From my experience at college with my first scope, I had run into a few difficulties. Time was limited, buildings and trees obstructed my field-of-view, which sometimes made it difficult to align the scope. As stated in my previous post, I am considering an upgrade to the Celestron SkyProdigy telescope. Unlike my previous telescope, the SkyProdigy aligns itself, using a wide-field camera and a database of current star patterns. Not only does this feature save the astronomer time, it also allows for beginning astronomers get started faster without having to know the names of stars and constellations.
For this weekend, I'll be testing a SkyProdigy scope, for a better understanding of how its self-aligning feature works. According to Celestron, the scope should align itself in three minutes. I'd like to see if it can actually do this when the view of the skies is obstructed by buildings and trees, much like it is on campus. It may only be May, but I feel the need to test this scope months ahead of time, before going back to Susquehanna University.
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