If I had not seen you do it I would not believe it possible to find and image Venus at high noon with the sun right next to the Venus. Absolutely blows my mind 🎉
Really appreciated this video Kyle, thanks. I’m a newbie that just picked up a Nexstar Evo 8”. I’m trying to learn how to align during the day for the upcoming eclipse (I’m in the path of totality, NE Ohio). This video was really helpful. Thank you very much.
Nice little vlog! Venus Looks Pretty Cool with That Cresent On, Perhaps the most Impressive Phase! Here is a cool tip: you might want to use a dew Shield on your SCT, since The Suns Glare can Still Reduce some Contrast. Regardless it's so cool to see it anyway!
This was a "duh" video. I never would have thought of the use of daylight SkyAlign to image Venus. Now that I know about it, maybe Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and even Saturn may be attainable too. And yes, solar filter is a must when starting out or even slewing to another object. Thanks Kyle.
I've tried once, and you are correct. The focal length for the aperture (i.e. the focal ratio of F/10) isn't great for the an AltAz mount. So at its default, I wouldn't say this is a great DSO scope. You may be able to do better by adding a focal reducer to bring it down to F/6.3 but I haven't tried that yet.
It depends a but on your use case. A bigger aperture is always going to be better for resolving targets (provided you are OK with the native focal length). However, the Best Telescope For You is going to be the scope you use the most so portability may be a big factor for you. For someone like me who lives in an apartment and has to drive to a nearby park to set up, the CPC 9.25's bulk is a big downside. For someone with a house and backyard, the portability may be perfectly fine. If your trying to do long exposures for Deep Space, there may be better options as the CPC 9.25 does have an AltAz mount. AltAz is simpler and more user friendly but can be limiting if you want to really push the limits. Overall I think its a solid scope that is well built and good performer, though if you are looking to do something specific, there may be more specialized setups that are better. That said, I love buying telescopes Used as that tremendously helps the value proposition. I'd search the used market before considering anything new outright.
Yup! Though I'd make sure to check Venus's position relative to the sun first. We only just got past inferior conjunction, so they are probably too close together right now for you to try anything without a risk of damaging your equipment. Should be better in 1 - 2 weeks though
