I feel really blessed to have views of the southern and eastern skies from my home!
After a really looooooong time away and having sold all my equipment in the process, I finally got myself a Celestron Nexstar 8 SE and it arrived this week.
The skies over at my place (Sengkang) cleared up briefly around midnight so I decided to try my luck and see if I could get the scope aligned...indoors!
First, I looked south and could see Alpha and Beta Centauri, and Crux. So I tried to do a Sky Align (any three bright objects) on Alpha and Beta Centauri and Acrux and it was successful. I eagerly keyed in NGC 4755 and the Nexstar 8 SE was almost spot on. The views were really awesome at around 150x magnification through a 17mm plossl with 2x barlow and drew a 'WAH' from my wife who was seeing something like that for the first time in her life.
Next, it just had to be NGC 5139. Strangely, the Nexstar 8 SE didn't nail this one. I moved the scope around to hunt for it, part of me wondering if it was too faint to be seen from where I was. Eventually, I found it. It was off slightly to the right, just outside the FOV at 40x magnification on a 32mm Plossl. I told my wife to take a look and she remarked "I don't see anything, but you seem to have a 'fingerprint' on your lens" I increased the magnification to around 75x and she could start to note a granular structure.
I tried some of the other open clusters in the neighbourhood but none were as interesting as NGC4755. After one last look, I moved the scope to another bedroom that was facing east. I could see part of Scorpius and Saturn. I tried the 1 star align method on Antares and it worked beautifully. Views of M6 and M7 followed, and we concluded the session with views of Saturn at about 315x magnification before the clouds came back and covered the sky.
Looking forward to more sessions ahead!
"4th light" on the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
- harlequin2902
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- Location: Singapore, Sengkang
- antares2063
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Re: "4th light" on the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
Good morning Harlequin2902,
At last you have Chong Chu Jiang Hu, welcome back
Regards,
Antares2063
At last you have Chong Chu Jiang Hu, welcome back
Regards,
Antares2063
I miss the place where stars shine bright, to gaze upwards in awe of the sight
- acc
- Administrator
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- Favourite scope: Mag1 Instruments 12.5" Portaball
Re: "4th light" on the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
Heh Samuel it's been a while! Welcome back.
We do it in the dark...
Portaball 12.5"
Takahashi Mewlon 210
William Optics 110ED
...and all night long!
Portaball 12.5"
Takahashi Mewlon 210
William Optics 110ED
...and all night long!
- Airconvent
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Re: "4th light" on the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
Yes...I shall always remember the Meade vs Celestron night where we pushed out scopes up to x800 and resolve Uranus and Neptune into a disk...Your article on Cloudy Night is still there! Welcome back, Samuel. Hopefully it will be for much longer now..
And yes, Samuel, its always important to keep the wife engaged and interested so that future purchases will be easier...haha
And yes, Samuel, its always important to keep the wife engaged and interested so that future purchases will be easier...haha
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
- harlequin2902
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- Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 11:04 am
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Re: "4th light" on the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
Thanks! We should catch up over some starlight someday.antares2063 wrote:Good morning Harlequin2902,
At last you have Chong Chu Jiang Hu, welcome back
Regards,
Antares2063
Samuel Ng
- harlequin2902
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- Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 11:04 am
- Location: Singapore, Sengkang
Re: "4th light" on the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
Hi Chee Chien,acc wrote:Heh Samuel it's been a while! Welcome back.
Good to "see" you too!
Wow, I see that you have an awesome lineup of scopes now!
I remember last time you had a ivory TV85 setup bought at a steal from a gentleman called Karthik, and you were the proud new owner of VinSnr's 8" portaball. And you were outstationed in New Mexico. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to see you in action with the 8" portaball. But I sure hope to with the 12.5" version someday!
Samuel Ng
- harlequin2902
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- Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 11:04 am
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Re: "4th light" on the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
Yes! Those were the days.Airconvent wrote:Yes...I shall always remember the Meade vs Celestron night where we pushed out scopes up to x800 and resolve Uranus and Neptune into a disk...Your article on Cloudy Night is still there! Welcome back, Samuel. Hopefully it will be for much longer now..
And yes, Samuel, its always important to keep the wife engaged and interested so that future purchases will be easier...haha
What happened to your ETX 105?
I hope I will be back longer too. I am actually quite free on weekday evenings at least for the next 6 months or so. My wife is on long-term night shift and my kids are currently at my parent's place until December when they will move back to live permanently with us in Sengkang in view of my elder gal going to P1 next year. So on most evenings, I'm all alone at home.
I guess I should be starting another thread in this section which I can update more frequently. I'm looking at doing regular sessions with the youths in my church on Friday evenings and in between I may engage my neighbours. We have a facebook group that was started long before all of us moved into our HDB BTO estate.
We should catch up one day!
Samuel Ng
- Airconvent
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Re: "4th light" on the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
Chee Chien's Portaball is now with Mooey, so you still have a chance to see it...but of course why do that when you can see a bigger version at Chee Chien's place...haha and not forgetting Elton's 18 incher too or rlow's very very big.....Dob !
And yes, you should set up a Sengkang CSN and post activities here...
And yes, you should set up a Sengkang CSN and post activities here...
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets