USER OBSERVATIONS Last updated: 7 August 2002

New User ETX-125EC Report

Subject:	ETX125 Arrived
Sent:	Monday, August 5, 2002 15:31:41
From:	markcurry@megawan.co.za (Mark Curry)
Thought my experiences with a new scope could be of intrest to readers
of your site. Especially those that are worried about the difficulty of
using Autostar. I live in Johannesburg South Africa, (so the Autostar
was suggesting Southern Hemisphere objects).

Below are my experiences of using a brand new ETX125, on my first night
out, also equipped with the Autostar. I am a rank beginner in Astronomy,
but I found the scope fantastic to use.

Night 1

After the basic drive training and finder scope alignment, I spent the
rest of the first evening with the scope reading the manual, preparing
for my first night out. It was cloudy outside anyway, so I read the
manual from cover to cover. (autostar guide as well)

Night 2..

Tried the Easy Auto Align, but I noticed the alignment on Rigel Kentaura
was a bit to the right (first alignment star). I figured our house
doesn't face as true north as I though, so I retried the alignment with
the scope pointing 5 degrees or so left of where I started. Rigel popped
up in the finder (which only turns about 180 degrees and is never in
focus, is this normal?) so I aligned the main scope slightly, then the
scope slewed to Vega, which is also slightly out although in the finder.
I aligned this, and voila! easy align complete!

Tried the AutoTour feature, and next thing Tuscuna (I think spelling is
close), a globular cluster of 100 million stars popped up! Unfortunately
I only have 26mm and no barlow, but still it was quite a site given that
the light pollution is pretty bad in that part of the sky. Looks like a
small light cloud as magnification was a bit low (74x with std eye
piece).

Tried Magellan small cloud next, but I could only make out a few stars.
Suspect I need a 40mm to see this properly. Coal Sack came up next. We
could see a few stars in it, but due to high light polution, we couldnt
really make out the black area. Onto Jewel Box. This was simply awesome!
Beautifull cluster of stars all so needle sharp!

My wife woke my daughters up to come and have a look, but as they walked
out, the OTA started slewing towards the ground, and from the brightness
of the Autostar (or Dimness I should say) I realised the batteries were
kaput. Only got about 4 hour in total (set up drive training learining
the Autostar), but they are lead acid, as our store had sold out of
Alkaline. I am getting niMH tomorrow as I can see the battery thing is
gonna be a killer.

I have had a friends old Newt 4" around the house for a 3 or 4 weeks
now, but apart form the Rigel Kentauras binary and the moon, we have
seen little (more due to ignorance than the scope itself). In one night
with the ETX, we have seen more beatifull viewings than a month with the
Newt! I really think the Autostar is fantastic. Although I know a few
constellations, the star names and the facts that scroll are brilliant!
I can see that I may be red eyed at work on more than a few mornings
going forward (if I get the batteries to last).

I am really pleased with the ETX. It was a lot of money to spend, but I
think I am going to get a good return on it. I can see a few eye pices
are going to be handy though. (sigh... more money...) I must say that
the Autostar alignment was really easy. You just need to use a touch of
common sense from what I can see.

I spent a lot of time using your site before making a choice. I would
like to thank you and all of your contributors for the wonderfull
information that is available here. I see there is an update for my
Autostar software, so I am off to make the cable (schematic from your
site of course).

Regards

Mark

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