Bushnell North Star GOTO User Manual download pdf

Bushnell North Star 127mm

Maksutov Cassegrain review

(September 27, 2006)

I am certain there are cheap hobbies, but I’ve yet to find one. At least that’s what my

spouse of 41 years has concluded. So when I revived an interest in astronomy in the fall

of 2005, in an effort to enjoy the Mars opposition in October of 2005, she could breathe a

sigh relief: I already owned an Astroscan 2001 4.25” reflector telescope, which I

purchased 6 or 7 years before. Admittedly, it was better than the Jason 60mm refractor I

had bought in 1986, which turned out to be unsuitable for seeing Halley’s comet (the

smudge in the sky), yet it wasn’t as good as the Odyssey 13” reflector, which arrived too

late to resolve “The” comet (at this time, I no longer own the big reflector – had to sell it

to buy college supplies for my eldest son many years ago).

But the Astroscan did not resolve Mars as I thought it should have. Even with Edmund

Scientifics’ bulky Barlow lens, and some very good viewing conditions, the red planet

revealed none of the south polar cap, none of its dark surface markings. But in the

interest of economy and paying Christmas bills, not to mention the cost of the Ping G5

golf clubs I had recently purchased, I suppressed my thirst for seeing celestial objects

with clarity.

Subscribing to Astronomy magazine, with its glossy photographs of the new Meade and

Celestron hardware, plus an Orion catalog which came with a new telescoping eyepiece I

had ordered in an effort to resolve Trapezium, did not quench my appetite for a new

scope. But then, during the Tulsa Astronomy Club January sky watch party, we were

treated to two different 16” reflectors with 2” eyepieces, and witnessed a knockout view

of Saturn (the likes of which we had not seen since visiting the Griffith Observatory in

Los Angeles 20 years ago). I then knew I had to have a new scope.

My objective was cost driven: could I find a telescope which would mimic the giants we

had been treated to in January, but which cost less than $500? I needed as much focal

length as possible, with lots of light collecting ability. Thanks to internet searches, I

happened upon a Bushnell 127mm Maksutov Cassegrain, which boasted a mammoth

1550 mm focal length, a go to mount, and a couple of eyepieces. Since Bushnell doesn’t

advertise in Astronomy magazine, I had to judge the quality of the company by other

factors: I enjoyed the Bushnell distance-laser finder binoculars for use on the golf course.

That unit had given me fairly accurate distance readings, and therefore suggested

Bushnell made good optical products. The only product review I could find on the

telescope was a short blog: the mount sucks! Telescope has great optics. I had to

disregard that blog.

So I took the plunge, and in a matter of days, received my order. The entire unit was

packed in a long, heavy box, which I have retained for possible warranty claim purposes

(the unit has a limited lifetime warranty). The tripod has heavy duty legs (which I

lubricated with oil, so they would slide more easily). The mount is described as being a

Kinematic Mount; it holds the telescope in place with an “arm”, and is basically an alt-

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Summary of Contents

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Bushnell North Star 127mmMaksutov Cassegrain review(September 27, 2006)I am certain there are cheap hobbies, but I’ve yet to find one. At least that’s

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azimuth unit (but with the motor, tracks objects much like a motorized equatorial mount).The GoTo computer is powered by a 9V battery, which seemed a

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which I later judged to outperform the Bushnell 25 mm eyepiece), as well as a zoom 7 –21mm eyepiece from Orion, a 40mm Celestron, a 7.5 mm and 14mm fr

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a hold down screw, which initially caused me concern (with the scope pointing at anangle approaching zenith, I was apprehensive that it might slip out

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stars, the control device (and voice recording, which is hard to hear if there is much windabout) will indicate the accuracy of the calibration, which

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are in the “identify mode”, once you find a desired object and press the Go button, thecomputer will track the object, as the earth rotates (this trac

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Handheld ControlLast spring I was able to adjust the scope, so that I could view Saturn and its rings withclarity (it was not able to detect the Cassi

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Because viewing comparisons are useful, I placed the Bushnell side-by-side with theAstroscan, and tried different eyepieces with each unit. My initial

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Scope Without lens, mounted on tripodiNo one can ignore Celestron’s GPS planetarium, but the Palm Pilot program might be more worthwhile, atleast for