Celestron Wedge for NexStar Evolution and 6SE/8SE

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Please SUBSCRIBE to this KZbin Channel for all things related to deep sky exploration and imaging, thanks!

[@victordelpalaciosr]

It is May how is it going with your setup?? is it working? have pictures? great honest video contrata post another one as a follow up

[@travlon5101]

Thanks for the humor and for being honest in your live set-up. I needed that. Our hobby has "out-takes" every day if we would just admit it.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Travl - glad you enjoyed it. I don't rehearse anything and just leave the camera running - so whatever happens, I just go with it. Sometimes it can be very entertaining :-)

[@NFNDAIBO]

I LOVE it! And because of that, I sub’d. I have seen a couple other of Chuck’s videos, but he got a sub based on this one. Keep up the good, HONEST work and keep those videos coming!

[@brianclark2119]

Thanks for showing the human side of new equipment set up. I found it entertaining and real world. I hope this will encourage people that are interested in wedge mounts to use the proper wedge. I've seen a few celestron alt az mounts damaged and sometimes ruined with home made wedge designs.

[@americanmaker8608]

That third bolt/screw that comes off. It’s meant to screw on your telescope first. It helps you align the other boats. That’s why that mount is open at the top.

[@DonkeyMusic777]

Thanks Chuck! Your presentation is of a real guy (like me) just trying to figure things out. Seems like the astrophotography hobby has far too many snobs who are not willing to help out the beginner but rather get as fancy as possible with their fancy terms and big $$$. Thank you for being a real guy and meeting me where I am at as a beginner.

[@arvinsilos7305]

Can someone please enlighten me. @9:30, if it slewed that way, wouldn't it be a disaster if you have a dslr or a barlow and an eyepice attached to the viewing end of the scop since the end is so close the wedge plate? Sorry, total noob here.

[@PaulHummerman]

nobody can enlighten you, probably because they did not survive that inevitable disaster.

[@michaell1473]

Thank you! I've never seen someones GOTO fail badly on a youtube video, they always edit that part out. Debugging why your rig wont align right is a critical skill.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks. I almost did cut it out because the video was getting too long.

[@heartsparkdollar]

"I tested it already, and it works." Famous last words. Thanks Chuck!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

I was asking for trouble when I said that, LOL. Thanks Rick!

[@davidaylsworth8964]

The first time I put my Nexstar 11 GPS on a wedge I had the same experience. I was watching this happen and waiting for the inevitable. The sped up video was outstanding! The semaphore hand signals are way too familiar to me.

[@rongrosstube]

Kudos to your honesty and fast forwards through nonsense while showing what you did...great technique! I watched this to validate my setup of a DIY wedge and was amused and pleased to see that I am not the only one making poor first judgements! Thumbs up! Great example of the field rotation when using AltAz mounts. Thanks! Subscirbed!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

I appreciate the comment, thanks!

[@mycarolinaskies]

It's always easy to tell when someone isn't familiar with a fork mount and how it mounts to a wedge. The third Bolt actually you screw into the base of your telescope a couple of threads that allows you to set the telescope on to the wedge and then you can use that as a pivot point to align the other bolts. As far as the wedge position on the tripod there should be a tangent arm that connect to the side of the tripod head and aligns between the Azimuth adjuster bolts. On your German equatorial mounts that's the pin that's on the top of the tripid head and for a Fork tripod it's located on the side of the mount and you usually have to attach it as part of the wedge kit.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks, I figured there must be some purpose as to why that third bold was different from the others. Thx for the other info too. I'll be putting this to the test when planets come back around.

[@eyesoftexasskywatch]

So glad I bought the AVX mount for my 8SE OTA. I was real close to buying the wedge. Love the fast forward chipmunk voice!!! LOL

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Hi Tex, yes - I never gave the Wedge a chance and went straight to the AVX also, but I think it will serve a good purpose for planets. LOL, the video was getting way too long so that's why I sped up certain parts and deleted others.

[@MorelloMushroom]

@@ChucksAstrophotography Still talking $500 difference though, what would be the benefits?

