The NexStar Arrives - and I'm an idiot

I finally received the new Celstron NexStar 6SE telescope - it had been delayed for almost a week due to the floods out west. Thankfully, UPS was able to deliver it without incident, and even brought the 50lb box into the house (I wasn't home, and I'm fairly sure my wife didn't want to kill herself dragging a telescope into the house).

It looked PERFECT. I can't believe the deal I was able to get, considering the overall condition of the scope and accessories. They didn't appear to have been used at all! The seller delivered it in original boxes, and even the "warning" tags were still attached.

I was able to assemble the unit in about 5 minutes - it really is simple. I picked up a large plastic tub at K-Mart that fits the packing material for the main unit perfectly. The tripod and my accessories case fit inside as well, making this the perfect all-in-one travel case for trips to Mingo (and other dark sites). Unfortunately, in my haste to pack the unit back up, I never aligned the red dot finder. Mistake #1.

I wasn't anticipating using the scope immediately - it had been raining all day. To my surprise, the sky became clear at around 9PM, and I hurried outside to set everything up. I didn't realize until the next day that I had attached the finder incorrectly (hey, it was dark!). Mistake #2. I went about trying to do an auto align, but after 3 failed attempts I knew I was doing something wrong. Even when doing a single star alignment, it just was WAY off - 15 to 20 degrees off. I looked at the scope in daylight the next day, and realized the finder was mounted cockeyed. I'm fairly certain I had entered the time incorrectly as well. I'm an idiot. I'll try again tonight, with any luck.

Even so, I know a few things about the sky, so I checked out M13 manually (a very easy find). Larger and more detailed than my previous scope, for sure. I sensed something was up, though, when I had trouble getting tight focus. Sure enough, my corrector was covered in dew. Grrrrrr.

I'm leaving for vacation in two days, so there isn't time to order a dew shield and have it arrive in time. I may make one out of craft foam as a temporary fix - here's hoping there is less dew in Nags Head (not likely!)

Overall, a great scope. Really solid on the mount, excellent tripod, easy to use computer (when I know the time!). I also have my exact longitude/latitude (thank you Google Earth), so hopefully that will help as well.

Todd

A new GoTo telescope = Happy Todd

Yes, I finally decided that manual tracking with a 3" Newtonian was no longer allowing me the time to enjoy my observing (OK, I was still enjoying it, but I wasn't seeing as many things due to the amount of time it took to find them!)

After much research, freelance (to save up) and debating, I was able to find a SWEET deal on a barely used 6" Celestron SCT (Schmidt-Cassegrain, for those of you not familiar with this stuff). Sure, I wanted an 8" (or a 9.25!), but budget and portability - and sanity - won out, and I chose the 6". SCT's are good general purpose telescopes for almost all subjects. The folded optics (see image inset below) make them particularly good for grab-and-go scopes (in smaller sizes), since they give the focal length of a very long scope in a very compact package. This allows for larger magnifications that simply aren't available in a refractor or Newtonian at this size. Since aperture (size) rules, I wanted to go as big as I could on a budget, and this one did the trick.

The picture (upper left) shows the scope: the main optical tube is mounted on a single fork mount (yes, single fork...I know that makes no sense, but they make double fork mounts, too). The on-board computer not only allows for tracking of objects - no more repeated nudging the scope to keep things in view - but it also has a built in database of objects that it automatically slews to. Called "Go-To" scopes, these telescopes can make a night of observing much more exciting for novices (raises hand) and those with children (raises hand again), since the hunt for Deep Space Objects (DSOs) becomes much easier. Besides, try telling a 4 year old that Saturn can be bigger in the eyepiece, but that it moves so fast at that size that you can't keep the scope on it. No, they don't like that. They want Saturn as BIG as possible, and don't want it to move out of their field of view.

Are there any downsides? A few. SCT's can be more susceptible to dew, since the front corrector plate is glass. There are dew shields and heating devices to help with this, but I'll worry about that after some actual field usage. Also, since there is a secondary mirror in the front corrector plate (the round circle) that causes a slight obstruction, the contrast of images is slightly reduced. I'll live :)

So, I should be telling you that Go-To is evil, right? That true amateur astronomers should learn the night sky using star charts, and learn to star hop the old fashioned way, right? Sorry, I'm too much of a tech geek to NOT have a computerized scope. I haven't even told you that you can hook up a laptop and actually aim the scope using on-screen star charts...oh, baby! So while yes, I think that star hopping and overall night sky familiarity are absolutely important, so is being able to enjoy your hobby the way you want to enjoy it. For me, that's with a helpful little thing called a motor.

The scope arrives next week, and I'll have new pictures posted ASAP. I cannot wait for first light with it - so many things to look at, now with more aperture!

Until then,
Todd

Delays, Meteors, and a possible new scope

Sorry for the delays, I've been rather busy and haven't been observing much. The good news is that I have found a GREAT deal on a used 8" Meade LX200R GPS, a fantastic Go-To SCT that is the only scope I should ever need. It is barely used, yet I'll be saving over $1500. SWEET. Hope to have it in a couple weeks.

