My first observations!!!!!

[ThunderChild (Chris)]

Got my first telescope happening tonight - first time ever!
(6" Dob).
(Much thanks to Steve for allowing me to bug him).

Saw Mars, Orion's nebula and ... Saturn.

Oh my lord, Saturn. That one little gem has made me very excited.
Very excited indeed.

It was only very small - but incredibly bright (dazzling white) using my 9mm plossl (1200mm fl - that makes 133% mag. no?).
I guess that brightness means that I've got more capacity for magnification (when I get a barlow or smaller lens) coz I'm getting ample light?

Anyway - I'm going back out there. Just had to tell someone. Was going to get to bed, but now I'm debating about hanging around and spending the night - not sure I'll sleep anyway.

[Starcrazzy]

Good onya thunderdude..

Glad to see ya got it going..Mabye a little more mag would be ok on the planets but not to much more...as you increase mag you loose alot of image quality, sometimes its better to have a smaller crystal sharp image then a big blurry one...wait till you see jupiter..

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Glad you got it working! And that the clouds stayed away! You can push the magnification quite a bit higher with your scope if the seeing is good (atmosphere is still) and your scope is well collimated. Your scope should be able to do 250-300x without any problems.

[Twokids]

Well done Thunderchild,

Welcome to the dark side .
I recently had a night where I organised most of my family to have a look through my telescope, and Saturn was the thing that had them blown away.
It was also what got me hooked, through my first telescope, a 60mm refractor .
You will now be up late every clear night so get used to living on minimal sleep.
Morning Jodie hates night Jodie

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Saturn does have that WOW factor doesn't it.
You never get tired of it.
As Starcrazy said, "wait till you see Jupiter" with his moons. He'll rise around midnight if you are finding it hard to get to sleep you should check it out. Take a pencil and paper with you, and sketch where the moons are, come back to him in an hour and see how far they have moved.

[davidpretorius]

well done.

no one will ever do to work rested and fresh again!

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Congrats on the scope, you will love it and the views.......

[ThunderChild (Chris)]

Yeah Jodie,

Morning Chris hated night Chris this morning.
Ended up waking up at the time I'm normally getting into work.

Opened a bottle of Brown Brothers Reserve Port and spent a while
straining to see if I could find the Cassini Division. Probably a little
ambitious of me (no - of course I didn't get it )

That stellarium program was an incredible help too. Showed me exactly
where to look in the sky from my point of view on the ground.

[Starcrazzy]

yea, its a great programme..Once you work out the ecliptic you will sorta always know where the planets are, and you'll be driving around in the evening with friends and you'll say"look, there's venus, and what do ya know over there is Mars..lol...it really impresses them..in fact one night i was on a trip from newcastle to wollongong and got a bit lost after going over the bridge(they didnt tell me the road sent you out west)it was late at night and i was a little concerned about the fuel situation..lol, anyway i used venus as a referance and just ket heading south, eventually i made my way out sydney and found a farmiliar road..cool hey, i felt like magellan...lol..

ps, i don't think you will resolve the cassini divison, mabye on a perfect night and when he's really jigh in the sky,,but still, don't know...Have fun..

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

I spent almost 10 years using a 6" f8. You will certainly resolve the cassini division with about x180. And see the moons of Jupiter in transit, with their shadows!

[Starcrazzy]

ok, i stand corrected, i have a f6 8" and i have never resolved the division with that scope..Its a saxon, mabye the collimation is out ??dam..

[ThunderChild (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Merlin66

I spent almost 10 years using a 6" f8. You will certainly resolve the cassini division with about x180. And see the moons of Jupiter in transit, with their shadows!

Awesome. I get the feeling I'll be purchasing some new hardware over the weekend. Currently have 9mm and 25mm plossl.

It sounds like one goal will be to obtain power to somewhere in the vicinity of
x180-x200. Would I be better off getting a 2xbarlow or another eyepiece (say 6.5mm)? Of course, the 2x barlow would give me x266 with the 9mm, so that would probably be a little high - wouldn't it?

