Got The Old Nexstar 130SLT Out For A Spin Last Night

[Juno16]

This is hardly an astronomy observation report. Just really getting out for a short time and having some fun.

I have been meaning to get my first scope out to test the mount's goto for awhile, but after several failures to align last year, I have been putting it off.

Last night I dug the old 5" tube from underneath a table in my spare bedroom. It was covered with dust (and still is). Put batteries in the red dot finder, the Orion Accufocus, and forgot to check the batteries in the illuminated reticle 12mm eyepiece (which were of course dead).

The Celestron Nexstar 130SLT is no premier package. It was my first scope and I had no idea what to buy. Wished later that I had already joined Astronomy Forum and got some good advice.

But, I really had a blast with the scope. The views weren't the best, but at F5, that were okay. The thing shakes if you even think of touching it (that's why I added the Accufocus years ago), but I remember the excitement that I would have taking it out in the evening or in the morning before work.

Spotted my first comets and 91 Messier's in my Bortle 7 skies. Not great views, but views!

I don't want this post to last longer than the session, so I will get on with it.

I plugged in the old Skyportal wifi module and fired up the new ipad. Hooked up the barely working Power Tank and clicked the power button. Everything fired up nicely and connected to the Celestron wifi. Started Skysafari and began an alignment.
I slewed to Jupiter and aligned the red dot. Jupiter looked really nice in the 12mm reticle finder (with dead batteries). Not the best practice, but I went ahead and aligned to the planet anyway. I was looking for any type of success here!

Then slewed to Vega and aligned, then Deneb. The alignment was successful! I was happily surprised. First success with the mount in years! Possibly the new ipad?

Tapping the ipad on a target and tapping goto is for sure not the purist approach, but it is cool. I slewed around to different stars and clusters just to check the alignment. All were within the 12mm eyepiece fov. Cool!

The test session was a success and I was really happy. I had to do one final slew and that was back to Jupiter.

Popped right into the fov. The view with a 12mm plossl (54x) was nice, small, and crisp. I popped in the Agena Starguider ED 8mm. Nicer view, still somewhat small, but crisp at 81x. I could easily see the two main equatorial bands. I zoomed into the view in Skysafari and saw that the GRS was available, but no go.

I tried the 5mm Celestron X-cel. Knowing that 130x was pushing my luck, I was happy do see a decent view. Nice contrast and decent surface features. Of course, the sharpness was very variable, but I was able to spot the GRS at times.

Very happy with my success, I shut down after about 45 minutes and will try again soon with better preparation.

Seeing those dim smudges is what sparked my interest in AP and that is where by heart lies now, but getting back to some live views and the simplicity of it really appeals to me. All in all lots of fun and can't wait to do it again!

[bobharmony]

Good to hear that you had some "old-fashioned" fun, Jim. I consider sticking an eyepiece into the scope from time to time, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I may borrow my granddaughters "vintage" reflector and give that a go the next time she stops by for a visit

Bob

[Juno16]

Good to hear that you had some "old-fashioned" fun, Jim. I consider sticking an eyepiece into the scope from time to time, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I may borrow my granddaughters "vintage" reflector and give that a go the next time she stops by for a visit

Bob

You really should Bob. My outing was just a test run, but it was successful and I got a real treat in Jupiter. When I started observing, I loved logging double stars. Some are amazingly beautiful, but they all are cool.

I too thought about getting the 102 frac out on the HEQ5, but not only is it quite a bit more hardware to bring out, I just don't want to mess with or reconfigure its delicate AP setup.

The 5" newt provides nice bright views and with the focus motor and ipad control, it is fun to use and I really don't have to put my hands on the scope unless I am changing an eyepiece.

On top of that, I did some damage to my right arm and shoulder. The Nexstar can almost be moved with scope mounted with one arm. Good clean fun!

[helicon]

Sounds like a fun evening Jim. Sometimes AP guys dabble with visual, sometimes visual guys dabble with AP.

[Juno16]

Sounds like a fun evening Jim. Sometimes AP guys dabble with visual, sometimes visual guys dabble with AP.

It was Michael. Short and fun. Lots of dabbling going on!

[Lady Fraktor]

Sounds like a fun time Jim, good that you could get out and enjoy.
Here the skies have been very good but once you start viewing the ground fog arrives and you cannot see 30 metres.

