Hello all from the NE and directions please!

[Mackem]

Browsed your wonderful forum previously, but at the time wasn't serious about astronomy. 

I had a cheap Newtonian scope 5" cost about £200 years ago, now with my grandchildren at their caravan.

Well to cut a long story short I jumped in with both feet and ended up buying a lot bigger scope than I was looking for. 

9.25-inch NexStar Evolution

Celestron StarSense autoalign camera

My thinking was it will last me till I pop my clogs then my grandsons can still get a reasonable scope. 

It was 5 star rated by Sky at Night mag. 

Oh and all the reviews I saw said it was portable. Erm! It's up in my front room to check for obvious problems and it's huge! 

Not the smartest move I can sense you thinking and no I'm not rich, just wanted something that I thought would give me good views and last. 

I want it to be a Jack of all trades,  Solar, Planets, and deep space objects.

Now to the crux. 

What recommendations for where to look for the following advice. 

Camera eyepiece. (My eyes are well gone so I was hoping to view on a screen both near the scope and remotely while sitting in doors in comfort.)

What equipment will I need to add for viewing indoors either wired or wireless?

Tracking,  do I need extra equipment for that.

Do I need the Wedge?

Oh and please feel free to give me advice about obvious things I may have forgotten. 

Only a fool thinks he knows more than an experienced person. 

I have a very good home built computer and a Tab S4.

Will shortly be buying a new laptop so suggestions on a good one for our hobby welcome.  (Strange how laptops don't like being dropped down stairs) 

I'm a complete novice where astronomy is concerned. 

Well that's a lot longer than I meant it to be my apologies. 

And as you will probably notice by the timing of this post I'm a night owl. 

Barry 

[Demonperformer]

Hi, Barry, and welcome to SGL.

If you have a standard DSLR, you could get a t/ring+nosepiece that would connect it straight into the eyepiece holder (probably your cheapest way in). Lots of other possibilities, but I used such a set up for a long time before getting into cooled ccd cameras. Certainly good enough for a start.

A webcam might be better for the moon and planets, but will be (slightly) more expensive than the above option.

I wouldn't worry about a wedge unless you get into serious DSO imaging. All that does is prevent the field rotating over a long period. For visual or EAA (electronically assisted astronomy) you won't notice the difference.

Can't offer any advice on viewing from indoors, but I'm sure someone will have the answers.

Enjoy the journey.

[Mackem]

Thanks for the welcome Demon.

The DSLR went the same way as the newtonian to the grandsons as I wasn't using it.

I'm going to purchase an astronomy specific camera probably  Zwo as  I have also been looking at their ASIAir pro 

But my scope has built in wifi so I'm not sure I need it ?

[banjaxed]

Hi Barry, welcome to SGL.

[sloz1664]

Hi Barry and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

 

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. Sorry I can not help with EAA set up, but yes your mount will track objects after you have carried out an initial alignment. You will definitely need a dew shield and you will have to get a power source to run your equipment

[PeterCPC]

Hello Barry and welcome.

Peter

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Barry, welcome. 

[Mackem]

Thank you for the warm welcome people.

I know I  have a lot to learn , second time I have come across EEA or similar never heard of it till today. 

Hopefully we will cross paths again when I'm not so dumb 😎

Barry 

[Tenor Viol]

Hi - a useful thing to do would be to find your local astronomical society and (once we're all set free) meet and chat - it's a good way of learning and finding stuff out. 

[sputniksteve]

Hi Barry. Welcome. People are really friendly and helpful here.

[Mackem]

Thanks all I  appreciate it.😎

[Physopto]

Hi Barry, welcome to SGL. My first suggestion as you live in Sunderland Or in the general area is to join Sunderland Astro Society. I was a members few years ago and can recommend them. They are a great bunch and can help you out with all you will need to know and plenty of ideas as to how to get the best out of your gear.

Derek

 

Edited June 20, 2020 by Physopto

[callisto]

A big welcome from me also 👋

[Floater]

Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun. 🙂

[ronl]

Hi Barry, and welcome to the community, hope you enjoy your time with us,

see you around the forums.

Clear Sky's.

[Dr Strange]

Welcome Barry! I do EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) because I am in heavy light pollution. You can go bonkers on it with wheelbarrow's full of cash or you can do it very economically. I tell SWMBO that Astronomy is my only hobby and by funding it, it keeps me out of the pub's so she is OK with it.  I went down the middle road. I bought an ZWO ASI 553 Pro color CCD, extenders, filters, filter slide holder, and a laptop. It cost me a total of about $1,800 USD which is middle end in terms of expenses. You can cut that easily in half or more with an ASI 290 and a much less expensive laptop or a combination of the 290 and the ASI Pro if you have a tablet already. That will let you work inside the house. 

As to a wedge... If you are exposing and stacking for longer than 10 seconds per sub exposure (generally 10-30 second subexposures stacked on top of each other for 1-4 minutes gives you a good image for EAA) it is better to take the £269 you are going to spend on a wedge and invest in an equatorial mount (EQ). The PITA (Pain In The A***) factor you face with a wedge can be quite high and quite frustrating. In fairness some love wedge's. Most, in my experience, started in the hobby when there were no other options than a wedge or couldn't afford an EQ mount so had to make do. 

A EQ mount like the Celestron Advanced VX  for £779 which will work with your StarSense is a great option. It is light weight, easy to setup, easy to polar align with the Celestron ASPA (All Star Polar Alignment) routine, and will work fine with the 9.25 for EAA but important to note is marginal for AP (Astro Photography). I say marginal because you can do AP with that scope and mount combination with a focal reducer (FR) but it can be challenging. 90 second subexposures for AP are possible with good polar alignment (PA). 

Edited June 23, 2020 by Dr Strange

[John Nodding]

Welcome Mackem!

Noddy (geordie!)

[Eddie Jones]

Welcome

 

[Mackem]

Thanks for the warm welcome people! 

Also thanks for the useful information Dr Strange .

Just been reading some back issues of your old Marvel comics! 😄

Still breaks my heart my father threw out my comics collection when I left home to get married. I had the originals of Dr Strange and Spiderman and the Hulk! 

Ah well who wants to be a millionaire. 🤑😂

 

[Stu]

Welcome to the forum @Mackem

The 925 is a wonderful and very capable scope so I’m sure you will have some fun with it. Do have a look through it too, even if just at the Moon, the views should be amazing.

If you haven’t found it already, check out the EEVA section on the forum. There are many ways to skin the EEVA cat so it can get confusing but you should pick up some good info and be able to ask more questions in there. A focal reducer may well be something you want to add as that will help capture things faster.

By the way, what are your skies like?

Good luck!

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/208-eeva-electronically-enhanced-visual-astronomy/

[Mackem]

Thanks Stu. 

Yeah I've hit the EEVA Section. 

Like you say it can get confusing, I'm having to learn a whole new vocabulary just to  understand the basics. 

I'm steadily jumping about topics to try and grasp the basics. 

Which I should have done first.😂

Barry

 

[des anderson]

A warm welcome from Essex. Des

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Peter in Bedfordshire 🙂