The Celestron Edge HD 11 Project 

All my friends have domes built in their yards. It's so nice to see an old school guy like me that still carries all his gear out!

Wow, that is an experience I've had more times than I can count and not just with this hobby. The fact that you document your trials and errors is something I find extremely useful and thanks for being so authentic. I guess any hobby that is too easy likely won't hold one's attention very long and one that is challenging, provides a tremendous sense of accomplishment when things go well. Looking forward to the next stage of progress with this rig!

I feel this. I recommend trying the all star polar align routine in the hand controller (undocumented really, but just as accurate as a pole master). I have a video on this. But for this to work, you should ensure your finderscope is aligned to what the scope is seeing (use a distant streetlight to check). Then it's easy to align those bright stars. Two star alignment + one calibration star is enough but for the focal length I usually go through all 4 calibration stars. Good luck!

Most people starting out in telescopic astrophotography in the 80s and 90s used 8" f/10 SCTs - Celestron and Meade both came out with "LX" type models for this purpose. Back then it was all on film, and initially with manually-aimed mounts (computerized setting circles and eventually Meade's LX200 Goto mounts gradually did away with this). Oh yes, and guiding was done manually.

While still a refractor person I am totally riveted by your learning curve Trevor !! I will follow your progress diligently!! Keep em coming !!

Love watching your perseverance Trevor. This is what I'm facing with my new rig at the moment! It's a long road but it's a fun one. Can't wait to see what you produce. Clear skies and good luck!

Sounds like a win in my book Trevor. Great to see you embracing failure and learning from mistakes. It helps the rest of us humans to see you pushing yourself up to and beyond your comfort zone. 👊

You could get some great planetary images from that scope!

Another great job! Ty for taking the time to give such great in depth details on both your successes and failures. We learn more from failures and you publishing those (and possible solutions) helps us along our journeys! Even though mine is just starting!

Glad to see someone still active ! I look forward to your next post on this setup. Signed, a growing fan.

Finally a new video to have fun while we're all in quarantine!!! Thanks Trevor!

That's a great philosophy. Every session is a learning experience, even when things don't go to plan.

Trevor, welcome to the SCT club and working with very long focal lengths. I’m looking forward to watching you master the challenge of using a SCT as I expect that you will develop a routine that we can all learn from.

Finally! I’ve been waiting for you to make a video with this rig for a while now

Thanks for helping the newcomers like me. I also look forward to this journey. There's a LOT to learn. I admire your videos and even my High Point Scientific friends speak highly of you. Great Job!

I really appreciate seeing these types of videos, errors are where the learning happens and sharing it helps us all with the process. Can’t wait to see where this journey leads. (I was looking at the 9.25 so this will be my pain as well in the future. )

I give you credit for even trying to do star-alignment and a hand-controller with that beast at full focal length, you must like self-torture, lol. Excellent video, Trevor!

I have the 11"SCT Hyperstar system with ASI 071 setup. Bought it directly from Starzona. Dean set things up for me. Love it. Took a steep learning curve and the one night of instruction at their location. After 5 months I finally am getting the images I was promised by myself. They are fantastic!

My favourite RU-vidr rn😎 keep it coming with all these amazing videos😎

good luck with the beast ! waiting for the next part. best Tv show !

Awesome setup! Looking forward to seeing your images.

I was looking at getting this telescope this year! Your vídeo serie is one I can’t wait to see!

As you alway do and perform the information needed for using this 11". Best teacher the stars can find. Thank you.

great video like always Trevor

What a monster! Enjoy it, waiting your results.

thanks Trevor for another educational video.

Great video, can't wait to see some images. Good luck Trevor.

This video felt a lot more personal, and I like it. Hope to see more of videos like that. Half of my sessions are fruitless, so seeing you struggle makes it easier for me you associate with your videos.

The Starsense is very good. I used it with my Celestron C8 with 2000mm focal length and I no longer lost in space.

Thank you for what you do!

Damn it looks heavy!

