Star Gazing

[NDBirdman]

We've always as I'm sure most of y'all enjoyed watching the sky on a clear night.  I bought my wife a telescope last year but it is a bugger to find anything with.  The moon is about it.  So I'm wondering if any of y'all have scopes, types, etc.  What I've been looking for is one electrically controlled, connected to a computer, laptop or dedicated that can help us find what's out there?  I find alot of them with the fancy servos on them but I'm wanting something a little different.  I'd love to input a star, cluster or galaxy, etc and not spend a frustrating night searching but not finding.  We've got real good at finding the darkness of space..... LOL  We've searched and have not been able to locate a good club near us, the only one near us is not active so a good club to join for my wife (and I) would be great.  Also, since we both have mobility limitation, being able to view on a screen would be... painless rather than standing, squinting and getting a sore back/neck.  Would like to keep cost under 10k if possible, must be somewhat portable so we can carry it in our RVs.  It is really dark where our SnB is but we can boondock where it is even darker.

Edited December 9, 2020 by NDBirdman

[Wrknrvr]

  I never really seriously looked at the stars since in Boy Scouts. Although you can search the net to see when the international space station is going over head. Yes you can see it with binoculars. Or possibly with the naked eye. Of course my eyes are not young so they need help. My brother retired from NASA several years ago. 

  We did see on the news,there maybe northern lights in a few days to see. That  is if you are far enough north.  We will be looking for them our selves.

 

  Vern in a T-shirt 

[Pat & Pete]

I use to have a 6 inch , but , it had a defect as every star or planet had the very same pattern . 

Even with the defect , the moon was a favorite as it's features were easy to pic out  .

I can't point you to a good scope . I haven't been involved in many years . 

I still watch the sky and this month shows us what 'seems' a double planet .

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jupiter-saturn-great-conjunction-double-planet-winter-solstice/#:~:text=Before 2020 comes to a,extremely close to one another.

[lappir]

Practice with the telescope during the daylight hours to find things you know what they are and bring them into focus. Most of the issues with using a telescope are finding the focus for the distance of which you are using it. If you don't know what you are looking for or at then how can you focus? 

I was just getting to the point where I could see some things and the tripod clamps started to break and it wouldn't stay in place. I bought it as a gift for my youngest many years ago and had a good time testing in out in the Utah mountains before giving it to her. She didn't have as much opportunity for using it living in South Florida, so it sat for years in her closet. When she moved out to college she was going to just throw it away and I told her I would take it. Someday I'd like to repair the tripod or find a place to mount the base that doesn't require the foot print of the tripod. I plan to visit less populated areas with less continuous lighting all hours of the day and night in a few years. It's in the closet now again. 

 

Rod

[justRich]

I recently started looking for a new pair of binoculars - hoping that I could see the rings of Saturn (can't).
A very active forum for joining and asking question regarding telescopes or binoculars is: https://www.cloudynights.com/index
Very helpful and knowledgeable folks there.

 

[NDBirdman]

Thank-you, will definitely check it out.  I'm already seeing the scope we have is of low quality so come spring I will be looking for a good one.   🙂

[Chalkie]

Our son-in-law bought this telescope and the adapter that lets you view on your smart phone screen as well as take pics and videos. Celestron telescope from Amazon

Edited December 28, 2020 by Chalkie

[NDBirdman]

Thanks, I'll check it out in a few days.  Today started out very bad for us and has gotten worse... not a good day, week, end of a very crappy year.... 

 

[Vladimir]

On 12/9/2020 at 7:55 AM, NDBirdman said:

We've always as I'm sure most of y'all enjoyed watching the sky on a clear night.  I bought my wife a telescope last year but it is a bugger to find anything with.  The moon is about it.  So I'm wondering if any of y'all have scopes, types, etc.  What I've been looking for is one electrically controlled, connected to a computer, laptop or dedicated that can help us find what's out there?  I find alot of them with the fancy servos on them but I'm wanting something a little different.  I'd love to input a star, cluster or galaxy, etc and not spend a frustrating night searching but not finding.  We've got real good at finding the darkness of space..... LOL  We've searched and have not been able to locate a good club near us, the only one near us is not active so a good club to join for my wife (and I) would be great.  Also, since we both have mobility limitation, being able to view on a screen would be... painless rather than standing, squinting and getting a sore back/neck.  Would like to keep cost under 10k if possible, must be somewhat portable so we can carry it in our RVs.  It is really dark where our SnB is but we can boondock where it is even darker.

I have 11 scopes, three EQ mounts, three camera's for astronomy and one observatory.  The good news is I got rid of one observatory, so I am down just to one.  Because it is easier to buy stuff, than wait for a clear night.

At one point, my wife said...."go buy a fly rod, or shotgun, just not another telescope"  You can have great fun with a poor fly rod or shotgun, but with telescopes you want quality.

For the first part of your message, what you are looking for is Digital Setting Circles.  They will tell you WHERE to point your telescope.  Those are now technologically obsolete.  You can use your phone.  Lots of different ways to use your phone to find things.