[@TheSpacePlaceYT]

Why did this accessory have to cost 300 on the more expensive ones (6SE and 8SE) and the cheaper ones (4SE and 5SE) already come with it! It should be the opposite and the more expensive ones should be the ones that have the wedge. I'm annoyed because I wanted to check out some galaxies and nebulae but the 5SE. specifically designed for long exposure astrophotography because of the wedge and the aperture still being able to see the full Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy is ironically back-ordered and we won't be able to get it within 2 - 4 weeks and I highly doubt that it will be in stock again by that time. I would be patient but my birthday is early November.

[@av-ji9qy]

great job on the video Mr Chuck ...first time viewer

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks, welcome aboard!

[@elmikol2443]

Chuck, rotate the whole rig 180 degrees. I was yelling! Lol

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

LOL, my intuition was telling me to do that from the very beginning, but I kept seeing pictures online that were mixing me up.

[@elmikol2443]

@@ChucksAstrophotography so easy to get mixed up! There are alot of details in this hobby!

[@elmikol2443]

You got that right. I knew you would figure it out! You're the master!

[@ruiferreira9193]

Hi Chuck. Awesome video. Haven't seen a further video on how the wedge actually worked in action? I'm thinking of getting one. Would you recommend it or would you wait until the Equatorial mounts are available? Love the outakes.

[@zhenhaoyu795]

Could you tell me how to take picture of the celestial bodies at north using a wedge mount after polar alignment?It seems my camera always get stuck with the basement when the tube pointing at north.

[@meenangis]

Love your video. You sound like me my wedge has been in the box for almost 4 years too. Great good explaining I think I will take mine out of the box now!

[@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer]

Good video Chuck but question about your Jupiter animation ... How did you get the moons and Jupiter without one over or under exposed ?? Thanks ,,,, keep videos coming

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Steve. Jupiter and its moons can be captured in the same exposure. Check out this video at my SharpCap session and you will see Jupiter and a moon clearly visible in the same shot. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6STnJWAnaehmsk

[@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer]

@@ChucksAstrophotography Yea I will watch. I use sharpcap already and got Good Jupiters but the moon where very dim

[@flyalaz]

The one loose attachment bolt should be loosely installed first so you can hang the mount and scope and not worry about trying to hold it all while you install the other two.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Oh that makes sense, thanks for the info. It would help if I read the instructions.

[@mthirugnana]

Enjoyed this post thoroughly! You have a great sense of humor Chuck!

[@triangulumpubg6295]

"What did I do wrong?" I ask that myself too...

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

LOL, and I was hoping not to take too long to find a solution because I needed to finish the video.

[@TimK-1971]

@@ChucksAstrophotography It's not the scope that gets polar aligned, it's the mount. The base of the mount has to be pointing at Polaris. Basically, the arm holding the scope, that is perpendicular to the base should be pointing at Polaris. Rotate the whole mount about 180 degrees

[@TheIronbark]

@@TimK-1971 other videos show the same method to polar align. I am so confused.

[@mycarolinaskies]

I know that I'm my lx200 classic we point both the optical tube and the mount to Polaris but on the newer lx200 GPS we point the mount this newer way. All it is is setting up a basic home position anyways whether you put it at the celestial equator for the optical tube or at the celestial Pole. It's just a different way to write the algorithm for pointing.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Good point. As long as it tracks in the correct direction, then I don't care where the telescope is pointed at the beginning.

[@aperturedriven88]

How could we not be watching up until the end when we know that there are outtakes??? Very cool. I've never seen one of those utilized. Looking forward to Planet season coming back around and I'll be borrowing an SCT from my astronomy club so I can couch my refractor. Clear skies Chuck!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

lol, thanks Dustin - I'm glad you stuck it out all the way to the end :-) Awesome that you can borrow and SCT.

[@aperturedriven88]

@@ChucksAstrophotography definitely is a huge benefit for only $12 a year. Looking forward to what you're able to capture with that setup. On another random note, but RASA related. I'm going to try a tri-band one shot color filter in my RASA by removing the optical window glass retainer and putting the filter glass in the optical window frame so that I can leave it in the RASA. Nick from Altair Astro was saying that the tri-band has been tested with the RASA and being in bortle 8 it was the best option betweentri and quad. But anyway. Just thought I'd share a little ingenuitive curiosity. Have a good one sir.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@aperturedriven88 That's interesting, I'd like to know what kind of results you get with the tri-band. I wonder what kind of transmission it allows in on an f/2 scope.

