Celestron's Starsense in a fixed observatory?

[NenoVento]

Hi all,

In my quest to save time (of which I ussually have very little), I've been eyeing Celestron's Starsense for quite a while, but never decided upon buying one due to its relative high cost. However, since this Summer started, I bodly embarked on a (probably crazy) project of building a wee observatory for my home. It actually is a tiny room that I am adding on top of my back balcony, which has just about enough space to place (and remotely use) my CPC 800 (plus polar wedge), which I'll cover with a tailor-made roll-off roof.  This observatory should not only save me time but will allow me to overtake the damn street lights that surround my house...

The thing is that, once I have the mount (and the telescope) properly placed, polar aligned (via sharpcap) and sky aligned (via CPWI) in the observatory, I'll just need to park it every time I stop using it, so getting a Starsense would actually have no sense, right?...

Regards,

NV

Edited September 1, 2020 by NenoVento
typos

[Cosmic Geoff]

I did not see much point in transferring my Starsense to my CPC800. Since the mount has GPS, all you have to do after erecting the scope is a 2-star align, which is quick and easy to do.  As for parking it between uses, read the small print, as AFAIK if you kill the power you will have to do the star alignment again.  

[AstroMuni]

8 minutes ago, NenoVento said:

The thing is that, once I have the mount (and the telescope) properly placed, polar aligned (via sharpcap) and sky aligned (via CPWI) in the observatory, I'll just need to park it every time I stop using it, so getting a Starsense would actually have no sense, right?...

You have hit the nail on the head 👍 Starsense at that stage would be overkill. Even if it lost alignment, you could realign using a couple of stars

[Mick H]

9 minutes ago, NenoVento said:

so getting a Starsense would actually have no sense, right?...

Hi Neno, I would say for what you are trying to achieve you don't need StarSense.

Polar aligned with wedge plus sky aligned via CPWI, plus you are going hibernate the mount.

I have StarSense and love it, press auto align and away it goes and never fails from my position, plus it is great when you go to different locations. 

[NenoVento]

1 hour ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

 AFAIK if you kill the power you will have to do the star alignment again.  

Hi @Cosmic Geoff. I've been toying around with CPWI and, if I am not mistaken, there is a way to save the pointing model, so if you don't change the scope's setup, even if you switch off the telescope (and its serving computer) should't you be able to skip the alignment steps?.

Regards,

NV

[NenoVento]

1 hour ago, AstroMuni said:

You have hit the nail on the head 👍 Starsense at that stage would be overkill. Even if it lost alignment, you could realign using a couple of stars

Hi @AstroMuni. There is going to be so little space in the obsy that I'm not sure I'll be able to use a finder... I may be able to use a laser pointer 🤔.

NV

[NenoVento]

1 hour ago, Mick H said:

Hi Neno, I would say for what you are trying to achieve you don't need StarSense.

Polar aligned with wedge plus sky aligned via CPWI, plus you are going hibernate the mount.

Hi @Mick H. That is exactly what I think, but I've been wrong so many times before that I decided to ask around 😅.

Regards,

NV

[AstroMuni]

7 minutes ago, NenoVento said:

Hi @AstroMuni. There is going to be so little space in the obsy that I'm not sure I'll be able to use a finder... I may be able to use a laser pointer 🤔.

NV

If you are going to be using it for astrophotography then you would have your guide scope etc. to platesolve and figure out the alignment. If you are going to use it for visual observation, you would need to set aside some space for you to view it Either way, I think there will be times when you will need to physically get to the scope and fix /realign manually. The finder (eg Telrad) can be a temporary fixture which you remove once all setup. So seems prudent to leave a but of wriggle room.

Edited September 1, 2020 by AstroMuni

[NenoVento]

1 minute ago, AstroMuni said:

If you are going to be using it for astrophotography then you would have your guide scope etc. to platesolve and figure out the alignment. If you are going to use it for visual observation, you would need to set aside some space for you to view it

I wish I had the time and resources for proper astrophotography. EEVA is more what I am aiming for.

[AstroMuni]

It is still essentially using a camera to get an image. And you are NOT going to be at the end of the telescope but in front of a computer. So you can do platesolving to figure out which part of the sky you are viewing. No need for a starsense. Software like PHD2 can do the PA for you.

[NenoVento]

1 minute ago, AstroMuni said:

It is still essentially using a camera to get an image. And you are NOT going to be at the end of the telescope but in front of a computer. So you can do platesolving to figure out which part of the sky you are viewing. No need for a starsense. Software like PHD2 can do the PA for you.

With the focal reducer placed, I've been quite successfull at plate solving using All Sky Plate Solver (ASPS) together with SharpCap (not so much when using the scope's native focal,which I believe is due to lack of stars in the FOV, which also could be related to light pollution issues). PHD for PA... Do you mean Polar Alignment @AstroMuni?. I have to look into this...

NV

[AstroMuni]

Yes PA=Polar alignment 🙂

[NenoVento]

Hi, thanks a million to all of you for your inputs. I think I'm going to wait and see how I go about without the StarSense (once I have everything in place, I mean). If I don't manage, I suppose that I'll surrender and will get the gadget (and this will also give me some time to recover from the investment on the observatory).

Best regards,

NV

[Mick H]

15 minutes ago, NenoVento said:

I think I'm going to wait and see how I go about without the StarSense

Good choice Neno, get all setup and then see how it goes, StarSense is a luxury.

But a nice luxury to have in your tool box.