Celestron 9.25 Evolution Telescope

[Graeme1858]

......the Corrector cover is still on! R O O K I E !

We've all been there!

[Flyhigh7]

Tonight, I was able to align the Scope using the handset on the first attempt, however it took me over an hour in the cold trying to find the second star. Then I found the third star ok and the alignment was a success much to my surprise. To I commanded it to go to M42 and sure enough it went right to it and it was just about centered in the EP. I saw all the trapezium stars in the M42 cloud but the cloud was grey with all EPs even up to the 7mm (336x). I could have sworn I saw the cloud in a purple-ish color in my 6" Telescope a long time ago but I can be confusing the Orion Nebula with a different Nebula.

I also moved the finder scope to the left of center on the Scope so it is out of the way when I carry it and mount it to the Head mount. I might add the Red Dot finder to the other side if I can determine it will have a bigger FOV than the 50mm Finderscope I'm using because I really had a hard time finding the second star during alignment.

I don't like having to go through a few menu choices to get to the focus controls. The handset should have dedicated focus buttons like it has for the telescope slew directions.

Tomorrow I will try to get an alignment using SkyPortal.

Thanks again guys!

[Bigzmey]

Generally speaking it is hard to see colors in defuse nebulae. You might be thinking of the Orion Nebula photos you saw.

[Flyhigh7]

Generally speaking it is hard to see colors in defuse nebulae. You might be thinking of the Orion Nebula photos you saw.

Aren't there any nebulae you can see Visually through a Telescope that would show some colors because back then I was using Burham's 3 Volume Celestial Handbooks as a reference and all their pictures were in black and white?? Great handbooks and I still have them.

As an update I added the Red Dot Finder for a wider FOV so I can find alignment stars easier, but the Red Dot it flaky. It goes on and off intermittently. I have to tap it to make the dot come back on.

I also Installed Celestron's Starry Night and have been reading it during the day.

[Flyhigh7]

Shucks! Too windy and too cloudy overhead tonight so I brought out the binoculars to see if I could see Uranus in Binoculars. No dice. It that even possible with 15 x 70 Binoculars? I did see Jupiter and 3 of it's moons.

[Bigzmey]

Shucks! Too windy and too cloudy overhead tonight so I brought out the binoculars to see if I could see Uranus in Binoculars. No dice. It that even possible with 15 x 70 Binoculars? I did see Jupiter and 3 of it's moons.

Yes, you can see Uranus in small binoculars but you will not resolve the disk. It will look like a bluish star in the field of other stars. However, you should be able to ID it by comparing the SkySafari map to what you see in binos.

[Flyhigh7]

Yes, you can see Uranus in small binoculars but you will not resolve the disk. It will look like a bluish star in the field of other stars. However, you should be able to ID it by comparing the SkySafari map to what you see in binos.

Great. I can't see what it looks like in the Telescope. Very high winds again today but it is an unseasonably warm day so I'm taking the scope out tonight because Celestron is waiting to see if I can get an alignment via the Evolution WiFi now that we know I can get an alignment with the Handset.

And get this: I read in a Celestron document that the WiFi module and the build in WiFi Evolution Head Mounts had issues with weak WiFi Performance. So they had to redesign it and the new modules are much stronger and they even changed it in the WiFi in the Evolution head Mounts. But they said the way to determine if you have the older mount is it will connect as 'Celestron XXX", unfortunately the same way mine connects. So if I keep having problems I'm sure they will replace the head mount not that I want to go through all that.

[Bigzmey]

In 9.25" you can resolve a small disk for Uranus, but no surface details.

If you can negotiate upgrading the WiFi to the new model I would go for it. It feels like a hassle but worth the effort long terms.

[Flyhigh7]

Thanks Bigzmey. I won't expect surface details. Getting cloudy now though and I need a clear night for this WiFi alignment test.

[Flyhigh7]

Ok, so tonight I tried to align with SkyPortal and though I had no WiFi problems I couldn't align it because SkyPortal keeps wanting me to select on the screen the star I want to align to and it will move the scope there but they have this big information box (with the align status and instructions) that blocks too much of the sky so i can't select the stars I want next and so I can't get past a 1 star align.

Is there a way in SkyPortal I can steer the telescope to the three stars and after centering them press Align without the S/W making me tell it which star to go to next?? It was so annoying I gave up and had a decent session with the handset though the moon was so bright it was washing out the deep space objects I was trying to look at. And this telescope doesn't stay too steady in winds above 10 mph. That sucks because TX where I live is windy often.

And you guys are right! I need to buy that chair Bigzmey Recommended.

[Flyhigh7]

Saturday night's session was a good one from several points as I was trying out the new Astronomy chair (that works great) and the Celestron 6.3 Focal Reducer. Spent the first part of the night without the reducer looking at Jupiter and it's 4 moons and the sky was calm enough to get to 214 magnification but over that things looked like they were under water.