[@aperturedriven88]

@@ChucksAstrophotography I figure even if it does essentially slow the scope down and I have to gather data for a longer period of time maybe that will be offset by the fact that if I want to get to dark skies from where I live I have to drive two hours one way.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@aperturedriven88 Right, nothing to worry about there.

[@uaglio666]

Happy new year Chuck! I have the same wedge bought for my PCP 800, 4 years ago like you, I never had good result with it so it is taking dust in my basement, you gave me motivation to retry it with 4 more years experience^^. In my memory, it was much complex to setup but with you, everything seems easier! Thanks to you, I could maybe have two rigs! Bigup from Belgium ( the worst country in the world to do astrophotography )

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Awesome, I really happy to hear I may have given you some motivation to put it back in action. Thanks Bigup!

[@shawnjackinsky4707]

You did an incredible job of describing and showing what a wedge mount is. Please post more instructional videos 🙂

[@kirostar12]

I only use this telescope with a hyperstar lens attached to it. So I have the perfect round stars from corner to corner. I used to take long exposures of up to 2 minutes even with this mount and Celestron wedge. But lately the PHD2 has been running like crazy with this mount, probably a mechanical problem and I have to put it on the VX mount for better guiding.I thought I could not buy another stand, but if I want to shoot in one night together with the two telescopes 8 SCT for wide angle shots and 8 HD for distant objects I may have to try AM3 or AM5 mount. As you said, this mount for shooting planets is a good solution. as well as for visual observation. Clear sky!

[@BookOfFaustus]

It's ok to curse Chuck. Starting astrophotography increased my vocabulary of four letter words a whole damn lot.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

LOL, thanks John - I did get a lot of complaints about my language in the past though.

[@LanceMan6012]

I have a 6SE with no wedge. I still think that I am going to hold out and get an EQ mount over the Wedge.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

For deep sky astrophotography, an equatorial mount that can handle a heavier payload may be a good idea.

[@jefflucas_life]

Yeah I still have mine, no worries about for meridian flips, my next mount going to be Avalon M-Uno Single Fork EQ for features you demonstrated Oh the memories.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

lol, I thought of you Jeff - you are the only other person that I know of that has one.

[@jefflucas_life]

@@ChucksAstrophotography I watched your channel and purchased the wedge because of you! It ended because our CMOS gears was to heavy for the mount but wedge has lots of potential if Celestron would make a stronger neck and better clutch plate. Hold my beer - going to throw something at Garnett Leary!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@jefflucas_life LOL

[@jefflucas_life]

@@ChucksAstrophotography you also thank me for my Ed127, lol and everyone from your channel, lol!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@jefflucas_life Right, the ED 127 all starts with you - you had a big influence on that and probably made a few million for Explore Scientific.

[@lesbatt4949]

Hi Chuck I just love your vids. They are so funny and I am learning a lot. Keep them coming. From a complete novice You are the best

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Les!

[@anandarunakumar6819]

Nice that you demonstrated this. I had same issue with older version of SCT 8E, flipping the position of way the telescope gets oriented on wedge fixed the issue.

[@sandragayle7866]

Very cool! You sound like me the first time I tried to setup my new Celestron SE 6 telescope. I think I will try the wedge. 😊😊

[@VoandoComMarcelo]

Hi! Thank you for the grat video and information. Was that amazing moving video from Jupiter (using the Alt-Az mount) done with the NexStar8SE? (or other 8" telescope?)

[@vinceveltri7732]

New Years resolution for 2020, no more tirades. For me, that lasted about two days. Good luck Chuck.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

I know, it won't last, lol.

[@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer]

Chuck , the other day you put up a video of you trying to image a comet and you made a video of it. What program did you use , Sharpcap or sgp ? And how you did it. I have made videos with web cam but not a ZWO. How would you do it?

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

The software was SGP. In the video, I used 15-second exposures and used PIPP software to animate it.

