u/_anupamroy

I’m pretty sure know-it-all daredevils have done this, hence the question: Out of curiosity, how do you fix Celestron’s proprietary StarSense dock on another telescope? Is it by 3D printing something that connects the dock with the typical red dot finder shoe, or are there other genius methods people have figured out? Not that I’m looking to replace my Celestron 12” Dob scope already, just a question that came to mind. TIA

Posted this a few days ago, and following on from that, I’m likely getting the item in hand either today (depending on whether my colleague who was visiting the UK and whom I’d had the thing shipped to comes to work today) or tomorrow. How complicated would you say this would be to install for a complete noob? For context, I was able to set up my 12” Dob entirely from scratch out of the box a couple of months ago, so I’m ok with following instructions off a manual (already downloaded the PDF from David Astro and 365Astronomy). Thanks again for any possible help/advice.

Since the Celestron Dobs come with single-speed focusers, I’ve been looking at ways to upgrade my 12” with a 1:10 dual speed. The Lacerta seems to be the easiest solution, except it’s turning out to be pretty hard to find. Came across 365Astronomy UK that currently has stock, contacted them to ask about compatibility and their response was beautifully noncommittal and unhelpful:

‘Hello - As you will know the Lacerta dual speed upgrade kit was designed for Skywatcher single speed focusers. That said many of our customers have fitted it to other manufacturers telescopes, after all the single speed focuser does not have many variations.’

Which is why I now turn to you experts.
- Anybody here upgraded their Celestron model with the Lacerta?
- Any compatibility issues with Celestron’s single-speed focuser at all?
- Is it a 5-min job to replace one of the knobs or is this something best left to experienced hands?
Any insights/help/wisdom greatly appreciated.

Not looking to buy one or anything, asking just out of curiosity, since this is something I just bumped into while looking stuff up. Whatever I’ve read so far seems to suggest go-to telescopes for smart eyepieces. My question: Why can’t they be used with manual Dobs? For instance, what if I tried to connect it to my 12” StarSense Dob? Sorry if this is a bit of a stupid one. And TIA.

Any astronomy/stargazing events around DC, NYC, LA areas 28 May - 7 June that anybody knows of? That’s when I’ll be in the country, so just thought I’d ask here. TIA

Would this Baader turret be able to fit ES 82° series eyepieces? The Baader ortho eyepieces fit beautifully obv, but those are pretty slim ones, whereas the ES 82° have much fatter bellies. I currently have the stock Celestron Omni 32mm + the ES 8.8mm 82°, and have ordered the 24mm + 14mm 82° as well. Now I know the 24mm is 2”, so won’t fit the turret which can only take 1.25” eyepieces, but that still leaves the Celestron 32mm & ES 14 + 8.8mm available for easy 3-eyepiece switching. Also, any other considerations I should be aware of apart from just the physical fit? TIA

- Celestron StarSense Explorer 12” Dobsonian
- Stock Celestron Omni (50° I think) 32mm EP
- ES 82° 24mm + 14mm + 8.8mm EPs (24mm + 14mm not in hand yet; ordered to a friend’s address in LA, will pick up during upcoming U.S. trip. Had to order in a hurry, as everywhere except Agena Astro was out of stock, and Agena had only 1 open box 24mm + 1 brand new 14mm left, both of which I have now bagged)
- GSO Coma Corrector
- Optolong 2” UHC Filter

Apart from maybe a couple more ES eyepieces (82° 30mm + 6.7mm) that I have my eyes on, I plan not to upgrade this kit for at least a decade, maybe longer. Even with the 6.7mm I have reservations, given I live under horrible B7-8 skies, and plan to take the Dob to darker sky spots as often as possible. Thoughts on should I/shouldn’t I?

Just had the first such drive to a nearby hill station where, in spite of the clouds and haze, I managed to bag the following: Sirius, Jupiter with all 4 Galilean moons, Corvus, Alphard, Vega, Butterfly Cluster, Lagoon Nebula, Trifid Nebula, Ptolemy Cluster, Hercules Cluster, Sagittarius Star Cloud, Sombrero Galaxy, Cat’s Eye Galaxy, and a double star that I for my life can’t remember what it was. This is with just the Celestron 32mm + ES 8.8mm, since I don’t have the ES 24mm + 14mm yet. Did miss the 14mm, might’ve been so much easier. But this trip was a good indicator of what the Celestron 12” Dob is capable of, even in the hands of a noob. StarSense was on fire most of the time, which meant hopping from one thing to another was pretty straightforward.

TLDR: Beginner’s (or maybe not so beginner’s) kit now complete, hopefully no upgrades for 10+ years. Bagged a few gems on first trip to dark sky spot with just the 32 + 8.8mm but dearly missed the in-between mag.

Ordered the Dobby yesterday, my first telescope, expecting delivery sometime next week. As a newbie, I perhaps could’ve gone for a smaller beast, but I subscribe to the ‘buy once, cry once’ line of thinking (and my pocket concurs), which is why I went for the biggest one I can possibly carry in my car to drive to dark sky areas (I’m unfortunately in a B8 area, so would need to get away from the city frequently). Can’t afford to keep spending on upgrades down the line.

Exactly similar rationale for eyepieces. Been reading up stuff and watching YT videos on best practices for a few days now. I know I can get cheaper EPs, even those starter EP packs, but I’ve zeroed in on these 3:
- Explore Scientific (ES) 62° 32mm for finder
- ES 82° 14mm for the galaxy workhorse
- ES 82° 8.5mm for planetary zoom etc.

AI confirms that the above 3 EPs covers the entire range, and would be perfect as a set to get going, but I know better than to trust AI blindly. Which is where you know-it-alls get the pleasure in helping out a brother. Do you agree with my research so far? Like I said, these are obv expensive EPs, but they look like they’re keepers, and I plan to keep them. As with the scope, don’t want to keep buying EPs going forward unless there’s something definitely missing in my range.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. Appreciate any wisdom, even telling off.

I got what might sound like a slightly odd question. I have just ordered a telescope, and am looking for places to visit with it, places that have the darkest possible skies completely free from light pollution, away from cities and urban areas where I can set up and use the thing. I live in Chennai, and so far I’ve zeroed in on Valparai/Mannavanur areas near Kodaikanal that seem to have the darkest possible skies in TN. Anybody aware of any good place to stay for 2-3 nights in that area? I’m specifically looking for places outside the city/urban areas, e.g. don’t want to stay anywhere in the Valparai/Kodaikanal itself. There seems to be a lot of tea estates around, so if anybody got any leads there (or elsewhere), would be very grateful. TIA

I got what might sound like a slightly odd question. I have just ordered a telescope, and am looking for places to visit with it, places that have the darkest possible skies completely free from light pollution, away from cities and urban areas where I can set up and use the thing. I live in Chennai, and so far I’ve zeroed in on Valparai/Mannavanur areas near Kodaikanal that seem to have the darkest possible skies in TN. Anybody aware of any good place to stay for 2-3 nights in that area? I’m specifically looking for places outside the city/urban areas, e.g. don’t want to stay anywhere in the Valparai/Kodaikanal itself. There seems to be a lot of tea estates around, so if anybody got any leads there (or elsewhere), would be very grateful. TIA