Last updated on February 27th, 2022 at 09:06 pm
Current Star Gazing Setup and #1 Recommended Setup
Equipment
Below is a list of my current star gazing equipment that has evolved over the past couple of years. This is a culmination of learning, errors, impulse buys, and some great nights under the stars.
- Astronomy Without Borders OneSky Newtonian Telescope ($199)
- 25mm Eyepiece
- 10mm Eyepiece
- Red Dot Finder
- Collimation Eyepiece
- Dobsonian Mount
- 135mm Aperture, Focal Length 650mm (f/4.8)
- Sky-Watcher Az-GTi Mount ($373) (Optional)
- Converted to Equatorial Firmware (Optional)
- Sky-Watcher Equatorial Wedge (Optional)
- Televue Radian – 14mm Eyepiece (Optional)
- Televue Radian – 3mm Eyepiece (Optional)
- Foam Light tube shield (Optional)
Pros:
- Lightweight – The scope, mount, tripod can be carried all in one hand
- Battery Powered – No cords. It sets up it’s own wireless network you can connect your phone and the mount and uses AA batteries
- Parabolic Primary Mirror – This is the one thing I would recommend in a reflector scope. Beware those scopes which have a spherical mirror instead of parabolic primary mirror
- Newtonian Reflector – Best value for aperture
- Retracting Truss System – Telescope folds up in a small package
Cons:
- iPhone App is buggy – To avoid some of the bugs make sure to set the max slew speed to less than 9 in the app. The app is particularly harder to use if there is a wifi close by that your phone also connects with. My experience in a remote site was much better.
- iPhone Control – Lacks tactile feel so harder to control and get everything into alignment since you have to look down at your phone then back into the eyepiece for adjustments. Plan to convert over to Syncscan controller from my HEQ5 but requires a different cable.
- Travel Bag – I was able to air travel with a the MV1, Manfrotto, and Onesky before as everything collapsed into a Vivitar travel bag. The Az-GTi and tripod are larger and would no fit in that size bag any longer so air travel has been out for not with the scope. Still easily folds up and fits in trunk for road trips though.
Overall:
This is my current setup and it is easy to use and good for the kiddos with the GOTO ability for quick star hoping. The best scope to buy is the one you will use and this is the easiest setup I have used to get under the stars. I can carry the scope and mount all together in one piece out to the backyard so it is super simple to setup and we use it quite often. There are no cords to drag out in the dark and trip over. Once the stars are visible, a couple of star alignments and you are up and running. Sites like Astromart and Cloudy Nights classified should be looked at as option to reduce cost. Most of time people are trading up or giving up on the hobby because of too many late nights and can typically get the equipment at about 50% off from retail.
This telescope has a retracting truss so it is compact and easy to move around. The primary mirror is parabolic and already marked with a circle stamp so aligning is a 5 min job and painless.
This is still my favorite and most used component when looking at the stars and planets with my wife. We spend quite a few nights out gazing at Jupiter and Saturn. Our neighbors enjoy stopping by and something about seeing the rings on Saturn and the Red Spot on Jupiter you just have to see with your own eyes.
Future TODOs:
- Reuse the Syncsan handset from my HEQ5 mount to control the Az-GTi
History of my star gazing gear
First Mistake (Know your mirrors)
The first telescope was a Celestron – PowerSeeker 127EQ. This was a good scope and got some amazing views of the planets on those first nights but when I started to understand collimation and alignment this scope disappointed. We wanted to see crisp and contrasty images to make out the Great Red Spot on Jupiter and rings on Saturn, it turns out this was my first mistake. The primary mirror was spherical and created the need for a special lens to properly focus the image in the eyepiece to be added to the optics chain in the factory.
The First Upgrade (AWB Onesky)
Because of the special challenges when trying to collimate the primary mirror I researched more and came across the AWB OneSky telescope. The OneSky was $199 vs the Celestron being about $150 the extra $50 bucks is well worth it.
The Second Upgrade (Travel Mount and Tripod)
I used the Manfrotto 190XPRO Aluminum 4-Section Tripod (MT190XPRO4) and the Stellarvue M1V mount head as I was looking for a portable mount that could fit in a small carry on bag like the Vivitar large camera bag. The mount and tripod are a good combo but the cost is pretty high ~$350. Image would bounce around for couple of seconds after I moved the telescope with a 5mm EP but would stabilize.
The M1V mount was a really good and a well manufactured product IMO. It supported the weight with enough tension to keep the telescope even if the telescope is not well balanced. The M2C from Stellarvue can support more weight and has some additional options to allow you to install encoders but it also comes at twice the cost. The M1V was all I needed and recommended it with a better tripod without thinking twice. I was looking for the portability and the Onesky, 190EX, and M1V fit that bill as it all fit into the Vivitar case completely for a full star watching kit.
I decided to return these items and try the AZ-GTi as this will provide GOTO control for the same price but sacrifices some of the portability.
The Third Upgrade (GOTO Mount)
The next piece of equipment came the AZ-GTi goto mount which turned those long nights trying to find objects into a quick point and click search on my phone. This sort of “cheating” allowed us to view much more every night and we could stop the constant “it’s gone again” frustration of star gazing with the kiddos.
Test configuration: OneSky, 10mm supplied eyepiece, AZ-GTi Mount and Tripod, iOS SynScan Pro app.
Summary of first night out: WiFi connection was pretty intuitive to figure out. Image was impressively stable in the eyepiece and was nice to not have to constantly correct and recenter the telescope when viewing planets tonight. This is a first and stargazing is so much better this way. I don’t think I can ever go back. Have to say the mount is awesome but the iOS app seems to be very buggy. Single star alignment crashed 3 times. 2 star alignment hung and would not complete. 3 star alignment was finally successful. Was able to navigate to and view some of the brighter objects in the FL sky and mount performed well. Was stable with the OneSky and 10mm eyepiece for those interesting in the weight and balance of the setup it is way better than the Manfrotto 190EX and M1V mount head setup I used before. I did not need to extend the tripod lower legs so I am sure this helped with stability as well. GoTo and object auto tracking is amazing once I got it aligned and 10 plus objects I selected all appeared somewhere in the 10mm eyepiece with the GoTo function. This is my first time using a GoTo mount and I was able to figure it out without the manuals which are useless anyway. Best part is mount keeps object centered in the FoV and I am not having to constantly recenter. This is great to allow many viewers to see through the scope.
Positives: GoTo and tracking functions of the mount makes star hopping a hell of lot faster. It’s like cheating and was definitely on the cool factor to use my phone to find stars and watch the mount move to the correct location. Mount stability with the OneSky over my prior setup is much better as this view in EP was stable right away and took may seconds with the prior setup. Even with the iOS buggy app this setup is a keeper for me.
Negatives: iOS app stability, will not collapse as small to fit into the Vivitar case like my prior setup.
The Fourth Upgrade (Eyepiece Obsession)
Then came the eyepiece obsession to get every little piece of clarity from this scope and desire for the highest quality optics. My preference are the TelVue Radians for there long eye relief and availability on Astromart as used eyepieces.