How Affordable Smart Telescopes Are Changing The Hobby (Part 2 of 2)

Continued from a previous Post - How Affordable Smart Telescopes Are Changing The Hobby (Part 1 of 2)

So… I was thinking of buying this telescope for a while… if you click on that link, it will bring you to the Amazon page where I ordered it. 

I actually had this 6 inch Dobsonian reflector, on my Amazon Wish List… Then out of nowhere, the price dropped by $70 - so I got it.

Collimating The SkyWatcher Virtuoso 6” Dob

I surprised myself, with how easily and accurately I was able to get it’s mirror perfectly collimated; and also get the red dot finder zeroed in. It’s been so long since I set up a telescope (almost 2 years). Yet, I felt as though I could do it in my sleep; or on autopilot, without even thinking about it.

Not the best Pic... I was just fooling around basically: I simply held my iPhone up to the 25mm eyepiece. This was taken through a double pane glass window

So the reason why I wanted this SkyWatcher scope, was so that I could do Astrophotography of planetary nebulae (and other DSO's) - using a dedicated ZWO Astro (CMOS) camera.
There are one or two people on YouTube and Instagram, using this same scope to get nice Astrophotos of small, deep sky objects - So I wanted to get it...
It’s my first computerized, “GoTo“ scope. Luckily, you can use it as an old-fashioned, point-it-yourself, telescope as well. 

I eventually did that, because I was losing patience with its GoTo system’s alignment process. The GoTo alignment application didn’t give any confirmation/feedback on whether or not it was successfully aligned, etc. So I found it a little confusing at the time. Pointing wasn't exactly spot on.

So, there’s a perfect illustration of how these new smart telescopes have really spoiled me! Did you ever stop to consider, how accurately these smart scopes are at centering objects? They never miss!

Well, in any case, it’s been sent back: because, I feel like I was somehow “going backwards” with no good reason to do so.

That is not to say, that I am through with visual astronomy, and observing. No way. 

I’ve always had a great appreciation for vintage optical instruments, especially microscopes and telescopes. 

In the case of microscopes, I consider myself at the intermediate level of experience - In restoring vintage microscopes; I have successfully restored dozens of them. 

This was the last vintage microscope I restored (and sold). It was equipped with the legendary Heine Condenser.

Here’s my latest project, a slightly more modern fluorescence microscope. I have equipped this microscope with a blue UV LED for its fluorescence light source.

This one recently sold on eBay

(needed to raise funds for astrophotography equipment).

During this past Autumn (October and November 2023): I was actively seeking vintage telescopes to restore and use!

Restoring and using classic, vintage telescopes, could be considered a hobby all by itself. There’s the challenge of finding a working, and/or restorable instrument. As well as the appreciation of its craftsmanship, optical performance, and history.

Well, back to the SkyWatcher 6 inch Virtuoso GTi Dobsonian. I set up the scope, and decided to just do some casual observing with it. The targets, were, of course, my favorite: Deep sky objects. 

I set the scope up on top of a sturdy, glass top, outdoor table on the deck. What I found out right away, was that it was difficult to look through the eyepiece whenever I had the scope pointed above about 45°. 

It got a bit worse when trying to observe DSO‘s closer to the Zenith: I had to stand on my tiptoes, in most cases.

So, it was quickly becoming less, and less fun. That’s when I decided to go and grab one of the smart telescopes. I believe it was the Seestar S50; and I simply set it up, alongside the scope on the same table. Of course, I had to be careful not to touch or move the scope; or touch the table at all basically – or the images being taken by the smart telescope, would be ruined due to the minor vibrations, completely messing up the stars/image, etc. 

However, it was an experience which quickly made me appreciate (once again!) the convenience and value of owning a smart telescope! 

I also found, that I was not happy with the images being produced by the two low cost eyepieces, which were included with the Skywatcher. I mostly used the 25mm EP; then switched to the 10mm EP, after centering the scope on M57 (The Ring Nebula) for example. 

I did get to see a fairly large scale image of The Ring Nebula. Which was somewhat reminiscent of the views I used to get with my 8 inch Dobsonian - not quite, of course!  But again, I did enjoy seeing The Ring Nebula at a much larger image scale. It happens to be one of the things that are lacking, when it comes to the affordable, smart telescopes: The ability to get close-up looks at the DSO‘s of interest.

Just to reiterate, and to make a long story short: The ultimate plan, was to image DSO’s using this 6 inch Skywatcher GoTo Dobsonian - and a dedicated ZWO Astro camera. I’ve seen one or two hobbyists doing the same thing (via Instagram posts). And, let’s not forget Tiago from Dobsonian Power! He does it all the time, of course – and very, very successfully! 

