Celestron 8" Advanced VX part 3: turning on and aligning the telescope and equatorial mount
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Celestron Advanced VX 8" Schmidt Cassegrain Computerised Telescope (part 3)
Now the telescope and mount are assembled (in part 2), Optics Central's astrophotography specialist, Bill, demonstrates how to turn on and align a Celestron Advanced VX 8" Computerised Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope for viewing. After this, a polar alignment would improve precision for astrophotography.
Specifications of the telescope and mount:
Scope:
8" Schmidt-Cassegrain Optical Tube Assembly
Aluminum Optical Tube
Celestron's premium StarBright XLT coatings
2032 mm focal length (f/10)
25 mm eyepiece included (81x)
Visual back for use with 1.25" accessories
6x30 finderscope to help find objects quickly
1.25" 90° Star diagonal
Wide (CGE) dovetail rail for connection to mount
Celestron Advanced VX equatorial mount:
Sturdy and rigid design
Load capacity 13.6kg (30 lbs)
Improved motors for better performance under load
Dual saddle accepts both wide (CG5) and wide (CGE) dovetails
Operates between 7° and 77° latitude
Periodic Error Correction for improved tracking
Autoguider port allows precise guiding with a guide camera
Mount can point beyond the meridian to avoid meridian flipping
Learn more at www.opticscent...
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Love this mount, got a ZenithStar 73 and a Celestron C6 I use on it for imaging, truly a good value.
Very helpful. Thanks again (from Indianapolis - USA)
Massive help! Thank you!
Thank you so much!
I really want an advanced VX 8” telescope, but it’ll take me time to save up $2,300. Im new to this hobby and through my research I’ve concluded I’m probably getting this scope in particular.
I find it very old fashioned that mount manufacturers still do not have a built-in wifi/ethernet connector on their mounts. Throw away that old fashioned hand controller and let the mount be controlled by a smartphone: GPS built-in, so exact time and coordinates, much easier and more intuitive polar aligment depending on the visible stars at your place and time of the year. The amount saved on not having to make that ancient hand controller can be easily compensated by a built-in wifi controller (for example the Celestron SkyFi wifi adapter cost about 120 euro, which is way too expensive for such a simple device, that ought to be implemented as a standard in a goto mount). Even iOptron that makes mounts with integrated GPS, still forces you to buy an expensive wifi-adaptor to connect with a smartphone to control the mount, but this is just ludicous as the smartphone can send the GPS data to the mount, making the built-in GPS module obsolete, because everything can be done by even a simple smartphone, that has a multitude more processing power and storage (for example Stellarium or Sky Safari) to control the mount smoothly and much easier to select a specific celestial body than using up/down buttons on a hand controller to select from a list of myriad of star names and making you loose the whole picture of what are you doing (o yes, you were trying to find a specific star for the all star polar aligment, but you were hardly able to find that specific star in that old fashioned hand controller).
I'm not sure I quite agree that the hand controller is old-fashioned, to be honest. I prefer it to my phone when I'm out in the field. There's really two reasons for this - first, my phone battery tends to go flat at 3am when I'm in the middle of something. Second, the hand controller has a dark red display that really preserves your night vision. My phone, even when turned down is quite bright when all around is dark.
Also, if you want a WiFi connection, there are dongles available - like at www.opticscentral.com.au/saxon-wifi-adapter.html. Not expensive, this one costs around 56 Euro, and enables you to do all the same things with your phone, including getting your phone to enter the time, date and location.
@@OpticsCentralAustralia Most or all astronomical apps can activate a red light mode to safe your nocturnal view and a standard USB-connector would be fine on the mount: you can connect your smartphone to it (even having it charged by the mount, so it does not shut down due to low power) and no need to buy a very expensive GPS module or a very expensive wifi controller. Everything controlled by a sophiscated smartphone or tablet connected to the mount via USB.
@@pharmacist5884 if you want to control your telescope via smartphone just buy a GPS module, that's simple. I forgot, some new telescopes come with WiFi GPS module built-in, that's another option.
Das C 8 sind Bomensicher auf dieser Montierung.Eine sehr gute Kombination.Ich habe das C 9.25 drauf und das sitzt auch gut aber mit den C 11 ist sie etwas überfordert die AVX.
Why you watching an English video and commenting in German man
hi, nice video, its extremely necesary to input the city? theres 0 latitude cities like Quito ?
As you start, do you have to align the mount (and telescope) due North first?
Hello. In the previous video you've shown a Cigarette Lighter Power Supply Adapter Cable that comes with the AVX mount. Where did you actually connect the adapter to? Did you use a separate dedicated 12V DC adapter instead?