[@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer]

@@ChucksAstrophotography thank you , may try tonight

[@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer]

@@ChucksAstrophotography Chuck you out there i could use some guidance with sgp

[@salishvideo]

Chuck, I have question . I have nexstar 8se, should I get a equatorial mount or wedge connected with stock az mount is enough ?

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

I thought the Alt-Az mount is still too shaky even with the Wedge. Go with an equatorial mount.

[@salishvideo]

@@ChucksAstrophotography thanks for your reply.

[@steppen57]

I have a Nexstar 6 and I am considering getting the equatorial wedge. Is it worth it? In other words, did it improve your tracking accuracy significantly, or should I just replace and get an equatorial mount instead?

[@anonymoususer1437]

I have the same question. I dont understand what is the problem with the wedge and why everybody hate it?

[@steppen57]

​@@anonymoususer1437 Hi! Subsequent to this post, I listened to a detailed astro-photo presentation from my local astronomy club. It's very difficult to do precise polar alignment with this wedge. I decided against this option, and for now will continue to use the drive for easy go-to. It works for visual, and short exposures (less than 30 s). Hope this helps.

[@mossaic13]

I sort of designed a Dobsonian mount that sits on a wedge. Then I'd just have to rig a motor that turns the telescope once every 24ish hours. Would it work, is there something I failed to factor in?

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

That sounds like a fun project. It would be nice if the motor could interface with software that could fix tracking errors.

[@mossaic13]

I'm very new to telescopes. But it hit me hard. Haven't had any experience with astronomy and telescopes. Just the wonder of looking up kicked in full blast. Now a 10" f5 mirror is in shipping, making my own Dobsonian. But I do know stability is CRUCIAL for photography. I can't afford auto trackers. But I'm hoping that simple design will be enough, to allow sharp data collecting with minor manual adjustings.

[@3thomasH]

Good visual on field rotation!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Glad you found it useful, it help me understand it better.

[@DennisCarmody]

Ha, Chuck. Good fun. I had a wedge for the last few years on my CPC and got the hang of it eventually. It’s actually way more intuitive if you are starting w it than a GEM. Glad you’re finding something to do w your time waiting for clouds to go away haha!!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Dennis, these clouds are never breaking up even for few hours. But yes, at least I educated myself on the Wedge.

[@denodan]

There is a polar alightment feature in the HC so can aligh to pole even if you cannot see any pole star. Also EQ south is is southern hemisphere

[@VittorioSergi]

A friend of mine has one of these toy too, he uses it with the new nexstar evolution base though, aligns it with sharpcap and guides it via the handcontroller and pulse guiding, in his words: nice to have around, wouldn't replace a true GEQ mount but at least it doesn't have to do a meridian flip

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Cool, no meridian flips is a very nice advantage. I wonder how it would perform with guiding.

[@Niddler420]

That exhale at the end....been there brother. Great video, appreciate the down to earth tutorial.

[@jeffr2676]

Chuck, thanks for sharing! Love your humour & honesty and really enjoy your channel!

[@peeb2896]

Nice one Chuck! Just love the quick fix gaff tape on the telrad!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks peeb, my tape job is so embarrassing, but it works.

[@TimK-1971]

It's not the scope that gets polar aligned, it's the mount. The base of the mount has to be pointing at Polaris. Basically, the arm holding the scope, that is perpendicular to the base should be pointing at Polaris.

[@PaulHummerman]

- but I'm still not clear how you can get the fork-arm to point exactly at Polaris (or, even better, at the NCP. Eyeballing it will not be good enough. And can one assume that the arm is exactly 90 degrees with respect to the base, and thus to the tilt-plate?

[@TimK-1971]

@@PaulHummerman That's true. My old Meade 2080 8" sct has setting circles that can help get it pointed exactly 90° perpendicular to the base. I was trying to give a general description of the orientation that a fork mount sct would be in for polar alignment. But yes your point is valid too.

[@Grae82]

So - the wedge itself is at a fixed angle - correct? It doesnt move at all from the angle its set to. If this is true, then its time for my stupid question - cant you just set your tripod legs so the scope is at that same angle, and then you'd have no need for a wedge?

