First light with celestron 4se

[Guest mike foster]

Managed to get my first look through my new celestron 4se last night and got my first look at Jupiter & 3 of her moons, the planet appeared as a small bright disc with no detail but I am over the moon to have seen it, The scope came with a e-lux 25mm plossl & moon filter, I would like to bring the planet in closer and see more detail so if someone could recommend what EP I will need I would be grateful, I have heard you guys talking about letting the scope cool down before use is that something I should be doing.

Regards Mike

[BAZ]

Hi Mike,

Congrats on First Light!

The 25mm eyepiece supplied will give you 53X magnification. (Scopes focal length divided by the eyepiece focal length -1325/25 = 53)

The advised max mag for your scope is 241X, although that would be very doubtful with the state of our skies.

I would suggest you go for a 10mm, this would give you 132X, which would show the Moon and Planets well. If you felt you needed more, just get a decent Barlow, and would give you 265X, which would be washed out and dim, but may work on Lunar features which are bright enough to cope.

The cool down on your scope is needed to get the best out of it. You will get air currents swirling about inside the tube and this leads to the Scooby Doo effect with the view. I would say at least an hour to get it all to ambient temp should see you right, the longer the better, that doesn't mean you cannot use the scope until it's cooled, but you will notice the improvement. Make sure your scope is secure so no one pinches it.

I would also suggest you consider making a dew shield for it, as the glass at the front is a real dew magnet. Even a bit of cardboard and tape will get you by, you would need about 6" or 7" from the front of the scope. Camping mats make good home made ones, and they or "fitness" mats can be found for a few quid.

Hope that helps.

[Brantuk]

Jupiter's past it's best at the moment but if you catch it early evening on a clear night, being still quite high it should still be reasonably clear.

With a long focal length and high f-ratio Sct you will see the banding at least but you need a slightly higher power ep. An 8mm will give you around 166x magnification in the 4SE. I understand the BST's and TMB's are quite good though I didn't try them myself. I can recommend the Hyperion 8mm and TV Radian which come in around £65 and £100 respectively second hand in great condition.

Also look at the Meade and Celestron offerings around the £50 new mark - they make quite good upgrades theses days For barlows the Tal 2x is very good value for money, as well as the Celestron Ultima at about £45 s/h.

Congrats on the new scope and first light - it's a nice one

[Guest mike foster]

Hi Martyn, Thanks some good advice there will make a dew shield out of cardboard for now,Hope to get a look at mars tonight.

Regards Mike

[Brantuk]

See me at a meeting Mike - you'd be welcome to try out any of my eyepieces before you buy, including most of the above

[Guest mike foster]

Hi Kim, I look forward to meeting you all at one of your dark sites, Will have to wait till it warms up a bit after last night to say it was cold would be an understatement; going to get myself a camera and connect to my laptop so a barlow might be might be a good first buy, i`m assuming a camera can be used with a barlow.

Regards Mike

[Brantuk]

Depends on what sort of camera (webcam/dslr) and how it attaches - i'd try it at prime focus first - but in principle yes you can attach most cameras, and barlows can be used. Some barlows (like the Revelation kit one) are photo visual with direct connection to dslr. Others will require an appropriate nosepiece for a barlow.