Been interested in Astronomy for 5 minutes

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Was sitting with my Son a couple of weeks ago watching Apollo 13 and he took a great interest in it. It has inspired us to start looking upward and seeing what we can find.

After looking through posts on this forum for the last week (many late nights), and seeing the advice that was given to other newbies, decided that a Dobsonian Scope would be the way to go. So will be picking up a 10" GSO from Andrews Communications (again thanks to this Forum) this afternoon and will be looking up for the Starship Enterprise this evening....if Scotty can get those engines to work.

And apparently it is traditional to apologise in advance to the rest of you for the poor weather that is about to overtake Sydney

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Originally Posted by Honest_Gaza

Was sitting with my Son a couple of weeks ago watching Apollo 13 and he took a great interest in it. It has inspired us to start looking upward and seeing what we can find.

After looking through posts on this forum for the last week (many late nights), and seeing the advice that was given to other newbies, decided that a Dobsonian Scope would be the way to go. So will be picking up a 10" DSO from Andrews Communications (again thanks to this Forum) this afternoon and will be looking up for the Starship Enterprise this evening....if Scotty can get those engines to work.

And apparently it is traditional to apologise in advance to the rest of you for the poor weather that is about to overtake Sydney

Good on ya Gazza
and Welcome to IIS

Its good to see you have been reading up already and know the local protocols. (BTW - Good choice.)
If you need any help or have any further questions, do not hesitate to post them.

To keep the enthusiasm, it is good to seek out an observing group near you.
There are a few in Sydney, and a few Sydney siders even come up to our Mangrove Mountain sessions at the "MM Pony Club".
Look under the Star Parties forum.

Keep looking Up.
Regards
Allan

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by Allan_L

There are a few in Sydney, and a few Sydney siders even come up to our Mangrove Mountain sessions at the "MM Pony Club".
Look under the Star Parties forum.

Oi, oi! How about Katoomba Airfield too???

Good stuff Gazza, for sure!

Like Allan says, look in the Star Parties forum. You'll regularly find a few sessions announced in and around Sydney. And don't forget the various Astronomy Clubs throughout Sydney. You'll find every one will be most welcoming of you and your son, and your new scope!

Mental.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Good advice , and onya Gary , thats a great choice of 1st scope .
Its good to see you done your home work first , as this is going to save you lots of waisted time and frustrations .
Get to one of the gatherings and you will meet some great people and learn so much , as you will here at IIS . .
Brian.

[Ric]

Hi Garry and welcome to IIS.

I hope you and your son have many great years of observing together.

Good luck for tonight.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

nice one Gazza,

I wish my first scope was a 10"er!
you two will get some nice views!

[syousef]

Grab a cheap pair of binoculars while you're at it. They should help you more with learning the constellations and getting to know your way around.

I'm preparing a talk for my astronomy club next month called "Adventures with cheap binoculars" (by which I mean under $50. The $49 Wide Angle ones Andrews sells aren't terrible.

http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/~sammy...0SkiesRev3.pdf

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

The Beast has been picked up and have just completed the assembly. Unfortunately, it didn't come with any instructions whatsoever which is a bit strange if this is the ideal telescope type for a "beginner"....is that normal ?

It seems that you have to already be a rocket scientist to be a rocket scientist

A quick phone call to Luke at Andrews Comms and I promptly received a copy of assembly instructions via e-mail

The next problem is that there are no instructions included on what knob does what, so I guess I have a few hours of Googling ahead before it gets dark.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Tonight is a good one to start on the Moon with! The current cloud won't be a problem with it.

Take you new beast outside & mount the finder scope (you may have done this already).

Look at your new eyepieces and identify the one with the largest number in mm. That will be your low power EP. Insert it into the focuser. There may be two little screws under the focuser, loosen a little the one closest to the scope if it is tight - it will allow the draw tube to move when you turn the focus wheel.

Aim the scope at the Moon using your finder, centering it on the cross hairs. Look through the eyepiece in the focuser. If the Moon isn't in the field of view slowly move the scope about back and forth, side to side. Take your time and you will find it.

You can now centre the Moon in the finder scope by adjusting the two adjustment screws on its mount.

Then experiment with the different eyepieces and see what they do with the Moon.

Don't worry about "collimation" tonight! No use with the excitement you'd be feeling,

When the stars are up, have a look for Saturn. It's easy tonight. Look straight up around 7pm. There will be two bright stars close to one another. One of them will be Saturn. Use your low power eyepiece to locate it (along with you finder first!). If it isn't the first star you've looked at it will be the second. You won't forget your first look at this bad boy!

Enjoy.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Thanks Mental.....have already collimated (easy instructions found on youtube).

Thanks for the advice on using the eyepiece with the largest number...I had assumed that the one with the smallest number would give widest field of view ?

And yes, discovered which screw allows the eyepiece to slide all the way in under gravity (whoops).

Saturn is definitely a must do....want to see those rings for myself to make sure the books didn't make it all up.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Gaza, I've sent you a PM.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Thanks Mental....have responded.

We just got our first look at the moon and the lad is pretty happy

Not sure if we are getting ahead of ourselves but we're going to attack it with a x 2.5 Barlow now.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Thrash away!

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Holy Crap...we are now looking directly at Saturn....rings and all.

10 Year old could not believe it.

Even the Wife and 19 Year old Son came out to see. I've got my money's worth on that sight alone

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

:jum p2:

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Looks like we were lucky we started early.....clouds have since rolled in and covered most of the sky.

Can't complain....seeing Saturn's rings at our first attempt...just confirms what a great thing the 10" Dobsonian is for a beginner.

Alex thanks for the tip-off about where to find Saturn

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

Originally Posted by Honest_Gaza

Holy Crap...we are now looking directly at Saturn....rings and all.

10 Year old could not believe it.

Even the Wife and 19 Year old Son came out to see. I've got my money's worth on that sight alone

Deja vu all over again.
Well done

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

Can I suggest the next thing you need to get is a good book..try Turn left at Orion , you can get it fairly cheap off the Internet

It's Northern hemisphere centric but it doesn't matter.

It will help you get along no end.

[leon]

Although late welcome mate.

leon

[smithcorp (Brian)]

Originally Posted by Honest_Gaza

Holy Crap...we are now looking directly at Saturn....rings and all.

10 Year old could not believe it.

Even the Wife and 19 Year old Son came out to see. I've got my money's worth on that sight alone

Awesome stuff! Hope to have a little dobsonian tomorrow ourselves to take a peak...