[@KINGKOPITAR]

Hey Chuck, can you tell me about the stability of the wedge with the single fork mount attached? I was hoping to do more than planetary photos. How much is the wedge going to improve my ability to capture non planetary objects? I just can't afford a nice EQ mount at the moment. Love your page and your Instagram. Thank you.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Dan. But I'm still waiting to try it on planets this summer, so I'm sure about stability yet. But I don't think it could make matters worse.

[@DJRonnieG]

I really liked seeing the animation with the field rotation. I'm gonna show it to a friend later to help him to better understand why I use an EQ mount. We had a debate about this one night. When I bought my C8 with its fork mount (sand-casted dual arm) I was thinking about getting an EQ wedge and a tripod. Haven't looked back after getting the EQ6-R but I recently had one issue come to mind. When I buy my next OTA which will likely be a wider field refractor or a newt that has a shorter focal length than a C8/8SE. With a focal reducer it is 1280mm. The problem being that if i get another scope and dont want to get another mount is that I could only use one scope at a time. Switching gear would be a bit if a hassle as it would also necessitate rebalancing and probably redoing polar alignment. Come summer there will be days where I won't be able to see polaris. When the seeing is good, I always use Sharpcap and my guider to verify alignment. Redoing it isn't a hassle if it's already aligned. My outdoor cover protects the OTA mount and another cover protects the tripod where it counts. Getting back to the point, your post planted the idea to reconsider. Maybe down the road I could choose to dedicate my C8 to planetary and lunar duty with a wedged and alt-az config. Thanks for the demo and clear explanation. Also, I like that you chosen it to abbreviate alt-az. Good for educating newcomers or less experienced viewers.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks for the comment, it was interesting to read. Glad you found this video useful.

[@rascaldere9327]

still not enough clearance for a dedicated camera that I can see... is there a fix for that?

[@Mohammed-zo3qq]

Ty for liking my photos on Instagram chuck i know they are garbage but doing baby steps for now, i am also using nexstar evolution on a wedge, on good nights i can reach 3minutes exposure with good guiding but most of the time time i cant, i also face problems polar aligning the telescope because its not pointing north like Gem so polemaster wont work and sharpcap wont work, allstarpolar alignment gives me a different reading each time, so i went with a phd drift alignment method. Also telescope or camera running into the mount is common but i am learning to use it. I bought a eq6-r now waiting for it to arrive excited as hell

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

3 min exposures sounds good.

[@The.RandomTube]

Hey Chuck! Wanted to ask how was your experience with this wedge later, I wanted to buy the CPC 1100 Deluxe telescope and I was thinking of buying this wedge as it'll enable me to do some astrophotography, Is it worth it or should I go for some other telescope?

[@luboinchina3013]

I also use my nexstar mount with wedge for timelapses or widefield astrophotography. You can just get a supercheap L bracket mount for a dslr and with 105mm lenses and with an average polar alignment you can get decent wide 3min exposures of constellations and even some deep space objects. Other option I would recommend especially because you are a vlogger, you can just setup your nextar without a wedge and shoot a timelapse of a weather outside and use it as a B-roll of your vlog especially nice to see the timelapse of your telescopes moving in time.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Lubo, those are interesting ideas.

[@TheSpacePlaceYT]

It's funny how some of the valuable stuff ends up being sped up for the sake of keeping the video short instead of speeding up the parts of him aligning the screws.

[@Harithmd1]

Great video, thanks Chuck 👍

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Pigeon!

[@richardpeters5173]

Hilarious and informative at the same time. Thanks. Sincerely!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Richard!

[@chhupparustom]

Very informative. It was useful to see the difference between the EQ and Alt-Az mount behavior with the Jupiter animation.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Chhuppa, glad you found it useful!

[@Astro_Gyani]

i was reading you name with an accent, confused at wht type of name that was, when I saw the guy mention you as Chuppa and then it dawned on me that it is Chuppa Rustom... hahaha😂🤣 been laughing at myself for the past few minutes

[@Astro_Gyani]

do you have any idea where can I find this wedge and what's the item description on it?

[@CarolinaSkyAstronomy]

Great video Chuck, thanks for sharing

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks CSA!

