Ready steady and go (almost)...

[SimM]

I'm back into astronomy after a small lull of 25+ years here in Southern UK. I still have a Newtonian on an equatorial mount - but these types of mounts seem to clash with my intuition and I find things a bit frustrating - having GOTO will partially tame this "problem"  I have.

Getting "ready" to use my Sky-Watcher HEQ5 mount, a Celestron 8" SCT and some BH Hyperion eyepieces. My interests are primarily visual e.g. planets and some DSO. Eventually I may add a 2nd OTA e.g. an 80ED or similar for simple imaging.

Getting "steady", I also have folding aluminium table (for eyepieces, iPad and general clutter) and a rechargeable headlight with red LED (switch on/off without risk of turning on the white LEDs). Apart from the obvious, there was also the acquisition of a 12V power source - 17Ah battery (Halfords starter).

Before I "go", I've identified a place in the garden for my backyard site. I'm fortunate that there are no major cities (15 miles away) and only one town (5 miles away), no street lights or annoying neighbour lights to contend with. All isn't however a panacea because there is still the UK weather to contend with. My tripod has some rubber feet, so I'm considering putting three circular stepping stones (later inset) on my back lawn. I have good sight south and out to east/west and clear sight backwards including Polaris for alignment, but without too many obstructions e.g. no houses but some trees. The idea was to have a GOTO position on the lawn that I could fine tune to be well placed and reasonably level.

Some newbie questions:

Is the tripod better on stones (as above) or or is the lawn better?

I've seen people bring a groundsheet to a star party - does it keep the dew down, insulate, stop things getting lost in the grass, or have some other benefit that's not obvious?

Simon

Edited January 22, 2020 by SimM

[banjaxed]

Hi Simon, welcome back to SGL. Firstly have you aligned your finder scope to your telescope? because if you haven’t finding objects will be difficult. I am sure others more experienced than me will answer your other questions.

[PeterCPC]

If you are placing on stones (slabs) then they need to be well fixed in position on a layer of mortar and hardcore. They must not move. If you can do this and somehow mark where the tripod feet go, then this is a good solution. Lawns can give as you move around so not ideal if you are going to be near the scope a lot.

Peter

[Jiggy 67]

Tripods have spikes that stick into the ground and the lawn. I find this makes for a sturdy base and I’ve never noticed any movement 

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

Tripods have spikes that stick into the ground and the lawn. I find this makes for a sturdy base and I’ve never noticed any movement 

I do agree with that. I've always used tripods with rubber feet until recently, and there is always some 'give' in them. The Planet tripod I use now is very solid anyway, but since switching to spiked feet it is rock solid. I'm sure the same sort of improvement would be seen on other tripods.

[Jiggy 67]

In fact, although I have no experience of setting up on paving slabs so this is just what I can imagine, I would have thought that setting a tripod with spikes on a paving slab would be more likely to shift due to the low surface area making contact with the slabs.....I may be wrong though

[PeterCPC]

I make "dimples" in the slabs so it always goes in exactly the same place.

Peter

[rwilkey]

Hi Simon, I have always preferred hard-standing surfaces, in my opinion more stable than grass.  On the groundsheet question, I have seen this too and can only presume it is to stop things getting lost, it certainly has no impact on dewing up.  Welcome back to the hobby BTW.  Clear skies!

[SimM]

On 23/01/2020 at 10:35, banjaxed said:

Hi Simon, welcome back to SGL. Firstly have you aligned your finder scope to your telescope? because if you haven’t finding objects will be difficult. I am sure others more experienced than me will answer your other questions.

Thanks, I read all the documentation 100%. So yes, I have aligned it partially indoors, but I will do it again outside e.g. look almost a mile away at a distant object and this will be a complete setup/run-through in daylight too.

Simon

Edited January 24, 2020 by SimM

[SimM]

On 23/01/2020 at 14:17, rwilkey said:

Hi Simon, I have always preferred hard-standing surfaces, in my opinion more stable than grass.  On the groundsheet question, I have seen this too and can only presume it is to stop things getting lost, it certainly has no impact on dewing up.  Welcome back to the hobby BTW.  Clear skies!

Thanks Robin, my Newtonian has legs without any rubber and it was recommended to use directly on a lawn. However, I think that the best surface is one that doesn't give much so the paving slabs (with a view to setting them in mortar in the lawn when I find my ideal spot) along with the rubber tripod "spikey" feet will be best. If someone jumps up and down on the lawn I can sense it on a nearby surface e.g. a chair, so I've concluded that the spongy lawn provides isolation from people movements, but the paving slabs provide a good reference point and increased stability especially if set in mortar.