Mostly we use a power tank (www.opticscentral.com.au/celestron-powertank-7ah-power-supply-for-computerized-telescopes.html), which gives us the 12V we need. It has cigarette lighter outputs so the cable plus into the power tank at one end and right into the mount at the other.
When I'm out at the dark sky site with my astrophotography rig I use a laboratory power supply (www.jaycar.com.au/13-8-volt-20-amp-dc-power-supply/p/MP3098) because there is mains power right next to the mount piers there.
Finderscope with a flip mirror would be nice
Probably a bit expensive to make one though.
Very helpful video. Thanks! I'm planning on buying an AVX Edge HD 8" (once I save up enough). Could you do another video on polar aligning the scope? Does the mount come pre-set for around 40 degrees latitude ?
Advanced VX 8" Edge is a nice rig. And the mount (as far as I know) doesn't come "pre-set" on a latitude, you have to adjust it as required. It'll easily do 40 degrees though. I'm at 37 and there's no problem.
As for polar aligning, we did a video for the Synta brand mounts (Sky-Watcher, Orion, saxon, etc). While this is different in its specifics, the basic idea is the same. The video is at ua-cam.com/video/s1SHhBI2Dek/v-deo.html.
You align on three stars (two alignment stars and a calibration star) and then use the hand controller's "Polar align" routine. You slew to a star that's high in the sky and near the meridian, and select "align mount". The mount will move slightly off the star and then ask you to re-centre the same star (remember you do this in the finderscope and press "enter" then centre it carefully in the eyepiece and press "align").
Then (and this is the clever bit) the mount will slew a bit and ask you to re-centre the star using the latitude and azimuth adjustments - not the hand controller. This will get you polar aligned.
If you want highly accurate polar alignment, you can go through the whole routine again.
I'll see if I can make a video that shows all this, but because it has to be shot at night, it's a difficult video to make.
Im deciding between the edge HD or the 8" Newtonian... my goal is astrophotography but I think having the spider makes the stars look more interesting and artsy. Buying the newt leaves room to buy a pro series cooled camera but Im just going to be doing 15-30 second subs and stacking those instead of 10+ min exposures.
When you start the alligment the telescope has to be pointed towards north?
Yes and no. When you start the alignment the scope has to be pointed towards the celestial pole. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, that means due north and above the horizon by the same angle as your latitude. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, as I am, it has to be pointed south, and above the horizon by your latitude. In my case, my scope is pointed southwards and above the horizon by a tiny fraction under 38°.
@@OpticsCentralAustralia This is an important message that you don't include in your video. I do not have a polar alignment scope (yet), so I'm relying totally on the multi-star alignment. I believe the hand controller assumes that the notches are aligned (dec and RA) and the mount is pointing (in my case) true North and has been set to my latitude. Please verify this...
@@MrAnthonydsmith Yes, the hand controller assumes you have matched the index marks on the mount - it reminds you to do this when you turn the hand controller on. When these are adjacent, the mount will be in a position where the counterweights are pointing down and the telescope is pointing straight ahead.
But before this - you're right, I didn't talk about this in the video - the mount has to be roughly "polar aligned". When you set up the mount, get the altitude set at your latitude and set the azimuth so the RA axis is pointing true south (or north if you're in the northern hemisphere). The Celestron Advanced VX mount manual p.10 applies here - "Adjusting the Mount", and following sections called "Adjusting the Mount in Altitude" and "Adjusting the Mount in Azimuth" on pp.10-11.
To get more complicated, and I'm not quite sure if this is the problem you're facing, but in some cases the RA Limits can be set wrongly, and in extreme cases, this can result in the scope stopping before it reaches the horizon, or worse, continuing to slew well beyond the horizon, which can result in the scope crashing into the tripod. A factory reset should sort this out, I think. You can also set the offset position for the difference between the RA index mark and true vertical by carrying out the RA Switch procedure (p.20). This essentially tells the mount what point is exactly between the east and west horizon. This point is the centre of the RA east and west limits (again, see p.20, including the diagram).
I hope this makes things a bit clearer and I haven't confused you!
I did everything, but my celestron advanced vx 8 edgehd don't want to start. Why's that? The power supply is there, but the display of the manual control does not give a signal. Can someone help me? 😪
At 03:05 you need a diagonal on finderscope.
A diagonal on the finderscope would be nice, but not in all cases. We've found that the people who get a 90° finderscope have nearly as much difficulty, depending on their height, the latitude and the target. I think they ship with the straight through ones because they're cheaper. Certainly cheaper than shipping them with two finderscopes!
