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Hi Rich,

I don't think that it would cause too much havoc. You have to push to buttons pretty hard to get them to function. I wouldn't worry about it.

Let me check on the upside down question now...

Yup, it works upside down. I'm not sure about the accuracy upside down because it's 10:30 in the morning, but it told me that M13 was at least roughly in the same place right-side up and upside down.

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Hi Brian

My SS came yesterday and, as the law of the new equipment curse requires, it arrived with a huge, never-ending sheet of clouds. The curse was actually brought on the day before when my Celestron 8SE arrived, which I'm gusting a gut to use what with Mars and all. Oh well. "Suck it up" as my hockey coach used to say.

At any rate, it's still cloudy enough for the GPS not to be able to gather satellite data, so a daytime dry run hasn't even been possible.

My main concern originally were those buttons on the left side. If holding it in the left hand it's hard to push buttons with your palm in the way! However, from reading the manual, it seems that the side buttons don't need to be accessed during viewing, only before, in which case there's no problem. The only one that does during viewing is the Target button, conveniently (and cleverly) place dead center on top, so it really doesn't matter if you're a righty or a lefty.

This is all theory based on the manual's instructions. We'll see when (if?) these clouds ever go away!

Rich.

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Celestron NexStar 8SE
Orion Vista 10x50
SkyScout
EyeBalls™



Border Collies rule!

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Let me know what you think of your new SS. A lot of people seem to love it and use it all the time, but I have mixed feelings about mine. I think it's a cool device, but I hardly ever use it (a lot like my ipod) so I don't feel like it was a great value for me.

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Well, Brian, I had wondered how much use I'd get out of it, but it turns out to be a very handy tool. I use it in conjunction with my planisphere and Stellarium to plot out plans for an evening's viewing. I love that I can use it during the day to find good spots to set up with the least number of obstructions. (I'll explain how I do that if you're interested.) It's also very handy when I'm setting up and aligning at dusk when there are too few stars out yet for me to get my bearings as to who's who. Last night I used it for the first time as a reference book to remind me of the distances of various things. Something else that I learned last night -- and I don't know why I didn't think of it -- the SS and my PowerTank are NOT friends! It must put out quite a magnetic field!

All in all, 400 clams was a bit much to spend, but I am happy with it.

Rich.

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Celestron NexStar 8SE
Orion Vista 10x50
SkyScout
EyeBalls™



Border Collies rule!

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How are you using during the day to plan out observing sessions?

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I mostly use it to help me find where the best vantage point to set up for the evening--"best" meaning fewest obstructions like trees an least number of street lights to contend with. I do it by comparison. Let's say I want to observe Mars at 7:00. I go to my Stellarium program, set the time for 7:00, center Mars on my screen, change the time to right now, and see that it will be where Vulpecula is right now. The with the SS I go locate where Vulpecula is right now and wander around until I find that "best" spot. It's kind of a kooky ritual but it has served me well, especially when preparing to hunt down deep sky objects.

Rich.

--------------------
Celestron NexStar 8SE
Orion Vista 10x50
SkyScout
EyeBalls™



Border Collies rule!

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