Wobbly Celestron 8SE

[brantuk]

Could well be - lets hope the thread gives him lots of ideas. If it's till not tracking after all the other stuff has been covered, then I'd be inclined to agree with you

[jonathan]

Well I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear that I had a successful evening's observing the other night, the ground was semi-frozen, and while the tripod feet dug in a little bit it was steady enough for me to get some great views of the Orion Nebula, still shake-city when ever the telescope or focus knob was touched mind you. I was pleasantly surprised that the 2" diagonal and 38mm eyepiece didn't seem to upset the telescope or goto much at all. It tracked pretty well once I'd got the SkyAlign alignment right.

I followed the advice given here about making sure the accessory tray was fully screwed up, perhaps that made the difference.

[Ludd]

I have an 8SE and have experienced some difficulties with vibrations. Having said that, things have got much easier since I bought a crayford focusser (only £50 second hand for a two speed on) which means I barely have to touch the scope to get good focus. Oh, and it's definitely true that sitting down to observe reduces the amount of stress, instability and wobbling.

Mind you, the scope is at its best when mounted on my GP mount on a heavy ash tripod.

[rjr16uk]

Hmmm very interesting reading this, glad you finally got some decent viewing, im just at the stage of buying my first telescope and I was initially going to go for the 8SE, reading this has slightly put my off, when you guys say single fork you mean the single arm supporting the tube right? If thats the case I might consider the cpc 800 which is going to require a bit more saving! lol But I can imagine this wobblying, I can see it now in my head and I cant think of anything more annoying!. Having said that I do have decking at the back so it wont be on grass lol but still sounds a bit too fragile for me....disapointing to hear however as thought I made my mind up! lol

[E621Keith]

The my C6SE is rock solid at 150x and still reasonably stable at 500x (I put in a 3mm eyepiece by mistake. The optics and atmosphere on the other hand can't handle that magnification). The C8 is heavier, so I would suggest checking the balance of your scope. If your OTA is too far forward or too far back, it will put the stress on the motor, which may cause your vibration problem.