Archive for August 2023

An Article From the Astronomical League, Reflector Magazine For September 2023: “The Deer Lick Galaxy Group” And How It Got its Name

August 28, 2023

If you’ve never attempted this faint galaxy cluster, give it a try this October or November. I’ve never been able to see this small group of galaxies from my suburban backyard, with a 10-inch Newtonian.

I have seen the galaxy group with a 14.5-inch from a dark-site, but without notes or a sketch.

However, I have plans for this fall (November 2024) in an attempt to see the Deer Lick Galaxy Group from my backyard, using my 10-inch f/4.5 Newtonian

Image credit: Mario Motta using a 32-inch telescope:

Celestron CGE Pro Equatorial Mount: Replacing The Internal Battery

August 18, 2023

I’ve been having to reset the time or clock on my Celestron CGE-Pro equatorial mount before observing. I just recently found out from others, there is a CR2025 battery that requires changing from time to time.

Celestron calls for a CR2025 as a replacement battery.

It’s actually a fairly straight forward process, but “can be” time consuming.

The bolts that hold this top cap are Allen heads requiring a 5.5 mm wrench. Seldom do I find any application, involving telescopes, high-end precision bicycles or other that require half sizes, but this is no problem.

The following plate was a bit difficult to remove. It was “stuck” and required attempting with several techniques before finally getting it out. It had drops of silicon in several places along the edge, which had to be removed and cleared before removing the aluminum plate.

Remove the old battery, insert the new one, and then reassemble the mount, connect the Dec and RA cables and you’re all finished.

However, everything related to time and dates will have to be changed via the hand controller.

Storage:

I had set the clock, and checked all other specifications during this afternoon. However, last night when performing the alignment process, the mount couldn’t even find Vega, just overhead. And could not perform any two or three star alignment.

So finally, after at least an hour of frustration…I did a “complete factory reset” and reentered all necessary information which resolved the problem.

Note: After the battery change, the time is perfect, each and every time.

M56 Globular Cluster In Lyra: August 2023 Observer’s Challenge Report #175

August 5, 2023