There are a couple new "telescopes" geared for beginners that incorporate a camera and will meet all your needs regarding mobility limitations.  They are in the 2K to 3K range, well under your limit.

Where are you, just general area.  What telescope do you have now??  Do you know your way around the sky, like the  basic contellations?

Vladimir

 

 

 

[NDBirdman]

1 hour ago, Vladimir said:

They are in the 2K to 3K range, well under your limit.

Where are you, just general area.  What telescope do you have now??  Do you know your way around the sky, like the  basic contellations?

Vladimir

I've been looking at them, all I come away with is more headaches/questions/confusion.  We have a cheapie Celestron right now, all it has provided is confusion/headache trying to find things.  It does use a phone to alight it to objects but so far, in my opinion, it is way off and we can never find anything and give up.  It's even hard to get it aligned on the moon... that's how bad it is.  Probably would help to get one of the computer controlled mounts, the manual version really sucks.  Really want to get past this, willing to travel/camp to spend time in a dark-sky area with anyone or a group that is knowledgeable.  Once this covid crap is over.... yeesh.

We are in North Dakota out in the sticks so not much light pollution but it's winter now, standing outside doing much of anything turns into thoughts of no way am I standing outside looking at stars/planets very fast.  Sadly, we don't know the basic constellations but have the phone apps that point them out.

I'd love to find a good one that connects to a laptop.  Ability to find/control display on screen would be great but so far, I have not been able to find one.  Wife and I have mild arthritic issues and looking down into a scope gets hard on the back and neck.

[Vladimir]

What Celestron do you have??   What did it say on the box?? 

1 hour ago, NDBirdman said:

I've been looking at them, all I come away with is more headaches/questions/confusion.  We have a cheapie Celestron right now, all it has provided is confusion/headache trying to find things.  It does use a phone to alight it to objects but so far, in my opinion, it is way off and we can never find anything and give up.  It's even hard to get it aligned on the moon... that's how bad it is.  Probably would help to get one of the computer controlled mounts, the manual version really sucks.  Really want to get past this, willing to travel/camp to spend time in a dark-sky area with anyone or a group that is knowledgeable.  Once this covid crap is over.... yeesh.

We are in North Dakota out in the sticks so not much light pollution but it's winter now, standing outside doing much of anything turns into thoughts of no way am I standing outside looking at stars/planets very fast.  Sadly, we don't know the basic constellations but have the phone apps that point them out.

I'd love to find a good one that connects to a laptop.  Ability to find/control display on screen would be great but so far, I have not been able to find one.  Wife and I have mild arthritic issues and looking down into a scope gets hard on the back and neck.

Don't do anything quick. 

Which Celestron scope do you have?? 

The Chinese have totally taken over the telescope market.  That Celestron is an old American brand that was bought by the Chinese.  The telescopes are "no longer designed in California".  It is all being done in China.  The Chinese have some great engineers.  Lots of great astronomy gear coming out of China.  They are fantastic engineers and will probably beat us back to the moon in a couple of years.

The software and manuals are also written in China.  They are awful for English readers..  Software particularly.  They are called programming languages and I suspect some of it has to do with the different language structure in Mandarin.

You won't be fixing anything by buying another scope.  Just more frustration.

Yes, all mounts today have the capability to connect to a laptop.  You don't want to do that right now.

Send me your telescope model and I will try and find some easy to understand information to get you started.

Don't feel bad, when I started out as a teenager trying to learn the night sky.  I couldn't understand why the NORTH STAR was moving.  Turns out I though Orion was the Big Dipper!!

[NDBirdman]

Celestron Star Sense Explorer LT 114 MM AZ Newtonian Telescope. 

We have directions, have gone to their website, have followed directions, have done the phone alignment more times than I can count.  The iphone app will do it's thing, align with the stars then point to the star/planet we wish to see.  When it says we are on it... I call BS.  THEN, the freaking scope tripod/adjustment is more a fight than usable.  The whole set-up is so touchy that it seems breathing on the darn thing it goes waaaaay off point again.  Frustrating at times is an understatement!  The mount stinks....

I am willing to get a different one that is actually usable.  I was just looking (on amazon) at:

Celestron - NexStar 8SE Telescope - Computerized Telescope for Beginners and Advanced Users - Fully-Automated GoTo Mount - SkyAlign Technology - 40,000+ Celestial Objects - 8-Inch Primary Mirror

 

I think the computer control mount with tracking is much better than what we have.

[Vladimir]

I don't have a star sense.....but from your description of the problem.  It probably is one of the following. 

Something on the mount is slipping. 

Your location is set wrong.

Your time is set wrong.

Or the telescope is doing a "plate-solve" and cannot locate itself in the sky.  Does the telescope require a internet connection for it to work??

 

Try these video's.

I briefly scanned them....

Celestron set-up video....

Not a fan of CNET, but the last half of the video talks about PROBLEMS.

Finally this video is fairly long, might be more comprehensive. 

The telescope your looking at is a good telescope.  Not sure how much astronomy background you have, but you might have more issues with it particularly if you do not know your way around the night sky.

