Feeling a little inadequate...

[Muddy Diver]

OK. :confuse2: Having read some threads regarding Naglers, dobs, EQ's and wotnot, I have come to the conclusion that my starter equipment is just enough to whet my appetite and may never allow me to view anything other than the Moon. Now don't get me wrong, My beloved relatives, newly emigrated from England, purchased all my current equipment as a thank you gift for providing them a home after they first arrived and I love it. But I could do with some advice which helps me to understand the real limitations of my telescope so I don't continuously keep looking up at the sky hoping that the reason for the blurred edges of Venus are just a poor seeing phenomenon or hoping that suddenly Mars will reveal all its colour or confirm that I have found Saturn its just too small to make out any detail whatsoever.

So, I have a Celestron Nexstar4 (4" Maksutov Cassegrain) with what I imagine to be 2 very standard eyepieces (Both Celestron)at 25mm and 10mm). I find the tracking system useful to save constantly moving the tripod, and the alignment procedure is pretty quick and easy. The Goto function is slightly innacurate which leaves me wondering what I should be looking at most of the time but I am studying the use of skycharts etc.

I want to be able to look at most of the closer planets and photograph them. (another old passion of mine). I would be interested to hear from anyone who might be able to give me a clue as to what I should be seeing. eg Saturn as I failed to discriminate this from surrounding stars - unless I was looking in the wrong place! Now maybe with appetite whetted I need to consider something larger, if so what would be my best investment given my photographic interests, which is likely to last me a few years. I am concerned that I may already have outgrown my fab gift.:sad:

[Striker]

Hi Muddy,

For a start you should easily be able to make out Saturn to any other star with that scope.

You have a F13 scope with a focal length of 1325mm...using the 10mm eyepiece will give a magnification of 132X.....this should easily show the rings of Saturn...even in the suburb's.

Unless you want to go to fairly big dollars changing your current set up...I personaly would give the little Mak a go you currently have....but I am not sure how it would take the camera weight.

[rmcpb]

As I am a humble dobber I don't really know much about your type of scope BUT I would hazard a guess that if you are not seeing the rings of Saturn you are not looking at it!!

My advice would be not to do anything yet except spend heaps of time at the scope, learn the sky, tweek up the alignment and tracking and generally get to know your instrument. A 4" scope should let you see the planets, moon, sun (with filter), star clusters, binaries and some other DSOs.

The other advice is to get along to your local astro societies' viewing night (there is a group at Sutherland http://www.sasi.net.au/ ) as there will be plenty of help available there.

Even if its a bit smaller than you would like I would say that scope is a great one to start off with and may even end up as your little travel scope when aperture fever bites in future.

Take your time and enjoy.

[davidpretorius]

Imaging planets should be ok with a light camera like a webcam ToUcam 840k. I do not think it would like a heavy Canon though.

I had a look thru one of these at starcamp and you should be fine for planets.

Here are to images from the program starry night. The first one is at 3am tomorrow morning looking NE. The moon will be in the North. Saturn to the naked eye looks pinky/peach!! I know i have looked at it a fair few times now, but to me it stands out from the other stars!!

The second is a rough size for you for your 10mm eyepiece.

You should get a few good years out of this scope. Imaging, well the sky is the limit. My time scale is that I want to learn the ropes and tweak everything i can out of my 10" reflector. Then a $10,000 - $20,000 investment in a RCX400 or similiar.

I suppose, if you have that sort of money, then go for the best and you will love the results. Having said that, it is not "who's cars is faster" in astronomy. There is so much to see up there and the beauty is that for $100, you can get yourself some small binoculars and still have a lovely time for many years!!!!

[[1ponders]]

Hi muddy.

While I've not had a Nexstar, I imagine the intial aligning process would be similar. Some nights I found my LX200 way off in goto and other nights it would be center of the eyepiece every time. What I found was in the nights that it was way off I was doing the initial alignment on an incorrect star/stars. With some of the LX series (notably the 200, 90 I'm not sure) you had to make sure your scope was pointing closesly towards the north celestial pole. Is this the same with the nexstar and if so how close are you getting your initial positioning?

What about drive training? Do you have to train the drives of a nexstar? You do with some of the Meades

CS Hope this have given you some ideas and avenues to check

[janoskiss]

Muddy, I started with a very poor quality $AU200 4" Newtonian that is an absolute piece of junk, and I still had a ball with it. Seeing Saturn through that badly collimated low-contrast scope was what hooked me on visual astronomy. You, on the other hand, have a fantastic scope to begin with. Geez, you even have goto and tracking!

