Tag Archives: suburban

The Simple (Suburban) Astronomical Life…

The big draw is the go-to. Recently, they released a somewhat less extensive revision v4.20, which added selectable go-to slewing speed and not much else. Though a star atlas is not absolutely essential, I have to say, that without it, finding objects is so much more difficult. For the last 12 months I have presented the ‘What’s Up Doc’ segment where he tells us what to look for in the night sky, astrophotography tips and in ‘Ian’s Tangent’ I give a deeper understanding of astronomical phenomena. Stamp them anywhere you want for a look that’s unique to your sign. Each zodiacal sign has thirty degrees and Saturn travels one degree per month. Once you have the planet in sign and house, you can make the interpretation. They handle the venue and the publicity and all we have to do is show up with our telescopes. Yes, it’s gonna show periodic error in the neighborhood of 30-arc seconds, but not many years ago that was considered outstanding performance.

Try it. My buddy Joe’s ASGT C11 has been a lot of fun to use over the years. Sir Isaac Newton didn’t use his telescope to find any new things in the universe but he did use it to radically transform how we view the world we live in and the universe as a whole. It is also known as the ‘Newtonian reflector,’ in memory of the great Isaac Newton. Although Galileo Galilei was a great astronomer, he didn’t invent the telescope. It is wonderful that the Hubble telescope has been in operation, taking such valuable photographs of distant stars. The wind would blow and the stars would trail like crazy. Naturally, if you want to take pictures with the mount you need good conditions, as in no wind. With a strong wind blowing, you won’t get far even with video astronomy, as I found out one November down Chiefland way. Respectable model retailers display consistent quality in service as well, down to the final step of mailing the ship to your doorstep. This is our model of the amino acid glycine.

Honestly, y’all, I don’t believe the mount has missed a single go-to since I bought a programmable HC and loaded up the new firmware (alas, the hand control that came with my mount was the old, non-updateable type). Thanks to Celestron, that go-to problem did not last. What has changed with the CG5 over the last few years? Did my little fixes make the CG5 perfect? With a set of vibration suppression pads and an improved (larger) accessory tray to help the tripod out a smidge, the 11 is quite pleasant to use on the CG5. Being able to use a wireless gamepad to steer the CG5/C8 is awful cool, too. While Celestron hasn’t changed the mount much, there has been a major change in how I use it. I knew lots of folks had had trouble with the power connector on the mount. The power connection is just as critical.

What caused the problem, the battery or the connection? In truth, everybody I know of uses a battery at the scope. I had done a lot of go-tos the previous night and hadn’t recharged the jump-starter, but the battery wasn’t completely dead, and my NS11 would run fine for two similar sessions on the same battery. The center pin of the mount-side jack is in two halves; all you had to do was spread ‘em apart a little to ensure a firmer connection. This lotus at a height of about 1.5 feet from the navel spread its sweet fragrance in the entire room. At least twenty feet. The increase in new licensees, new hams, is frankly amazing now, but I don’t think any OT (Old Timer) will disagree with me when I say it was a rough twenty years or so. I don’t bother to do the procedure unless I’m imaging, but it is a real time-saver when I am.