash Converters for £35 but it turned out it was just the body and objective. No tripod, eyepieces or finder. No thanks 

[Cyclops]

Couple of queries.

Is my finder set too far forwards? How you all set up yours?

Also what are those 2 small holes for? They appear to have grubs screws inside. Adjusters? I know the big screw tightens the focuser.

[Red Dwarfer]

As long as the finder doesn`t wobble about it`s fine - the screw holds the focus stable for a DSLR mounted on the scope - so i`ve read on the grapevine anyway - here`s mine in the box room facing south 

 

[Cyclops]

Wait, I can mount my camera on there??

[Red Dwarfer]

3 hours ago, Cyclops said:

Wait, I can mount my camera on there??

Yes , but only really suitable for Lunar photography on that mount - the adaptor needed is the T mount for Canon DSLRs and T2 mount for the Nikon system http://www.malvanos.tk/2014/08/celestron-travelscope-70-t2-mount-nikon.html

 

[Cyclops]

Well I put the scope on my old Slik 88 tripod, so much better! Solid and smooth. I must have had that tripod nearly 30 years now, and it was given to me by my brother way back. Still rock solid!