I decided that I wanted to give it one more try. So, I went ahead and ordered a Skywatcher virtuoso 150P GTi from a large/well-known telescope dealer. 

When the scope arrived, I could hardly believe that UPS was even able to deliver it: the outer and inner box were almost completely ripped in half! 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, when I took the scope out, set it up, and tried to use it: it didn’t work! 

It seemed that the Wi-Fi was defective. I was unable to connect to it using any device I tried (and I tried several). The icing on the cake, was when I went to carefully box it back up for a return – I had to do my best repairing, both outer and inner boxes, which again, were almost in two separate pieces. 

When I went to remove some of the original UPS labels: I saw that underneath, was the name and address of the previous customer who was sent this telescope! Yes, pretty awful, I know. 

So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out, that this telescope was sent to some other customer, who then returned it for whatever reasons, and then the dealer just sent it back out to the next unsuspecting sucker: me. 

That is the kind of stuff you would expect from a small “Mom and Pop” shop, but not a large, well-known telescope dealer. Needless to say, I won’t ever order from them again. No, I'm not gonna reveal which dealer it was (not now, anyway).

So I was pretty bummed out for a while that things didn’t go my way – and that it didn’t work out for me.

In my case, the plan was for my dedicated camera to be the ASI178MC. 

However, I got frustrated enough not having the ZWO camera here yet… that I simply boxed it back up and returned it to Amazon.

The ASI178MC did finally get ordered, and is here now. However, it’s now attached to the back of an Astro Tech 80EDT  apochromatic (triplet) refractor! 

So, I am going to finally try to do some Astrophotography, using a dedicated Astro/CMOS camera. 

Well, there will be a lot more details and information on how that project is coming along in my next post. It’s coming along very nicely!

Until then, clear skies!

Having Trouble Deciding Which Telescope Dealer to Order From?

You know what they say, "unlucky in love telescopes..."

Honestly, I don’t know how the rest of that expression normally goes. ...OK, wait a sec...the original expression is "Lucky in cards (gambling), unlucky in love" Here's a link.

Well, in my case, I’m unlucky in telescopes. I’ve seemed to have had my share of bad luck in acquiring telescopes. Not always of course, that is to say – not every single time. I have bought some really nice quality, telescopes in the past without issue. 

Over the years, there has been at least an equal number of: refractors with big dents in them, pinched optics, objective lenses with issues, etc. 

So…Without further adieu - Here's the topic of this post – I ordered a 6 inch Dobsonian. Yay! Ordering a new telescope! There aren't many finer feelings in the world, than ordering a new optical instrument for observing the night sky.

Here's the bad news: I ordered from Agena Astro (in California).

Now, I was originally going to be remaining completely objective about the experience – and was going to let you, the reader, decide what you thought. 

So, I was thinking that one of my next posts, would be describing how my latest telescope purchase went. As a kind of Poll, asking readers of this blog, and the folks in my social media contacts, what they thought about the experience. 

The plan was, that I would provide all of the facts, and photos! Objectively, because I honestly wanted to know, what the general consensus would be among you - my fellow hobbyists! Fellow amateur astronomers, and astrophotographers. You've all been through varying stages of purchasing telescopes and astronomy equipment. I thought it would be interesting? 

A Slight Change of Plans... 

Well, I will still do my best to remain objective. However, I unexpectedly stumbled across a clue or two — Which clearly illustrates that Agena Astro is a company which I will definitely not order from again. 

I'm going to try to make a long story short; and provide a shortened, cliff notes version:

It should go without saying, that if a customer sends back a telescope (presumably because it's defective) - That telescope, doesn't just get put back into the store stock — to be sent to the next, unsuspecting, foolish sucker of a customer. No, rather It's supposed to be sent back to the manufacturer, so that the dealer either gets credit for it, or reimbursed, or whatever the standard operating procedure is for dealers of astronomy equipment. Am I right?

It might even be argued, that dealers of astronomy equipment, have an even greater responsibility - because an awful experience (like the one I had) could very well turn off a beginner, from ever getting involved in the hobby in the 1st place.

I never thought I'd actually say this, but after decades of being involved in the hobby — I would in fact, rather pay a little bit more for an item, and be able to rest assured that: I won't have any Issues with it - then to have to deal with sneaky, uncaring, awful customer service. Or one might say, awful business practices, at the very least. Sending a customer a telescope, which was previously returned, for being defective, is simply indefensible.

Another interesting factor, is that I made it a point, of informing them, that I have an Astronomy Product Review blog. I mean...You wanna send a defective, previously returned (used) telescope to someone - who paid for a new telescope; I recommend you don't do it to someone who has a blog. I may not have a ton of visitors now...but I have a feeling that will be changing soon...

