Hello from Central TX

[TICKr]

Hello everyone, I'm a new member, revisiting my childhood passion of astronomy at the age of 41. I took delivery of a Celestron Powerseeker 114EQ  (long tube) yesterday, assembled it last night and will hopefully be ready for first use tonight! The sky last night was nearly perfect, and forecast the same for tonight!

I did quite a bit of research on the "budget scopes" before deciding on the 114EQ long tube. It seemed the best fit/performance for my needs, and I wanted to stay away from the bird-jones type scopes.

The scope included a 20mm Erecting Eyepiece, a 4mm and a 3X Barlow. My research revealed that some better optics would be a very good first step so I also ordered the Celestron AstroMaster Accessory Kit which includes:

15mm Kellner

6mm Plossl

2X Barlow

#80A Blue, #25 Red and Moon Filter.

Anyway,  just wanted to start off with a little about me and my equipment.  I've already gotten tons of advice and information from SGL and look forward to sharing experiences with everyone.

Best regards, TICKr

[Demonperformer]

Hi, TICKr, and welcome to SGL.

Hope you get the promised clear skies tonight, and look forward to hearing how things go.

Enjoy the journey.

[SacRiker]

Hello and welcome aboard. I'm jealous of your clear skies tonight...we are looking at many days of rain in Northern California. 

[ronl]

Hello and welcome to SGL, hope you enjoy your time with us, see you around the forums.

As for the erecting eyepiece, that is only for day time use, you don't need it at night..

Clear Sky's.

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi there and welcome. 

[westmarch]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forum.  Hope your scope is everything you hope for. 

 

John

[Floater]

Welcome. Have lots of fun.

[SIDO]

Welcome to SGL, Good to see you are getting going...the skies here in Wisconsin are good tonight too so I'll be getting started soon myself.

           Best of Luck Tonight ?

                        Freddie...

[TICKr]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes. 

I can already see an upgraded finderscope in my near future. This thing with the thumb screws is ridiculous!!

It's already been an interesting day in the skies around here. Took my daughter to the park earlier and saw some nice colorful halos around the sun. 

[Sunshine]

Welcome to SGL!

[TICKr]

I'm going to consider night #1 a success. I set and leveled my tripod, then attached the mount/scope before sundown.

Went out to start observing at around 10pm local time. Polar alignment of the EQ mount was fairly simple and took less than 5 minutes.

Highlight of the night, found the Orion Nebula almost immediately! Absolutely amazing! 

I spent some time trying different optics/magnifications, did a little rudimentary sketch for my notes, and practiced tracking with the manual slow motion controls. One issue I noticed was that the RA slow-mo doesn't seem to be working properly. I ended up having to somewhat "assist" the movement of the scope while turning the knob. This is of course with the rig perfectly balanced on both axes and the clutch knobs tight. Guess I'll give Celestron customer service a call on Monday.

Still, I can't complain. I was super excited to be able to find M42/M43 so quickly and maintain it in my FOV even with the bad malfunctioning mount! 

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

Peter

[sloz1664]

Hi TICKr and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[Ben the Ignorant]

4 hours ago, TICKr said:

the RA slow-mo doesn't seem to be working properly. I ended up having to somewhat "assist" the movement of the scope while turning the knob. This is of course with the rig perfectly balanced on both axes and the clutch knobs tight

I almost welcome these little quirks on starter scopes because they give an opportunity to disassemble the thing, understand how it works, and improve it. Aside from the pride of dominating the problem it permits an insight on how more expensive gear should work, and removes the fear of working on it if needed.

You made a good start with your small equatorial.

[des anderson]

A warm welcome from a cloudy Essex. Des

[TICKr]

3 hours ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

I almost welcome these little quirks on starter scopes because they give an opportunity to disassemble the thing, understand how it works, and improve it. Aside from the pride of dominating the problem it permits an insight on how more expensive gear should work, and removes the fear of working on it if needed.

You made a good start with your small equatorial.

Yea I was thinking about disassembling it to see if I could solve the problem, but I want to get at least a few observing sessions in before I (possibly) ruin the mount!

[rwilkey]

Hi Tickr, a very warm welcome to SGL.  I can never understand why Celestron include such dire eyepieces with their scopes, for example, the 4mm ep and the 3x Barlow do not work with this scope (too much magnification), so why do they include these two items?  You are right to buy the accessary kit, a much better choice.  You could do with a 32mm plossl for low power at some point.  Enjoy using your scope and immerse yourself in the night sky!

[TICKr]

2 minutes ago, rwilkey said:

Hi Tickr, a very warm welcome to SGL.  I can never understand why Celestron include such dire eyepieces with their scopes, for example, the 4mm ep and the 3x Barlow do not work with this scope (too much magnification), so why do they include these two items?  You are right to buy the accessary kit, a much better choice.  You could do with a 32mm plossl for low power at some point.  Enjoy using your scope and immerse yourself in the night sky!