I have just "invested" in a folding aluminium table 9(4 ft x 2 ft). When I bought it I thought £30 was astronomical! But I think it's comforting to put things down on a table and know where they are, that they won't get trampled etc.

One annoying thing is the compatibility between my Hyperion eyepieces and the Celestron supplied diagonal. The screws that mark eyepieces (and may perhaps offer some support too) have sides that are too big to allow the base of the Hyperions to fit flush against the diagonal. So I'm considering a twist lock or click lock solution.

The more I think about it the groundsheet will not help dew and it's one more thing to trip over. BTW the table is black/light - should I have bought white/heavy? - LOL. 

Simon

Edited January 24, 2020 by SimM

[rwilkey]

On 24/01/2020 at 23:52, SimM said:

One annoying thing is the compatibility between my Hyperion eyepieces and the Celestron supplied diagonal. The screws that mark eyepieces (and may perhaps offer some support too) have sides that are too big to allow the base of the Hyperions to fit flush against the diagonal. So I'm considering a twist lock or click lock solution.

The more I think about it the groundsheet will not help dew and it's one more thing to trip over. BTW the table is black/light - should I have bought white/heavy? - LOL. 

Hi Simon, to pick on these couple of points, on the diagonal problem, I use a self-centering adaptor all the time, found here: https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/revelation-self-centering-2-to-1.25-eyepiece-adaptor.html

Table-wise, the best and most solid table I have ever found is this one, it doesn't budge or bend, it might as well be a brick wall, it punches well above its meagre looks:  https://www.mogodirect.co.uk/mogo-rectangular-folding-plastic-trestle-table-l1220-x-w600mm-4-x-2/

Clear skies!

[SimM]

On 27/01/2020 at 10:14, rwilkey said:

Hi Simon, to pick on these couple of points, on the diagonal problem, I use a self-centering adaptor all the time, found here: https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/revelation-self-centering-2-to-1.25-eyepiece-adaptor.html

The supplied 1 1/4” diagonal has the two screws that are sticking out above the top of the diagonal. This stops Hyperion EP lying flat. MY EP fit 2” diagonals so I have a Baader Clicklock 2” SCT and a Baader 2” mirror diagonal. I also have one 2” EP.

The supplied Celestron EP fits the supplied diagonal and the screws are not an issue but it doesn’t give a wide FOV of some of the other EP.  To stick with one diagonal I can get the suggested adapter - thanks.

Simon

Edited January 29, 2020 by SimM

[cletrac1922]

Simon

Welcome back from Land Down Under

I am out 2 or 3 times a month with my club doing presentations in schools and scout groups

My EQ5pro mount has spiked feet, and adjust legs, until head is level, and use ED80 as well

Where I am, have to face north leg of tripod, to face south, and use a compass to align, allowing for magnetic variation 

When use my 10" flex dob, I put down ground sheet, to protect the chip board of dob mount from moisture

Have know some club members who have set payers in their lawn, and they just put down a bit of road base first, and ensured the paver was slightly below ground level, to enable mowing

John

 

[SimM]

9 hours ago, cletrac1922 said:

Have know some club members who have set pavers in their lawn, and they just put down a bit of road base first, and ensured the paver was slightly below ground level, to enable mowing.

John

Thanks John, this was my plan too. The best scope mounts isolate the mount/peer from the surrounding platform, so individual paving stones are preferable to a whole area.

Do you always separate an EQ. mount/tripod/weight for short trips e.g. to the garden? Weight (yes), tripod (no)?

Simon

[cletrac1922]

10 hours ago, SimM said:

Thanks John, this was my plan too. The best scope mounts isolate the mount/peer from the surrounding platform, so individual paving stones are preferable to a whole area.

Do you always separate an EQ. mount/tripod/weight for short trips e.g. to the garden? Weight (yes), tripod (no)?

Simon

 

Simon

I just leave mount on the tripod with counter weight attached. I have a big SUV wagon, and when do presentations with my club, the Dob and mount sit on back seat, and just tie Dob back to rear head rest support, to stop rolling off the seat

The mount and tripod in back cargo compartment, just with an old blanket around to protect

Have couple of aluminum cases as well

One has all my eyepieces, compass, collimator, filters and other bits and pieces

The other one the tray for tripod, hand control and hand control mount, cables

I also have the WiFi adapter as well, and downloaded the SynScan App

The attached pic is on my ED80 on EQ5 pro mount, showing my eyepiece case

I carry a small fold up table also to put things on

Pic was taken at a recent solar viewing day, on the foreshore, and invited public to view through scopes as well

The ED80 in background, is on a HEQ5 mount, and shows camera setup as well

I use a car jump start pack to power the my mount and SynScan

Hope been of assistance

John

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by cletrac1922