Equipment Check

Hi all

The seeing tonight is pretty c**p, still, I set up the scope for a couple of reasons, I recently purchased a Telrad and upgraded the hand controller on my CG-5 mount, so both had to be tested.

Aligning the Telrad took a couple of minutes and works perfectly.

With the HC I aligned the scope with the two star alignment, I also added two calibration stars and it was time to test the upgrade. I selected M57, and with my 6.7mm eyepiece in, giving a magnification of 351X, M57 was just off to the left in the field of view, no doubt due to my imperfect centering in the eyepiece. As a further test I went off, made a cup of tea and had a chat with the wife, well, you have to. I came back out twenty minutes later and the M57 had shifted only slightly in the field of view. Dialing in a number of objects including double stars with the 6.7mm I found that they all appeared in the eyepiece, just off to one side. I was impressed.

I hope to have a few quid soon, I was going to invest in a new mount, Celestron's Advanced VX or the EQ-6, possibly the Celestron C-GEM, if I save a little longer, now I'm not so sure, the CG-5 appears to be functioning fine. Perhaps I should use the money to improve the OTA, get a rack and pinion focuser perhaps, I'm not a fan of the focuser on the SCT, a few premium eyepieces and an illuminated reticle eyepiece for better aignment perhaps.

Three things I've learned tonight. The Telrad is a great piece of kit, the upgrade to the HC is a definite improvement, and if anyone with a CG-5 who has not upgraded should do so, and I need a bloody observatory.

Despite the c**p seeing, a good night.

Paul

hi paul

i was out tonight myself it was,nt to bad it was the first clearish night in along time and i headed out the back for a quick look and to try and work out my cg5 mount as well.
i got a cg5gt mount secondhand of course and was trying my best to align it and after a few hair pulling and a few choice words i had to give in don,t know what i,m doing wrong but hopefully a few more clear nights and a bit of patience it,ll come to me .
i,m going up to sugarloaf on saturday if the skies are clear and hopefully i,ll get a bit of advice and bob,s your uncle .
clear skies val

Hi Val

I hope to be there myself, exactly what was the problem you were having?

Paul

hi paul
i set the tripod as per instructions north found polaris thru the polar finder then date time the usual and tried a two star alignment +two calibrate stars but when i thought it was aligned it was way off it must be something i,m missing or else the mount is off as i said i bought the mount which is about five years old before school holidays and hav,nt had much time or clear skies to practice with .val

Is it really far off? If it is not too far off then it might be the time you entered, being summer time universal time is an hour behind local time so the mount believes that the star is an hour ahead.

Paul

you could be right its standard time then universal time after that i put in correct time and date ,i think,hopefully its something i,m not doing anyway i,ll pick a few brains on saturday night and sort the problem out .
clear skies for saturday paul chat to you then thanks val

hi paul i think i sussed it was going through the usual set up done everything as before but ended up being way off .then i went into utilities then home position and pressed enter it then slewed to polaris and i then selected vega and straight there on the nose centred and correct ,i was only out for the hour so hopefully it,ll still work for me on saturday night clear skies val

Fingers cross Val, have you upgraded the hand controller? I've recently done this and it makes a huge difference, I was out last night and I didn't have to input the date or time, I had already selected Dublin from the previous night and it went straight into 2 star align, add a couple of calibration stars and away I went.

Paul

Hi paul what does the upgrade do and do you have to pay for it god i,ve only got me mount a wet weekend and i,m getting to learn a few more choice words and saving for a pair of headphones god what a racket them mounts make is yours as loud so as to make your neighbours twitch their curtains wondering who,s drilling at that time of night lol.
val

Hi Val

The upgrade is free and simple, connect your hand controller to the computer and download the upgrade from the Celestron site, here:
www.celestron.com/c3/support3/index.php?...aditemid=586&nav=0,7

You will need a RS 232 cable to connect from your computer to the hand controller, I have one if you would like to borrow, this website explains how to complete the process, it's very simple and only takes a couple of minutes.

leiron.be/infodocs/celestron-flash.html

Paul

Hi paul i.d really appreciate it if i could borrow the cable it could make all the difference to my sanity .chat to you tomorrow night .val

I'll bring it along tonight Val.

One of the benefits of upgrading the hand controller of the CG5 is that it is not necessary to input time and date, once the computer knows your city it will allow you to commence the alignment. I am not sure if it is still necessary to point the mount north, I will have to check that out the next night.

Paul