Posts Made By: Brent Campbell

Ok for approx a grand to spend on the first "big" scope. Go with a used C8 (maybe one of the nexstar 8 SE's) or a Orion Dob Intellescope with a equitorial platform?

Primarily interested in planets and other things to show my kids. Need an easy to use setup that doesn't require a long cool down time...Don't mind building things. Equipment will be set up for visual only. Need a scope where a couple of kids can take turns.

:S I'm looking at purchasing a used SCT this week. In preparation I ordered "Choosing and using a new cat" by Rod Mosllise. Here is my question, my use is visual, I have a hard time locating objects in the light polluted sky, would I possibly be better served by a "push to" 10" DOb from Orion like this one : http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=dobsonians/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=27184 ?

When using a "push to" DOB say looking at Jupiter, how hard is it to keep something in view? My ST80 refractor on a Vixen ALT/AZ mount is stable but oh so irritating to keep centered on Jupiter-or any other object other than the moon. You can't relax and view the object because it just moved out of view of the narrow field of view (ortho eyepieces).

The SCT would have tracking which would be a luxury, and to be honest I really want a versatile instrument that can be used to view several things. Transport is not an issue because I drive a truck. How long would an object stay in the field of view at say 300 X with such a scope?

I know that SCT's have central obstructions, etc, and that depending on the persons opinion that one design can be better than the other-what I really want to know about is the useability of the scope....The only thing that I have learned from my ST80 that apeature RULES but it has to be portable.

What are the trade off's of a zoom eyepiece? I am getting back to observing again, and I have a variety of orthoscopic eyepieces from University Optics, Celestron, and a no-name import.

One of the things that bugs me the most is changing eyepieces. When looking at something having to fiddle around with the eyepiece, take it out of the case, decap it, etc....can be very annoying. Of course you loose the caps in the dark!

A zoom such as the 3-6mm Nagler Zoom, Orion has a "premium Zoom" http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=eyepieces/~pcategory=accessories/~product_id=08238, or maybe even a pentax zoom such as this: http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=7899


Another possibility is to use a Denkmier Power swicth Diagnol- favorably reviewed in Rod Mollise's book and also on cloudy nights.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I will be using the eyepieces with a Celestron 8 Ultima which I just purchased.

I just purchased a very low usage Celestron Ultima 8. Its an unusal example because it was originally sold by Orion Telescopes so the tube is white not black, grey, or orange.

Anyway, this thing is huge! I told my wife "it fits in its own suitcase honey, it won't take up much room at all"....

I've assembed the telescope and am having a problem with its "Right Ascention" drive. I can't move the telescope from side to side with the hand controller. When I press the buttons to skew the scope I hear the motor working but the scope doesn't move.

The declanation motor and the motor focuser motors work as expected.

I belive this is probably why the original owner sold it to me...This was purchased at a VERY good price and the optics are flawless-the whole scope looks almost new.

I opened up the drive base and the worm gear doesn't appear to turn when the scope is skewing like it should. It almost looks like there is a belt connecting the motor to the worm gear shaft?

The electronics look ok, which is a relief because they would be hard to replace. Has anyone had a similar problem with a C-8 of that vintage? How would you remove the worm gear mechanism to check out the motor and the gearing? (I see two stainless steel screws holding the whole assemly to the base but when they are removed nothing budges).

There are two options for powering this scope, a 9V battery or a 12 V external (by using a jack) power source. Could my problem be that I am only using the 9V source?

I'm the guy who recently purchased a very nice Ultima 8. ITS BEEN CLOUDY AND RAINY ALMOST EVERY DAY SINCE GETTING THE SCOPE! Figures...

Anyway, my question. The original owner upgraded the finder scope bracket with one that has six sets of set screws for adjustment. The original bracket is included. The new bracket is held in place by a vixen dovetail which is held in place by the screws that hold the rear tube end (endcap) on. These screws also go all around the rear endcap with a screen every inch and a half or so.

The finder scope is placed a bit too far to the left which interferes with the knob that operates the declanation clutch. There are a series of hex heads around the rear endcap that appear to hold it (and the finder scope dovetail) on.

I really need to move the dovetail bracket two screws over towards the center. Is this just a matter of removing the two hex screws and one by one moving them over?

Proposed procedure: Remove two hex screws holding the dovetail bracket on.
Remove dovetail bracket
Remove one of the screws where the dovetail needs to go
Replace one of the hex screws where the dovetail used to go
Remove the final screw where the dovetail will go
Replace the final screw where the dovetail was
Re-attach dovetai

this procedure would minimize the number of screws out at one time. Also, do these screws hold anything else besides the rear end cap? Anything that I should worry about?

I am using a Celestron Ultima 8 and the previous owner replaced the finder mount with the Celestron Removable finder scope base. This consists of a male dovetail plate the fits on the scope and the finder bolts to it...Simple if it works.

The problem is the dovetail plate. The mounting holes are 1.75 " apart which means that it only fits the two far most left copies of the accesory screws. (there are six screws in the back of the telescope for mounting finders etc-each of whcih has a slighlty different distance between the screws.

If the finder is mounted that far to the left, then it will interfere with the operation of the RA clutch. I suppose I could just give up and use the original bracket which the owner provided but what fun would that be? (The original bracket has wider mouting holes that are also adjustable but it is not easily removable).

