I bought a used celestron Ultima 8 off the site we will not mention awhile back-for not a bad price. Last night was the first time I could actually use the scope even though I had it for two months! Family responsibilities (two wonderful children and a wonderful wife) along with the a busy work schedule made it impossible to get out until last night.
The purpose of last night was meant as an equipment check since the scope was shipped across the country to me. I wanted to sight the finder scope in, learn how to do the polar alignment, and check the collimation. Here are my results:
Finder Scope: Easy to sight in using the moon. Found out that finder is much more useful when set up for right angle viewing (in the Ultima 8 the finder can be configured either way). In the middle of field changed the finder to Right angle which requires disassembling of part of the finder and re-assembling. Not a big deal but took longer in the dark.
Polar Alignment: Wish I could say that I did a precise polar alignment but I probably didn't need to. I also wish that I could easily find Polaris in the urban night sky! I did get the mount roughly aligned towards north and sighted along the tube towards what I believed is Polaris. I cursed the fact that I forgot my binoculars! Anyway, once I turned on tracking a star would stay centered in the field of view on an 7 mm Orthoscopic eyepiece for 10 minutes or more. Even then it just required a touch of the hand controller to re-center. This is probably not good enough for imaging-but defiantly good enough for me since I am a visual observer.
Collimation: This is the surprise. I would have expected that the collimation would be really off-considering what I have heard about SCT’s being off collimation after shipping. I found that it was spot on. Yes I played with adjustments for a few minutes, but tried a couple, then undid it. I specifically only made a couple of small adjustments and I decided that the collimation could not really be improved by my untrained eyes. The scope gave crystal clear images of the moon so I decided against playing with it more.
A few improvements may be in order. #1) Bring binoculars next time. #2) Better seeing conditions. My magnification couldn’t be pushed over 200 X for very long. There were times of steady seeing but when the stars are twinkling you know that the atmosphere is not great. (when someone finds a way to correct this let me know). #3) I am thinking of purchasing a Celestron Sky Scout. This would greatly speed up the alignment process, and also help me locate objects in the sky while still teaching me the constellations. #4) Better eyepieces may also be in my future. I cannot really say anything bad about the University Optics Eyepieces that I have except maybe their field of view is narrow. UO makes a newer version of their Orthos that are parfocal which to me would be a HUGE benefit. I may however replace them with a budget wide field eyepiece set soon.
There are couple of things that I don't like about the Ultima. It weigh's allot-and the mount weights allot. The case is HUGE and I darn near threw my shoulder out trying to carry it. I have a pickup truck so it wasn't a big deal to transport but I honestly don't see how people can transport something like this in a car! The mount was rock steady though-so I can put up with the heavy lifting for awhile.
This is a big step for me over my Vixen VX80 (Celestron Firstscope 80). I still have the small refractor and I really miss its lightness but it doesn't have the light gathering power of the C-8. The setup took most of the night but my objective was to test and set up the equipment anyway.
I will probably buy the skyscout first though. I will have to save up for both. Although this is fun, Astronomy is my hobby and its the last thing that gets funded in the family budget. I really have to go for the most effective use for my observing dollar. I am in the phase where one is gradually aquiring equipment one piece at a time. As for the eyepiece, I would like to get a set that is reasonable at some time.
Does anyone have any thoughts on which would be more useful to me better eyepieces or the skyscout?
The purpose of last night was meant as an equipment check since the scope was shipped across the country to me. I wanted to sight the finder scope in, learn how to do the polar alignment, and check the collimation. Here are my results:
Finder Scope: Easy to sight in using the moon. Found out that finder is much more useful when set up for right angle viewing (in the Ultima 8 the finder can be configured either way). In the middle of field changed the finder to Right angle which requires disassembling of part of the finder and re-assembling. Not a big deal but took longer in the dark.
Polar Alignment: Wish I could say that I did a precise polar alignment but I probably didn't need to. I also wish that I could easily find Polaris in the urban night sky! I did get the mount roughly aligned towards north and sighted along the tube towards what I believed is Polaris. I cursed the fact that I forgot my binoculars! Anyway, once I turned on tracking a star would stay centered in the field of view on an 7 mm Orthoscopic eyepiece for 10 minutes or more. Even then it just required a touch of the hand controller to re-center. This is probably not good enough for imaging-but defiantly good enough for me since I am a visual observer.
Collimation: This is the surprise. I would have expected that the collimation would be really off-considering what I have heard about SCT’s being off collimation after shipping. I found that it was spot on. Yes I played with adjustments for a few minutes, but tried a couple, then undid it. I specifically only made a couple of small adjustments and I decided that the collimation could not really be improved by my untrained eyes. The scope gave crystal clear images of the moon so I decided against playing with it more.
A few improvements may be in order. #1) Bring binoculars next time. #2) Better seeing conditions. My magnification couldn’t be pushed over 200 X for very long. There were times of steady seeing but when the stars are twinkling you know that the atmosphere is not great. (when someone finds a way to correct this let me know). #3) I am thinking of purchasing a Celestron Sky Scout. This would greatly speed up the alignment process, and also help me locate objects in the sky while still teaching me the constellations. #4) Better eyepieces may also be in my future. I cannot really say anything bad about the University Optics Eyepieces that I have except maybe their field of view is narrow. UO makes a newer version of their Orthos that are parfocal which to me would be a HUGE benefit. I may however replace them with a budget wide field eyepiece set soon.
There are couple of things that I don't like about the Ultima. It weigh's allot-and the mount weights allot. The case is HUGE and I darn near threw my shoulder out trying to carry it. I have a pickup truck so it wasn't a big deal to transport but I honestly don't see how people can transport something like this in a car! The mount was rock steady though-so I can put up with the heavy lifting for awhile.
This is a big step for me over my Vixen VX80 (Celestron Firstscope 80). I still have the small refractor and I really miss its lightness but it doesn't have the light gathering power of the C-8. The setup took most of the night but my objective was to test and set up the equipment anyway.
I will probably buy the skyscout first though. I will have to save up for both. Although this is fun, Astronomy is my hobby and its the last thing that gets funded in the family budget. I really have to go for the most effective use for my observing dollar. I am in the phase where one is gradually aquiring equipment one piece at a time. As for the eyepiece, I would like to get a set that is reasonable at some time.
Does anyone have any thoughts on which would be more useful to me better eyepieces or the skyscout?
