Posts Made By: Alfred Snow

I have just ordered a Celestron 6" Starhopper as a gift for my two young son's and it will be the family's first scope. Being brand new to the hobby I am doind all of the reading/research I can before juming in.

The scope comes with a 25mm plossel as the primary eyepiece. I have heard that Celestron's standard lenses are not the best.

My plan was to purchase a Barlow (Celestron Ultima have been well recommended) at least 1 maybe 2 other eyepieces and a wide field of view eye piece.

My questions are if we will be mainly viewing solar syatem objects and some of the brighter DSO's what additional ep's are suggested to accomplish this?

Also with the 6" Starhopper having a focal length of 1219mm and a f/ratio of f/8 is a wide filed of view ep needed?

Any assistance is appreciated.

I have just ordered a Celestron 6" Starhopper as a gift for my two young son's and it will be the family's first scope. Being brand new to the hobby I am doind all of the reading/research I can before juming in.

The scope comes with a 25mm plossel as the primary eyepiece. I have heard that Celestron's standard lenses are not the best.

My plan was to purchase a Barlow (Celestron Ultima have been well recommended) at least 1 maybe 2 other eyepieces and a wide field of view eye piece.

My questions are if we will be mainly viewing solar syatem objects and some of the brighter DSO's what additional ep's are suggested to accomplish this?

Also with the 6" Starhopper having a focal length of 1219mm and a f/ratio of f/8 is a wide filed of view ep needed?

Any assistance is appreciated.

I am a stone cold newbie with the ability to purchase an Orion 8 Inch Deep Space Explorer Dobsonian F8 Reflector at a great price.

I have tried to find reviews of this scope at 5-6 sites but nothing.

Can anyone provide me with information on this scope and its performance?

Well even though I have ordered a 6" Celestron Starhopper that is on its way to me (Family's first scope), I have found a deal i cannot refuse: A 8" Celestron Starhopper being sold by a private individual for less than I would pay for the 6" new ($200).

Being a newbie I really do not know what to look for when looking at buying a telescope from an individual from an astronomical society. Here is what is included:

Celestron 8" Telescope, Starhopper, Dobsonian mount with 10mm and 25mm lens. TelRad finder. Like New Condition. Comes with Silver weather cover.

I know the Starhoppers come with a 25mm Celestron ep but I do not know the brand of the 10mm. What should I look for to determine if the mirror, optics, mount, tube are all intact with little or no blemishes?

Any and all suggested steps that i need to take to make sure I do not get taken will be greatly appreciated.

First off thanks for all of the advice so far I have learned quite a bit about this great hobby and purchasing telescopes and optics.

I am visiting a member of a local astronomy club on Thursday who is selling his telescope because he is moving out of state and does not want to drag it with him. The scope will be used as our first family scope (2 boy 8 and 5 who love science). The scope he is selling is a Celestron StarHopper 8" for $200. Here are more specifics:
-He ordered it direct from Celestron in 2000
-He has used it considerably and has been used at a number of star parties for the local club
-Comes with a 10mm and 25mm lens. TelRad finder. Weather cover. Rack and Pinion focuser
-Photos look great and it looks to be well cared for.
-It has the more sought after white DOB base (A couple of reviews of the black base had it less stable "Newer (white rocker box) versions are more desirable since they tend to hold their altitude position a little better" quote from Scopereviews.com)
-He is showing it to me Thursday and we will also take it outside for a night viewing on Thursday as well.

My main concern that has been expressed in reviews is that the secondary mirror is affixed on a single spindle as opposed to a "spider" spindle and when aligning the mirrors you actually have to bend and manipulate the spindle to properly align.

I would like to hear more from people who have this setup about their positives and negatives of this make/model. Also any additional thoughts are welcome and anything I can look for to determine if I should buy.

First off thanks for all of the advice so far I have learned quite a bit about this great hobby and purchasing telescopes and optics.

I am visiting a member of a local astronomy club on Thursday who is selling his telescope because he is moving out of state and does not want to drag it with him. The scope will be used as our first family scope (2 boy 8 and 5 who love science). The scope he is selling is a Celestron StarHopper 8" for $200. Here are more specifics:
-He ordered it direct from Celestron in 2000
-He has used it considerably and has been used at a number of star parties for the local club
-Comes with a 10mm and 25mm lens. TelRad finder. Weather cover. Rack and Pinion focuser
-Photos look great and it looks to be well cared for.
-It has the more sought after white DOB base (A couple of reviews of the black base had it less stable "Newer (white rocker box) versions are more desirable since they tend to hold their altitude position a little better" quote from Scopereviews.com)
-He is showing it to me Thursday and we will also take it outside for a night viewing on Thursday as well.

My main concern that has been expressed in reviews is that the secondary mirror is affixed on a single spindle as opposed to a "spider" spindle and when aligning the mirrors you actually have to bend and manipulate the spindle to properly align.

I would like to hear more from people who have this setup about their positives and negatives of this make/model. Also any additional thoughts are welcome and anything I can look for to determine if I should buy.

I just purchased a 8" Celestron StarHopper for a new family scope that will sit next to the tree this Christmas (too big to fit under).

I purchased it from a gentleman who is a member of a local Astro club and he is moving and buying a bigger scope once he moves to a new state. With the scope he included two eyepieces a 25mm and a 10mm.

As i am an absolute novice can anyone tell me if the ep's he included in the sale are any good? They are both 1.25" EP's one says KE 10mm Wide Angle Fully Coated the other says KE 25mm Winde Angle Fully coated.

Can anyone assist in identifying and evaluating these EP's?

I just purchased a 8" starhopper for the family from an individual at a local astro club. (I apologize now for being a newbie and not knowing the correct terminology).

I need to correct the mount due to the fact that the telescope tube pivots too easily on the mount. The scope action is so smooth that I can line up a target in the telrad and as soon as I let go of the tube it begins to move up to the completely verticle position. (Not very good for observing ) The manual does not touch on this subject at all. I though it was a balance issue but if you swivel the scope tube to horizontal it holds its position level but once you start to move the tube vertically it swings up to the fully verticle position very easily (and on its own)

Anyone have this problem with the Celestron 8" StarHopper and if so how did you correct it. I know my young son who is getting this as a Christmas gift will get frustrated very easily is I cannot correct the movement.

I was looking at the February issue of Astronomy today and I saw an ad for Astronomics. They are selling Burgess optical Eyepieces (6, 12, 17 and 20mm) that are claimed to have 60 to 67 degree FOV for just $49. What is the quality of these eyepieces?

Also Adorama had a Celestron Oxy III filter for $65 which is a bit cheaper in price that most others I have seen for sale (most are around $99). Has anyone used/reviewed the celestron Oxy III filters?

I have been wanting to get started in ccd imaging and have been trying to get my hands on a Philips ToUcam to get started. I have not had any luck, I have been outbid on this site and very rare to see one for sale.

Philips has a new webcam on the market the: Philips VGA CCD PC Camera Pixel Plus
Megapixels: 1.3 (1280x960) resolution
Frames per Second: 90 fps
Port Connectors: 1 x USB 1.1
Power Source: USB

I would like to know if anyone had tried this new camera and its effectiveness for a beginning astrophotographer?