Just check out Mars, Saturn, Venus for starters, and Jupiter when it comes around. Oh, and the Moon of course. Then the brighter DSOs, like M42, the fine selection around the eta carina region, LMC, SMC, NGC 253. Brighter objects like planets might be easier to locate manually through the finderscope (but I don't know if Goto scopes have a "manual" mode :shrug: ). The two eyepieces you got with the scope sound a very sensible choice.

I suggest you take your time exploring what your scope has to offer and what sort of objects you enjoy looking at, before buying anything else. What would be a worthwhile companion to your scope is a pair of low magnification (7-8x, 10x max) binoculars for getting wide angle views of the sky. You can see lots with binos and you can take a closer look at interesting objects with your scope.

Have fun. :)

[Merlin66]

Guys, I started out with the #1 Mk eyeball, thats all I could afford, and the star charts from the Sunday paper. The next quantum leap was a 50mm spectical blank (1000mm focus) mounted in a cardboard tube and a magnifying glass as an eyepiece!!!! I still have those early "observations" in my observing book.

Since then I've spent $$$$ on bigger and more sophisticated telescopes/ cameras/ books/maps you name it..... but you know what, I look back on those early years and smile, it was REALLY fun and enjoyable everynight was something new.

Don't expect such a starting point to compete with a 12" SC with GOTO etc, but I believe you have to serve your " apprenticeship" before appreciating things like Naglers and APO's.

I lived very well more many years, thank you on a 6" f8 Newt and a couple of Ramsden eyepieces, Nortons and clear skies!!!!!!!

Use what you have and enjoy!!!!!

[avandonk]

Even the big Dob owners feel inadequate when they see a 3.8 meter or even worse an eight meter mirror. I certainly do.The preceding advice is good, enjoy what you have now and dream bigger and better for later.

Bert

[Muddy Diver]

Thanks to everyone who gave me some encouragement. I did't want to appear unappreciative of my equipment moreover just needed you guys with experience to let me know that it's me doing things wrong and better results await me with my current gear. After reading all these replies I am re enthused 100 fold.

Thanks for all the work you've done Davidpretorius. Sorry, couldnt check out Saturn at 03.00 as didnt get home from an early xmas works do and had to be up at 04.30 for Golf! Will check out this evening if clear skies permit for sure.

I'll take the gear along to a viewing night first opportunity and ask for some advice on filters to cut down the glare and hopefully improve some images.

Thanks again to all.:thumbsup:

[Muddy Diver]

Hi 1 ponders

My nexstar has a number of alignment methods one of these is sky align which for beginners like myself is quite useful in that I dont need to know the names of the objects to point at. I simply align the scope with any three bright objects and give the scope the time and location data and it works out what its looking at.

Another method is solar system align which allows me to centre something obvious like the Moon Mars Venus etc, and it aligns on this however, as you would expect, this method doesnt provide too much accuracy when using gotoand certainly not as much as the three point align method. Other methods I believe could be more accurate but these require me to know the stars and this is where I must study. Maybe this would be more accurate still.

I do have a facility to remove Backlash in the gears for both directions of travel. Is this what you mean by training the drive??

From memory, I dont believe the initial alignment with the north celestial pole was required due to the other alignment methods, however, I will re read the manual to check.

Thanks for the support.

[Muddy Diver]

Thanks Striker

This is exactly the info i needed. I now know that its me and am ready for another late night gazing. :zzz:

[rumples riot]

Muddy, like the others have said, this is a nice little scope. Very good starter version. 4" is a little limiting, but many nights of experience can be gained from this gem. At F13 this scope will give quite reasonable views of the Planets. That said, don't expect to see images like the ones you see in the planetary imaging section. You should see sublte detail, darker areas. Saturn should present a small globe with the rings visible and if your lucky you'll see cassini's devision. The Mak design will give nice sharp images and little worry of collimation. I don't think they need to be collimated.

Enjoy, it has many advantages and it will help you learn more about this fascinating hobby.

[Muddy Diver]

After all the advice, I dragged myself out of bed at 03.45 sunday morningin an effort to view Saturn and immediately recognised the pinkish star as described to me in these threads. I aligned and viewed and couldn't believe my eyes. Truly the most impressive sight i've seen. Thanks to all helpers.

[davidpretorius]

well done, i am genuinely very happy for you!!!


tell me, how did your alignment go, once you had aligned with your finider scope, was saturn more or less there in the middle of your eyepiece???

See if you can see its moon????

By the way, jupiter is on the way, rising at about 4ish in the morning, but lost in the sun rising. A few more months and whammo, you will be knocked for 6!

[Muddy Diver]

Thanks for the effort David

The image I gained through the 10mm ep was exactly as you had suggested in your thumbnail, I could see at least two moons also!

I do have my finder sight aligned pretty well and with a 25mm ep can gauruntee dead centre. I just align into the centre of the 25mm ep then change to the 10 and I'm set.