Then I added the Reducer for some deep sky stuff exploring the Orion Nebula and a bunch of open clusters near and east of Orion but I could not find Globular Cluster M79 and it seemed like the Telescope was aligned good as it steered to anything I selected but M79 was not there.

And who stole the Andromeda Galaxy? I spent the last part of the evening trying to find the Andromeda Galaxy both with and without the Reducer and various EPs. The Telescope GOTO went to that area of the sky but search as I did with several EPs I could not see it or anything that looked like it and I don't understand why. It wasn't there 2 nights ago when I looked for it also. I don't think it's light pollution other then maybe moon light brightening the whole sky. With a 9.25 aperture I thought I would see M31 under almost any conditions.

The only other thing it could be is I wasn't close enough into the area where it should be. I say this because this was the only object I tried to view that was 180 degrees away from the area of the sky i used to align it with the handset and maybe the alignment wasn't that close. Or, could it be it was just too low in the sky by time I looked for it (8:15 PM). I guess it was about 30 to 35 degrees but I could be off.

Any ideas about Andromeda?

[Bigzmey]

You are right, M31 should be about 30 deg above horizon ~8 pm, and it's brighter central area should be resolved even with LP.

It could be that goto was off. Easy way to check is to command goto to a bright nearby star like one of Cassiopea stars and see with reddot or RACI if the star is centered.

[Flyhigh7]

It could be that goto was off. Easy way to check is to command goto to a bright nearby star like one of Cassiopea stars and see with reddot or RACI if the star is centered.

Good idea. Thanks.

[JayTee]

Don't forget that one of your menu selections is precise go to. If you use this function and select an object like M31 it will send you to a nearby Bright Star first and then will ask you to Center that star in the field of view and then it will take you to the object you've selected.

[Flyhigh7]

Don't forget that one of your menu selections is precise go to.

Is that for using the Handset or for SkyPortal JayTee?

Here is another Update:
So last night, using the handset I tested to see if the Telescope would keep the previous night's alignment after I told it to Hibernate the night before and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it did. The alignment was a little off but that was my fault as when I put the Scope back in the mount the following day I didn't put it in exactly the same spot in the mount bracket. I'll know better next time. That said, I spent an hour trying to find M79 and well, maybe the person who stole the Andromeda galaxy also stole M79 because I couldn't find it at all.

Then I spent another hour trying to use SkyPortal again and again I kept getting disconnected within 30 to 60 seconds of connecting. So I told Celestron Tech Support about it and I'm waiting to hear back from them about what they have decided to do about this problem. I recommended just sending me a newer STRONGER WiFi Portal module so I don't have to ship the mount back for repair and they are considering that though they said this is not in line with their standard operating procedures. I told them how their own documentation states that the older WiFi Portal Modules along with the older Evolution mounts with built in WiFi all have weak WiFi plus the WiFi Radio in the older Evolution mounts were getting interference from the motors based on the internal position of the radio. I have an older mount. They have since corrected that so it will be interesting to see what they decide to do about this. And it is possible to plug in to an AUX port an external WiFi Module to the Mount and just select that WiFi's Module broadcast instead of the internal radio. And the beat goes on.....

[Bigzmey]

Fingers crossed. One thing for sure you don't have to settle for half-working mount.

[John Baars]

Here is a picture of the scar on the front glass of the Telescope. You have to look close to the right of center up about 2 Oclock. Please let me know if this is going to create any problems for me ad if so under what applications will it be a problem.
Thanks.(...)

No, it won't cause any problems. It is the size of a speck of dust. Remember that the obstruction of your secondary is way much larger, and yet you won't even notice that obstruction when observing. It is just a cosmetic problem.

[Flyhigh7]

Thanks John. You certainly have a great collection of excellent Telescopes. May I ask what your favorite DSO you ever observed?

[John Baars]

Thanks John. You certainly have a great collection of excellent Telescopes. May I ask what your favorite DSO you ever observed?

Thanks. Not all telescopes in my signature are in my possession though.

Well, you may ask that.
The answer became more and more difficult when I started thinking about it. After half a century of observing there are so many beautiful objects. I suppose the "touristic objects" of all times are on that list. They all can thrigger the awe for the beauty of the Universe. If one of them is above the horizon, I usually linger there for a very long time, enjoy it and don't go hunting any further.
Some of the lesser knowns: Caroline's Rose, NGC2410, M71, NGC7209, but that's only a very small selection.
So the real answer is: I have many favorites and not one in particular. Sorry.

[Flyhigh7]

Thanks John. I hope to build a large list of favorites again too however, I'm 3 weeks into constant cloudy and/or rainy skies and my forecast is for another week of clouds too. It's that time of year so I'm not complaining.

Regards to all!