[@jamest1561]

Hey Chuck. I noticed on some of your recent video’s you aren’t using the wedge on your 8se. How come? I thought it’s the sort of thing that once it’s on you’d keep it there?

[@RaysAstrophotography]

LOL...(if there is larger expression for LOL, please replace) - Oh my Ghosh! Love it Chuck! That's where you started, so you are good at it! Love the Video!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

lol, thanks Ray! Back to the basics.

[@RaysAstrophotography]

@@ChucksAstrophotography It helps ourselves big time, forget people watching! Trust me on this!

[@nelsonrivera6575]

nice video ,time to take the wedge out and have a go at it again ,great motivation ,maybe i was doing it all wrong, thanks Chuck

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Glad you found the video useful, thanks Nelson.

[@TheIronbark]

This was really helpful I have 5se with the built in wedge and have no idea how equatorial alignments works with a wedge alt/az mount combination. 2 other youtube videos actually have the wedge facing the opposite way to yours with the wedge facing up towards polar north so that the telescope is vertical in relation to the arm which doesnt seem to make sense to me. Also I star sense which i use in the skyportal app on my phone so I do not use the hand controller at all. If anyone can give me direction on how to use these 2 things to EQ auto align i would be eternally greatful.

[@hung8439]

I have an 8se, your video is very helpful and I'm considering to buy this wedge. Does it have a motor to track and if so how does it work? Anything special you have to do once you have it aligned to track?

[@wesleydonnelly2141]

haha i was laughing at the voice in the sped up parts! The Helium voice always makes me laugh! haha. and yes, i did last that long my friend! haha i always watch your vids beginning to end! Great vid Chuck! Best wishes for 2020!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

lol, thanks Wes!

[@krunoslavcicmir5166]

What would be max tracking with wedge, can you do 20min exposure? Or need real eq ? Thanks

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Good question. Well the Wedge does turn it into a real EQ mount, but if you are interested in exposures that long, I would go with a higher end mount.

[@leboch65]

I live at very low latitude, 3 degree above the equator. Can i use this wedge without my scope hitting the base or becomes very tippy?

[@BRP42]

Do you have any issues with the focus hitting the mount?

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

No, I'm only going to shoot planets which are very low, so I won't be putting this setup in an awkward position.

[@BRP42]

Chuck's Astrophotography thanks Chuck. Have a great 4th.

[@cmas-astronomy4715]

We have some nice weather coming in tomorrow but it's super cold. We are going to set up the scope and run it remotely and do some EAA from inside. We did it last year with my 9.25 Evo and had a good time, but was thinking of getting an wedge for it at some point.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Good luck, I hope your good weather lasts.

[@cmas-astronomy4715]

@@ChucksAstrophotography Please post a video once you get some experience using it, i'm very curious about your experiences with it. Clear skies to you too!

[@LogansChristmasLights]

Happy New Year Chuck. Funny, I could hear chipmunks 🐿 helping you install the wedge but I couldn’t see them 🤣.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Hi Logan, Happy New Year! lol, the video was stretching too long so I had to speed it up a bit.

[@erentunali7228]

How can I adjust the wedge and what pole height I need?? Very informative and entertaining video 😂👍

[@kwm1952]

Hey Chuck, tried this same thing a couple of years ago. When your scope is set to it's home position ( arrows aligned) it should be facing north, pointing toward the ground. If everything is correct and you point the scope straight up with the mount it will be pointing toward Polaris. Think as if you were at the north pole, your base would be flat and Polaris would be straight overhead. If you really want it to work well, replace the 8SE with a 6SE or 4SE. Check to make sure there is little to no movement in your base, if so you need to tighten your drive gears. Hope this helps, you have been a big help and inspiration over the years.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks for the info Kenneth - now I have a third way. I'll be testing this in the summer then the planets come back.

[@kwm1952]

Straight up would be 90* from it's home position, open end of the wedge facing south. Follow your manuals instructions for alignment procedure.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@kwm1952 Yes, I saw an auto-align option where the scope is pointing at the Zenith.

