The Celestron Omni XLT 150R arrived Wednseday, November 18th. Of course I didn’t get to take it out of the box until Friday and start to putting it together. After a quick read through the manual, I unpacked the mount and started assembling. The process went very smooth. The mount, Celestron’s CG-4, which is a EQ mount, sits atop of a heavy-duty stainless steel tripod with 1¾” legs. Once I had the unit assembled, I attached the optical tube. The dovetail mounting system is a refreshing change from some of the older OTA attaching methods I’ve used in the past. This package came with a couple of features I didn’t expect like the azimuth adjustment and provisions for adding a polar alignment scope.

Time to balance the telescope. Balancing the mount in RA was a straight forward process. Celestron includes two counter weights (7lbs. and 4lbs.) with the CG-4 mount that make RA balance easy. Balancing in DEC is quite another matter. In the manual, Celestron states, “The Omni XLT150R is the most difficult to balance depending on the latitude, the accessories used, and which part of the sky the telescope is pointing to. Balance this telescope as best you can.” That’s a heads up. Since the telescope is a 6″ rich field (focal length =  750 mm), it goes without saying the the OTA is going to be heavy toward the front. Balancing in DEC is a little time consuming and at the time I’m writing this I still haven’t achived good balance in DEC. It’s my guess that it can’t really be achived. Like Celestron says, “balance this telescope as best you can”.

If the skies hold out for tonight, I take it out for final adjustments and “First Light”. Stay tuned.

Clear Skies,

- Dan

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