Well, they aren't worried - I guess they have that "too big to fail" viewpoint. 

Anyway, you talk about an astronomy equipment dealer, who doesn't care about their customers one bit? I give you Agena Astro.

I happen to really love and enjoy the hobby of amateur astronomy and astrophotography, and to have less-than-stellar dealings like this, from a reseller... It's just plain awful. 

There has been many times, when I just couldn't decide on which dealer to order equipment from — especially when the prices of the items were exactly the same, etc.. so It's very helpful to know which Dealers you should avoid. Some places should simply be avoided, at all costs.

Remember: That (defective/non-working) telescope should've been on it's way back to the manufacturer...Not to some unsuspecting customer.

Throughout this, I simply did my best to not think about it, or to be concerned about my funds being tied up in this little fiasco. 

And decided that, at the very least, I should share what happened to me, so that potential customers can be made aware.

In summary, I'd like to share some pictures (this is what I patiently waited a week for):

The outer and inner box were nearly ripped completely in half

So, I've decided not to go into all the gruesome details. Suffice it to say, that no one went above and beyond, to help make this fiasco right.

I've also decided that I'm not gonna mar my lovely blog, by leaving this post up permanently - So, it'll just be a temporary post. If I can save someone else from having to go through a similar experience, then it will have been worth it.

Also, in the spirit of full disclosure:

A couple of months prior, I filled out the online form, to become an Affiliate of theirs. They didn't think my blog had sufficient traffic, to qualify me to be one of their Affiliates - Again, I filled out the form, but got turned down. That is totally OK! I pretty much expected that! 

What I didn't expect, is for the number of visitors to my blog to steadily increase lately...

I order from High Point Scientific, and have never had a problem with them, by the way.

Until next time,

Clear skies!

Distant Early Warning - Just A Head's Up Of Topics I'll Be Covering Here Next!

To give you an idea of what my next blog posts will be about...

One upcoming topic will be: The best astronomy books for reading. Now I know you’re making a face right now, but what I mean is books on astronomy which you can sit down and actually read through. Not the usual kind of books on astronomy, that we're all used to. Which are typically organized as more of a reference. 

Such as 'Burnham's Celestial Handbook An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System' by Robert Burnham Jr. Volumes one through three, I recently purchased (just as an example of the top of my head). Here's my Volume One: 

A nice (older) book, but not the kind you sit down to read through.

Books like these, of which we have many to choose from, are not exactly the type of book one sits down to read; as in to read through. I can give you a couple of examples of decent books, which I’ve recently learned about, which would be the type I’m referring to. 

For example, I make it a habit of listening to The Actual Astronomy Podcast. I usually have my Echo Dot play it (a.k.a. Alexa). I find it very convenient to listen to it that way, while I’m doing other things. From time to time I learn of new and/or interesting books mentioned on the podcast, oftentimes by guests, etc... 

The 1st example I recall, is the book entitled 'The Universe In 100 Stars'. I ordered it, and it arrived today (12/7/23). It looks even more interesting than I expected - Thumbs up!

On one particular episode (#380), the guest was David Chapman (one of my fav guests), he gave a neat description of this unique book, 'The Glass Universe: How The Ladies of The Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of The Stars' and had I not been listening to that podcast – I might not have known about it.  

I am sure you all already know this, but just in case: If you happen to have a Kindle (Fire), many times, you can request to have a sample of the book, sent to your Kindle Fire to check out, before you buy. I do it all the time!

Which reminds me, if you happen to have/or are a member of Amazon Prime – you get to enjoy one of my favorite perks, which is: being able to get older/free books sent to your Kindle fire for reading. I stumbled upon a title, which I’m reading now (and enjoying so far) titled ‘Great astronomers’ by Ball, Robert S. (Robert Stawell).

It’s really pretty good! It’s starts with Ptolemy and goes all the way to Adams…

Now, I could go on and on about this book but since it’s freely available, I won’t. However, I will tell you that it may also be found online, by using resources, such as:

archive.org, gutenberg.org, and Google books << Each of those links will take you directly to the (free) 'Great Astronomers' book. The Project Gutenberg link gives you an almost overwhelming number of choices of formats, to get the book in - All free. Can't beat that!

Each of the links above, will provide the book with illustrations, by the way. You may even find other versions online, and they will show the very nice, and engaging illustrations - Of famous observatories, ancient sketches, as well as ancient instruments, and telescopes. 

Please note: The Kindle version, available for free via Amazon, does not show these illustrations (although they are listed, near the table of contents). All in all this is a very good example of the kind of book(s) I’d like to track down.

Stay, tuned, coming up next will be:

An outstanding series of books I recently came across: 'Objects in the Heavens' - Awesome books!

Until then,

Clear skies!