[@kwm1952]

@@ChucksAstrophotography If I remember correctly even with starsense autoalign you set the scope to the original alignment marks, make sure you set the hand controller to wedge align and follow the procedure. There are updates for you hand controller esp. StarSense AutoAlign. The original servo motors are not strong enough for the 8 in. scope, especially with a wedge, no counterweight to relieve the load.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@kwm1952 My motors are not strong enough?

[@americanmaker8608]

Also by the way. I really enjoy your videos. Very entertaining.

[@nikulsuthar]

Great job Chuck!!! Would you like to try your RASA on this mount and the wedge? The camera will be up and therefore no risk of it running into the mount base or the wedge...

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Nikul, I think my RASA is happy sitting on my EQ6-R Pro mount, lol.

[@Dragonblaster1]

I did get the Celestron Equatorial Wedge for my NexStar 8SE, but I found it very heavy and clunky. I ended up selling it to buy a second-hand Advanced GT equatorial mount, and I made a profit. I use the Alt-Az for bright planets and the Moon, and the AGT for DSOs and faint planets

[@marktorr5380]

i really enjoy your video's I'm a newbie at this so "pays to listen".

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Mark, welcome aboard.

[@cmas-astronomy4715]

@Chuck's Astrophotography - Hey Chuck, do you have any updates? Have you had a chance to put this to use for EAA? Our club has been doing virtual star parties where we cast images to a Discord server. My Alt Az Evolution works ok, but not great. After a few minutes of live stacking you can see the field rotation errors. I was thinking about getting one of these to improve the stacking.

[@stew_redman]

I think after all this time we need a GoFundMe page to get Chuck a new base for his Telrad!!!! Keep up the good work Chuck :D

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks REDDY71! My tape job on the Telrad is so embarrassing. After I uploaded the video I was thinking maybe I should have temporarily removed the Telrad, lol.

[@astroedsastrophotographych4562]

I don’t have a celestron mount or wedge, but am sure interested in planetary, and would love to shoot some animations. However, I think i need like a televue powermate to get out something good with my 8” newt. Nice video Chuck!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks AstroEd, I'm sure the Powermate would allow you get good images of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. Even Mars looks cool when animated.

[@CapnZimmer]

Chuck!! I found you on Reddit recently, your stuff inspired me to get into the hobby. I was racking my brain with this wedge cause I was having the exact same issue you were on the first attempt! This video confirmed my suspicion, I gotta pivot the tripod 180°! One question then - how do I find the meridian when I'm looking southward through the eyepiece??

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Cool, glad you found the video useful. But the meridian is just the imaginary line that goes across the sky and connects north and south. A compass would help, but why do you need to find the meridian?

[@CapnZimmer]

@@ChucksAstrophotography because in the instructions for the two-star and AutoAlign feature, it requires me to 1) match up the alt markers on the fork arm and then 2) align with the meridian, before finding stars to get it's positioning. I took an educated guess and got close...ish, but it seems like there should be a better way! And the instructions for the wedge plate and scope say I should do that, followed by a wedge alignment, which apparently you can't do if you choose a Solar System alignment in the first half. Ack!!

[@levendlicht]

I really enjoyed the way you did this review :) I subscribed to your channel, keep up the good work! Cheers!

[@LA6507a]

This reminds me of the first week with my new Scope, LOL! Thank you, sir!!!

[@boetschge]

Yeah, alt-az Mounts in EQ-Mode always confuze me because I always forget that the actual RA-Axis is the Footprint of the Mount and therefore has to Point to the Celestial Pole. Not the Scope. Nice Video, I really apreaciate this "little" things! Regards, Marc

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks boetschge, the real test will be getting it out in the yard and capturing some planets. Glad you liked the video.

[@boetschge]

Im looking forward to the Video if you make one. Im sure the Mount will work fine since the Baseplate really looks sturdy plenty. Ah, and I dont mind a satisfiyng Burp in the right Moment :-)))

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@boetschge lol

[@lmu6airy]

I got the hd wedge for the cpc but it never worked so just sold it all and bought an equatorial Mount

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

I can understand that, but I think it will certainly perform well on the planets and get rid of the field rotation. For deep sky, I will always use an EQ mount.

[@jvargas454]

Hey Chuck, I found this entertaining and honest. I expect to go through the same stumbling blocks setting up my equipment when I upgrade. Thanks.