Can’t wait to see what you get with this rig. Love the videos and thanks for retweeting my IPhone M42 photo!!!!!

g`day trevor good to see you doing a video or 2 for the SCT lovers in your community

I have this exact setup. I use the ZWO ASI294, 071 & 1600MM. I bin all of these at 2X2 with great results. For Guiding I use a 80mm Guide Scope at 1960mm & 2800 with fairly good results. OAG of course is better. The stock Finder scope is good for getting you on your alignment star if you align it to axis. I use my DSLR on live view for star alignment and every thing works great. I of course do a plate solve to confirm. I am using the Celestron Motor Focuser as well as a Moonlite SCT Focuser with Motor for fine focus and focusing thru the sequence. It is a new world with this 11”. I started with the Explore Scientific 80mm as you did & suggested. A Dew shield makes a big difference. Clear Skies! . Steve

Very interesting video. It was nearly the same for me with my new C8 Edge HD. The alignment was difficult in the beginning and the first steps with the OAG were hard. But after 4 month, I solved most of the issues and now can guide as long as needed. Last test was with 12min without any problems. Have a lot of fun with the C11. It could be my next scope.

Just take the plunge and plate solve trevor, you honestly will never look back. With solvers like ASTAP that exist it is SUPER easy to set up. Unless you're at very high focal lengths you only need to download 1 library, no checking of different FOV's for different catalogues. Just one 700mb file, the astap program and pointing your acquisition software to the ASTAP folder on your PC and you're done. That's it.

I can't wait to see the images that come from this!

Always so interesting to see different setups, since I started in 2015 I started with platesolving and ditched the hand controller. Never looked back. :)

Can't wait for the images!

I am using a Celestron Edge HD 925. For polar alignment I always have both a regular finder scope and a red dot finder attached to the scope. This way, you start with the red dot finder to easily bring the star into the view of the finder scope. After you have centered the star you can go to the camera (DSLR or otherwise) and center the star there. This is a three step process but very quick and easy. I always use the two star alignment method plus at least two calibration stars to align the scope. After that, I always polar align the mount. This is also quite simple with the help of the red dot finder, should the position of the guide star be outside the view of the finder scope. I do not need/want anything else for polar alignment. Plate solving is also not required. Finally, for guiding I use the MGEN-3 system and a 240 mm guide scope, which replaces the red dot finder after the initial alignment. The MGEN system uses multiple stars for tracking, not just one. In my light polluted rural area it typically finds between 20 and 40 stars for tracking. This way, the tracking is very, very accurate. Hope this helps 😁 Oh, and always use the ‚Precise GoTo‘ feature of the hand controller when you slew to an object that you can not see in the live view of your camera. That helps a lot.

Wow The celestron is so amazing

Glad you were finally able to test it "oot". 😉

did you try a full frame camera on like the eos ra or even the R, the R for wide field on the 8" edge HD with 1.6 reducer might be good?

That RA axis swings nicely. Good to see it’s not filled with the typical sticky grease.

Besides your ability to explain in a clear manner, that which you do, it's primarily your philosophy that I embrace. Similar to the comment by Cosmos Safari, I appreciate your approach-put your expectations on hold, give it a go, learn from what you do, experiment, use some trial and error, and therefore EVOLVE. Way to go, Trevor-moving forward.

Woah cool!

Very cool to see you working with this rig Trevor. In the long run (in a few years) I am planning to get an RC for galaxies so I am watching your journey closely :)

Hey Trevor. What is the extension tube between the ZWO and the OTA? and I dont see the focal reducer, did you ad that later? I have a 8SE that I want to add a ZWO to, but I'm really confused on the tuff in between the camera and tele. Can you help?

Great video Trevor! Go Rudy!

beautiful toy!

Hi I have a celestron power seaker 60AZ telescope. Yesterday I was trying to see Jupiter through it but was not clear. I don't know how to use a Barlow lens. I have a 3x Barlow lens. So please help me in learning how to use it.

Trevor, I can't tell you how reassuring it was to watch this video. I have a Celestron Advanced VX 8 telescope and have had lots of difficulty trying to align it to the levels I see you do on your videos. I was getting pretty frustrated. It is encouraging to know that you too had difficulty and the problem was not necessarily just me. Now I feel energized to know that even somebody as experienced as you had similar problems. I never figured the higher focal length would make it so much more difficult. Thank you...even when things don't go right, I am learning that a positive step can be made from the mistakes. I just need to buy the StarSense guiding system and I think all will be fine! Thank you for your videos!

I'm looking at getting this scope and I'm very interested in seeing how you do with it. What camera are you using with it?

Did you give up the ASIAir Pro for plate solving?

Why did you opt for the laptop instead of the ASIAir? With the Celestron scope is it better to use the laptop with the Celestron software than ASIAir?