A group of us are going camping this weekend so I'm praying for clear skies as the scopes coming too.

Thanks again.

[davidpretorius]

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Attention all forum members, a prayer for clear skies has been posted by a new member (he was not to know. Iceman, the guidelines must be made more clear!!!),

Emergency procedures "Alpha" are now in force!

Remember to carry out in full the emergency guidelines:


Make your way home from work immediately as the possibility of a hurricane in NSW is now 95%.
Any astronomy gear must be stowed away securely.
Place family members in front of said astronomy gear so that they will take the brunt of the storm.
Send your naglers to Houghy for safe storage.
All pentax's go to rob.
Send your series 500's to Tasmania
All computers and imaging equipment must go to asimov. He is used to this weather most nights and will now get perfect seeing as the hurricane ravages the rest of the country.
Most of all, for those of you that do not make it, your astronomy gear will go to a good home!!!



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It is a pleasure to help, trust me, you get so much of a buzz helping others on this forum. It is what makes it great!!!

Getting your finder scope adjusted is the most overlooked error when you start. I still realign my finder every time i go out!

(Except for all the smart arse / silly post by some very immature members.) - emergency indeed!!!

[Muddy Diver]

:rain:

Ok David I get the message.

I guess it's like whistling aboard a ship or something like that.

To make ammends for upsetting all of those superstitious amateur astronomers I should share with you that prior to the weekend, I plan to play golf on Monday PM, wash the car tuesday, mow the lawn wednesday and do a bulk laundry load ready for hanging out on Thursday. The prayers to the clear skies gods have been cancelled forthwith. The hope is that there will be no more rain left for the friday night! Logical?
:campfire: :astron:

There goes my hopes of playing with the scope for the week.

[ving]

lol, onya for getting your scope going :)
hope the weekend clears for ya :)

[davidpretorius]

or starting to think that all the house jobs that exist on your wife's long line of LISTS is complete!!!!

it sounds like it will be a great trip, have fun.

Take your scope and make sure you sound not too excited when you swing the scope around one handed to saturn, and say "that my friends is a little ol friend of mine i like to call saturn, isn't she a beauty"

in reality, you will be excited when you show your friends, but believe me it rubs off. People who have never seen the rings before are blown away.

Even mars which should be standing out like the proverbial from as soon as the sun goes down will be nice to look at.

Have a little go at a star structure that looks like an iron pot. Have a look in the handle, there is a very bright nebula there which will also get you some oohs and arghs. It from 10ish onwards this is lovely to look at!!!

[ving]

sounds almost like pirate talk me hearties!

arrgh? :P
:nerd:

[davidpretorius]

arrghh!! dave and dave, i am splitting this to a new thread in the equipment or buy and sell sections http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=5569


thanks dave (trying to sound like starkler)

[Muddy Diver]

Is this the Great Nebula in Orion? think I used to be able to pick star pattern out, or one similar to it, in the Northern hemisphere and have noticed it down under before. Is it possible that this is the same one which is able to be viewed from the UK also? i.e towards north and low in the sky from Oz.

I notice there are a few Nebulae there but all with a magnitude of 30. Will gove it a go if you think I should be able to see these with my scope. Fill you in after the weekend.....weather permitting!

[ving]

orion stands on his head here Mr Muddy :P
he will look upside down

[Muddy Diver]

David

While looking at the screen prints from your Starry night Program that you also own a PDA. ( I can see the auto synch program running in the toolbar below. Forgive me for being nosey I was looking at the Starry night Program features and came across it.

Yesterday I ordered a copy of "Thesky Pocket Edition" for my pocket PC as it will be easier to take camping than my laptop and was wondering if you are aware of the functionality of these programmes. I guess I should start a thread in the equipment area but thought you might be a beeter bet seeing as you have one of these PDA's

Do you know anything about these pocket programmes? They should be able to drive my nexstar 4GT also when I finally get that far but thought it a useful field reference tool.

[davidpretorius]

i do have a Dell axim pocket pc.

no i don't use it for field or home observing.

I have a Dell Latitude D610 laptop with a second battery that goes everywhere with me. Because i like to image, I capture to my laptop, check out starry night pro on my laptop, wireless lets me stay on the internet ie this forum, all while i am observing from my driveway. Another piece of equipment ie the handheld becomes redundant for me for most occassions.

I have lovely dark east / south skies, so I am fortunate that i do not have to go far afield. If I was going to move around then i would have a look around for some hand held software.

Sorry I cant help, but post a new thread. Starkler used to have his goto stuff running from a handheld I think, but he has now gone argo navis and that new piece of equipment takes pride and place in his house!!!