View Single Post
  #95  
Old 25-05-2011, 06:26 AM
Gem's Avatar
Gem (Grant)
The serenity...

Gem is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Canberra, Australia
Posts: 926
Thanks John!
I used to do a lot of observing with a 10 inch dob, but have been overseas for years. The dob is now interstate and the focal length ( f 5.6) isn't easily transported, so I have a new Celestron 9.25" ordered. Should arrive next week.
In the past I used to read Hartung constellation by constellation (cross checking in NGC 2000.0), then get Star Atlas 200 or Herald-Bobroff and look for new objects. Mostly I had excellent dark skies (Wagga Wagga or Narrabri), so I used that 10 inch for all it was worth.
Even as a kid I used to use a 50mm refractor and took a log book around trying to list as many objects as I could see. BAA star parties usually increased my log book no end!
Now, after a decade out of astronomy, astronomy has changed. The new scope will have an eq mount and goto! I feel like a newbie again! I want to use the GOTO as best as possible and find new objects! The old dob was never that good on double stars, so that is one area I am hoping that new optics will excell at. I am kind of expecting that a quality 9.25" will see around the same amount as my old 10" visually.

Look forward to seeing how many I can tick off... then I might have to track down a star party or two to pinch a look in an 18" or 20"!

I should add that although I wear glasses, my night vision is quite good. I topped night shoots when I was in the RAAF but was a below average shot during day shoots.

Last edited by Gem; 25-05-2011 at 06:29 AM. Reason: adding
Reply With Quote