Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: celestron, telescope | Themes: Digital Cameras, Digital Entertainment
8. Viewing
Star Test - a Test of Collimation
Because of my fun with the finder alignment, I inadvertently performed a star test as I struggled to center the object while playing with the focus. The finder alignment was off far enough that whatever I saw in the finder wasn’t visible in the telescope field, no matter how hard I tried. OK, so I performed multiple star tests!
The scope collimation was excellent out of the box. A star test is when you defocus on a star, and examine the diffraction rings you see. These diffraction rings are caused by that defocused star around the central obstruction, which is the hole in the middle of the SCT for the eyepiece. These rings should be perfectly uniform and even. In fairness, I was also distracted by a homeless person who repeatedly circled my location on his bicycle. Was he interested in seeing if this scope could show a moon of Mars?
Finding Objects
With fresh batteries, after aligning the NexStar, I was very pleased with the locate feature. I slewed to some of the objects visible, including Mars, and stars near Aldeberan in Taurus. Then I looked at multiple stars in Lyra and Cassiopeia that weren’t visible with binoculars. Actually, it was amazing: there were only a few constellations viewable to the naked eye. Turning the NexStar 6 SE to them, and the bright stars I could see, showed myriad surrounding stars. This was quite neat, considering the light pollution and interminably bad seeing conditions at my location. However, I was able to resolve γ-Andromedae, a spectacular double star, and to see M31 without benefit of any filters. In Cygnus, I saw Albireo (β-Cygni). Finally, in Cassiopeia, I found ή-Cassiopeiae, and I thought I could see the double.
I really wanted to take some pictures with the camera adapter accessory. Those great looking amateur astronomy pictures that you see are usually done with a CCD camera. For astronomy, these devices take up to hundreds of pictures, discarding any one that isn’t sharp, and merge the rest of them to obtain superb sharpness and detail. Because of poor viewing conditions, my pictures were blurry and filled with diffraction spikes. This wasn’t a problem with the telescope, but rather my location.
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Many amateurs started by using a GoTo. IMHO, the more astronomers the better. Talking to denizens of LAAS and reading cloudyskies.com, there is little sense of elitism. All amateurs are welcome, even and esp. those with GoTos.
I didn't have room to talk about the wedges that covert yoke mounts to equatorial mounts, but they exist for many yoke types. That way you can have the best of both worlds.
Finally, one of the books I recommended does just what you suggest: tries to teach the night sky so you can find stuff without using (or even using) a GoTo. Hope this addresses your comments.
Doug
The fact is that these new generations of scopes make astronomy so much more accessible to people who find astronomy interesting but don't have the time or ability to invest. They also make it simple to introduce new people to astronomy by quickly showing them lots of interesting things.
Plus, as a computer geek, there is nothing more fun than plugging your telescope into your laptop, hooking up a camera and driving it around from your computer. Do an easy DIY project like adapting a webcam to use with the scope and you have yourself tons of fun *and* you learn the night sky, you just don't waste months of time trying to figure out how to see anything.
I really praise the point of your article. I also love to teach everything I know about the topic to anyone who's interested in the subject, like most amateurs.
Like you said, there's no to little sense of elitism in those groups. But I also know this: Like all the really rewarding things in life, Astronomy requires persistence and solid interest.
I decided to comment your article since I disagree on some things you wrote and that contrast may help people who read it, look at the picture from another angle.
Trying to find Deep Sky Objects or the planets (very easy with little experience and knowledge) in the sky, is where most of the fun is! Having a computer doing it for you is like you own a Porsche and let a chauffeur drive you. The only difference here is that, unlike the chauffeur, the computer has no fun at all!
I didn't find anything interesting on cloudyskies.com, apparently is just a domain for sale. Did you mean www.cloudynights.com?
If your interest is solid, you've got nothing to fear, understanding the sky is a lot easier than most people think.
Diogo.
My bad! Yes of course I meant www.cloudynights.com. It's a great site for advice, and mostly cogent tips on purchasing and use.
I think we can agree that for some, starting with GoTos is a great way of getting into astronomy. Then you can progress to star charts and maps, relying less on the GoTo. I want to encourage people to begin this exciting hobby.
Amateur astronomers are one of the few science disciplines where amatuers can and do make professional level contributions!
And even though I understand how the SkyScout works, it is unbelievable to actually use it and watch it ID an object, or have it guide you to some random star in its database...Awesome product. For me, this really helped me better learn the night sky. It's like using a crutch (or a chaffeur) then weaning yourself away from it and driving yourself. Much less pain, and kick butt fun.
Hope this answers your concerns.
Clear skies!
Doug
I am a beginner in the field of astronomy and astrophotography and I would like to purchase some equiptment. Im not exactly sure what types of telescopes and astrophotography equiptment would be best for a beginner and it would be great if you could offer me some advice. I have done a lot of research on telescopes preferably under $500 and CCD cameras along with laptops. If you have any advice that would be great! Thanks.