I need either one of thre things....new removable base that will use the two center screws-ie a drop in replacement for the celestron that has bigger than 1.75 " between the holes, or a new shoe for the celestron bracket with BIGGER spacing, or a shoe that fits the celestron removable finder bracket with a mounting hole in the center not on each side.

The whole point of this is so that I don't have to sue the leftmost two screws to secure the dovetail, but can use the center or right had screws which will put the finder away from the RA clutch control.

Any suggestions?

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?

I'm getting tired of the crummy weather in Western Washington (Olympia WA). Lousy cloud cover-no time to use anything. I am considering a "road trip" with my equipment and wondering if anyone has ideas. My wife has family in Sun Valley Id, and there are wonderful dark skies there but we don't plan on going there until summer (after the snow)

I was thinking of a bed/breakfast in excellent seeing conditions, overlooking picturease rolling hills. Goldendale, WA comes to mind but it doesn't have much draw for my wife and kids and the lodging is limited. Clear weather, close (driving distance)proximity, and something else to do other than astronomy would be ideal. Any ideas?

I have a C-8 Ultima which seems to be a bit tail heavy. Its not unbearable but can the tube be "adjusted" in its saddle? With my dew shield on its also a bit nose heavy? Can anyone recommend a good counterweight system?

Took my C8 Ultima out for a spin last night (sat night 2/20/2010). I live in Olympia, WA so the seeing is normally wet and cloudy. Last night I had weather, weekend, equipment, and mars all at the same time in the same place! The whole day I was sick with the flu but I wasn't going to miss this at all.

The seeing conditions were the best I have ever had in Olympia. Cold and clear but not too cold.

I was able to see the polar ice caps with a magnification of 406 X using both an Orion Ultrascopic 5 mm eyepiece and a University Optics orthoscopic 5 mm eyepiece. In fact I may want to do a comparative equipment review because I was able to compare both eyepieces on the moon and mars. I also tried a University Optics 7 MM Ortho with a barlow which would give me 580 X but the scope wouldn't hold it well with the atmospheric conditions. In fact I had no more detail with the barolwed 7mm than I did with the 5 mm.

I am also still in the process of checking out and learning the C-8. This is only the 3rd time I have had the scope out, but it is the second time I saw mars with it! The first time the atmosphere was so muddy that mars looked like a blob that constantly moved around the eyepiece. Every time I use this scope it gets a little bit easier to use and the operation is getting better and better. For now I am working on improving one thing with this scope every time I go out with it.

After the wow factor died down a little I started testing various accessories that I have including diagonals. I purchased my C8 Ultima used as well as its predecessor a Celestron first scope 80,so I got some things with each scope. I also bought a few eyepieces here and there. My comparisons and notes as to what worked are as follows:

Used C8 1 1/4 star diagonal verses used televue 1 1/4 inch diagonal. I would have expected the Televue to be better but honestly the free-be Celestron unit that came with my scope was a hair better. They were both close. There is a possibility that I will upgrade the diagonal to a 2" unit sometime in the future in order to use 2" eyepieces. The Televue unit may be older and the coatings not up to present standards?

5 mm University Optics Ortho Verses 5 mm Orion Ultrascopic: Again I would have expected that the Ortho would have done better on the planets but the Ultrascopic has a much wider field of view making it easier center the planet. You had to look HARD to see the contrast difference between the two and it wasn't that different. Vote by me is with the Ulrascopic but it also depends on the scope that it is in. With my Vixen refractor the exact opposite is true. Both eyepieces push the magnification well above what the Vixen should do, but with the Ortho at least the image is SOMEWHAT usable. This is probably due to the fewer air to glass elements in the ortho. One feature that I liked with the Orion Ultrascopic is the groves machined into barrel to help hold the eyepiece. Again, my vote is for the Ultrascopic so I will probably be purchasing more Ultrascopics soon. I understand that these eyepieces are also sold as Celestron Ultimas-I will be looking into this.

Stellarium: What a wonderful program! Because of this software I was able to preview the night sky and find Mars really easily, not only that but it is FREE and fun to use. For those of us without go-to this program is a god stead. I can preview what I am looking for and when observing time comes up I know what to look for. It is also so easy to use that my 5 year old daughter uses it and has fun with it. Highly recommended!

Zoom Eyepiece: I bought a used Williams Optics 8-24 Zoom Eyepiece off of Astromart a month ago. This is older model, they also made a (now discontinued)7-23 mm version that I hear is even better. It was one of the things that made my session so rewarding. The quality is almost as good as the orthos. The advantage is that I can zoom in and out which really helps to center the objects. Zoom out center the object, zoom in, look for more detail. This eyepiece is somewhat crippled on the 80 mm due to the lack fo light gathering power. I would really like to see someone do a review of the various zoom eyepieces on the market right now especially the Bader Plantearium clickstop zoom which I am considering purchasing. I believe that beginner can get by with essentially 4 eyepieces, a wide field 2" eyepiece, a zoom, and two higher powered eyepieces. Throw in a barlow and you have a very versatile combination.

Tracking: If you are going after a planet or anything for that matter tracking is important. I am not going to put down the DOB owners because they can get tracking with a platform. For a beginner though having the scope track the object really makes it easier to observe it. Especially if one has to change an eyepiece and refocus.

What didn't work out too well: Well my finder. The Ultimas come with a 7 X 50 finder that is convertible for straight through or 90 degree viewing. This is really the most feature packed finder that Celestron makes. The focus was off last night. After looking at the problem this morning I realized that I can focus the finder by turning the objective cell and a matching stop ring. This should fix that problem.