My advice is get the StarSense working.  You will learn enough from it in a very short period of time.  That will make it much easier for you when you get a larger scope.

There are couple of beginner scopes for 3,000 which might be exactly what your looking for.  Give me a couple of days and I will see if I can find the reviews of that new scope.  It is small enough for traveling in a RV.

As someone mentioned previously sign on to CloudyNights.com and they have a beginner section and start a new thread with your questions about StarSense. 

Vladimir

Edited February 3, 2021 by Vladimir

[NDBirdman]

Interesting videos, ty.  Got me to looking around.

This is making me drool!!  :

https://www.celestron.com/products/limited-edition-nexstar-evolution-8-hd-telescope-with-starsense-60th-anniversary-edition

[Vladimir]

Yes, but this telescope has StarSense!!  Get your cheap scope working before you move on to a more expensive scope.

It is just a VERY SHORT matter of time before the Chinese get really good at programming.  And all of it will be based on using a phone, there are some pretty amazing Chinese phones that will hit the US market soon.

You will see it in astronomy software.

[NDBirdman]

The real problem I have with these are china made..... without going deeply political, Eff the Gowd Dayum socialist, they steal most everything technical from the US.  Wife refuses to go into a store with me, it it says made in china (communist bashturds... ) it gets thrown out of my cart....   I'd rather pay more for American or even European item than stuff made by communist thieves.  Unfortunately, in the name of cheaper $, it's hard to avoid rewarding socialist with our $.  One recent politician was on their way to changing that... not going to go there... anyway, we almost made it to American made.

14 hours ago, Vladimir said:

It is just a VERY SHORT matter of time before the Chinese get really good at stealing.

There, corrected your statement.  Don't get offended by my thoughts, I appreciate your help.  But this is one subject that sends me off the deep end.

Edited February 4, 2021 by NDBirdman

[Vladimir]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.  It took awhile to find the information.

Might want to go to the library and look up the following issues of Sky and Telescope.

August 2020....there is a review of Celestron's StarSense Explorer.  Might be some helpful information for you.

June 2020.......Exploring the Deep Sky with Video.  If you want to use video instead of an eyepiece.  Talks about outfitting a regular scope.

December 2020.....The Unistellar EVscope review.  This is a "video" telescope.  3,000 bucks so pricy, but well suited for RV travel small.

March 2020...........The Stellina Observation Station Review.....4,000 bucks.  Really cool looking and like above well suited for a RV.

If price is no object it seems the two above are what your looking for....

Here is the link for the Stellina: https://vaonis.com/stellina

and the link for Unisteller:  https://unistellaroptics.com/

I don't know anything about these scopes.  But they look interesting for beginners.

[NDBirdman]

Thanks!  I'll check those out but might have to wait a bit before I can get some scope time.... kids....gotta love them.

[NDBirdman]

4 hours ago, Vladimir said:

Here is the link for the Stellina: https://vaonis.com/stellina

and the link for Unisteller:  https://unistellaroptics.com/

I don't know anything about these scopes.  But they look interesting for beginners.

WOW, and those are for beginners?  They seem pretty darn good although that vaonis, sure don't look like a scope.  The pics on the Stellina website you list, that is what I'd love to be looking at.  I'll look at the others when I get a chance.  Am I correct to get pics like that, you have to do what they are calling stacking photos?

Edited February 9, 2021 by NDBirdman

[Vladimir]

Building anything for beginners is tough. 

They, rightfully, do not want to spend much money, but need better functioning equipment since they don't know how to overcome the problems that come with any technical item.

That is why the Celestron StarSense Explorer is such a interesting telescope.  Cheap, most of the expense is in the software and your phone!!!  And software is relatively cheap and you already own the phone so Celestron doesn't have to make those parts!!

Yes, those two high end beginner telescopes stack photos on the run.  The reviews in Sky and Telescope are worth reading.  They cover pro's and con's of both scopes. 

It is not a cheap hobby, but the good news it is much, much, much cheaper with better equipment than was around in the 1960's.  I ground my own mirror in those days, simply because I could not afford to buy one.

BTW...there are so many different facets to the hobby.  So once folks settle on what they like doing they go ahead and buy specialized equipment. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Vladimir

[NDBirdman]

Welp, it's been a fun learning experience for sure.  Joined a club, have been to a few star parties, and now on our 3rd scope.  With our wind here, we would up with a pretty solid set-up, went with a CPC800.  It's a heavy bugger but the wind does not blow this one around.  Then wanted an accessory to go with it, then another, then some eye pieces, then a couple cameras and a hyperstar, then..... and more.... and yet more...... holly mackerel did this hobby get seriously expensive.  And I'm no where close to you Vladimir!!  I think I put the jinx on hard, that is buy a scope/accessory and it gets cloudy.... this whole summer has been horrible!  Smoke so bad I can't breath well, eyes burning all summer, back of throat feels like it's been coated in tar... gotta love it.  I think I'll quit buying stuff for the scope and maybe the jinx will go away.