New with a 10" Newtonian in Canberra - lots of ?s

[Mukha (Julian)]

Hi everyone,

I just found this forum and bought this scope (thanks Logan!) off the classifieds here and being completely new to astronomy and all I'm going to need a bit of advice about things. I bought this scope so I could learn how to find my way around the sky and see lots of pretty doing so but eventually I would like to do spectroscopy stuff (mainly stellar doppler measurements). I did some astrophysics at uni so I have some idea of what I'm looking at, I just have no idea how to find it. To start with I was going to work my way through Messier objects and others using Rob Horvat's charts.

First things I think I'm going to need:

A mount of some sort. It doesn't need to have go-to but tracking would be nice. I was thinking of either making or buying a dobson mount for it and then adding tracking motors later, is this sensible? Does anyone know of some good plans ready to go for building (with the ability to add motors later) or know of a company that sells dobson mounts to fit? What sort of price range for these options? I'm on a really tight budget, would like to keep total cost for the mount < $150 which rules out equatorials and probably rules out buying a dobson mount. I have access to the tools I would need to build one but have no wood working/crafting experience at all.

Collimation tools: no idea on these but I'm going to need something.

Eyepiece/s: Only have the factory standard 1.25" 40mm at the moment. I would like some better quality optics with higher magnification and a larger image frame size. The 1.25" is a measure of image size right? What are some good choices here?

Spectrometers: Rainbow optics makes a cheap good one but is it available to buy privately? Seems like it's aimed at schools. This is a fair way down the list as I'm going to need all sorts of astrophotography standard things for this and I don't even have a camera.

Unknown Unknowns: Are there some crucial pieces I'm missing?

Random:

Does anyone know anything about the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network? And the Faulkes Telescope South at Siding Spring (twitter) as part of that network? Apparently it's possible to apply for amateur science observing time on these 'scopes.

I am a member of the ANU's Black Hole Society but haven't been to any of their observation nights (they don't seem to have many at all). It just seems like a generally inactive group (website isn't updated at all) and I don't know of any equipment they have available to use for their members. Does anyone know about them or other recommended groups to join? My BHS membership has been a bit of a waste.

Favourite dark sky spots near Canberra?

After Jupiter, what should I look at next?

End Mind Dump. Thank you all.

[Poita (Peter)]

For a 10" you would be up for well over a grand for an equatorial mount with tracking, so you can count that out.
You could make your own dob mount, or contact Andrews ( http://www.andrewscom.com.au/) to see if they sell their mounts separately.
Plenty of people have made mounts here, I'd post a question in the DIY section.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/f...splay.php?f=17

The 1.25" is the barrel size of the eyepiece, they come mostly in 1.25" or 2" sizes.
Your magnification is set by the other measurement (the 40mm),
e.g. the Focal Length of your scope divided by the eyepiece size gives your magnification. I'm guessing your scope has a focal length of 1200mm

In your case the 40mm eyepiece would give you a magnification of 1200/40
= 30x magnification.
If you bought a 17mm and an 11mm you would get 70x and 109x magnification and so on. Not sure what you mean by the image frame.
There is a cheap TMB 6mm planetary eyepiece in the classifieds here, that would give you 200x magnification and a great view of Jupiter on a night of good seeing.

Spectrometers, I'd chat to Merlin66 on these forums, he is into rainbows

With that 40mm eyepiece, after Jupiter, take a look at some of the larger nebulae.

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Hey mate, as we discussed, EQ6 pro equitorial mount at the minimum. Otherwise, homemade dob base.

There is a lovely local guy and a member of CAS who makes hand crafted dob bases, Ian Ogilvie. Drop him a PM to see what's possible, at a cost of course.

That's a 2" eyepiece by the way.

Re dark sights, sign up with CAS, there are monthly dark sky events at member properties. And I will keep you posted if some of us nth-siders get together.

Enjoy the big bertha

Logie.

[Mukha (Julian)]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the responses. I think I've figured out that a Chesire and sight tube will get me most of the way to perfect collimation. Would the Catseye 2" Telecat XL Combo Tool be the best option? That seems to combine a chesire with a sight-tube and covers my f/ratio (f/4.7 I think).

• All features of the TELETUBE XLTM and XLSTM above.
• Addition of the BLACKCAT XLTM reflective ring enabling the TELECAT XLTM and XLSTM to function both as a sight tube and as a Cheshire as well

Still looking for eyepieces. I don't mind spending a bit more on eyepieces as they seem to be things that don't get replaced too often; so something like a Televue Nagler 17mm 2"? I'll try to pick up one of those 6mm TMB Planetary eyepieces.

Still need to sort a dobson mount, just trying to form a plan from http://stellafane.org/tm/dob/index.html

[stringscope (Ian)]

Hi Julian,

I have sent you a PM, suggest call me on my mobile.

WRT collimation, I have the Catseye tools and more traditional Orion cheshire so you can come around and have a go at using both if you want.

Re eyepieces, suggest "try before you buy" and proceed slowly . I have plenty here you can try. Some better than others

The Canberra Astro Soc observing nights are a good opportunity to look at and through different scopes, mounts and eyepieces and see what works for you. Also a couple of members have barlowed laser collimators which are interesting.

Cheers,

[Ric]

Hi Julian and welcome to IIS.

As the other members have mentioned check out the CAS.

Cheers