Trials & Tribulations...
When Murphy is your Companion
Friday Night June 12, 2020 11pm
After buying three telescopes, 9.25" and 14" Edge HDs plus a refractor, the sky went overcast and rainy for 1.5 years. Friday was the first real break - a clear sky showing Jupiter, Saturn, and a few stars.
Massive Heat & Humidity: During the day, the temperature reached 115 degrees with 85% humidity. I set the mount and tripod outside. By night fall, the temp had dropped between 90 and 95 deg. F. with humidity holding at 86. I could last only 10 minutes working outside until heat stroke set in and rest was needed. Plus an errant mosquito forced me to wear a long sleeved shirt and thick pants, making me hotter.
The Mission: The mission was to set up the new CGXL mount, tripod, 9.25" Edge HD OTA, check optics & equipment performance, view optical calibration, plus rate the seeing conditions.
Approximating North: Odd, three mobile devices each with compass apps failed to return a proper North position. I had to investigate. Using an analog Mariners compass, the source of errant EMI and interfering magnetic fields were determined. The observing deck has steel support beams behind massive sheets of granite on the two walls, floor and ceiling. The Celestron CGX/L mount and tripod are riddled with magnetized components and interfering EMI. As the last straw, it was found that the mobile device itself was emitting RFI and EMI causing the electronic compasses to fail! The mount position was approximated with the analog compass placed at a distance from the interfering fields.
Too Much New Tech: A SkySync GPS was brought online but never confirmed working. The new mount setup required too many setup steps. The sidereal drive was not tracking Jupiter.
Sky Seeing: When Jupiter was low in the sky, the image was bubbling and boiling and it was feared the seeing conditions were the worst in history. When Jupiter rose higher, two hours later, the image was rock solid, tac sharp, and showed thousands of clear and colorful markings on the planet! The seeing was the finest, 10 out of 10.
Optics: Optics were star tested and virtually perfect. Alignment of the primary mirror relative to the secondary was nominal. The telescope gives amazing and spectacular performance to such a high degree that it's totally unexpected! It's definitely a keeper!
Where's Waldo & Saturn: The invisibility of "not very bright" Saturn was strange. To the naked eye, it was near Jupiter. To the massive Celestron finder scope, it was replaced with dozens of bright stars, not one of which was Saturn. In the end, the scope was accidentally bumped and Saturn suddenly appeared, in all its Heavenly glory given perfect seeing.
Summary: The mount needs leveling and star alignment. High tech equipment procedures need memorizing and testing. The mount needs All Star Polar Alignment. Sidereal tracking on Jupiter was ineffective and needs to be remedied. More equipment is needed to consistently find Jupiter in the small CCD FOV. The finder scope needs relocating to the side of the tube so a stepping stool is not needed to reach it. The addition of a smaller aperture finder scope is a recommendation.
Conclusion: This is undoubtedly one of the greatest times in my life and the spectacular visual observing through the 9.25" Edge HD reminded me of the Jupiter views I saw through John Dobson's 24-inch San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers telescope and the Stoney Ridge 30-inch telescope up on Big Bear Mountain in California. Certainly Taiwan has the finest seeing conditions created by a position flanked with the molecular stable Pacific Ocean creating the ultimate weather stability.