In order to get the funds together, I sold a few pieces of my prop collection (nothing worth keeping), plus an older iPod (I had too many) and my 7 year old PowerBook (which I'll miss a little). No worries, this is all for the greater good.

I missed the Perseid meteor shower - I was at the Steeler game on Saturday, and was VERY tired already from a late night on Friday. Sunday was cloudy as I went to look at 11:30PM, so I gave up in favor of sleep. Next time...I hope...

Thanks,
Todd

Mingo Creek Star Party

What a night! This was my second trip out to Mingo, this time deciding to come alone. The boys had been out playing all day and were exhausted, so I put them to bed early and headed out to the observatory hill.

Earlier in the day, I dug out the old Bushnell 3" reflector that my wife had given me years ago. I never had much luck using it, and I’m fairly certain it was because I didn’t know what I was doing. That, plus the fact that the telescope shipped with two rather poor plastic lens eyepieces and an even worse 3x Barlow. The low powered eyepiece was now missing, along with two of the tripod wing nuts and the screw that connects the fine adjustment rod to the scope body. I hit the Ace Hardware to search for the wing nuts, only to discover that they were not 1/4-20 as I had hoped…they were metric. Eesh. Instead of 50-cent wing nuts, I was forced to buy two $2.35 metric ones. It was all in the name of science, so I can't complain :)

I sent an email to the AAAP group earlier in the day, asking for help with the eyepiece. A fellow member wrote back to say he had one for me to use, and I was thrilled. I’d have to worry about collimation later - I was already running out of time.

I arrived before sunset and set up next to Fred, the AAAP member that allowed me the use of his eyepiece. Fred's truck was full to the brim with astronomical goodies, and he was in the process of setting up his 11" Celestron SCT. His computer-controlled CG-E mount was stunning to look at – it was HUGE. I know what I want in a scope, and I know what I can afford…that CG-E mount will have to wait :)

Fred handed me one of his 25mm eyepieces, and I set about aligning the finder scope on my Bushnell. I'm fairly certain that the Bushnell folks found the worst finder and mount imaginable and placed them on my scope. This is the 3-thumbscrew single ring type, and so I ended up aligning it about 10 times over the course of the evening. This led to my yelling "A Telrad, my kingdom for a Telrad!" several times throughout the night. I'll be picking up that little helpful tool soon.

Overall, the Bushnell worked fine. With the focuser completely pulled in, I was able to keep decent focus all night. I'm fairly certain I need to collimate the heck out of this thing, but for a grab-n-go scope, it worked fine.

So what did I see with 'ol Blue? How about 3 planets and 5 planetary moons in 10 minutes? Not too shabby for my first real night of telescopic observing. Venus was out first, and the scope rendered a lovely half-circle in the eyepiece. As Fred explained to me earlier, it was in its greatest elongation of the year - at the greatest angular distance from the Sun as seen from Earth. Very cool little fact to learn.

Up next was Jupiter, blazing away towards the south. It was very bright, and visitors couldn’t believe that the bright “star” they were looking at was actually a planet. Jupiter showed himself as a beige disc, very crisp, and with a small darker band towards the bottom. All four of the Galilean moons were visible, with 3 clustered below and one fairly far above. Antares was just to the south-east of Jupiter, and was sparkling brightly all night. I kept thinking I was seeing an airplane – it was so colorful. Scorpius may be my new favorite constellation.

Then Saturn popped up, and I grabbed a clear enough view of it to see distinct rings. The last time I had used this scope was when my brother took it out in my backyard in Florida. He found Saturn, and it looked like a mushy blob. Tonight, Saturn was clearly defined and there was space between the planet and its rings. Amazing what a better eyepiece will do! Titan showed up as well, just a tiny pinprick below the planet.

I met several very nice people, as well. Lots of great gear, lots of great conversation. Some of my favorite moments were spent discussing the two homemade trussed Dobs that were brought. Amazing what is possible with hard work and some inventive use of plumbing parts. Can you make a Crayford focuser from PVC pipe and some plastic rollers taken from old data tapes? Apparently you can! I took a picture of this one, and I’ll try to post it tomorrow. Thanks to Gary for taking me on a tour of your handmade beauty of a Dob.

Later, as the party dwindled down to the last few cars, Fred showed me some of my favorites in his SCT. We looked at Jupiter again, M13, the Blackeye galaxy, the Ring nebula, and a "double-double". My first time seeing many of these!

Thanks again to everyone that came out to the party. I found myself saying “THIS is why I joined this club” several times. Plus, visitors actually liked looking in my scope to see Jupiter. I had a blast telling them what I knew about the equipment, the stars, the planets, and the AAAP. What a great night!

Best part? Fred let me keep that eyepiece...and I was out again on Sunday showing the kids those same three planets before they went to bed. There are some great memories in 'ol Blue afterall.

Until next time, may your skies be clear and your scopes be collimated!
Todd