Saludos amigo o amigos. Hay dos celestron 8? Es que he visto uno negro y otro plata o gris. Gracias
(Google translated this as: "Greetings friend or friends. There are two celestron 8s? I have seen one black and another silver or gray. Thank you")
Yes! There are two different designs for Celestron 8" Schmidt-Cassegrains. There's the "standard" design, often called the "XLT", and the "EdgeHD" design which is used for astrophotography.
The XLT version is sold in a couple of different colours. If you buy the tube alone - that is, with no mount - it ships in a black colour. This is the one I used in this video, because we got it separate to the mount. The same XLT tube sometimes comes coloured orange, and this is the one you find on the NexStar SE mounts. As well, you can buy the NexStar Evolution range, which is silver in colour on a slightly different mount. The optics between the black, orange and silver tubes is exactly the same - the differences are purely in the mounts (no mount, NexStar SE mount, and Evolution mount).
The EdgeHD version of the Celestron 8" Schmitdt-Cassegrain has an extra optical element, called a field flattener. This is designed to make the focal plane flat (rather than the normal spherical shape) so when you put a flat camera sensor at that point, the stars are all in focus. If you put a camera sensor on the XLT tube you will notice that the star in the middle is in focus, but the stars on the outer edge of the photo are slightly out of focus. The EdgeHD can still be used for visual astronomy, of course. Finally, the EdgeHD is painted a creamy yellow colour.
@@OpticsCentralAustralia Good morning friend. Thank you for responding so quickly and clearly. I have this ready to buy. Do you think I'm complete to start with ?: 1- Celestron Advanced VXT "f / 10 EdgeHD Scmith-Cassegrain GoTo EQ Telescope (gray) = $ 2,149.00 2- Celestron X-Cel LX3x Barlow Lens (1.25") 3- Nitecore TUBE v2 LED Key Chain Flashlight (Black). All for $ 2,433.14 plus shipping $ 189.15 Total = $ 2,622.29. I plan to make the purchase in bh but I want to know if the prices are reasonable or recommend another supplier if you know and that they send to Puerto Rico. I also ask you for a recommendation for a color camera that is not very expensive. I am a videographer and photographer and I am very interested in getting into astrophotography although I do not know much about equipment and details. Thank you very much for your help.
@@bolivarorres BH is a good and reputable supplier. I'm in Australia and have (personally) bought equipment from them before. Also their prices are quite good. In Australia, things are more expensive because of a small market and high freight costs.
What are you going to be photographing? If it's planets, you don't need the EdgeHD model. The planet will be a small target in the middle of the view, and this will be well focused with the less expensive XLT model. A small-sensor colour camera like the ZWO ASI120MC-S or the QHY5P-II-C will get you a good photo of the planet without having to waste pixels on black areas around the planet. These cameras are not very expensive either. The Barlow will be very useful though.
If you want "deep sky" targets (nebulas and galaxies) where the target is much larger and the edge of the field becomes more important, the EdgeHD is more suitable. But deep sky targets are much more difficult targets because they're a lot less bright and need much longer exposures, and it is very difficult to make the telescope track accurately. For a camera, a large sensor is what you need for wide-field photos, and a DSLR works well for this. You could get a cooled CMOS camera with a large sensor, like a ZWO ASI183MC-Pro or QHY 183C, but these are expensive.
I would recommend you start with the less-expensive XLT tube and photograph planets with the less expensive planetary cameras. In a couple of years, when you've got good at this and saved more money, upgrade to the EdgeHD and get nebulas with the cooled large sensor cameras.
I'm from India can I import this product do u sell?
Never heard of "Satn".
Saturn is the planet between Jupiter and Uranus. Pronunciations vary, but I live in Australia. Just wait until we start talking about Uranus!
Uranus is pronounced more properly than the American "your anus". :)
Loved Australia when we were there. You guys and everyone in the British Isles seem to have the greatest sense of humor on the entire planet! I'm originally French, Canadian, with the second best humor.
I now live in the desert of Southern California where sky watching may be comparable to the outback with fewer neat things to see. I recently sold my Celestron 8 (which I miss very much) and now eyeballing that 11 inch. I have this obstacle called a wife I will have to overcome, being 73 years old, retired and on a budget.
Wives typically don't appreciate their husband's passion for expensive boy toys. That's not to say that some, yes SOME girls don't appreciate the beauty of a really cool nebula. I thought I overheard her say, "You don't need another telescope, so, get your head out of Uranus".
@@IVANHOECHAPUT really?....mais oui....!!!
Wait part three and your just turning it on ? Look It comes down to a $5. Power cable for a $2000. Mount makes celestron mounts useless garbage.