First light, well sort of

After a brief flirtation with an ETX80 (I know, it was a moment of madness followed by a very quick return to the vendor) I "saw the light" and bought a NexStar 6SE from Sussex Astronomy on the 15th of June. What with the combination the very, very, poor weather we've had in the UK this year, the vagaries of AA battery power and a steepish learning curve (finding out what to look at), tonight was effectively the first light for my NexStar. So I thought I'd share my experiences with this rather nice piece of engineering :)

I suppose I should start with what I bought. A Celestron NexStar 6SE and an additional 15mm Meade 4000 series eyepiece. The kind chap at Sussex Astronomy wanted to sell me a Power Tank but had none in stock. Oh how I wish he'd had some in stock.

A period of few-and-far-between attempts to use my scope followed. Lots of AA batteries died in this cause, and not a few spare electrons in the cause of finding out what timezone I'm in and how to set my proper location on the handset. £200 spent on a CN-16 GPS unit solved the latter while a birthday present Power Tank, courtesy of the birthday fairy who also bought a copy of Turn Left at Orion, solved the former.

So tonight I finally had all the pieces I need to use the scope I bought nearly three months ago properly - the scope, a proper power supply, knowledge of where I am and what time it is and most importantly a better idea of what I'm looking at.

So out I go. I can see Altair but Arcturus is hidden by a chimney pot. One of mine. It will have to go. (Who said this was a cheap hobby? Adding building work to GPS units does not qualify as cheap). OK, I can see Dubhe. So align on Dubhe then Altair. Then off to Dubhe for a check. Spot on azimuth but right at the bottom of my 25mm eyepiece. Move Dubhe up to the middle, swap to the 15mm Meade eyepiece and replace the first alignment with this one. Nice.

Then off to the double Albireo. Same position as Dubhe was but still in view. A bit of a move up and I can see the different colours of the stars. Orange/red low-left and blue high-right. Oh yes indeed that's nice.

Now the Ring Nebula. Back with the 25mm and it's in the finder. A quick move to the middle, switch to the 15mm and there it is. Nice, just don't look right at it or it disappears in your blind spot. The same for the Cat's Eye which is a bit smaller than the Ring and again in my blind spot unless I'm careful. Or so it seems.

Having done well so far I try a few other objects which don't work too well - they're right over the orange glow of central London and a bit dim. But then go for the Double Cluster, through the trees and just below Cassiopeia. to my North. Oh. My. God.

That's very nice. Very, very nice. Slightly low and to the right at first and the 25mm eyepiece is better than the 15mm because it's so big. Maybe a 30mm or 40mm will be better? But I'e come to the conclusion that I'm an open cluster and doubles man.

At this point I call out my wife (my sponsor and the provider of the power tank and copy of Turn Left at Orion) and daughter out into the back garden and go through a quick show. Albireo goes down well. The Ring Nebula gets an OK reaction. The Double Cluster's a real winner though, loads of oohs and aaahs.

So there you go. First light with my nearly three month old 6SE.