[Juno16]

Sounds like a fun time Jim, good that you could get out and enjoy.
Here the skies have been very good but once you start viewing the ground fog arrives and you cannot see 30 metres.

It was fun and will be again soon.

Does the ground fog clear later in the night?
If not, that’s a shame. Hope that you can get out and enjoy the skies soon!

[Lady Fraktor]

Sounds like a fun time Jim, good that you could get out and enjoy.
Here the skies have been very good but once you start viewing the ground fog arrives and you cannot see 30 metres.

It was fun and will be again soon.

Does the ground fog clear later in the night?
If not, that’s a shame. Hope that you can get out and enjoy the skies soon!

Unfortunately no, it usually lasts till mid morning.
Here is a image at 08:00, there is a village and mountains in it honestly

[kt4hx]

Very happy to see you getting back to your roots Jim. Glad you had a fun time and that the go-to worked flawlessly for you after its long sabbatical. I know that with Bortle 7 skies visual astronomy is a challenging deal, particularly with smaller aperture. But you showed that it is possible, and despite being a devotee to AP, I hope you will get back out there with your eyes from time to time. You could of course set up your imaging gear and then your visual scope off to the side. You can then capture photons with your eyes while your AP gear is doing its thing. Well done my friend.

[Bigzmey]

Glad that you had some fan at the EP Jim!

I got late into GoTo business and both my GoTo mounts are controlled via WiFi by SkySafari from a phone. I would not have it another way. In addition to improved GoTo accuracy I can find any target no mater how obscure the catalog is, just point and click within SkySafari.

[Juno16]

Very happy to see you getting back to your roots Jim. Glad you had a fun time and that the go-to worked flawlessly for you after its long sabbatical. I know that with Bortle 7 skies visual astronomy is a challenging deal, particularly with smaller aperture. But you showed that it is possible, and despite being a devotee to AP, I hope you will get back out there with your eyes from time to time. You could of course set up your imaging gear and then your visual scope off to the side. You can then capture photons with your eyes while your AP gear is doing its thing. Well done my friend.

Thanks Alan!
Yes it felt good and I’ll be back at it again soon.
Two completely different aspects of this fine hobby.
It’s great to have the opportunity to enjoy both!

[Juno16]

Glad that you had some fan at the EP Jim!

I got late into GoTo business and both my GoTo mounts are controlled via WiFi by SkySafari from a phone. I would not have it another way. In addition to improved GoTo accuracy I can find any target no mater how obscure the catalog is, just point and click within SkySafari.

I did!

I remember reading that you were using goto now that your skies worsened.

Running the goto scope with wifi and Skysafari is really awesome! I used to make an observing list in advance and just go through the list enjoying the sights! I'm glad that it still works and I will prepare a new observing list soon.

Not only is it nice to tap on a target, then hit goto, its also nice not to have to input time, location or keep up with DST in the hand controller. Technology has really made quite a difference both in visual and astrophotography. I will have to give EAA a try one day!

Thanks Andrey!

[John Baars]

Very nice to revive the days of yesteryear! A great fun story, thanks!

[Juno16]

Very nice to revive the days of yesteryear! A great fun story, thanks!

Thanks John!

Its a fun diversion from AP and the instant gratification of a live view.
Will be back out again soon.

[terrynak]

Good to see you getting your old scope and NexStar GOTO mount back out again Jim!

Fortunately, my NexStar GT still works well after 10 yrs. It originally came bundled with a NexStar 102GT refractor (F/9.8).

I once bought a Celestron Astromaster 130/650mm (F/5) Newt with a defective primary mirror - but I didn't open it until many months after purchase so I couldn't return it. Fortunately, I could still use the EQ2 mount on my other scopes.

[Juno16]

Thanks Terry,

I had tons of fun with this scope several years ago, but the past few years I didn’t have any success.
Tore the mount down and re-greased. Still early to tell for sure, but it worked great the other night.
If I could do it over , I would have chosen the 102 frac, but the newt offers decent (and bright) views and I have no regrets.
I’ll be running it again soon!

[JayTee]

I think that it is very telling that this scope is not even listed in your signature! Kind of like, tearing cloth and proclaiming, "you are dead to me!" Well, maybe not that extreme. Any chance it will show back up in your sig?