The first clear night for some days!
However, I am still waiting for the arrival of my new QHY5L-II Color High Speed CMOS Camera for Guiding and Planetary. BTW, I had decided on the color version rather than mono since money is always going ot be a consideration and I can use the color camera for moon/pplanet imaging as well as quiding. I appreciate it is not as sensitive as a mono but from what I have read it is better than the QHY5 guider and most people were happy with that at the time.
So, game plan was to actually LOOK at things astronomical, i.e. stick an eyepiece in and use an eyeball. More importantly for imaging, I also wanted to use the laptop with the telescope, specifically, to use Cartes du Ciel to control the mount.
Recap on Setup
Setting up the mount is easy now:
1. Carry it all out.
2. Polar align using polar scope
3. Two star align
4. Two calibration stars
5. (Polar align check using Celestron software)
6. Sync to star near object of interest
Having the DSLR set to ISO of 6400 and using Live View, I can centre the target stars on the camera screen and also focus using the Bahtinov mask.
Cartes Du Ciel
This is a straight foward download and installation on a laptop. Combined with the ASCOM Platform 6 software and drivers, plus the Celestron driver for the CG5-GT mount, I already knew it connected to the scope fine, so I wanted to now use it in anger to actually drive the scope.
Regarding cables, I bought a 10 m USB extension so that I don't have cables 'hanging' between the scope and laptop in the dark. Instead, using an old door mat, I made sure there was plenty of slack and then covered the cables with the doormat - didn't walk into them or trip once !!
Anyway, once mount/scope was set up, all I had to do was to connect the Celestron RS-232 Cable (Serial) (attached to a CSL - USB 2.0 on serial RS232 adapter (Com Port)) to the Celestron Nexstar+ handset and then click on 'Connect Telescope' in Cartes Du Ciel. I had already set the program with my location and time (matching what is in the Nexstar+ handset) as well as the telescope details.
And that was it! Click on a target (using Full screen, night view), select Sync and with a loud noise, the telescope slewed to the object.
Targets for the night
I looked at the following:
M32/32 Andromeda Galaxy
Gamma Cassiopeia (eruptive variable star)
M15 Globular cluster in Pegasus
M71 Globular cluster in Sagitta
M27 Dumbbell Planetary nebula in Vulpecula
NGC 7331 Spiral galaxy in Pegasus
Now, I appreciate I have cheap eyepieces ( will be buying a better widefield when funds allow), but I was disappointed with looking at fuzzy blobs. I think imaging has ruined me for visual observing. I decided I preferred using binoculars to look at objects (or where they are). So, once I have the guider, if I buy anything at all, it might be a pair of bigger bins ( I have Nikon 8 x 32 - lovely and clear , but a pair of Celestron 25 x 100 Skymaster Porro Prism Binoculars would be the sort of thing).
Now I need that guider!
However, I am still waiting for the arrival of my new QHY5L-II Color High Speed CMOS Camera for Guiding and Planetary. BTW, I had decided on the color version rather than mono since money is always going ot be a consideration and I can use the color camera for moon/pplanet imaging as well as quiding. I appreciate it is not as sensitive as a mono but from what I have read it is better than the QHY5 guider and most people were happy with that at the time.
So, game plan was to actually LOOK at things astronomical, i.e. stick an eyepiece in and use an eyeball. More importantly for imaging, I also wanted to use the laptop with the telescope, specifically, to use Cartes du Ciel to control the mount.
Recap on Setup
Setting up the mount is easy now:
1. Carry it all out.
2. Polar align using polar scope
3. Two star align
4. Two calibration stars
5. (Polar align check using Celestron software)
6. Sync to star near object of interest
Having the DSLR set to ISO of 6400 and using Live View, I can centre the target stars on the camera screen and also focus using the Bahtinov mask.
Cartes Du Ciel
This is a straight foward download and installation on a laptop. Combined with the ASCOM Platform 6 software and drivers, plus the Celestron driver for the CG5-GT mount, I already knew it connected to the scope fine, so I wanted to now use it in anger to actually drive the scope.
Regarding cables, I bought a 10 m USB extension so that I don't have cables 'hanging' between the scope and laptop in the dark. Instead, using an old door mat, I made sure there was plenty of slack and then covered the cables with the doormat - didn't walk into them or trip once !!
Anyway, once mount/scope was set up, all I had to do was to connect the Celestron RS-232 Cable (Serial) (attached to a CSL - USB 2.0 on serial RS232 adapter (Com Port)) to the Celestron Nexstar+ handset and then click on 'Connect Telescope' in Cartes Du Ciel. I had already set the program with my location and time (matching what is in the Nexstar+ handset) as well as the telescope details.
And that was it! Click on a target (using Full screen, night view), select Sync and with a loud noise, the telescope slewed to the object.
Targets for the night
I looked at the following:
M32/32 Andromeda Galaxy
Gamma Cassiopeia (eruptive variable star)
M15 Globular cluster in Pegasus
M71 Globular cluster in Sagitta
M27 Dumbbell Planetary nebula in Vulpecula
NGC 7331 Spiral galaxy in Pegasus
Now, I appreciate I have cheap eyepieces ( will be buying a better widefield when funds allow), but I was disappointed with looking at fuzzy blobs. I think imaging has ruined me for visual observing. I decided I preferred using binoculars to look at objects (or where they are). So, once I have the guider, if I buy anything at all, it might be a pair of bigger bins ( I have Nikon 8 x 32 - lovely and clear , but a pair of Celestron 25 x 100 Skymaster Porro Prism Binoculars would be the sort of thing).
Now I need that guider!
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