Opinions on the Nexstar 5SE as a beginner scope

codenamejag · Post by **codenamejag** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:12 pm

If you don't have a dry cabinet to keep the scope (like me), you can do the following:
1) Use it often,
2) Air it often,
3) Expose to sunlight regularly.

Air it often as in? take it out from any case it might be stored in and let it air cool? how frequently must it be done? [smilie=confused.gif]

Post by **weixing** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:53 pm

Hi,

Air it often as in? take it out from any case it might be stored in and let it air cool? how frequently must it be done?

Take out the scope and remove all the caps for a few hours. Make sure you do it in an area of good air circulation... turn on the fan if in a room. If you still worry, expose under sunlight (UV light will kill fungus) for 10 minutes or so, but don't point the scope at the sun. Once a week should be good enough.

By the way, if you use a dry cabinet, don't set the relative humidity below 30% as it may dry up the lubricants in the focusing mechanism making focusing difficult.

Have a nice day.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:25 pm

The 5SE is good for beginners as the Sky Align function allows beginner to find celestial objects after aligning any three unknown bright stars. A 5" SCT is a good portable scope to start with.

A dry cabinet (or portable dehumidifyer in a cabinet/room) is the best way to store scopes, or else leave it fixed on the tripod and cover it with a cloth/towel which will help to absorb moisture in the air. If you have any problem with Mr Fungus, just let me know and maybe I can help.

codenamejag · Post by **codenamejag** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:46 pm

thank u weixing and rlow........ im wondering if getting a 45-deg diagonal is essential... since 90-deg diagonals still produce flipped images...

MooEy · Post by **MooEy** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:08 pm

err..45 degrees diagonal are essentially useless for any astronomical use. a 90 degrees diagonal allows u to views objects at zenith easily. a 45 degrees diagonal will simply break ur neck. also, errected diagonals tend to add a line in out of focus star images, another source of possible image degradation.

don't bother abt the flipped images, up and down should be correct, only left and right is flipped. after a while u will get used to it. i'm leaning towards getting one of those sexy 2" dielectric sct diagonals, but not sure if it would clear the base of the nexstar. also, those diagonals are expensive and u may not find much improvements. so, do look thru someone else's 2" "premium" diagonal before making the purchase.

chemical heat packs are available at pharmacy for abt $1-2 each, u may need 2 for roughly 4-6 hours of use. DO NOT EVER STICK THEM TO YOUR SCOPE DIRECTLY. the paint will come off when u try to take off the heat packs. get those large rubber bungs or think of other ways of attaching.

as i have mention before, go out and try out the scope under the stars for a start. over time u will understand wat u need for ur scope. for now, buy nothing.

along the way, do pick up a nice diagonal, finder(red dot is more than enuff), dew shield, few nice eyepieces(possibly a really gd 6-7mm for planets and a 17-22mm wide angle for normal use, if u did get the 2" diagonal, can try out those cheaper 30-40mm wide angles) and possibly a barlow.

~MooEy~

Post by **acc** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:59 pm

MooEy wrote: chemical heat packs are available at pharmacy for abt $1-2 each, u may need 2 for roughly 4-6 hours of use. DO NOT EVER STICK THEM TO YOUR SCOPE DIRECTLY. the paint will come off when u try to take off the heat packs. get those large rubber bungs or think of other ways of attaching.

This advice espy applicable to Tak scopes heheh

codenamejag · Post by **codenamejag** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:08 am

hi again guys...... was thinking whether the 25mm eyepiece included in the Nexstar 5SE package would provide me with some reasonable viewing pleasure with the scope... any ideas wat i'd manage to get focus on with that??

Post by **weixing** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:25 am

Hi,

any ideas wat i'd manage to get focus on with that??

What do you mean?? The 25mm plossl(??) will give you 50x which is quite a good magnification for general low-medium power viewing. The Moon will take up around half the Field of View and will see a small cute Saturn with the ring visible.

Have a nice day.

codenamejag · Post by **codenamejag** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:19 am

ok ok..... thank u weixing.... so wat eyepice or eyepices would u most reconmend me to get in order to hav better viewing of solar system objects and DSOs with the nexstar 5

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:59 am

so wat eyepice or eyepices would u most reconmend me to get in order to hav better viewing of solar system objects and DSOs with the nexstar 5

For planets & Moon, you can consider a 9-12mm ortho or plossl
For DSOs, your 25mm plossl is quite fine, for a start.

was thinking whether the 25mm eyepiece included in the Nexstar 5SE package would provide me with some reasonable viewing pleasure with the scope... any ideas wat i'd manage to get focus on with that??

Perhaps the issue is whether the eyepiece you want give you an image scale which is big enough to discern details (ie, use higher magnification eyepiece for observing planets) or the eyepiece provides a wider True-Field of View that is wide enough to frame the objects (ie, use low magnification eyepiece for obsering large extended DSOs)