Beginners first night observing wih Celestron OMNI XLT 120 - report and review

[Wurzil]

Hello all.

After recieving my first proper scope, the Celestron OMNI XLT 120 from FLO (rather promptly:hello2:) I had to wait nearly a week before mother nature allowed me a few hours of clear sky. In a way this was a blessing as it gave me ample time to read the instructions and get used to setting the telescope up.

My initial feeling upon opening the packages was that the OTA looked gorgeous (metallic deep-blue) and felt like it was made of solid iron and would last forever. It seems like a lot of kit for £259. The mount also was heavy and solid-looking and easy to set up with the instructions provided. Moving the rig means taking the scope off of the mount and dropping the accessory tray so the tripod legs can fold in - this is very quick and easy so the scope will get a lot of use!

Things I liked after assembling the OMNI XLT 120 and CG4 mount:

OTA looked and felt very special (not just an empty tube with a shaving mirror in it like the cheapy 3" reflector I was using before!);

Focusser felt smooth and reassuring; Celestron have added extensions to the slow motion controls; once balanced the scope moved very nice and smoothly. The whole thing assembled looks awesome and has a quality feel to it.

Things I didnt like after assembling:

The cap that covers the RA gauge was a very cheap piece of plastic and cracked the first time I touched it (this is not a huge problem as it doesnt serve any real purpose); the RA gauge itself looked like it wouldnt be that accurate and had a tendancy to slip; The bit that comes out when you move the focusser (??) had some sort of lubricant grease all over it which was very sticky and you have to avoid touching it (the sort of thing you dont want when touching your EPs); the telescope seems to stick out a lot at the eyepiece-end rather than the lens-end when balanced which means when looking straight "up" you have to kneel or sit on the floor (i think i might move the tube forward when I want to look up).

First nights Observing

The wind that had blown away the clouds was threatening to blow me away too - but I was itching to use the scope so I gritted my teeth and set up the OMNI 120 XLT on my veranda.

The scope only comes with an unbranded 25mm eyepiece (40x) , so I'd ordered a 10mm skywatcher super plossl (100x) to get a better look at Jupiter which was my first target on this moonless night.

Jupiter: I got him straight in view using the 25mm EP which gave me a crisp, bright view with 3 moons and 2 very feint cloud bands. I switched up to the 10mm plossl and after I got it focussed I had a few short WOW moments (lots of detail) but there was a lot of wobbly turbulence that had me blinking (thinking that it was my eyes!). I put the lens cap on which got rid of all that purple chromatic abberation from the achromatic refractor. There was a little vibration as I was shivering against the EP in the wind - but when i was careful, vibration was not really a problem. I reckon when I get a 6mm EP for nights with more stable air, Jupiter will be stunning! After half an hour I left wobbly Jupiter and moved on to Pleiades.

Pleiades: Using the 25mm eyepiece I went to see the seven sisters and laughed - there are more like 700 sisters. It really was beautiful and so crisp. After using the slow motion controls to scan around for a while I decided Id have a wander down the milky way.

Milky way: With the refractor pointing straight up I was kneeling on the floor (and COLD) which was a little annoying but the stars took my mind off of it. That smudge across the sky is actually a billion little diamonds with tiny constellations and clusters all over the place. I felt like I was really exploring now - and while I was on the floor I thought Id try and find the Andromeda galaxy.

Andromeda galaxy: This took a bit of finding as it was IMPOSSIBLE to use the finder scope with the telescope looking straight up (can you get finder scopes with diaganols??) . I had to point the thing in the general direction (from Stellarium) and then just mooch about with the slow motion controls. I found a grey oblong smudge which was brightest in the middle - this must have been it. I have to say I was a little disappointed that it didnt look more galaxy like - I wonder how much the views will improve with better skies, eyepieces and filters etc. Im going to attend a local club at a dark site soon, so hopefully I will be able to get more out of the telescope with their help. I have to admit that at this point I was thinking -"hmm should I have gone for the 8" dob" I really hope this isnt apeture fever starting ALREADY!!! I got up off the floor and saw Orion rising up out of the orange glow on the horizon.

Orion Nebula: I found this easily using the finder scope and it was more pleasing than the andromeda galaxy. I could easily see the trapezium with the 25mm - the little stars were twinkly and razor sharp. The grey smudge of nebulosity had some definition, but I realise that this is just the bright centre of a much larger DSO. Again I wonder how much better this will look under darker skies, with better eyepieces/filters etc. As Orion rose the grey smudge became more noticable but I was getting COLD. Stellarium said Mars would rise pretty soon but It would have to climb above the orange glow before I could see it - I decided to leave it until another night - I wonder if the 10mm will be enough or whether I will need to get a 6mm to see any detail on Mars??

All in all Im quite pleased with the views on what I have to admit was a pretty poor night for observing. I cant wait to go to a dark site, get my 6mm EP and visit a club. Im also looking forward to learning how use the RA and DEC axis properly and how to star-hop.

Is there anybody out there with the same (or similar telescope) with any tips on how to get better views of the orion nebula, andromeda etc, or will I need a big dob to see DSOs with any clarity? Or will dark skies make the views much much better with my celestron?

Also can anyone suggest more targets (bright DSOs) for me, which will be relatively easy to find - the more impressive the better!!

Thanks.

Warren:D

[Doc]

What a great night you had. You got a really good scope that will see plenty of stuff. It will also be good a splitting binary stars which is one of my favourite pastimes.

Take a look at my thread here for lots of targets.

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/81493-object-list-indexed-constellation.html

[pvaz]

Great report.

I have an 8" dob and I like it a lot. Andromeda in my scope is pretty much what you sow. I came to realize galaxys are faint smudges when you observe. Only the pictures bring the detail out.

On the other hand nebulas improve with bigger apertures and the use of appropriated filters. Maybe a UHC filter or a less strict LP or deep sky filter would be good for you. I wouldn't recommend an OIII since even in my 8" I think it's a bit too aggressive, but I do need to do some more testing before coming to a definite conclusion.

You should try some globular clusters such as M13 right after it gets dark, M71 (easy to find, to the right of Altair in between 2 stars of the small Sagitta constellation) and M72 right above, and a bit to the right of Jupiter current position. You can also try Alberio double star (head of the Cygnus constellation) and some open clusters such as the double cluster in Perseus, M52 and NGC7789 in Cassiopeia. M57 is a nice nebula, in between 2 stars in Lyra and looks like a smoke ring at 100x or so. I'm not sure how it will look with a 4" but it's a great view, definitely on my top 5, and it will probably look good.

[Wurzil]

thanks guys! Looks like its quite clear out there now and nearly dark. Might have to have a go at M13 and M57, M71 & M72 tonight!!

[Wurzil]

thanks mick for the list of targets Im gonna try to bookmark that for reference. that'll keep me going for a bit!