[@AstroQuest1]

Nice job Chuck, very interesting and informational!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Kurt!

[@toddnoseworthy1447]

If you put a camera on that need to make sure it doesn't hit the tripod/wedge. It almost did when you went to Navi the second time.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Yes, I saw that too. But there is room for the telescope to be scooted up more and since it will only be used for planets - the planets are at an altitude in my location that will be safe from having the telescope bang into the base of the mount for years to come. For deepsky, I will always use my other setups.

[@denodan]

if your photographing an alt alz mount works fine, dont need an eq mount as unlike DSO not doing long exposures. I photo the plants fine on my EVO 9.25 no trouble

[@Dave4291]

Great channel Chuck, helpful and entertaining 👍

[@jamesgorman1979]

Can you mount a nikon z 6 camera to the lens?

[@jamesdougan8789]

g`day chuck i have often wondered about buying a wedge for my evolution i will be following your adventure with the wedge and would like to hear your thoughts on performance of the rig (is it worth buying a GEM over the wedge , stability, ease of use ,accuracy of alinement , or any other issues that you come across ) celestron has a program that you can download for free its called CPWI that you can run your alt az mount remotely its by plain wave and it comes with your CGX so you probably have it so that should keep you out of the bugs next planet season and give you better tracking maybe over the hand controller unit looking forward to the next video featuring wedge with great interest cheers mate ..... may your skies be clear and your neighbours outside lights be broken lol (lovin the outtakes) cheers james D

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks James, I would love to run this remotely while capturing planets. I will look into that download.

[@jamesdougan8789]

@@ChucksAstrophotography its easy to use and aline with and you can build a 10 star alinement models for accuracy if you wish too... simple click star hit goto type operation with alt az all star polar alinement wedge mode .. if you have the celestron focuser drive you can run that too don't know about other branded ones star and DSO`s graphics are basic (should be alot better in 2020) but all the info you need is there i have only used it in alt az mode (no wedge) and it works great for me hope it keeps you out of the bugs next planet season cheers james D

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@jamesdougan8789 Thx, that's good info.

[@gollondblack6247]

Great video Chuck! I might have to pull out my old 4SE and try the built in wedge. I was never able to get the EQ working properly on it, not that I use it for planetary only for a quick grab'n go visual mount. Thanks.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Gollond. Oh, the 4SE has a built in Wedge? I forgot about that - interesting.

[@gollondblack6247]

@@ChucksAstrophotography I just gave my 4SE a go with the wedge inside and it actually works!! Thanks again Chuck. Now I might give it a go tonight to see how accurate it is. :) It will be good to have a second EQ mount.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

@@gollondblack6247 That's awesome, I'd love to know how tonight goes for you.

[@gollondblack6247]

@@ChucksAstrophotography Had a few cloudy nights but tried it out tonight. it's a bit tough to align but I was able to get it slewing and tracking fairly well. No guiding possible with the 4SE so only 8sec without trailing. I still got a good image with Sharpcap live stacking and my Space Cat scope :) so for planetary it should be great.

[@rickpaul9858]

Fun stuff Chuck!

[@evastronomy8048]

Well, very nice video Chucks...!! you made me laugh for good, you made my day...!!!, hope if you can post a video showing some pics with that setup...clear skies...

[@dominikadamowski1203]

love your videos! keep it up!

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks Dominik!

[@ERRTRADIO]

THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO VERY HELPFUL

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Glad you found it useful.

[@TornadoCrewStormChasers]

So to polar align the scope just slew it around to polaris?

[@PaulHummerman]

well, your eyepiece and camera might hit the base if you try that.

[@adityams1659]

loll XD... I have always wondered wont this system bang into the tripod if there is any camera or eye piece attached???

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

It looked like there is potential to bang a camera into the base of the mount, but it won't be an issue for planets because of the altitude of where the planets are at.

[@adityams1659]

@@ChucksAstrophotography mmm yea that makes sense...

[@dranrebnor]

Very funny and informative at the same time. Thank you for sharing!

[@jean-marclemoine9636]

Love your videos. You are too mutch ! JM from France

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Thanks JM, and hello to France from the USA :-)