5 replies to this topic

[Landau]

Now that I’m retired and have more time for stargazing I decided to upgrade from my Celestron Firstscope 76mm tabletop Dobsonian.

I was stuck analyzing too many choices when I saw a “National Geographic 102mm Sky Assist” on FB marketplace for $100cdn. Offered $80 and now it’s mine.

 

It seems to be 95% the same as a Celestron Omni 102 AZ but with  different focuser and a weird thing that is supposed to talk to my iPhone.

 

The Red Dot Finder is way easier to use than the finder scope on my Firstscope partially because putting my head next to the table was hard. Two quick adjustments and the RDF was aligned with my eyepiece on a treetop about 400m away.
 

Eyepieces are way better than the Firstscope ones as well, though not as good as the Svbony 62 degree set I got to improve the first scope.

 

OK now the questions:  

 

1) Is there a good way to improve the stability of the tripod / mount?

 

2) Can I safely tighten the locknuts on the AZ and ALT axis to make it tougher to nudge away from the target? Don’t want to risk damage by over tightening.

 

3) Anyone know what the device to pair with my smartphone actually does? 
 

4) Would a better diagonal than the included plastic one make a difference?

 

5) It came with a really cheap plastic barlow, but I haven’t figured out why I would want even a good Barlow instead of just a lens with more magnification 

 

 

If I do enough sky watching with my new $80 ($56 US) scope I’ll go back to pondering which significantly better scope to upgrade to.

 

Currently staring at a sky full of clouds. 

Edited by Landau, 12 June 2025 - 10:13 PM.

[vtornado]

Hello and Welcome.

 

Now that I’m retired and have more time for stargazing I decided to upgrade from my Celestron Firstscope 76mm tabletop Dobsonian.

 I saw a “National Geographic 102mm Sky Assist” 

It seems to be 95% the same as a Celestron Omni 105 AZ but with  different focuser and a weird thing that is supposed to talk to my iPhone.

 

1) Is there a good way to improve the stability of the tripod / mount?

extend the legs to the lowest setting you can tolerate.  Add a 5 lb weight to the accesory tray,  Find the telescope's center of gravity with your accessories.  Make sure that point is in the center of the saddle.  Setup on grass instead of pavement.   If you can't observe from grass,  you can buy/make some anti-vibration pads.

 

2) Can I safely tighten the locknuts on the AZ and ALT axis to make it tougher to nudge away from the target? Don’t want to risk damage by over tightening.  I don't know.

 

3) Anyone know what the device to pair with my smartphone actually does?   I assume it holds your phone, and your phone's compass and gyros can approximate to where the scope is pointing???  
 

4) Would a better diagonal than the included plastic one make a difference?

Yes, typically these bargain diagonals are of poor quality.   The standard celestron diagonal is good.  I believe the svbony diagonal is good too.

 

5) It came with a really cheap plastic barlow, but I haven’t figured out why I would want even a good Barlow instead of just a lens with more magnification 

I have had this barlow.  It is a marketing tool so they can print 500x on the box.  If you can pop out the lens, they do make fine extension tube if you ever need one.  If you do need a barlow get one from svbony.

 

Edited by vtornado, 12 June 2025 - 09:43 PM.

[DeepSky Di]

Welcome to Cloudy Nights, Landau, and congrats on the retirement! I'm not familiar with this scope, but a couple of suggestions:

1) a rock bag with anything heavy in it such as weights or rocks

3) likely helps you find targets in the sky

 

I'd suggest using what you have - scope, mount, eyepieces, barlow, diagonal - until something seems to be limiting and then consider replacing or upgrading. Try to figure out what your ideal system would be and step towards it at your own pace.

[vtornado]

P.S.  Can you find an astro-club near you?  A member would be able to let you try some different diagonals, barlows, eyepieces so you can determine where the weak links in your chain are.

[Landau]

thanks for all the answers!
 

 

 

 

 

3) Anyone know what the device to pair with my smartphone actually does?   I assume it holds your phone, and your phone's compass and gyros can approximate to where the scope is pointing???  

The device has a battery and pairs by Bluetooth with the phone. I saw a review on YouTube showing how bad the app was at guiding so not planning on trying it, but I’m curious as to what info this device might be sending to the phone.

[Magnum45hp]

3) Anyone know what the device to pair with my smartphone actually does?

If it is just a small item like a clicker it is used to trip the shutter on your smartphone.  Presuming you have the phone mounted to the focus-er and wanted to take an image through the telescope. There are mounts for this purpose.. Prevents moving the scope by not using the phone button.