New scope for me

[Liz]

For those of you who have unable to follow my saga today on Facebook, my new toy arrived this am by the smiling postie.

Now the proud owner of Celestron CPC 800. :D

Still love my Dob, but wanted something that could lead me to many targets that I usually find very frustrating to find. Also can take a few piccies if I want.

All assembled now, after some minor setback. Surprised as to how heavy it is, all very solid and chunky. A mean feat to hoist the top bit onto the tripod!! Its a scope with attitude, to be sure!!

Of course, my 3 power packs are all FLAT, so charging madly at the moment so I can have a play tonight .... and skies are still clear. :D

Cant wait until Sat night for our Group viewing night, very exciting.

Solar filter is on the way from the US. :thumbsup:

[Liz]

oops ....

[kustard]

Gratz Liz!

My CPC925 is a great scope to use, especially for just setting up and going to object after object :)

PS: Don't forget to change your signature now ;)

[jjjnettie]

:D Oh I hope you have enough charge in the powerpacks so you can have first light tonight. :D
Congratulations.

[Liz]

Yes, part of the CPC club now!! We have a couple in our Group up here, and they looooove them.



Yes, am a bit worried re that, now not be able to evev do an alignment.:help:

[FlashDrive]

That's nice Liz .... real nice :thumbsup:

Flash :hi:

[mozzie]

nice liz!!!!!!! you'll enjoy the goto's..you will be able to chase those illusive faint comets..

[Stardrifter_WA]

That's great Liz. You will enjoy the goto, nothing like sky-by-numbers! :)

[Lester]

Looks like a Rippa scope Liz. Keep your back straight when lifting it. All the best.

[spacezebra]

Congrats Liz! It looks awesome!

Cheers Petra d.

[Liz]

Thank you all!! :)

Still inside, giving the battery a bit more charging time, and watching a bit of Masterchef.

temp has cooled down to 21 dg, tho a few mozzies cruising around.

Yes Mozzie, it will help with those comets. :thumbsup:

Probably name him Robbie, after Robert McNaught, our greatest Comet Hunter. :)

[PeterM]

Congrats Liz and you will never look back. You have done the hard yards and now's the time to enjoy lots of objects you never imagined and let the scope do the work.

[Ric]

Congrats Liz, it's a great looking scope.

Hope you got those power packs charged in time.

Cheers

[inline_online]

Well done on the new scope.
You'll get many happy nights out of that one.

[Paddy]

Congratulations Liz. Looking forward to first light report. Hope you have lots of good clear skies!

[MrB]

Nice scope Liz :D
Tho I think there could be an argument over whether McNaught or Bradfield is our greatest "Comet Hunter" ;)

[Baddad]

Congrats Liz,;)

Does this mean that it will start raining in and around Townsville?:lol:

Nice scope.:thumbsup:

Cheers

[floyd_2]

What a great looking scope Liz. It's so exciting getting a new scope, especially when it's computerised. Do you think you'll get a SkyFi unit and drive it around the sky with an iPad / iPhone + SkySafari?

Dean

[Liz]

Thank you all, yes, its a great looking and solid scope, wee bit heavy for an 8". Very surprising.:help:

Didnt get a good go on the night it arrived, as wasnt keen on the finderscope, with minimal views through it. robably user fault. Love the fact that it requires any bright star for alignment, and not a particular star. Anyway, will put my own finderscope on it today.

But yes, our normally beautiful clear skies are now covered in .... cloud!!!! They started coming in while struggling with the alignment. Even a couple of showers yday. better clear by Saturday night for our Group viewing. ;)

[erick]

Very handsome, Liz!

[Gem]

Well done! Definitely a different experience going from a 10" dob to a similar sized goto SCT. Enjoy! :)

[Suzy]

Nicely put!
What he said Liz. :lol:

Congratulations on your new family addition- it looks like there's so much fun to be had with that. And I hope Saturday night will be beautiful & clear for you too. :)

How exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D I'm really really happy for you and I wish I had a cartwheel emoticon here!
Not that I do cartwheels in real life.:rolleyes:
It's not pretty.:rolleyes:
Just saying. :rolleyes:

[Kevnool]

Great going Liz.
Nice scope to add to the collection.
2 scopes 1 star party I can hear them now.

Cheers
Kev

[Liz]

Ta Eric, Grant, cartwheeling Suzy and Kev. Packing up car now, few puffy whites around but otherwise pretty clear. :D:D:D:D

As Peter has said, I have done the hard yards and have been for 20 years, with matching sweat and frustration and not finding some of those galaxies in Virgo or Coma Berenice (?sp), and stubborn comets.

Just hope everything works OK. Lucky to have Dave (Strawb) there to help as he has the2 big brothers to this ... unnamed one.

[Forgey]

New toys are always fun!
Very nice Liz

[Liz]

Sure are Paula. :)


Well, we had our Group viewing last night west of Townsville under magnificent clear skies. "Celeste' was erected, aligned then misbehaved, going walkabout. Issues with the power at first, then must be also a handset problem as another handset was OK. Will upgrade the software to see if rectifys the problem.

