Is it me or my Nexstar 4SE??????

[Casmar]

Hi,

I am a total beginner to astronomy and recently bought a Nextstar 4SE and was wondering if anybody owns one - if so have you had any issues with alignment and viewing objects?

I have managed to match the skyalignment but still needed to manually align when trying to view planets.

The eyepiece is the standard 25mm, which by all accounts is suitable for general use but I all I have managed to focus on is the Moon, a tiny Saturn (just about made out the rings) and a blue neon sign on top of a tower crane.

Any ideas or advice welcomed,

Thanks,

Casmar.

[MikeyB]

There are many possible causes for your difficulties, Casmar, but from the limited information provided, it isn't possible to determine a specific reason.

I went looking on YouTube for a helpful video, but found most were confusing or misleading - the best (and it isn't perfect), appears to be this one from Celestron: Setting Up Celestron NexStar SE Computerized Telescopes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSkoHIUalDM)

If reading and applying the information in the manual that came with your scope doesn't get you past the problem, your best bet would be to find someone local with a Celestron Nexstar who can walk you through the full setup and alignment process. Creating a further IIS post seeking a fellow owner and including your suburb in the title is probably the easiest way to locate somebody nearby.

[Allan_L]

I own a nexstar 4SE (amongst others) and have found it generally very reliable and goto accurate, except when I cause a problem like entering the wrong time zone or longitutde and lattitude.

I am currently on holidays (in WA) but will be back in October.

I can't think why you may be having focus problems, assuming you are using the flip system correctly and the top eyepiece holder.

Bad atmosphere conditions may be partly to blame especially with higher magnifications.

Let me know if you want to compare scopes, I live near Wyong up on the Central Coast.

Cheers
allan

[Casmar]

Thank you for your advice - I will perceiver and let you know how I how go.

Casmar

[Casmar]

Thanks for the info - will let you know.

[brian nordstrom]

:shrug: another problem lots of new GOTO telescope owners encounter is that the instructions are gear'd ( in the computers set up ) for the Northern hemisphere .
The instructions sometimes tell you to set them for us folks down under here in the southern hemisphere , but most dont . ;).
The manufactures of scopes are getting better at telling the newby this , but only a few years ago the south did not even exist , sad but true .
Your scope will show saturn as a tiny ball with bits sticking out either side using the 25mm , so what you need is a good 10-12mm , keep an eye on the classifieds here :D they pop up all the time . Good scope you have with nice optics so a little more power ( up to about 150x ) wont hurt it , and I hope you enjoy and grow in this excellent hobby , Casmar .
Oh yea :welcome: mate .
Brian.

[deanm]

Martin - I got back (after a 30 year break!) into astronomy a few years ago & bought a 6SE - very similar to your 4SE.

There was considerable cursing and swearing over the first few evenings when I simply couldn't get the SkyAlign to work.

My problem turned out to be a very common, simple one: being a US 'scope, the date format follows their convention: month:day:year, not as we typically present the same info (day:month:year).

Dean