First Light with My New Telescope System: A Detailed Review

First Light with My New Telescope System: A Detailed Review

Last night marked the much-anticipated first light with my new astronomy setup, and I’m thrilled to report it was a fantastic success. I fully expected a night filled with troubleshooting, USB disconnections, guiding meltdowns, and possibly crying into a mug of cold tea. Instead, the system performed like a dream—far exceeding my expectations. Honestly, I’m still suspicious.

Setup and Polar Alignment

The setup process was so smooth it felt like I’d accidentally hired a pit crew from Formula 1. From carrying the gear outside to balancing the rig, the entire process took less than 20 minutes. Polar alignment with SharpCap Pro was straightforward, thanks to the buttery-smooth adjustment knobs on the iOptron CEM70 Mount that made fine-tuning enjoyable. Transitioning to PHD2 Guiding for drift alignment, I achieved impressive precision with about 10 minutes for RA and 10 minutes for Dec, culminating in a final alignment of 0.02" in RA and 0.09" in Dec.

Including alignment, setup time was approximately 35 minutes, which felt lightning-fast given the usual hiccups that come with a new rig.

The iOptron CEM70 isn’t 3D balanced in Dec, but I went old-school and slightly weighted the nose of the Askar Sharp Star Z4 100mm Sextuplet APO Refractor to be nose-heavy. RA was perfectly balanced, which goes against old-school teachings, but for once, the astro gods didn’t punish me for ignoring modern YouTube advice. Despite Dec’s “issue,” guiding performance was excellent.

RA guiding was incredibly smooth, while Dec, though well within acceptable limits, hasn’t yet reached my personal gold standard. PHD2 Guiding flagged potential backlash in Dec, but the axis feels solid—possibly too solid. It might be binding slightly in the worm gear, causing the motor to overcompensate. I suspect slowing down Dec’s guide rate might help, and fortunately, iOptron made the adjustment process simple. With a bit of fiddling, perhaps a sacrifice to the telescope spirits, and some patience, I’m confident I’ll get it dialed in perfectly.

Guiding Performance

Guiding with PHD2 Guiding showed oscillations of 0.33 to 0.42 arcseconds in both RA and Dec, holding steady with no tantrums or drama. While Dec wasn’t as smooth as RA, it remained acceptable. Considering this mount transitioned from a warm factory to freezing 2°C conditions, minor adjustments are expected for precision equipment.

Power, Connectivity, and Cable Management

The Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advanced is my new favorite toy. This little box has everything: USB 3.1 ports, efficient heater band control, weather sensors, and even power consumption meters, which is great for feeding my obsessive need for data. All of this equipment connects to the iOptron CEM70A Mount Saddle, leaving just one power cable and one USB cable running to the saddle. That’s it—just two connections, simplifying cable management to near perfection.

The Touptek ATR2600M Imaging Camera is an absolute star. Its amazing dynamic range and impressively low noise levels make it a powerhouse for deep-sky astrophotography. Adding to its convenience, it has a USB 3.0 hub built into the camera itself. This is a game-changer for cable management, as both the guide camera and imaging camera rotate together on the Pegasus Falcon Rotator V2. The rotator itself, surprisingly, comes with a built-in WiFi hub for remote control, though it can also be USB-controlled for those who prefer a wired connection.

On the mount saddle, the only two pieces of equipment requiring 12V power are the imaging camera and the heater band—everything else is USB-powered. This dramatically reduces cable management headaches and leaves me with fewer things to worry about during setup and teardown.

Despite 2°C temperatures and 94% humidity, the dew controller kept everything dry, including me. (Okay, that’s a lie, but my gear was dry, which is what matters.) The entire system pulled just 1.1 amps, even with the imaging camera chilled to -10°C and the heater band doing its best impression of a sauna at 84%. Pegasus, you overachiever, you.

The Mini PC Setup

Running the whole show is a mini PC powered by a 3.4 GHz processor, 16 GB of RAM, four USB 3.0 ports, and two HDMI 4K outputs. The best part? It runs entirely off 12V power. The mini PC has been modified to operate headlessly, with no reliance on a home network. Instead, it establishes a direct WiFi connection with my laptop, making the entire rig dark-site ready. This setup is lightweight, portable, and efficient, ensuring I can operate seamlessly no matter where I set up—even under at dark sky sites.

Optics and Imaging

The Askar Sharp Star Z4 100mm Sextuplet APO Refractor delivered a beautifully corrected field of view. The brightest stars exhibited slight signs of pinched optics, likely due to over-tightened set screws or tube rings. Was it the set screws? The tube rings? Alien sabotage? Who knows. It’s subtle enough that only hardcore pixel-peepers would notice—or care. The sextuplet design’s color correction is still under evaluation, but my initial test of 17x300s Lum subs yielded a perfect 17/17 keeper rate. That’s better odds than I get ordering takeaway.

Software Experience

Manually focusing consumed a frustrating amount of time—seriously, where is the bloody autofocus button? Hocus Focus, you’ve got one job! NINA (Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy), while new to me, left a good first impression with its plate solve and centering feature, which worked flawlessly and faster than expected. That said, I’m a creature of habit and miss the simplicity of MaxIm DL and TPoint. NINA might win me over eventually—it’s free, after all, and I’m nothing if not a sucker for a bargain.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this first light session exceeded all expectations. The system performed flawlessly, and while there are areas to tweak—like Dec balancing, guiding refinement, and learning how to autofocus without rage-quitting—the foundation is rock solid. Spending extra time on polar alignment proved to be the best decision of the night, ensuring a productive session with minimal frustration.

The iOptron CEM70 Mount, Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advanced, Touptek Cameras, and the trusty mini PC are an absolute delight. With patience, tinkering, and maybe a bribe to the astronomy gods, this rig is poised to deliver some jaw-dropping results in deep-sky astrophotography. And let’s be honest, anything that keeps me outside and happy on a freezing night is a win in my book.