Hi sir may I know is the CGE mount plate fit on eq6r pro mount?

What spacer did you use for the ZWO. is it just the t-Adapter from celestron?

Great video ! Quick question, I have reflector telescope, and when I point it to M81 (which is quite high), the tube hits the tripod leg, is there any way of stopping this ? People have told me to do a meridian flip but I still can’t see the target, it’s like there’s a blind spot I can’t access

I need to invest in this, I love looking at the stars.

Trev... Your setup is very similar to my large focal length setup. First , get .7x focal reducer, it made a huge difference for me. Forget Star-sense (I used SS for over a year) same as plate solving and adds 2.4 pounds of weight. Use polar alignment software... I use sharp cap with 60mm AstroTech and 290mc, very similar to Williams Optic 63mm...Use CPWI it is limited but works excellent with Celestron mounts. Plate solve on a good star (ie altair). Then using PHD2 do a drift alignment... this is troublesome at first but once you get hang of it you can have very good polar alignment. Very important! take flats, dark flats and darks. Do not bother with bias, 294mc does not have consistent low noise pattern and has a significant amount of amp glow. With large focal length you have no choice... the camera sensor is so sensitive it picks up everything in your imaging train...Good Luck!

Seriously, Plate-solving is an absolute BLOODY GODSEND!. At first, i was utterly baffled, then i picked up the principles from here and there until i stumbled upon Astroquest1, who has a series of APT tutorials, including plate-solving and it *clicked*, i followed his guidance and was fortunate that everything ( all bar a few hiccups along the way) fell into place. my setup is very quick and easy now; level mount, polar align, one star alignment via the handset, focus with Bahtinov... then everything else is via my laptop; main camera, guide camera, mount and electronic focuser. Choose an object or enter coordinates into APT, slew to the object...you don't even have to check the camera! then run it thru plate-solving and once it's solved and centred, take a test shot and BINGO!, that super-dim object that your GOTO handset might well have missed, is bang in the middle. then start guiding and off you go!

Love your vids a real inspiration always , Im new to this but Ive never once done a star alignment , only ever plate solved in APT and polar align with sharpcap, I tried a celestron starsense but got fed up with messing with the handset so I just use the laptop direct to the mount with the usb port and binned the starsense and hand controllers altogether .Im pretty sure the plate solving wouldnt work at that focal length unless I download some more star maps that correspond , Im actually glad I never grew into it with that dreaded handset messing with times and dates star aligments etc APT and plate solving is so much easier , I learnt APT from you and PHD2 btw .. Love your vids great to see the learning curve ..

A great video again Trevor! Thanks for it! This rig looks absolutely craaaazy ! I’ve been here since like 10k! Thanks for everything, you’re the reason I got into vlogging my night sky adventures myself 😁 clear skies!!!

Looking forwards to see how this works out! :)

I have a 12in star hopper dobsonian I want to get it ready for astrography can I use that mount

How did you determine what length adapter to use for the camera?

I love how you can always stay positive bro! Hopefully you get a few clear nights in a row to keep practicing. I’m really excited to see what you can do with that SCT!!!

Also so glad to hear you're working on retiring the ST-4 cable. 😅

"Even if it's potentially frustrating, if you've learned a few new things, then it's a positive experience". In that case, I must have been getting a lot of those positive experiences lately! Can't imagine how hard it must be at 2800mm. Awesome scope Trevor, can't wait to see more of it in the future!

Hi! Is really nice! Do you need a guide scope like the one 50mm you used with the SkyWatcher refractor with this Celestron 11? If so which one do you recommend me? Thanks for your wonderful videos!!

We have the EdgeHD 11" and we use the StarSense and also the GPS module to make setting up very quick and simple.

Would using Asiair work ok with this setup for go to capabilities?

What is that mount called that you are using for your guide scope

Have you used a Celestron Edge HD SCT for Astrophotography? Please share some pointers. Seriously, I'm setting it up again tonight!

Thanks for the review. I've got the Edge HD 11 and the Starsense Auto Align is a great investment as well as a huge time saver. My HyperStar mounted on that produces amazing DSO's in minimal time with the assistance of my auto guider. Looking forward to your follow up videos and your assessment.