Before I accumulate any more eye pieces, is it better to make the decision to go to 2" EP? Or am I better off staying with 1.25" for time being?
Recommendations for brands/types of EP's I should look for?

Chris

[cahullian]

Hi Chris
Sounds like you are having a real blast with your new toy.
I wouldn't go ep crazy...just yet he he.
An Orion shorty plus barlow x2 would be a good buy as it will double the ep's you now have. I have an 8" Dob and that was the first thing I bought.Maybe the 15 mm plossl would be a good start also.
Enjoy your sleepless nights.

Gazz/Irish

[ThunderChild (Chris)]

Originally Posted by cahullian

An Orion shorty plus barlow x2 would be a good buy as it will double the ep's you now have. I have an 8" Dob and that was the first thing I bought.Maybe the 15 mm plossl would be a good start also.
Gazz/Irish

Thanks for the advice.
A x2 barlow would make x266 with my 9mm. Is that getting too high?
Would that still resolve a viewable image?

Chris

[iceman (Mike)]

Would that still resolve a viewable image?

On most nights, no. Well, you'll see something, but it'll be blurry and appear out of focus.. thanks to the seeing conditions it's rare that you can push beyond 200x.

Of course you *want* the eyepieces that will allow you to go higher on nights of good seeing. So it could be a good idea to get a 15mm eyepiece and a 2x barlow.

If it's in your budget, I'd get a 15mm TV plossl (approx $150) and a 2x orion shorty plus (approx $150).

The 15mm barlowed (to 7.5mm) will be a good planetary eyepiece on most nights, giving you 166x. When the seeing is much better, you could barlow your 9mm.

[davidpretorius]

Originally Posted by ThunderChild

Thanks for the advice.
A x2 barlow would make x266 with my 9mm. Is that getting too high?
Would that still resolve a viewable image?

Chris

no, i have been using a 5mm vixen recently on jupiter and saturn and earlier mars. it gives me in my 10" 1250 = 250x. I got to use it say 8 or 9 times out of 10. The only times i couldn't were over xmas when the jet stream (http://www.wunderground.com/auto/vir...JetStream.html) was yellow!!! If the stars are really twinkling, then the atmosphere is really shifting about and your image will shift about.

At times i was able to barlow this with the 2.4x and 5x for horrendously stupid magnifications, but there was only one night where this worked for the 2.4x ie 600x.

Last november, the "seeing" as we term it (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.p...06e5c9e6c4e508 although we tend to say 9/10 or 10/10 is perfect) was so good that saturn had just risen and we thru all sorts of magnifications at it and the image was great ie 600x and above

You will get a better feel the more you go out. You need still conditions ie no wind, still atmosphere ie no jetstream etc and then steady temperatures so that you main mirror is the same temperature as the surrounding air. Then and only then can you push the magnifcation up over 200 and beyond.

A 2x barlow will be good, it turns your 9 into a 4.5 and your 25 into a 12.5

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Originally Posted by Starcrazzy

ok, i stand corrected, i have a f6 8" and i have never resolved the division with that scope..Its a saxon, mabye the collimation is out ??dam..

yes, collimation must be way out. cassini is easy in my 8" at 120x. the 6" should have it for breakfast too.

[ThunderChild (Chris)]

Originally Posted by janoskiss

yes, collimation must be way out. cassini is easy in my 8" at 120x. the 6" should have it for breakfast too.

Hmmm - I was running with 133x and not getting it.
So maybe what I need is a collimation tool instead of a barlow or EP's...

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Originally Posted by cahullian

Hi Chris
Sounds like you are having a real blast with your new toy.
I wouldn't go ep crazy...just yet he he.
An Orion shorty plus barlow x2 would be a good buy

Noooo! Don't get the Shorty Plus!! Don't you hate yours, Gazz?!
Shorty Plus is worth about $60 new! Not $139 that they sell for. The views through mine were very ordinary. That's why I sold it for only $50, after I saw what a real barlow could do. A basic 2x barlow ($50 or less) should do as well as the Shorty Plus.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Originally Posted by ThunderChild

Hmmm - I was running with 133x and not getting it.

Seeing was horrible last night, so I'm not surprised. Stars were twinkling near zenith!