Overall though, am very happy, bful optics, and saw some gorg sights, when she went to the target as instructed. So quick and easy, this goto stuff. Can see many great nights ahead. :D

[Suzy]

Glad to hear you had a great night despite some teething issues, Liz. :thumbsup:
"Celeste" :lol: very appropriate. :P:lol:

Having just recently gotten my Argo Narvis installed on my dob, yes I can understand where you're coming from with the ease of go-to (in my case, push-to). I used to come inside after a session exhausted from star hopping and trying to find things, and nowadays it's more like, "what's next.. and what's next... and then what..." :lol:
It's great for a quick session when you can see impending clouds looming and time is of the essence (main reason I got it); last 18mths I could never get a decent enough length of time to have a proper session as the clouds and dew would cut the night short regularly. Thanks to my new Argo Narvis that's not a problem now. Seems where enjoying this new ride at the same time- wooohoooo!

How do the views compare with your 10" dob? I'm guessing this will be your main viewing scope now? Or will you set them both up at the same time?
Aye... so many questions for a Sunday morning, apologies. :lol:

[Liz]

Good morning Suzy!! I am so glad you love the AN, I still quiver at the thought of it, but hopefuoly Ron can set it up for me when he comes up next month. I have been using a Dob for 20 years, and love it, but ..... as you know, it can quite frustrating trying to find some objects. Also worse up here I think, as so muggy that you have sweat dripping off you after trying to locate an object after 5 minutes!!

Bella, my Dob, was certainly very unimpressed when Celeste hopped/muscled in first intot he back of my car. :D

Am very happy with the views of what I saw. I finished up on The Blue Planetary - this is a little PN, asnd I was very impressed with the view through the 40mm supplied celestron plossl - what a great EP, I love it!! I never use 40mm, and have a Televue 40mm which was not happy with. Yikes - more Eps to come ... ordered a 17mm Celestron Plossl this am. :help:

Back to the PN ... quite a few couldnt see it at first, and after wards they were suitably impressed. Great views of Eta Carina neb, Triffid, M64. I always had trouble finding this galaxy in Coma Berenice, and Celeste went straight to it, and a great view , again, with the 40mm Plossl. :)

Mmm, be interesting to see, but think Celeste will be my main scope for awhile now, but is very heavy,so wont take to public nights.:question:

[astroron]

Great stuff Liz,:D But one quibble, 40mm is not the eyepiece IMHO for looking at PN's, just makes them look like fuzzy stars:shrug:
Try something around 20mm for starters and go higher, you will get sooooo much more enjoyment out of looking at PN's.

Cheers :thumbsup:

[Baddad]

Hi Liz,

Why is it not raining up your way? Who do you know?
After a scope purchase like that I expected a half cyclone to hit Townsville.

Happy for you, sounds like Celeste is working out.

Cheers

[Liz]

I know Marty, the thought crossed my mind of an uincoming cyclone. ;)
We had cloud and drizzle for 2 days after I got it, and thhat was it. Phew!! Actually very cloudy today too, so was very lucky last night. :)



Yes, ya right of course Ron. I had changed EPs a couple of times over the night, but kept going back to the 40mm, and as I said, I never use them, but the view was so sharp and beautiful. The little Blue was easy to see as a little round blue object, not fuzzy.

My main fav Ep of late has been a 13mm Hyperion, but barely used it last night. :shrug:

Am sure I will go back to the 15 - 2o mm range after I get over the .... novelty. :thumbsup:

[R kevin]

Hi Liz,

Glad things went OK in the end.:)

Lots of fun nights to come for sure:astron:

[Liz]

Did have a bit if trouble the scope going past the target and wandering off in another direction?? Have you had to upgrade the firmware on your handset, or heard of this problem?

it has GPS, so correct coordinates.

[R kevin]

Hi Liz,
I am only new to astronomy have read lot about the CPC 800 here and on other site, please keep this in mind.( Most of my issues are most likely caused by the user:ashamed:)
I have not had to update the firmware. I did try to do but my serial cable would not work with windows 7, my fault did not check the box when purchased.
I have read about and experienced the issue. I am sure a thread is here somewhere that covers some of the things that clause the problem in those cases, wrong time setting http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=89068
I have found that if I do say a 1 star or solar system align the scope will miss the target object or goes the long way round to get to the object. So unless I am just going out for a quick look, like tonight, I now do the 3 star align, I don’t recall the scope going the long way around when I have use this alignment option. Also the scope has a GoTo Approach option that you could check to see if this is no, page 24 of the manual.

[astroron]

I am sure you will Liz;)
Cheers :thumbsup:

[GrampianStars]

Great Buy! Liz :thumbsup:
I've an 8" Meade Cass grab n' Go You'll love the naglar 17 you have there for cruising around. Should be sharper than the Hyper13.
(I use that one most in the ED80)
Happy Star Treks ahead .... :)

[jjjnettie]

:) I'm so happy that you're up and running with the new scope Liz.