I've been using the Star Sense for the last year, visual only and with the 8se (only 2032mm Focal length). I got it because until the lock down I did 2 or 3 community outreaches a month. It's just easier to let it align itself as I keep people back and do a short talk. I will attest it does a great job, even when starting with a 10mm eyepiece it is normally in frame.

So no further videos on deep imaging with the C11. Did you trade it in or give it back ?

Does it need any kind of calibration from time to time ?

I am glad I am not the only one suffering with the Edge 11, I havent gotten past the polar alignment with Sharpcap just yet. Waiting on darker nights. You will definitely need a permanent home.

Is that mount much better than the CGEM is? I've been wanting one of those but Id like to know how much better it is than my CGEM..? Thanks!

I have the C8edgeHD, hyperstar and asi1600mm pro. I use the starsense autoalign system with on point go to positioning every time. For polar alignment I use the hand controller and mount adjustment knobs to align with ease. For guiding I use the zwo mini scope and asi290mc and connect phd2 to the hand controller. I read somewhere not to use the port on the mount. It was a lot of trial and error but now I’m starting to shoot some decent images. Love you videos man, good luck and clear skies

Its funny you posted this. I am setting up my Meade 10" right now. ASI cooled Camera on back order. I am going to use a OAG with ASI290 mini. I am also using Stellarmate. I have been mocking it up and testing it in the garage. No flying bugs is nice. I will have to look into getting a focal reducer that will fit.

Hi Trevor! Thanks for all your videos! I enjoy them very much! I would like to know if you have ever user the hyperstar and the camera in front of the edge 11? Thanks again! Lucía

I'm trying to figure out if I should get an C11 $2430~ or an Edge HD 11 3400~... I do want hyperstar which both are apparently compatable with, is the edge HD really that much better or would I still be fine with the regular c`11?

Watching in November 2020. God, I hope you've moved to plate solving by now. It is so easy and quick and removes all this frustration.

I just bought the edge 800 and a skywatcher EQ-6R pro as a 2nd scope. Upgraded from a celestron LCM 114......I have a lot to learn. Thanks for uploading all these vids. Now I dont know for sure but it sure sounds to me like you could avoid most of these issues with a better mount. One with a polar alignment scope built in. One made for scopes with longer focal lenghts.

Hello, can you share some details about the starizona backfocus adapter you are using? I have a 9.25 edge had and a ASI294mc pro. I can't figure out how to get the 55mm backfocus. Appreciate any help! Love your videos btw!

I've got a question: What's the App / the program at 2:09 where you can plan the field of view?

What software are you using to simulate your FOV? That looks really useful. Thanks!

Wow! This telescope is a big ''Gun''. Looking forward to see your astrophotography results with this telescope.

Awesome video! Really excited to see you get the rig working. You mentioned using an off-axis guider with this setup, but is f/10 fast enough for off-axis guiding? (I wouldn't know, I've never done it...)

Hi Trevor!, thanks for sharing this video with us!, currently I’m using a RC 6” and I want to get a guiding system to get longer exposure images, what would be the rule for matching the telescope focal length with a guide scope?, it would also come in to play the guiding camera as well?, is there any sweet spot for the focal length of the guide scope without worrying about the guiding camera?. Thanks man!.

I have had an HD 1100 for several months. I have some other scopes, but this one really does the job. As you say I usually use it with the focal reducer. I found an excellent cheap guide scope with a 400 mm camera lens with a QHY 5IIm as the guide camera. My imaging cameras are a ZWO 294MC pro, just sent back to China because it went out, and a mono SBIG 8300, which is great. I use platesolves with Sequence generator pro to locate objects with my Astrophysics Mach1 mount. I have a Hyperstar; had excellent results with it. Have been hesitant to put it back because collimating this scope was tough.

Love to see you use a Planewave telescope love your vids

What is your optical train configuration to get to the 146mm?

What mount are you using? A CGX, CGXL or something else? BTW I used a C-14 before GOTO and used star charts for star patterns from an atlas to center invisible objects? There was no computer control, CCD camera or autoguiding then, so much easier today.

Anyone have the Nexstar 6se? How is it for viewing the planets and deep space object?

I like this

Whats the difference between the celestron RASA 11 And the c11 EdgeHD ? Or are they the exact same scope Only the edgeHD HAS AN eye peace And Rasa does not?

I love my StarSense Autoalign. Works best when you align manually FYI. But it really takes a lot of the time and toil out of alignment