I've enjoyed using my old 4 inch refractor on a slightly dodgy EQ5, but time for the next level... I decide to spend a silly amount of money (saved for long while) on my dream machine, a Celestron CPC 11. Delivered Wednesday but had to wait until today because of work...
Two enormous boxes staring at me, one with the heavy-duty tripod the other with the fork-mounted OTA and accessories. A smaller third box containing a 17Ah Powertank. Unwrapping is easy (packaging good and kept by for emergenices), assembly straightforward (apart from a finderscope mount that requires two screws to come out of the tube ... gulp).
The whole shooting match weighs in at over 40 kilos, so not for the faint of heart then (over 25 for the fork-mounted OTA alone). However, it does have a series of good carry handles, so it is easier to lift than you might think. Ah well, needed to get fitter anyway.
Everything outside, finderscope aligned just before sundown and 'ready to go' at sunset. About two hours later, flip the switch. Handset and power LED on (the latter a bit bright). Reset to Local Time from Pacific USA timezone via Scope Setup. GPS Linked and coordinates correct. Now for Skyalign...
Choose three bright stars at suitably spaced intervals (doing rough focus and collimation check at the same time - latter OK) and, we are told, the system will do the rest. I choose my three at random by visual inspection and, following the menus, perform a rough centring with the finderscope, followed by a finer alignment through the supplied 40mm own brand E-Lux Plossl (of which more anon). "Match confirmed, Press ENTER". OK, prove it.
First, something easy for a basic cross-check. Jupiter. Whirr, whirr and dead centre. Slight adjust on focus and there it is. For planetary viewing, the eyepiece is OK (not as good as my no-name Plossls, being more iffy at the edges in viewing terms) but at least it provides a good starting point in of a reasonable field-of-view, low magnification back-end for my wonderful aperture monster. Switch over to my no-name Plossls and the images are as sharp as a knife, good tone and brightness. Jupiter's banding is clearer, more well defined (and, as promised, there is so much more of it).
Switching back to the E-Lux, I decide to take the tour and it is here that the eyepiece picks up a few points. The Triffid Nebula and Lagoon Nebula are textbook pictures, beautiful, crisp viewing. Binary star systems presented like twin diamonds at will. Everything appears close to dead centre (gentle nudges on the hand-controller to correct). I'm completely hooked... 10.30 comes and time to go in for what should have been tea (cremated offering).
If there is such a thing as love at first sight with astronomical gear, then this must be it. Everything done flawlessly and without fuss. A good, solid, large S-C tube allied with an equally solid mount and tripod, all topped off with some easy-to-use but pretty accurate GOTO electronics. What more could I ask for? Hmmmm ... what about that equatorial wedge and that imaging system I've been promising myself?