Thanks rwilkey.

That is exactly what I had gathered from the reviews on this scope, so it was an easy decision to get the upgraded lenses kit. It definitely paid off, The Orion Neb thought the 15mm Kellner, both with and without 2X Barlow was incredible.  Upon further research, looks like this EQ1 mount is also sadly undersized for the 114 Long Tube. Go figure.

[rwilkey]

I agree with you on the mount, you could do with more stability. There is a good report on it here:
https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/user-reviews/celestron-powerseeker-114-ota-review-r2799

[TICKr]

rwilkey, that is actually one of the reviews I read during my pre-purchas research. And honestly, probably the one that sold me on the 114 long tube. I can already tell that the eyepiece included with the kit will likely spend their lives in a box on the shelf. As mentioned earlier I've only observed the Orion Nebula thus far, but was quite impressed with the 15mm Kellner.

Thanks for the input and link, it was actually nice to read it again after having the opportunity to work with the scope.

Time to begin looking at better mounts, while contemplating dissasembley of the EQ1 to see of it can be salvaged. 

[TICKr]

9 hours ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

I almost welcome these little quirks on starter scopes because they give an opportunity to disassemble the thing, understand how it works, and improve it. Aside from the pride of dominating the problem it permits an insight on how more expensive gear should work, and removes the fear of working on it if needed.

You made a good start with your small equatorial.

Just an update, I ended up taking the EQ1 apart at the RA axis, based on some info I found on another forum. I put a good amount of lithium grease on the mechanism then reassembled. In hindsight,  I think the retention nut on the RA axis mechanism was way to tight. I now have a much smoother action (still far from smooth-as-butter), but very usable. I'm happy I decided to dive in!

[Charic]

Its great you're making the most of this scope already, and not afraid to learn a little about its inners workings, but can I ask that you maintain the scope as it is, in its present format, and learn from it?
I had their 127EQ and  quickly jumped to the 200P Skyliner. The images leave the Celestron behind, far behind, and what counts is the final image!

You could try better eyepieces, firmer mounts, clean and collimate the scope, but you wont improve much overall, but the  learning experience is worthwhile.

If you want to improve, you may need to look elsewhere, and I assure you, looking at Orion's Nebula with a 200P and a 60°ED should wow you a little more, maybe a lot more, who knows! observing at the right time and place, if/when conditions allow?
I thought the first look at the Moon through my 127EQ was a wow! moment, but with  the present scope,  Oh-my! what a view. 

[TICKr]

6 minutes ago, Charic said:

Its great you're making the most of this scope already, and not afraid to learn a little about its inners workings, but can I ask that you maintain the scope as it is, in its present format, and learn from it?
I had their 127EQ and  quickly jumped to the 200P Skyliner. The images leave the Celestron behind, far behind, and what counts is the final image!

You could try better eyepieces, firmer mounts, clean and collimate the scope, but you wont improve much overall, but the  learning experience is worthwhile.

If you want to improve, you may need to look elsewhere, and I assure you, looking at Orion's Nebula with a 200P and a 60°ED should wow you a little more, maybe a lot more, who knows! observing at the right time and place, if/when conditions allow?
I thought the first look at the Moon through my 127EQ was a wow! moment, but with  the present scope,  Oh-my! what a view. 

Charic,,

Thanks for the advice. I assure you I'm planning on being with this scope for awhile.  I just wanted to see if I could get the cheap, undersized EQ1 to function as minimally as possible, which I think I have now achieved.  On the other hand, I'm definitely looking forward to my next (upgraded) scope!

[TICKr]

14 hours ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

I almost welcome these little quirks on starter scopes because they give an opportunity to disassemble the thing, understand how it works, and improve it. Aside from the pride of dominating the problem it permits an insight on how more expensive gear should work, and removes the fear of working on it if needed.

You made a good start with your small equatorial.

Your comment inspired me to no just give up. I ended up disassembling the RA axis, added some grease, then reassembled.  I'm thinking the RA lock nut was way too tight. It's working much better now, not perfectly,  but at least functional. 

Thank you

[Ben the Ignorant]

13 hours ago, TICKr said:

I now have a much smoother action (still far from smooth-as-butter), but very usable.

Try rubbing the bearing surfaces with the abrasive side of a kitchen sponge, but do it very lightly because that abrasive is coarse and hard, rubbing harshly or for too long could actually induce play. Bearing surfaces must not be smooth as a mirror because that would maximize the contact area, and thus, friction. They have to be evenly micro-scratched to avoid sticking to each other like suction cups.

Also, brush the gear's teeth and the worm with a brass or stainless brush (they cost pennies), that should remove the mini-burrs left by machining. Do it while the grease is still on, the result will be smoother, and there will be less risk of overdoing it.