It's like Christmas morning here! More observations: In the future, I will definitely make my own dovetail bars. The Losmandy bar will be easy to make from plate aluminum, using only a table saw. I'm glad I bought the smaller counterweight. The stock 17-lb. weight is far too heavy for the small refractors. The 11-lb. is just right. The polarscope fits, but that reticle seems like a joke. I'll try it on the weekend, weather permitting. Anybody have any comments on the Celestron polar scope in use? The cord on the control box is far too short. Plugged-in, the hand control won't even sit in it's cradle on the tripod leg. I'm glad I ordered the extension cable from Astrophotography Tonight. The knob upgrade is a mixed review. The azimuth knobs are a definite improvement. The saddle lock knobs don't seem to be quite long enough. I'll futz with them a bit, and can probably swap out a new SS threaded portion on my own, and keep that nifty, knurled-aluminum, orange-anodized knob. I still haven't powered it up. Taking the GPS unit out of the box now. I like the Autoguider port. No laptop needed to use an autoguider with this mount. Did I say it's big? I'm still trying to absorb the size of this mount.
Chuck: If it's like Christmas maybe that explains the snow. Check out the All Star Polar Alignment routine on the CGEM. I have not used it since my CGE does not have this function but those who use it "swear by it" and think you will be sorry for purchasing a polar alignment scope. With a little work many report excellent long term imaging experiences. Your experience may vary. Steve
Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 21:35:30 -0600 From: chuck.hards@gmail.com To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] CGEM (Was: Atlas or CGEM?)
It's like Christmas morning here!
More observations:
In the future, I will definitely make my own dovetail bars. The Losmandy bar will be easy to make from plate aluminum, using only a table saw.
I'm glad I bought the smaller counterweight. The stock 17-lb. weight is far too heavy for the small refractors. The 11-lb. is just right.
The polarscope fits, but that reticle seems like a joke. I'll try it on the weekend, weather permitting. Anybody have any comments on the Celestron polar scope in use?
The cord on the control box is far too short. Plugged-in, the hand control won't even sit in it's cradle on the tripod leg. I'm glad I ordered the extension cable from Astrophotography Tonight.
The knob upgrade is a mixed review. The azimuth knobs are a definite improvement. The saddle lock knobs don't seem to be quite long enough. I'll futz with them a bit, and can probably swap out a new SS threaded portion on my own, and keep that nifty, knurled-aluminum, orange-anodized knob.
I still haven't powered it up. Taking the GPS unit out of the box now.
I like the Autoguider port. No laptop needed to use an autoguider with this mount.
Did I say it's big? I'm still trying to absorb the size of this mount.
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Steve, I was surprised to see so many options for polar alignment with this mount! I've read that with the GPS unit, which I DID purchase, polar alignment is a snap. I'll leave the polar scope inside the mount, just in case. It may discourage rodents from nesting in there. ;o) In any case, gotta have stars before I can do anything. :o( Another observation on converting Orion rings to a Losmandy dovetail: You lose the cone-error adjustment screws, and must resort to shims. Or I guess you could drill and tap extra holes in that nice, anodized Losmandy dovetail. I may end up coughing up the dough for Parallax rings so I can regain the cone-error adjustment screw option. They seem a LOT more beefy, anyway. I may also explore the Orion-to-Losmandy "adapter", though it's pretty pricey and seems to fall into the Rube Goldberg category. For someone who can't make up their mind. I may have some Orion dovetail bars for sale in the near future. On 5/10/10, Steve FISHER <sfisher01@msn.com> wrote:
Chuck:
If it's like Christmas maybe that explains the snow.
Check out the All Star Polar Alignment routine on the CGEM. I have not used it since my CGE does not have this function but those who use it "swear by it" and think you will be sorry for purchasing a polar alignment scope.
With a little work many report excellent long term imaging experiences. Your experience may vary.
This is interesting, there is a Mount Settings portion of the menu, and Cone Value is one of the parameters that can be manipulated. I haven't looked into it further yet. It appears that the mount will track up to 20-degrees past the meridian. Also, it can be programmed to slew quite a bit past the meridian without performing a swap, if desired. The Sun is in the database, but by default is disabled. You have to actively re-enable it in order for it to show up with solar system objects. Ostensibly done for "safety" reasons.
Chuck Sounds similar to what the Celestron CGE is like. I have enjoyed the CGE and once aligned (drift) I have found the mount to very accurate and a joy to use. Even from our dark site, old eyes don't see as well. We have a new 20 YO young woman that can see to 6mag plus see color in stars (Jewel Box) like it's on a monitor. I believe you will enjoy your CGEM and not have to hassle looking for objects that are hard to see, have fun Do some astrophotography. Aloha Rob
Update: The C-5 was in production for many years; not always by the same sub-contractor, and it has been tweeked a bit, over the decades. It's been many years since it was made in the good old USA. The OD of the white version (mine) is darn close to 5.75", or about 146 mm. Parallax currently lists their 5.5" ID rings as fitting the C-5. Well, it doesn't fit all of them, and certainly not my version. Maybe the old orange tube version was 5.5" OD, but not the more recent white tube version. I HAD ordered the Orion 140mm tube rings, and cancelled once I actually measured MY C-5 tube OD. Parallax doesn't list 146mm, so I ordered the Orion 144mm ID rings instead, and if they are too tight, I will re-machine them a bit larger. I cancelled the order for the 140mm rings. There is sufficient material on the Orion rings to open them up by another millimeter in radius, easily. That is sufficiently small to permit it to be done using hand-tools on aluminum rings, in my "Woodshop" tradition. I have to hand it to Orion, cancelling orders is a painless piece-of-cake. Keeps me coming back to them. I appreciate their customer service, very much. So there is the latest chapter in adapting a 40-year menagerie of OTA's to a newfangled GoTo mount. Stay tuned.
participants (3)
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Chuck Hards -
Rob Ratkowski Photography -
Steve FISHER